WW2 Home Front, Elstow Ordnance Factory (EOF) Front Line Duty badge.

High quality numbered lapel badge in great condition.

History of the Elstow Ordnance Factory (EOF)

This badge comes from Royal Ordnance Factory Elstow, one of the largest and most important wartime munitions sites in Britain. Built just south of Bedford, the factory opened in 1941–42 as part of the Ministry of Supply’s national network of “filling factories” — places where explosive material was packed into shells and huge aerial bombs.

Elstow was enormous: over 250 buildings, miles of internal roads, and its own private railway system. Because of its strategic importance, it never appeared on wartime maps, and access was strictly controlled. Most workers arrived on special trains to a private works platform hidden inside the site.

Although it sat in rural Bedfordshire, the work inside Elstow was dangerous and genuinely front-line. The factory filled everything from small mortar bombs to the massive 4,000 lb “blockbusters” used by Bomber Command. Over the course of the war, Elstow produced more than 100,000 tons of high-explosive bombs — an enormous contribution to the Allied air campaign.

The workforce was largely young women, supported by engineers, chemists and inspectors. Many lived in government-built hostels nearby, forming a tight-knit community with its own canteens, welfare team and first-aid services. The site was run on behalf of the Government by J. Lyons & Co., better known for teashops and ice cream — an unusual but highly respected wartime partnership.

Because the work carried real risk, munitions staff were officially recognised as performing “Front Line Duty”, despite not being in uniform. Badges like this one were issued as numbered identity and service pins, worn with pride but also with a sense of the danger they faced every day.