History of Long Branch Arsenal

[Bullseye4mkI*]

I got a ton of LB info y'all might be interested in….

Moderator note: Bullseye4mkI*'s grandfather (1906-1998) was a long time executive at Long Branch (and other entities) from 1940-1970.

-Graduated with Honors from University of Toronto - Poli Sci/Economics 1930
-Joined Dominion Small Arms Factory 1940
-Assistant Secretary-Treasurer of Small Arms Ltd. 1942-1946
-Head of Accounting-Finance, with later added responsibilities for labour relations and personnel Small Arms Division of Canadian Arsenals Ltd. 1946-1957
-Asst./Acting Division Manager 1957-1970

Technically LB was a Crown corp in 1940, with the Government being pretty much the only stockholder. So it could have fallen under a 'Canadian Arsenals' umbrella due to that, or, even a war times measures act....?!

A little history on the creation of ‘Long Branch’ followed by an in depth look at internals for the period 1943-1945 (I only have 43-45 and pretty sure it's not on the net), through an official production/factory synopsis 43-45, written in 1946 by LB, for Mr. J. deN. Kennedy, tasked by the Canadian Government to write a combined wartime history of the Crown Companies responsible to the Dept. of Munitions and Supply.
(Hope you enjoy!)

First a little history of LB's creation:

Intro from letter (1991) to Mississauga South Historical Society regarding their request for copy of 'Small Arms Ltd. Oct.1943-Mar.1946’ from the Author. Letter also indicates; Col. Jolley(promoted from Capt. during the war) personally wrote the Aug.1st to Oct. 1943 portion of this document which was un-locatable in 1991, however, the combined histories may be located in the Canadian Archives, in the report done by J. deN. Kennedy?!
(I haven’t found the 40-43 documents yet….)

Some of this info reproduced here.

Attachment 30547

DOMINION SMALL ARMS FACTORY

"When Capt. Malcolm P. Jolley of the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps was given, in June of 1940, the responsibility for building, equipping and running a plant for the manufacture of small arms in Canada, he had to literally start from zero base. There was nothing, no land, no staff, no building and no machinery. The land was easily procured, National Defence gave it, a portion of the Long Branch Rifle Ranges. This land was suitably located outside of Toronto, close to a good labor market, with good road and rail connections. Capt. Jolley immediately, mid June, began to gather together an operating staff. Space was rented at 6 Charles Street East, Toronto, taking over the third floor of the building, above Postal Station F. The building on the N/E corner of Young and Charles is still there as of the date of this memorandum (1991). While in this location, the contracts were let for the design of and the building of the factory, to be ready for occupancy October-November, 1940. At the same time a nucleus of staff was being hired for machine tool design and production, planning for the manufacture of the #4 Mk. 1* rifle.

It became evident almost immediately that the Small Arms Factory as a part of National Defence would not be able to get the plant built, the machinery procured and installed, production personnel hired and trained, under the long established procedures of the Dept. of National Defence. Those procedures or standard practices as they were called, were ponderous in operation and caused intolerable delays in decision making. Financial decisions were almost impossible to obtain within the time available in view of the predetermined start up date.

Therefore at the beginning of August 1940, the Small Arms Factory became Small Arms Ltd. A Crown Company with a President, a board of directors and the Government as the only stockbroker except for one qualifying share held by each director. Small Arms Ltd. was to operate as a private company. Capt. Jolley was immediately appointed General Manager. All the men appointed to the Board of Directors were, what was called ‘dollar a year men’; leading Canadian businessmen with a knowledge of machine shop practice and such other conditions as might be expected to occur in the operation of such a facility. Capt. Jolley would report to the Board on a regular basis and consult with them on such other times, as he felt necessary. The Government’s controlling interest was held by the Dept. of Munitions and Supply of which the Hon.C.D.Howe was the Minister.

The first personnel taken on staff by Small Arms Ltd. were the employees of Dominion Small Arms factory, whom were on its payroll as July 31st, 1940. Their names, there were 23 in all, date of starting and salary are shown on the payroll list immediately following."

(Employee/Salary list for various pay periods in July was attached along with a copy of requested document. From July 22-31 the author of letter and original 1946 report made 51.61. Highest paid employee of Dominion Small Arms factory was July 1-31 400.00. No job titles attached)

Original document, in full, prepared by a division head, approved by Colonel M.P. Jolley (original approval memo pictured below), and passed on to Mr. J deN Kennedy.

History of Small Arms Limited- October 1943 - March 1946 (click here)

(N.B. – Although operations under previous management ceased on 12/31/45, this history progresses to 3/31/46 because of a small accountancy staff retained to close out previous accounts)

Attachment 30546

Description: “Concerning those maters connected with the manufacture of it’s products, it is important to note the record of production, and following that, the important phases of inspection, job instruction, time standards, process engineering, heat treating, and the development of special weapons.”

Excerpt-

Training Rifle production reached 3,071.

Also during this quarter, an order was received from the Government of the United States for the production of 175,000 Magazines for the M3 Carbine. As the difference between this Magazine and the one currently being produced by the Company for the Mk.II Carbine was only slight, no difficulty was encountered in filling this order, and 101,310 were produced in this quarter.

Production on the Combination Holster was held up during the quarter, as the hardware had not been delivered by the prime contractor.

At the request of the Department of National Defense, a .22 practice rifle, based on conversion of the No.4 rifle was designed and developed. Six units of this Rifle were completed and the design approved by National Defense. An order for 7000 was received, with production to start in September at the rate of 1000 a month………

Hope you find interesting ....

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