[Bata Shoe Factory Scenes Including Workers Clocking In]

Bata shoe factory general views and workers clocking on.

Scenes of the Bata shoe factory and surroundings at East Tilbury, Essex, showing the buildings and also a brief sequence of workers clocking on. Filmed during the Second World War, 1941 or later. Views of the Bata factory complex gates. Large numbers of employees passing through gates, perhaps for lunch break. Prominent banner below clock reads, ‘Buy War Savings Certificates – It All Depends on You.’ Shots of five-storey block with large crowds of workers in front. Views of building from different angles with fewer people outside. Aerial view of surrounding area including workers’ houses, gardens with laundry drying on washing lines, the swimming pool, a tall smoking chimney, factory buildings and other on-site facilities filmed from high vantage point. Short sequence of workers passing through the gates and clocking in at row of machines, although the angle of view obscures the mechanism and procedure. On the metalwork are stickers for ‘Wings for Victory Week’. Scenes of factory buildings, shot from ground level and what looks like large piles of rubber tyres in the foreground. Finally, more aerial views over the factory buildings and surroundings.

Featured Buildings

Bata factory; Bata Ville

Keywords

Second World War; Factories; Planned Towns; Model Communities; Wings For Victory; National Savings; Modernist Architecture

Background Information

Bata Shoes was founded in 1894 by Tomáš Baťa in Zlín (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, today the Czech Republic) and it became an international company. Construction of the Essex factory and community at East Tilbury began in 1932. Following its international pattern, the company also created a pioneering work-living community around its factory. For the rest of the 20th century, the factory was an economic force in the Tilbury area. Designed by a Czech architect, it created a unique model of a company town in Britain. Bata's vision was for a whole society, complete with worker housing, schools for the children, and entertainment. This film was shot by John Tusa, Managing Director of British Bata Shoes. From Zlín, he moved to England in 1939 with his family. They lived in the nearby village of Horndon-on-the-Hill where his son, also John Tusa (Sir John Tusa), grew up.