The Home Front

A lot has changed because of the First World War, and no where was this truer than on the Home Front.

For the majority of us today it is the horrors of war and loss of life that most characterises the Great War. But what has been forgotten is the fact that virtually the whole of the United Kingdom, including Glasgow, was turned over to the war effort and became the first Home Front.

Glasgow was once one of the key industrial areas for the manufacture of heavy engineering for the thriving railway and ship-building industries. The war added to this output with the factories producing tanks, gun carriages and pillboxes along with various types of ordnance.

One of the city's three famous Pals Battalions was raised by the Glasgow Corporation Tramways. The 15th Battalion, Highland Light Infantry (HLI) were formed in September 1914 after a call to arms by the company's manager James Dalrymple led to 1110 enlisting within a 16 hour period.

With so many mean enlisting from Glasgow (some 200,000 in total) it saw women replacing them in all walks of life and on the factory floors across the city. At the North British Locomotive Company's Hyde Park Work for example, 1781 women were employed in the factory during the war.

At the same time Glasgow, with its strong tradition of radical movements, saw the war proving the catalyst for demonstrations and protests. In 1914 it has been noted that the city was home to mass support for the anti-war movement led by socialist groupings such as the Independent Labour Party (ILP), the Labour and Socialist Alliance and the Women's Peace crusade.