Description
Physical description
Jacket
Four pocket khaki service dress jacket, made of superior quality with a detachable cloth belt with brass open buckle. The jacket has an open collar and four brass buttons to front, one to each pocket and to epaulettes; all general service pattern. Both breast pockets are unpleated. The jacket has two gilt & enamel metal rank pips to each epaulette and matching bronzed ATS collar badges fitted to the upper lapels. Attached above the left breast pocket is an officer-quality bronzed metal Royal Corps of Signals cap badge. To each upper sleeve is sewn cloth white over blue diamond patch, each with a figure '1' above the letters, 'W.O.', in black thread within the white upper half.
There is evidence of rodent damage to the rear of the collar and to the rear of the left sleeve.
This jacket is of the 'Austerity' pattern and has no pleats to the breast pockets; no bellows pockets to the lower skirt; no cuff ornamentation. (Introduced in March, 1942, these utility measures reduced the costs of manufacture and materials, but by 1945 the restrictions were removed).
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.
Nora Delaney supervised the work of her team of highly skilled GPO trained ATS signalers who worked at the War Office Underground High Speed Wireless Morse Office in Whitehall. The team was concerned with the receiving and transmission of coded teleprinter messages. A detachment was temporarily lent to the staff of General Eisenhower for a brief period in 1944, operating from Goodge Street, London.
Apparently the special War Office insignia patches with their unique, 'W.O.' design often confused duty Military Police personnel, believing it was an abbreviation for the appointed rank of Warrant Officer (yet she wore officer's pips too!).
History note
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.
Nora Delaney supervised the work of her team of highly skilled GPO trained ATS signalers who worked at the War Office Underground High Speed Wireless Morse Office in Whitehall. The team was concerned with the receiving and transmission of coded teleprinter messages. A detachment was temporarily lent to the staff of General Eisenhower for a brief period in 1944, operating from Goodge Street, London.
Apparently the special War Office insignia patches with their unique, 'W.O.' design often confused duty Military Police personnel, believing it was an abbreviation for the appointed rank of Warrant Officer (yet she wore officer's pips too!).