Description
Physical description
Cap
Side cap with a brown body with green piping to the curtain edge and crown. The inside of the crown is of brick-red. There are two small brass GS buttons fitted to the front bearing the Royal Arms, and a brown plastic cap badge of the ATS is fitted to the left side of the cap.
There is minor mothing to coloured crown.
Label
The ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service) was created on 9 September 1938, to provide female volunteers to undertake non-combatant duties. Although uniformed they were not initially considered as part of the the armed forces. Badges of rank, titles & status were not those of the army, nor certain other pivileges.
'Members' were attached to the Territorial Army in peacetime, but in the case of national emergency they would be embodied into the regular establishment. However from 25 April 1941 and the introduction of the Defence (Women's Forces) Regulations, women serving in the ATS, WAAF, and the nursing and medical services were regarded as armed forces of the Crown, and importantly, not only were women now commissioned but also accorded the same status of male officers. All other ranks & titles were also standardised on the lines of the rest of the army. Under the National Service Act of December 1941, conscription expanded the force to 200,000 auxiliaries & 6,000 officers by 1943, serving in more than 80 trades. Envisaged originally as undertaking clerical, transport and other support roles, the ATS increasingly proved their worth in more demanding tasks, many serving in anti-aircraft searchlight units and batteries on the Home Front.
This cap is part of the uniform worn by W/237046 Pte Kathleen Pye who joined the ATS at Guildford in November 1942. Pye trained as a driver and was discharged in May 1946.
History note
The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) was created on 9 September 1938, to provide female volunteers the pooportunity to undertake non-combatant duties. Although uniformed they were not initially considered as part of the the armed forces. Badges of rank, titles and status were not those of the army, nor certain other pivileges.
'Members' were attached to the Territorial Army in peacetime, but in the case of national emergency they would be embodied into the regular establishment. However from 25 April 1941 and the introduction of the 'Defence (Women's Forces) Regulations', women serving in the ATS, WAAF, and the nursing and medical services were regarded as armed forces of the Crown, and importantly, not only were women now commissioned but also accorded the same status of male officers. All other ranks and itles were also standardised on the lines of the rest of the army. Under the National Service Act of December 1941, conscription expanded the force to 200,000 auxiliaries and 6,000 officers by 1943, serving in more than 80 trades. Envisaged originally as undertaking clerical, transport and other support roles, the ATS increasingly proved their worth in more demanding tasks, many serving in anti-aircraft searchlight units and batteries on the Home Front.
This cap is part of the uniform worn by W/237046 Pte Kathleen Pye who joined the ATS at Guildford in November 1942. Pye trained as a driver and was discharged in May 1946.