Story of Brunner Mond munitions factory explosion at Silvertown

Chemical companies were put to work manufacturing the components for shells, bullets and bombs together with the means of delivering them.

One of these factories was a large chemical works at Silvertown in London that Brunner Mond had built on the south side of the Thames in 1894.

These works produced soda crystals made from soda ash shipped from Cheshire; a year later, it was engaged in manufacturing soda crystals in conjunction with their factory at Winnington.

In 1912 the manufacture of these products ceased, leaving the fully equipped chemical plant idle.

In 1914, World War One had started with a massive need for munitions, so much so that by 1915 the government were desperately short of shells.

They decided to use the redundant Brunner Mond factory in Silvertown to purify T.N.T. for use in munitions.

Silvertown after the explosion

This was even more dangerous than manufacturing the stuff. The method used was invented by Brunner Mond's chief scientist F. A. Freeth. The plant continued to purify T.N.T. at around 10 tons a day.

When the Brunner Mond factory at Silvertown was being planned for conversion to manufacture armaments, the directors of Brunner Mond expressed reservations.

Their works were in a heavily populated area with 3,000 people living nearby, meaning that any accident would have catastrophic results.

Despite their protestations, the government refused to budge, and the purification of T.N.T. commenced in 1915.

The Brunner Mond staff were instructed to treat the highly volatile substance with the greatest care.

All went well for the first 14 months until January 19, 1917. On this date, a fire broke out and at 6.50am, efforts were underway to extinguish it when 50 tons of T.N.T. exploded.

A Wheelock in the Silvertown alkali division

This destroyed the plant entirely, and the railway wagons filled with T.N.T. nearby. Houses were damaged, and Silvertown Fire Station was destroyed with debris strewn for miles.

Seventy-three people were killed and more than 400 injured, with damage caused to 70.000 properties in the surrounding area. It was reported that the windows were blown out at the Savoy Hotel off The Strand.

The plant's relatively low death rate was due to it being Sunday and the factory's few staff members present.

This explosion was described as London's most significant to date. Despite what this part of London had suffered during hostilities.

Remains of the Silvertown works

Another factory was built in 1916 to manufacture T.N.T. at an even greater rate than the Silvertown factory. This was at Gadbrook, Northwich, and between the wars, this became the well-loved Broadhurst's Bakery.

Brunner Mond's Silvertown Works in London became part of the I.C.I Alkali division. I have included a photo of one of the I.C.I. Light railway locomotives, 'Wheelock,' a Sentinel steamer based there in the 1950s.

The Silvertown plant was rebuilt after the war and eventually closed in 1961.

As mentioned, the Gadbrook munitions factory became Broadhurst's Bakery, which will be covered next week.

Paul Hurley has a popular Facebook group titled Mid Cheshire Through Time.