John Redmond visits munitions factory in Wicklow

Arklow, 1 September 1915 - The leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party John Redmond visited a munitions factory in Arklow, Co. Wicklow today.

Accompanied by his wife and his son Lieutenant William A. Redmond, Mr. Redmond examined the workings of the factory owned by Kynoch Arklow Ltd. He reviewed the manner in which explosives are produced, as well as the chemical works, the acid processing and the manufacture of guncotton.

Cartoon from Irish Life emphasising the importance of munitions work for the British war effort. It shows a soldier saying to a worker: 'If you don't come to the front with munitions faster the front will come to you, old chap!' (Image: Irish Life, 20 August 1915. Full collection of Irish Life available from the National Library of Ireland)

No public speech was made but Mr. Redmond expressed pleasure to individual workmen that an Irish factory was 'undertaking munitions work on such extensive scale for supplying our troops at the front'.

Mr. Redmond said also that both the workers in the factory and those engaged in its protection were rendering perhaps as important a service to the nation as those who are fighting at far greater risk in the trenches.

In an aside to a company director, Mr. Redmond noted that when the factory was build twenty years ago no one could have imagined that it would be engaged in ‘helping to save existing civilisation from German ruthlessness'.

[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]