Tea Pots to Tin Lids: The Sheffield Steel Industry in WW1 | Andrew Rawson

In this presentation, which was delivered 'live' to an online audience, Andrew Rawson talks about the war on the 'home front' - in particular the Sheffield steel industry.

We usually discuss the use of shells, rifles, grenades and guns; but do we ever think about how they were made and who made them? This talk is inspired by a James Dixon’s factory in Sheffield. His firm switched from making top of the range tea services for hotels and cruise ships to making the Brodie steel helmets.

Andrew explains why Sheffield's industry was in a unique position to support the war effort, with its expanding army and new inventions. Eventually, over 100,000 Sheffield people (a quarter of them women) were making war items and they made 11 million in total. 

The presentation also looks at the steel making process and how Sheffield’s metallurgists allowed the Great War to become the conflict that it was. Andrew uses the city’s experience to show how British factories switched from domestic to military output. 

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