Choosing Sides

Abstract

In June 1915, David Lloyd George introduced into Parliament the first Munitions of War Act.¹ Frustrated by the inability of his two successive Cabinet committees to respond to the growing munitions shortage, he had demanded the creation of a new department of state, became its first minister,² and took responsibility for the production of military stores. This legislation gave the minister unprecedented powers to accomplish his tasks. One of his first decisions at Whitehall Gardens, headquarters of the Ministry, was to order the gathering of data through an industrial census of the workshops of the nation, and 65 000 forms were distributed inquiring about the staffs, contracts, machinery and output of factories throughout Great Britain. Unlike the Householders Return of the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee, completion of these forms was mandatory, and more than 45 000 were returned to the Ministry within a month.³