As a Mills base plug collector I’ve always regarded the famous and scarce ‘Red Hand’ baseplug as a nice one to have but I always wondered why it was the only Mills base plug from WW1 without a makers name on it. Who really was the maker? It has been long been attributed to Barbour Mills Comber in Northern Ireland. Comber is about 10K ESE of Belfast.
However, the facts seem a little different. Doing some checking of original Government documents from 1916 it seems that in 1915/6 Mills grenade production in Ulster was under the control of the ‘Belfast Committee’ which was a co-operative of 20 firms locally. ‘Barbour Mills’ were not a named contractor at that stage. The Belfast Committee were awarded contract T.W. 283 to produce 250,000 Mills grenades at 20,000 a week. The first being delivered in November 1915. In the Summer of 1915 William Mills was pressed to visit Belfast which he did to assist a Captain Cargill with production issues. This was soon after the Mills entered service and probably as Belfast were starting production testing.
Barbour Mills as a company may never have existed under that name. The firm were actually thread makers based at Hilden which is in Lisburn to the South West of Belfast, and just before 1900 William Barbour and Sons merged with other makers to form Linen Thread Ltd so ‘Barbour Mills’ may not have existed as a business in WW1 or ever, though Combe, Barbour Ltd did exist in WW1
The two main local foundries in Belfast were run by MacAdam Brothers at the SoHo foundary and the Falls Foundry run by James Combe which became a part of Fairbairn Lawson Combe Barbour Ltd in 1900 (it may have become just Combe, Barbour Ltd by 1915) . This company made equipment for the spinning industries locally and in Scotland. There was also a firm called James Mackie which made linen industry related machines and they were involved in arms manufacture in both wars.
So the facts are that in 1915 the Government contract for Mills grenades was awarded to the Belfast Committee, a co-operative of 20 businesses. At the same time Combe, Barbour Ltd were awarded contracts to produce 2” Howitzer Bombs and Gaines but not grenades. Later in 1916 contracts were awarded to a small number of firms in Northern Ireland to make Mills grenades.
The original Source for the Red Hand base plug seems to come from a book by Howard Williamson called ‘Dictionary of Great War Abbreviations’ published in 1966. This has a list of Mills Base Plugs as an appendix at the back. It states ‘Barbour Mills Foundry’ as the maker for the ‘Hand’ base plug.
Conclusion.
Combe, Barbour Ltd existed in. However Barbour Mills did not exist under than name. No grenade contracts were given to these firms in 1915. To attribute the Red Hand base plug to ‘Barbour Mills of Comber’ looks to be factually incorrect.
The industrial evidence and that in official Government documents points to the Belfast Committee being the correct attribution for this base plug.
Sorry if the detail is confusing but I suspect that was why the mistake was made in the first place.
Happy to take comments. The research was interesting and shows we should perhaps never take 'facts' at face value.
John
However, the facts seem a little different. Doing some checking of original Government documents from 1916 it seems that in 1915/6 Mills grenade production in Ulster was under the control of the ‘Belfast Committee’ which was a co-operative of 20 firms locally. ‘Barbour Mills’ were not a named contractor at that stage. The Belfast Committee were awarded contract T.W. 283 to produce 250,000 Mills grenades at 20,000 a week. The first being delivered in November 1915. In the Summer of 1915 William Mills was pressed to visit Belfast which he did to assist a Captain Cargill with production issues. This was soon after the Mills entered service and probably as Belfast were starting production testing.
Barbour Mills as a company may never have existed under that name. The firm were actually thread makers based at Hilden which is in Lisburn to the South West of Belfast, and just before 1900 William Barbour and Sons merged with other makers to form Linen Thread Ltd so ‘Barbour Mills’ may not have existed as a business in WW1 or ever, though Combe, Barbour Ltd did exist in WW1
The two main local foundries in Belfast were run by MacAdam Brothers at the SoHo foundary and the Falls Foundry run by James Combe which became a part of Fairbairn Lawson Combe Barbour Ltd in 1900 (it may have become just Combe, Barbour Ltd by 1915) . This company made equipment for the spinning industries locally and in Scotland. There was also a firm called James Mackie which made linen industry related machines and they were involved in arms manufacture in both wars.
So the facts are that in 1915 the Government contract for Mills grenades was awarded to the Belfast Committee, a co-operative of 20 businesses. At the same time Combe, Barbour Ltd were awarded contracts to produce 2” Howitzer Bombs and Gaines but not grenades. Later in 1916 contracts were awarded to a small number of firms in Northern Ireland to make Mills grenades.
The original Source for the Red Hand base plug seems to come from a book by Howard Williamson called ‘Dictionary of Great War Abbreviations’ published in 1966. This has a list of Mills Base Plugs as an appendix at the back. It states ‘Barbour Mills Foundry’ as the maker for the ‘Hand’ base plug.
Conclusion.
Combe, Barbour Ltd existed in. However Barbour Mills did not exist under than name. No grenade contracts were given to these firms in 1915. To attribute the Red Hand base plug to ‘Barbour Mills of Comber’ looks to be factually incorrect.
The industrial evidence and that in official Government documents points to the Belfast Committee being the correct attribution for this base plug.
Sorry if the detail is confusing but I suspect that was why the mistake was made in the first place.
Happy to take comments. The research was interesting and shows we should perhaps never take 'facts' at face value.
John
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