'The Munitions Girls' oil painting, England, 1918

Commissioned by John Baker & Co, this famous oil painting, entitled ‘The Munitions Girls’, shows women working at Kilnhurst Steelworks during the First World War. The artist was Alexander Stanhope Forbes (1857-1947). Like many other steelworks during the war, John Baker & Co’s Kilnhurst site was converted to make shells and ammunition. As men volunteered or were conscripted to fight in the British…