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James Mackie and Sons, Belfast: From Linen to Munitions

James Mackie and Sons was a large engineering firm in Belfast and, at it's height, one of the biggest employers in the city. When the First World War started, Mackie's - as it was locally known - went into an industry they knew very little about, making shell casings for the military. In Belfast at that time, women in the workplace were not as unusual as they might have been in other areas, due to the linen industry and large numbers of women found employment at Mackie's making munitions.

Location: Former site of James Mackie and Sons, Belfast. BT12 7DB
Image: Munition workers in James Mackie and Sons during the First World War
Image courtesy of Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

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Duration:

6 minutes

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