Munitionettes
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Recently, an advertisement from a page in a journal, displayed in the current Sir George Grey Special Collections exhibition: World War 1914 -1918 , made me look closer. The product is soap and the accompanying illustration is not unusual or incredibly striking. It was the text which made me pause, as it reminded me of scenes in Pat Barker's novel Regeneration . In particular, the lives of a group of munitionettes, who provide an insight into an element of home front life during the First World War. Ref: The sphere. Vol. 76, no. 995. London: Illustrated Newspapers, 1918. Munitionettes were British women employed in munitions factories during the First World War. These women worked with hazardous chemicals on a daily basis with minimal protection. Receiving an injury or getting killed by an explosion were always possibilities. Many munitionettes worked with TNT, which after prolonged exposure, would turn their skin a yellow colour -- leadi...