Women began to take on even more roles to aid the strength of Britain's society
You're listening to Imperial War Museum's First World War Galleries Podcast, presented by James Taylor, head of the First World War Galleries team.
James Taylor: “By 1917, Britain had become geared up to win victory at all costs. The Armed Services competed with factories, mines, fisheries, agriculture and the Merchant Navy for manpower. Women had already been drafted into munitions production. Now they began to take on roles which nobody could have anticipated before the war. Louise MacFarlane is a member of the First World War Galleries team.”
Louise MacFarlane: “Over 100,000 women joined the British Armed Forces. These were newly created in 1917, so services such as the Women's Royal Naval Service was formed in November 1917 and the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps was established in March that same year. These women took on roles such as bakers, cooks, and clerks to release men for frontline service. And so, I think it's surprising for us to think about women who, of course, didn't have the vote at this point, going off to wear uniforms and to serve their country.”
James Taylor: “It was not only the armed forces who needed women's labour. Women took on traditionally male jobs in industry, in agriculture, in transport and indeed, in any number of trades, to ensure that everyday life continued.”
Louise MacFarlane: “This photograph that I have in front of me, it's one of my, my favourite photos. It's Mrs Kitchener. We don't think she's any relation to the famous Lord Kitchener. And she's in a cemetery in Luton, and she's striking a pose which seems very sort of reminiscent of a soldier in action. She has a shovel and a pickaxe over her shoulder. She's carrying equipment that seemed far too heavy for just one person, let alone one woman. She's staring off into the distance with a sense of resolve, I would say. What we know about Mrs Kitchener is that she had taken on the role as a grave digger to replace her husband, who had gone to the front. And so, I think this photo taken by Horace Nichols, who was a professional photographer who was employed in the First World War to make a record of the Home Front. The very fact that this photo is being taken and shows us that it was out of the ordinary.”
James Taylor: “The cost of fighting the war was plain to see all over Britain as wounded men were treated in convalescent hospitals and rehabilitation centres. The efforts to return the wounded to fitness sometimes produced results which are surprising to us today.”
Louise MacFarlane: “One of the objects I have in front of me here is one of the more unusual. It's a small fretwork figure, so it's made of wood, it's flat wood and it depicts a man in hospital blues, the outfit that an injured serviceman would have to wear when he was brought back home. This particular object was created in a memorial workshop and it's a sort of early attempt at occupational therapy. The fretwork figure would have been developed in a machine in which foot pedals were used to try and rehabilitate men's leg muscles.”
James Taylor: “But it was not only servicemen who faced death and wounding in the First World War. For the first time, British civilians came under air attack. Within months of the outbreak of war, they had to face the sinister threat of airships known as Zeppelins, which made bombing raids by night.”
Louise MacFarlane: “They began in January 1915 with a Zeppelin airship raid on Norfolk and later in 1917 they involved both aeroplanes. A total of over 1,400 men, women and children were killed in these attacks and in fact when Gophers were attacking, it's estimated that over 300,000 people a night were sheltering in tube stations. And of course, that's something we very much associate with the Second World War but in fact, it was happening in the First World War as well.”
James Taylor: “Although less destructive than the bomber aeroplanes which superseded them, it was the Zeppelins which caught the imagination of the British public. They could strike almost anywhere, creating a mood of fear mixed with excitement, which reached a crescendo when British airmen finally found a way to shoot them down.”
Louise MacFarlane: “That sense of fear and excitement can really be seen in a letter that we have on display, and it's one of my favourite objects that we have in fact. And it's a letter from a boy called Patrick Blundstone and he is staying in Hertfordshire and he's writing a letter to his father about the very first time a Zeppelin airship was shot down, and this occurred in September of 1916. Here is a teenage boy who's describing an other worldly experience unfolding right before him. “Miss Blair and I rushed to the window and looked out, and there right above us was the Zep, he writes of exclamation mark. It had broken in half, and it was in flames, roaring and crackling. It went slightly to the right and crashed down into a field. It was almost 100 yards away from the house and directly opposite us.” And he finishes that with four exclamation marks. He also signs off the letter with a fantastic portrait of the Zeppelin crashing down around the house and I think one of the, the key things that this did was solidify in people's minds their determination to beat Germany. If this was a country that was willing to make civilians targets, it was a country that that had to be defeated.”
The First World War Galleries at IWM London are open now. Find out more at www.iwm.org.uk/WW1.
As 1916 drew to a close, there was still no sign of victory. New leaders urged their weary citizens to work even harder. Total war on the battlefield meant total war on the home front. Women kept the country going, filling jobs usually done by their fathers, brothers and sons. Even children played their part in the war effort.
