Women's Royal Naval Service, Second World War (IWM neg D19088)

Women first served officially with the Royal Navy when the Naval Nursing Service was established in 1884.  In 1902 it became Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service.

The Women’s Royal Naval Service was formed in November 1917 and had disbanded by October 1919.  

The Women’s Work Collection contains the most comprehensive source of information about women in the First World War, and is available as a searchable web database (by paid subscription to Thomson Gale (Women, War and Society 1914-1918) or free at point of access within the Imperial War Museum).  The Women’s Royal Naval Service section is especially useful for looking at women in this service, but although there is a large amount of material about nursing, there is little specifically on Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service.

The Women’s Royal Naval Service was reformed in April 1939, and disbanded in 1993 when women were totally integrated into the Royal Navy.