Miss Dorothy Nicolls, OBE
Munitions Worker, National Shell
Filling Factory at Chilwell in Derbyshire
Dorothy Nicolls was 32 years old and living with her
widowed mother in St Peter Port when war broke out.
The Ministry of Munitions appealed for mature, “better
class ladies” to work as supervisors, as their
experience of running a household and dealing with servants
would stand them in good stead Dorothy Nicolls volunteered
and went to the National Shell Filling Factory at Chilwellin
Derbyshire.
On the 1st of July 1918 there was a massive
explosion at Chilwell which killed 134 people. The London
Gazette of 1st January 1919 records that Miss D Nicholls
(sic) had been awarded the O.B.E “…for courage
and devotion to duty on two occasions when explosions
occurred at a shell filling factory”.
She also won the Medal and Decoration
of King Charles I and was the first woman to receive
this honour.
Radio
report and interview
© Liz Walton 2011
