Grinding bayonets for the army.

[joseyclosey]

This is one of a series of postcards i recently had access to, they were all sent during the First World War.

It must be the start of the shift, everyone looks very clean!

Joe

[Aughnanure]

I like the safe working practices

[Tom-May]

"...This is one of a series of postcards i recently had access to, they were all sent during the First World War..."

The card might have been sent during the Great War, but the bayonets appear to be a mixture of Long Lee-Enfield and 1903 pattern items (a couple* appear to have bayonet rings - all have the1881 blade)

Tom

* As far as I can see, The bayonet held by the man standing, the one held on the stone by the seated chap second from the camera and the one point down in the block nearest the camera are all 1903 pattern - but I could be mistaken.

[Mk VII]

Grinding was a very unhealthy trade. Few grinders lived beyond their forties - silicosis, I seem to recall.

[Tom-May]

Grinding was a very unhealthy trade. Few grinders lived beyond their forties - silicosis, I seem to recall.

As the folk song has it...

"...He shortens his life and he hastens his death.
Tally hi-o, the grinder.
Will drink steel dust in every breath.
Tally hi-o, the grinder.
Won't use a fan as he turns his wheel.
Won't wash his hands ere he eats his meal.
But dies as he lives, as hard as steel.
Tally hi-o, the grinder..."

(From: "The Sheffield Grinder")