Factory Life at Bata Ville

From 1932, the marshes of East Tilbury were transformed by the arrival of the Bata company from Czechoslovakia who brought with them their mission to shoe the world.

This is wartime Bata Ville, Essex, 1943 with signs of the recent RAF fundraising campaign 'Wings for Victory' on the turnstiles and ads for 'War Savings Certificates.' The new town of Bata with its own factory, housing, schools and shops and its concept of corporate philosophy and authoritarian management is, by now, well established in Essex. Bata brought employment and the self sufficient assemblyline technology and war time contracts saw their continued success.