A CENTURY ago Barrow shipyard had seen its second wartime visit by King Geroge V which was designed to raise spirits among men and women producing munitions and building ships and submarines for the Royal Navy.

The King had been to the Vickers yard on May 21 in 1915 and was back again on Thursday, May 17, in 1917 - this accompanied by Queen Mary.

His tour of the North of England took in factories, hospitals and workplaces deemed as vital to the war effort.

An editorial in the Barrow News on May 19 noted: "Barrow could scarcely be omitted, for there are few towns in the British Isles whose work and products will play a more important part in the eventual winning of the war than those of Barrow."

The King and Queen arrived by train to the old Furness Abbey Station and were met by Barrow Mayor, Alderman Alfred Barrow.

Among people introduced to the royal visitors at Furness Abbey were Rachel Mills, secretary of the Barrow branch of the National Federation of Women Workers and William Evans, district president of the Lancashire and Cumberland Federation of Blastfurnacemen.

Also there was a hero from a much earlier conflict, Barrow's Samuel Wassall, who won the Victoria Cross in the Zulu War of 1879.

Most of the main buildings in the town flew flags and men from regiments stationed in Barrow lined the route along Abbey Road.

The soldiers were joined by 12,000 pupils from Barrow schools and another 5,000 from the surrounding district.

King George and Queen Mary reached the shipyard by car at 12.05pm to meet guests and officials.

The paper noted: "The Royal party then proceeded to inspect the engineering works, passing through the new howitzer shop."

While the King was shown the technical side of the engineering work, the Queen went to the airship shed in Cavendish Dock.

It was recorded: "In their tour of this hive of industry the King and Queen met with the most enthusiastic reception.

"The workers were everywhere eager to catch a glimpse of the Royal visitors."

Men and women workers climbed to gain vantage points.

It was said that the area of the shipyard devoted to the production of war materials had grown from 220 acres to 270 and the floor area of the workshops had increased from 1.6m square feet to 2.4m.

The report said: "The number of employees has gone up from 17,000 in 1914 to 35,000 at the present time.

"The weekly wages bill, which was £35,000 in 1914 is £92,000 at the present time.

"Since January 1915 there have been produced 13,000 tons of howitzer equipments and many million shells, from the largest to the smallest."