List of munition workers who died of TNT poisoning

These are munition workers who died of TNT poisoning during the manufacture of ammunition for the front lines of World War I. Working with TNT caused many health issues, commonly called TNT poisoning, the most serious of which was a liver disease called toxic jaundice. According to historian Anne Spurgeon, during the First World War, there were 400 cases of the disease of which about 100 were fatal.^[1] Munition workers were sometimes called Canary Girls, British women who worked in munitions manufacturing trinitrotoluene (TNT) shells during the First World War1 (1914–1918). The nickname arose because exposure to TNT is toxic, and repeated exposure can turn the skin an orange-yellow colour reminiscent of the plumage of a canary. ^[2]

Effects of working with TNT[edit]

Shells were filled with a mixture of TNT (the explosive) and cordite (the propellant),^{[citation needed]} and even though these ingredients were known to be hazardous to health, they were mixed by hand so came into direct contact with the workers' skin. The chemicals in the TNT reacted with melanin in the skin to cause a yellow pigmentation, staining the skin of the munitions workers. Although unpleasant, this specific side effect was not dangerous and the discolouration eventually faded over time with no long-term health effects.

A more serious consequence of working with TNT powder was liver toxicity, which led to anaemia and jaundice. This condition, known as "toxic jaundice", gave the skin a different type of yellow hue.

A medical investigation was carried out by the government in 1916, to closely study the effects of TNT on the munitions workers. The investigators were able to gather their data by acting as female medical officers posted inside the factories. They found that the effects of the TNT could be roughly split into two areas: irritative symptoms, mainly affecting the skin, respiratory tract, and digestive system; and toxic symptoms, including nausea, jaundice, constipation, dizziness, etc. ^[3] It is possible that the irritative symptoms were also partly caused by the cordite in the shell mixture, although this was not established until years later.^[4]

Partial list of those killed by TNT poisoning[edit]

Name	Date of death	References
Annie Holmes	28 June 1916	^[5]
Gladys Pritchard	1914-1918	^[6]
Florrie Chandler	1914-1918	^[7]
Mrs Florence Portman	1914-1918	^[8]
Dorothy Willis	7 July 1916	^[9]
Elsie Oates	1914-1918	^[10]
Kate Hill	1914-1918	^[11]
Mary Anne Kelly	1914-1918	^[12]
Lottie Meade	1914-1918	^[13]
Helen Garvine	4 August 1917	^[14]
Margaret Silcock	1914-1918	^[15]
Alice Williams	18 May 1916	^[16]
Mary I Turner	September 3, 1917	^[17]
Maria Haverly	28 May 1917	^[18]
Louisa Preston	1914-1918	^[19]
Agnes Deane	1914-1918	^[20]
Annie Bell	2 May 1917	^[21]
Lizzie Jones	23 October 1916	^[22]
Mrs Elizabeth Walsh	31 July 1917	^[23]
Miss Marion Constance Lotinga	1914-1918	^[24]
Mrs Abbot	7 May 1917	^[25]
Lily Maud Leaver	28 December 1917	^[26]
Margaret Roscoe	4 October 1917	^[27]
Annie Evelyn Baron	1914-1918	^[28]
Annie Flynn	6 May 1917	^[29]
Edith Perkins	20 January 1917	^[30]
Alice Post	16 January 1916	^[31]