Shrewsbury in the Great War by Nicolle Dorothy

Author:Nicolle, Dorothy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Bisac Code 1: HIS027090; HISTORY / Military / World War I
ISBN: 9781473849464
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2015-01-29T16:00:00+00:00

Edgmond Agricultural College. (The Francis Frith Collection)

With the departure of so many men it was not long before women were taking on jobs previously undertaken by men. Women were soon working as sorters at the Post Office; ‘strong’ women were required at the Ditherington Maltings or to work as chauffeurs; many women who had retired from the teaching profession once they married were called back to replace the men who had gone. It was even suggested at one point that women could be called on to serve on juries at inquests but nothing ever came of that idea.

There were certain trades from which, no matter what tempting pay and conditions there may be elsewhere, women could not leave – these included those working in metal trades, pottery and glass manufacture, chemical trades, the leather industry and the like. In Shropshire, being a rural county, much of the work that was available for women was necessarily agricultural and there was soon a desperate need for women to replace the men who had been called up. In 1915 a special course of two weeks training was given at the Harper-Adams Agricultural College. It was such a success that the following year the training was extended to a month, and grants were given so that women who applied for the course had all their expenses paid. Not all the farmers were happy about this labour force ‘lilac sunbonnet brigade’ as some termed it, but it was very much a case of like it or lump it and, really, they had no choice. In fact the Women’s Land Army (which was formed in 1917) proved to be very successful and without it many would have starved. By mid-1918 there were well over 100,000 women serving in this way.

How much difference the role of women behind the scenes in the First World War made to the suffragette movement is debatable. Undoubtedly, women would have soon been given the vote regardless but, whatever the effect of their war work, finally, in the election that followed soon after the war ended, women aged 30 and over had their chance to vote.

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