Homefront heroines
THE conflict was only two weeks old when the British Government announced plans for the gradual drafting of at least one million women into war work.
Princess Elizabeth was among those who went on to answer the call and joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the women’s branch of the British Army, when she was 18.
As we mark Remembrance Sunday, new book Women In Wartime by Clive Hardy and Deborah Linton looks at some of the many roles that were undertaken by women in Britain during the conflict.
The Government initially planned for women to replace men in occupations such as bus conductors, railway cleaners, textile workers, clerks, shop assistants, and in processed food factories. As the war years played out, the War Office realised that more and more vital jobs could be fulfilled by women.
Britain also employed its first women police officers – known as the Women’s Patrols – while others took on work on the railways as ticket collectors and porters.
Gas masks of various designs became the norm as fears of poison gas attacks grew. Mums were even given gas hoods for their babies. The baby’s respirator relied upon air being pumped by hand and there were many reports of babies becoming drowsy. This was thought to have been due to an insufficient air supply. All the respirators were fitted with filters manufactured from 80% carded wool and 20% asbestos.
Telephonists at the Whitley Bay Exchange had masks that differed from the standard adult type, having a built-in microphone that could be plugged into the switchboard.
Women were trained to tackle fires, with the usherettes at the Odeon Leicester Square in London forming the cinema’s firefighting unit.
The evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from the beaches of Dunkirk resulted in troop trains departing Dover at the rate of one every eight minutes. Troops were fed and watered along the way, their trains stopping at stations where volunteers (especially members of the WVS) were armed with tea, beer and sandwiches.
rationing meant lots of food products were in short supply.
Women would queue for horse flesh to feed their families and off ration meat also included whale, as well as rabbit, hare, pigeon and blackbird.
Though horse flesh was lean like venison, many people balked at the idea of eating it despite the government publishing pamphlets on how to prepare it.
When clothes rationing was introduced, every man, woman, and child was issued with an appropriate ration book containing pages of coloured coupons. Only one colour could be used at a time, the idea being to stop using all their coupons in one go.
The annual allocation was 66 coupons for an adult (later reduced to 48) and 70 for a child.
When buying an item, such as a man’s coat, jacket, or blazer, the customer handed over 13 coupons together with the money to pay for it. Even so, the allocation was not generous, and clothing was often recycled.
Siren suits were a popular item on sale at Lewis’s, Birmingham, at the beginning of October 1939. Aimed at keeping people cosy as they huddled in their Anderson shelter, they were one-piece garments made from fine woollen fabric, with a butHowever,
toned bodice, and well-cut trousers, available in navy, green and brown at 29s 9d. Other styles available included a bed quilt/wrap, and a coat with attached hood.
The opening of nurseries and nursery schools was a direct response to campaigns organised by mothers who wanted to work but had young children to look after. Local authorities were encouraged to provide facilities as well as offipeople
cially registering ‘daily guardians’ to look after the children.
Daily guardians were considered vital to the war effort and every nursery school had a matron who was a State Registered Nurse. In many areas of the country, the first job on a Monday morning was to delouse the kids.
But it was work in the munitions factories that is thought to have been the most vital and the biggest employer of women in the final year of the war.
The female ‘munitionettes’ put their own lives on the line, working among toxic – and in the case of 200 women, deadly – chemicals to produce bullets and shells.
By the end of the war there were some two million women in traditionally male jobs.
Women stepped up to do their bit during the Second World War. MARION McMULLEN looks at a new book celebrating the part they played