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Ashton-under-Lyne Munitions Works Explosion

 

On June 13th 1917, a disaster hit the industrial town of Ashton-under-Lyne in Tameside, just east of Manchester. An explosion at the Hooley Hill Rubber and Chemical Plant, being used to produce TNT for the war effort, caused major damage to the surrounding area, and killed 46 people. One of those killed was co-director Sylvain Dreyfus, who founded the company with Lucien Gaisman in 1914.

Sylvain was born in Alsace, France in 1868. He was the nephew of Charles Dreyfus, a chemist and pillar of the Manchester Jewish community. As an English delegate at the fifth and sixth Zionist Congresses in 1901 and 1903, Charles met with Weizmann, and in later years offered Weizmann a job at his plant, Clayton Analine. As the manager of Arthur Balfour’s election campaign, Charles was responsible for the meeting of Balfour and Weizmann in 1906. 
Sylvain who, like his uncle, moved to Manchester and became a chemist, was killed in the blast at the Ashton site. The plant had been set up after Dreyfus and Gaisman approached the War Office to offer their company’s services. Initially knocked back, the pair were eventually awarded a grant of £10,000 to build a new plant to produce TNT, of which there was a chronic shortage.

The building that was chosen was an old cotton mill in the built up area of William Street, by Ashton canal. The design and location of the old mill was far from ideal, with the majority of the structure being made out of wood, and being positioned very close to homes, shops and a primary school, as well as a gasworks and a railway line. Whilst Dreyfus had made efforts to make changes to the structural elements of the building, this required more funding as labour and materials were scarce, and it was not high on the Ministry of Munitions’ list of priorities.

Initially producing 5 tonnes of TNT a week in 1915, as demand grew this total continued to rise, and by 1917 the factory was producing 5 times this amount.

On the afternoon of 13th June, fumes were seen coming from one of the pans in which TNT was being manufactured. Dreyfus and fellow chemist Nathan Daniels were on site, and attended the incident. The wooden staging in front of the pan caught alight and quickly spread to adjoining rooms – this was made much easier by a further design flaw of the building, given that few of the walls reached the ceiling. Attempts were made to put out the fire, and the fire service was informed, but to no avail. Within ten minutes the fire reached the room containing 40 kegs of TNT, which then exploded.

Shrapnel and debris from the explosion cracked two gasholders at the Ashton Gas Company, just 90 metres from the plant, and the escaping gas was ignited, causing further flames and widespread damage. 120 people were seriously injured, and more than 300 were left with minor injuries, mostly caused by breaking glass in windows shattering from the force of the blast.

  • The remains of the factory after the explosion (Image: Tameside Local Studies Library)
    The remains of the factory after the explosion (Image: Tameside Local Studies Library)
  • Sylvain Dreyfus with colleagues at uncle’s Clayton plant in Droylsden. Sylvain is on the middle row, 5th from the left, next to his uncle Charles Dreyfus, centre, 6th from the left c.1890 (Image: Tameside Local Studies Library)
    Sylvain Dreyfus with colleagues at uncle’s Clayton plant in Droylsden. Sylvain is on the middle row, 5th from the left, next to his uncle Charles Dreyfus, centre, 6th from the left c.1890 (Image: Tameside Local Studies Library)
  • Waste acid tanks blown into the canal (Image: Tameside Local Studies Library)
    Waste acid tanks blown into the canal (Image: Tameside Local Studies Library)
  • Manchester Guardian article 15th June 1917
    Manchester Guardian article 15th June 1917
  • Manchester Guardian article - First Evidence at the Inquest, 16th June 1917
    Manchester Guardian article - First Evidence at the Inquest, 16th June 1917
  • The remains of the factory after the explosion (Image: Tameside Local Studies Library)
  • Sylvain Dreyfus with colleagues at uncle’s Clayton plant in Droylsden. Sylvain is on the middle row, 5th from the left, next to his uncle Charles Dreyfus, centre, 6th from the left c.1890 (Image: Tameside Local Studies Library)
  • Waste acid tanks blown into the canal (Image: Tameside Local Studies Library)
  • Manchester Guardian article 15th June 1917
  • Manchester Guardian article - First Evidence at the Inquest, 16th June 1917
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Those who were killed were not just the workers who had been inside the factory. Workers on a nearby railway line were amongst the victims, as well as a soldier, John W. Wright, on leave from the army, who heard the initial explosion and ran to help.

Seven children were also killed on their way home from the nearby St Peters Primary School, the youngest victim being just four years old. There is a plaque in the current St Peters Primary building bearing the names of those who died, and pupils from the school performed the musical ‘Blast’, written specifically about and to commemorate the disaster on its 100-year anniversary in 2017. There is also a memorial to all those who lost their lives in Henry Square, near the site of the factory itself, the design of which was inspired by drawings made by pupils at St Peters.

Just three days after the disaster, the Mayor set up a relief fund to begin helping the victims. Lord Beaverbrook, who represented the borough as Max Aitkin MP until 1916, was the first to donate, with a sum of £500. Subscriptions didn’t just come from local people or the wealthy. Many came in from Lancashire and Cheshire, and many smaller sums from working people, as well as from collections in workshops meaning the sum was £2,800 just a week later, according to the Manchester Guardian on 20th June. The fund was also helped by special benefit performances being put on in the town. George Formby appeared in one of these at the Theatre Royal in Ashton on 30th June, as he was originally from Ashton and wanted to help the appeal in some way. By August, a total of £10,000 had been raised.

The whole town was affected in some way by the disaster, as not only were homes damaged, many becoming uninhabitable, but also businesses. So many residents’ livelihoods were affected that the Ministry of Munitions set up a local office in Ashton to deal with claims for personal injury and damage to homes. Damage to nearby cotton mills meant that many were not able to go to work, but the Ministry of Munitions said they could not extend the claims to include those for loss of employment (Manchester Guardian, Sept. 1917).

  • Memorial to the victims of the explosion in Ashton-under-Lyne
    Memorial to the victims of the explosion in Ashton-under-Lyne
  • ‘Sleeping in’ tag for Cecilia Pathson, who slept at West End School when her house was damaged (Image: Tameside Local Studies Library)
    ‘Sleeping in’ tag for Cecilia Pathson, who slept at West End School when her house was damaged (Image: Tameside Local Studies Library)
  • Horse-drawn coffins outside Ashton Town Hall, along with crowds of mourners, for the mass funeral of the victims (Image: Tameside Local Studies Library)
    Horse-drawn coffins outside Ashton Town Hall, along with crowds of mourners, for the mass funeral of the victims (Image: Tameside Local Studies Library)
  • Notice of Sylvain Dreyfus' funeral - Manchester Guardian 19th June 1917
    Notice of Sylvain Dreyfus' funeral - Manchester Guardian 19th June 1917
  • Sylvain Dreyfus’ headstone in Southern Cemetery, Manchester. Inscription reads: “In loving memory of Sylvain Dreyfus who was killed June 13th 1917 at the explosion of the munition works at Ashton-under-Lyne, aged 51 years. Also in memory of his dear wife
    Sylvain Dreyfus’ headstone in Southern Cemetery, Manchester. Inscription reads: “In loving memory of Sylvain Dreyfus who was killed June 13th 1917 at the explosion of the munition works at Ashton-under-Lyne, aged 51 years. Also in memory of his dear wife
  • Manchester Guardian article - Rehousing the Victims, 20th June 1917
    Manchester Guardian article - Rehousing the Victims, 20th June 1917
  • Manchester Guardian article - Outcome of Inquest, 13th July 1917
    Manchester Guardian article - Outcome of Inquest, 13th July 1917
  • Memorial to the victims of the explosion in Ashton-under-Lyne
  • ‘Sleeping in’ tag for Cecilia Pathson, who slept at West End School when her house was damaged (Image: Tameside Local Studies Library)
  • Horse-drawn coffins outside Ashton Town Hall, along with crowds of mourners, for the mass funeral of the victims (Image: Tameside Local Studies Library)
  • Notice of Sylvain Dreyfus' funeral - Manchester Guardian 19th June 1917
  • Sylvain Dreyfus’ headstone in Southern Cemetery, Manchester. Inscription reads: “In loving memory of Sylvain Dreyfus who was killed June 13th 1917 at the explosion of the munition works at Ashton-under-Lyne, aged 51 years. Also in memory of his dear wife
  • Manchester Guardian article - Rehousing the Victims, 20th June 1917
  • Manchester Guardian article - Outcome of Inquest, 13th July 1917
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A mass funeral was held on 17th June for the victims, with horse drawn funeral carriages being accompanied to the cemetery by town officials and hundreds of thousands of mourners. Burials were carried out in the Ashton and Dukinfield cemetery, and later funerals took place in Stockport and Audenshaw.

A service was held by the Rev. J. Phillips of the Synagogue of British Jews, Cheetham Hill Road at Manchester Crematorium for Sylvain Dreyfus. His headstone can be found next door, in the Jewish section of Southern Cemetery, Chorlton.

Whilst it was believed Dr Dreyfus had been experimenting with different ways of manufacturing the TNT which may have made it more volatile, the outcome of the inquest, held at Ashton Town Hall in July 1917 was that the explosion and the resulting deaths were accidental.

At the inquest, Major Corbett, Assistant Deputy Director General of Explosives Supply, stated that the policy of closing private works situated in large towns had begun at the beginning of 1917, two in Manchester had already been closed, and it was a tragedy that the explosion had occurred just a few days after the decision to close Hooley Hill had been made.

This was neither the first nor the last explosion at a munitions factory that caused major loss of life, however. The explosion at Silvertown in West Ham, London also occurred after the decision had been made to close private works, on 19th January 1917, killing 73 people. There was also a disaster at a government-owned shell filling factory in Chilwell, Nottinghamshire, killing 134 people and injuring 250, making it the most deadly of the war.

  • Sylvain Dreyfus
    DRE9217
    1867-13/06/1917

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