Courtney McGrailThe Great Explosion: Gunpowder, the Great War, and a disaster on the Kent marshes
by Brian Dillon
(Penguin Books, £18.99)
J. Anthony Gaughan
This book set out as a local history of the extensive marshes in the vicinity of Canterbury in Kent, but soon developed into a collection of distinct essays.
There is a natural history of explosives, an account of the use and effect of high explosives in World War I, and a meticulous description and analysis of a huge explosion at a munitions complex near Faversham on April 2, 1916.
Brian Dillon traces the history of explosives back to the use of gunpowder by the Chinese in the 4th Century. Thereafter throughout the centuries, mainly owing to the exigencies of warfare, the destructive potential of explosives was inexorably increased.
There was a major step forward in this regard when Alfred Nobel – he who donated the Nobel Prizes – discovered dynamite in 1867.
The British army and navy conducted intensive research into and production of explosives at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th Centuries. Most of this industry was located on the marshes by the Thames. In 1914-1918, it was a crucial part of the war effort and, with most of the men at the front, was carried out mainly by women.
The author’s brief history of explosives concludes with only a passing reference (alas) to the inevitable result of the arms race in the mid-20th Century – the advent of the age of nuclear fission and the production of the atomic and hydrogen bombs.
Before discussing the use and effect of explosives in World War I Dillon refers to a number of well-publicised explosions which had caused a major loss of life. Among these was the explosion at the port of Halifax in Nova Scotia on December 6, 1917, the largest man-made explosion in history until the first atomic bomb was dropped 25 years later.
Munitions
The explosion at Halifax was caused when the Mont-Blanc, a ship laden with munitions, caught fire and blew up killing on and off-shore 2,000 people and injuring thousands more.
The largest explosion during World War I was at the village of Boisselle on July 1, 1917, signalling the start of the offensive on the Somme. Explosives were laid under massive German fortifications in the area and the resulting explosion was the loudest man-made sound on earth to that date.
The author provides a harrowing account of the appalling effects of explosives on people, including shell shock and records some of the medical research undertaken to attempt to deal with that condition.
Before concluding his narrative the author is back again in the marshes by the Thames. He explores some of the decaying buildings of what he describes as formerly a “gunpowder archipelago”. He describes the horrific accident which occurred there in the spring of 1916. It left 108 people dead and over 200 injured.
This book reminds one of the accident here at home in Kynock’s explosives factory at Arklow on September 21, 1917. It caused the death of 27 of the employees and injured many more.
The factory had been established in 1895 by Arthur Chamberlain, uncle of Neville who promised “Peace in our time”.
Workforce
It began with a work-force of 260, which soon rose to 600. But there were 5,000 workers in the plant during World War I, a few months after the end of which it was closed.
The working conditions in Ireland, and the wages, were markedly less favourable than those obtaining in similar factories in Britain. This led to frequent stoppages and strikes. There were also occasional fatal accidents.
This prompted the authorities in London to charge that these were the result of sabotage.
The redoubtable Fr James Dunphy, parish priest of Arklow and a strong supporter of the factory, never allowed these claims to go unanswered.
Deaths and injuries caused by explosions are not congenial topics, but we need to recall them. Brian Dillon in his informative book manages to make them interesting, not least because of his elegant writing.