In the Shadow of the Great War by Bennett Kirsty; Middleton Imogen; Page Michael

Author:Bennett, Kirsty; Middleton, Imogen; Page, Michael
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The History Press

Members of the Chertsey Women’s War Work Association outside its headquarters at the end of the war (SHC P2/7/1-22)

A list of ‘comforts’ produced by the Chertsey Women’s War Work Association between January 1916 and January 1918 (SHC P2/7/1, author’s image)

Road Sweepers, Post Office Workers and Tram Conductors

Women stepped into the breach in a wide range of roles. Farnham Urban District Council decided to replace road maintenance men with women in the winter of 1916–17, noting that although they were undertaking a ‘none too pleasant task’, they did it in ‘a most business-like manner’.48 Post offices also saw the potential of women employees in positions previously closed to them, in sorting offices, running counters and delivering letters. In Kingston, as early as June 1915, the experiment of employing women sorters was ‘found to work admirably’.49

Guildford was just one council among many that issued tram conductor licences to women.50 Of course, not everyone was pleased with the development. One man wrote, ‘[The women] will never make conductors. [They find] the art of … issuing tickets while the vehicles are in motion is not an easy one to acquire,’ although he acknowledged that they ‘look quite smart in the official overcoat, peaky cap and – ahem – blue puttees’.51 In August 1918, Surrey’s women conductors went on strike and the trams stopped running for five days. The dispute was over a war bonus. Male tram conductors would receive an extra 25s to compensate for the increased cost of living, whereas women would get only 20s. The Committee on Production explained that ‘[the cost of living] falls more heavily on men than on women’. The women disagreed and despite being accused of being unpatriotic, they stuck to their guns. After several more days of strikes the committee caved in to their demands.52

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