Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 21 November 2024

Making an Irish Free State City – Sunbeam Wolsey’s War Years

The Thirteenth Ordinary General Meeting of Sunbeam Wolsey Ltd was held on 12 September, 1941. It revealed methods of circumventing challenges posed by the Second World War. In particular, during the summer of 1941, a complete embargo was placed by the Westminister government on the export of Australian wool to Ireland. As a result it was initially feared that only half of the Combing Plant could be utilised. So Irish wool was used. A closer study  found that Irish wool was of infinitely better quality than had been anticipated and that it could be processed on the finest of the factory combs.

William Dwyer much regretted the reduction of £23,000 in stock. It was partly due to the difficulty in obtaining raw materials and it was also due to the much greater demand for the goods manufactured by the Company.

However, against that context in 1942 Sunbeam Wolsey Ltd published a promotional booklet, which set out in brief the first 14 years of the Company since 1928 and an overview of the Company in that year. It was highlighted that the entire Company was managed by Mr Declan Dwyer, who was also a Director and a son of the founder. The initial pages focussed in on the processes of scouring, combing, and carding that took place in a long and grey single-storey building at Blackpool.

Focus was placed on the fact that a large proportion of the hosiery yarns used in this country were dyed at Blackpool, including commissioned work for outside spinners and manufacturers. At Millfield one of the best-equipped machinery dyehouses in Ireland was sited. The booklet noted that the dyeing transformation scene was like a scene in a pantomime; “The products are changed in the dyehouse into riotous colours-every colour imaginable, from the browns of the Silk Hosiery to the blues, crimsons To this portion of the factory come the yarns to and greens of the wool yarns…The dyer’s job is not merely to produce beautiful shades though. He has to make the colours proof against light. washing, perspiration and sea water. To do this, he must have ample supplies of good water, and at Millfield a big filtering plant and the ‘Permutit’ process purifies and softens the water to zero degrees hardness”.

The booklet continued to describe that down in the bowels of the factory was the boiler house with its three 38-foot boilers, each capable of generating 10,000 lbs of steam per hour. Here too was a huge steam accumulator that kept the supply of steam heat to the factory, dyehouse and humidifiers constant – even though the boiler output varied. Finally, the water softening plant ensured that the water used for cleaning and dyeing was of the exact nature required. Pumped through filters to free it from impurities, the water went to the Permutit softening plant at the rate of 5,000 gallons hourly.

There was an interesting section in the booklet dealing with the heat within the factory in the silk thrower section. The whole process of spinning and knitting silk hosiery was carried out at a tropical temperature. Traversing the ceiling at regular intervals were big white humidifiers, which kept the atmosphere at a set warm temperature. If that did not occur, the silk thread would become hard, brittle and unworkable. As the silk arrived from China or Japan, the silk was in long hanks and had to be steeped in special oils and chemicals for a number of hours to give it elasticity.

Throughout the promotional booklet, there were nods as one would expect to the skilled workers and the importance of efficient management; “The Sunbeam Wolsey equipment is the finest procurable. The Sunbeam Wolsey workers are second to none in skill and the materials used are the best that money can buy. Everyone at Sunbeam Wolsey, from the management right down to the latest joined junior, is united in a firm resolve that every Sunbeam Wolsey garment will be all that the most critical wearer could desire. It will give satisfaction, not only when new, but through long and strenuous wear”.

Through graphic illustrations in the booklet, some interesting facts about Sunbeam Wolsey production were highlighted, especially on yarn production and payroll; “In only one day enough wool yarn to stretch twice around the world is produced while the number of employees has increased thirteen times. The weekly payroll has increased twenty times and up to 1940 the production of silk hosiery had grown eightfold. Perhaps the most surprising thing that emerges from those figures is that the production per employee is practically doubled since 1928. The reasons for this are increased efficiency, experience, and the most up-to-date plant obtainable”.

A section in the promotional booklet was also given over to the social services given to employees. A dispensary and surgery at the Blackpool plant was properly staffed and equipped by the management. Workers could have free medical attention. The brochure denoted a contentness in a great reduction in the number of days lost through illness. Other social services were the canteen, the recreation grounds and the football teams. In the canteen employees could purchase hot meals, cigarettes and chocolate. If they wished to bring their own meals with them, they could also eat them in comfort in the canteen along with their fellow-workers.

The booklet also denoted that when the (Second World) War broke out the firm immediately provided proper Air Raid Protection for the staff through building and equipping huge underground shelters. Fully-trained Air Raid Squads and a fully-equipped fire service were always ready to deal with an impending emergency.

To be continued…

Caption:

1280a. A representative pictured in the 1942 Sunbeam Wolsey Ltd promotional booklet of nearly a thousand Sunbeam Wolsey workers. This girl is operating a flatlock seaming machine for making flat-seamed underwear (source: Cork City Library).