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WW1 Mills No.36 W & Co Ltd

D

dodgydave

Well-Known Member
Picked up this nice WW1 No.36 Mk1 at the War and Peace Revival yesterday. Dave (Millsbomber) liked the look of it, so, has to be good! My question is: looking at Daves excellent website, there seems to be a variety of ways that W Ayrton and Co Ltd marked their castings; including my one (if it is one of theirs) 4 different ways.
If you are making a pattern for casting, one type of marking would be apparent; ok, so they had a few patterns to mold from, possibly marked differently? Or, could it be that the different markings occur, due to W & Co subcontracting work to other foundries?
What do you learned Gentlemen think?
I also bought a 1917 dated JMD & S Ltd Mills, with correct matching base plug; on closer inspection, the striker/plunger hole in the top, has been drilled half a hole too far forward and the lever only just engages. The body has been fettled, threads cut and varnished, so it must have got missed. DSCF7521.jpgDSCF7517.jpgI wonder when it was spotted!
 
The "/L" denotes a London region manufacturer. W. Ayrton, were a Manchester company. The only listing I can find for W & Co. is John Wilkins and Co., of Clerkenwell, London. They were not shown as making grenade bodies, but the listings are rather inaccurate.

TimG
 
I was basing my question on photos on Daves Mills website. Your info, TimG, might go someway in answering my query, thanks!
 
TimG said:
The "/L" denotes a London region manufacturer. W. Ayrton, were a Manchester company. The only listing I can find for W & Co. is John Wilkins and Co., of Clerkenwell, London. They were not shown as making grenade bodies, but the listings are rather inaccurate.

TimG
Click to expand...

Tim, It can be more specific than that.

Munitions & Light Castingsare M&LC/G from Grimsby. If it was regional it would be SE as Grimsby was in the South Eastern Munitions area.
Morum & Co are M&Co / L Lewisham.

John
 
/L (or monogram over L) is London. Couple of other examples on base plugs are VP Ld over L - Vickery's Patents Ltd, London and JMD&S over L - Doughty and Sons Ltd, London.

M&Co/L is Morum, London - it is not Lewisham, it is simply coincidence that they were in Lewisham.

Munitions and Light Castings came under Newcastle (Area 1), but the G is indeed Grimsby.




Tom.
 
Snufkin said:
/L (or monogram over L) is London. Couple of other examples on base plugs are VP Ld over L - Vickery's Patents Ltd, London and JMD&S over L - Doughty and Sons Ltd, London.

M&Co/L is Morum, London - it is not Lewisham, it is simply coincidence that they were in Lewisham.

Munitions and Light Castings came under Newcastle (Area 1), but the G is indeed Grimsby.




Tom.
Click to expand...
Tom

In the 1916 manufacturers list Grimsby is in the SE sector. London was part of the Metropolitan Munition Committee area so /M would be appropriate in 1916 at least. I suspect it changed during the war.
 
Snufkin said:
/L (or monogram over L) is London. Couple of other examples on base plugs are VP Ld over L - Vickery's Patents Ltd, London and JMD&S over L - Doughty and Sons Ltd, London.

M&Co/L is Morum, London - it is not Lewisham, it is simply coincidence that they were in Lewisham.

Munitions and Light Castings came under Newcastle (Area 1), but the G is indeed Grimsby.




Tom.
Click to expand...

Tom I forgot to mention VP were in New Cross - part of Lewisham.

John
 
From directories of 1915, 1916, and 1919, Grimsby is in Area I - "Area I (North-East Coast) includes Northumberland, Durham, the North Riding of Yorkshire ... East Riding of Yorkshire, and the towns of Selby and Goole (West Riding) and Grimsby (Lincolnshire)". If you wouldn't mind can you post an image of the page referencing Grimsby coming under Area VII (South East)? Where there is one, there might be other anomalies.

/L was used for the Metropolitan Area (effectively London), and both Wilkins & Co./L and Doughty & Sons /L were in Clerkenwell, not Lewisham...

/M was used for Manchester, as in M&Co M - Mabott and Co., Phoenix Works, Manchester.

In addition, boxes and crates used to pack munitions from London companies were often marked M/Contract No./L - with the L indicating London Area - rather than with the company monogram.




Tom.
 
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Tom

Here's what I was working from. There seems to be some difference between documents regarding Munitions Areas and towns so we have probably been talking at crossed purposes.
DSCN6630.jpgDSCN6631.jpgDSCN6632.jpg

As you can see Grimsby is not on the map but others are.

John
 
Millsman said:
As you can see Grimsby is not on the map but others are.
Click to expand...


John,

That is one of the documents to which I have referred. Grimsby is where it always has been, north of Lincoln on the Humber. You can just make it out top right of your first image, right on the edge of Area IV.




Tom.
 
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Dave

By co-incidence friend asked me to find a centrepiece for this grenade a week ago.

DSCN6634.JPGDSCN6633.JPG

John


Tom

What's the cure for senility? :tinysmile_cry_t3:
 
Fascinating conversation Gents. Many thanks. Any opinions on my original question, or are we talking different companies here?
 
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