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What did women do during the First World War?
How many women fought in WW1?
Why did women enlist in WW1?
Why were women not allowed to fight in WW1?
How did the First World War affect women's lives?
Why did Women Auxiliary Military Services become insufficient in WW1?
Thousands served in the military in support roles, and in some countries many saw combat as well. In a number of countries involved in the war, women became heroes for resistance work and espionage, work related to the medical profession, journalism and combat.
- Women’s Hospital Corps
- Scottish Women’s Hospitals
- The Women’s Volunteer Reserve
- Women’s Auxiliary Force
- The Women’s Legion
- Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps
- Women’s Land Army
- Almeric Paget Military Massage Corps
- Women’s Forage Corps
- Women’s Forestry Corps
A very early war time voluntary group formed in September 1914. Dr’s Flora Murray and Louisa Garrett Anderson established military hospitals for the French Army in Paris and Wimereux, their proposals having been at first rejected by the British authorities. The latter eventually saw sense and the WHC established a military hospital in Endell Street...
Founded by the extraordinary Dr Elsie Maud Inglis, who was not only a suffragette but one of the earliest qualified female medical doctors. Her idea was for the Scottish Suffrage Societies to fund and staff a medical hospital; the military authorities told her to “Go home and sit still”. Not to be held down, Inglis pressed forward. The first unit m...
This organisation developed from a very early one, the Women’s Emergency Corps, which came into existence in August 1914. It was the initiative of Decima Moore and the Hon. Evelina Haverfield – a militant and influential suffragette – who seized the opportunity provided by the crisis to organise a role for women. It was soon joined by many women fr...
Launched in 1915 by Misses Walthall and Sparshott, the WAF was an entirely voluntary organisation for part-time workers. Uniformed, they worked in canteens and provided social clubs; they also worked on the land and in hospitals. Members of the Women’s Auxiliary Force working on an allotment in Highbury in 1915. Imperial War Museum image Q108033. A...
Launched in July 1915 by the Marchioness of Londonderry, the Women’s Legion became the largest entirely voluntary body. Although it was not formally under Government control or part of the army, in the spirit of the times its members adopted a military-style organisation and uniform. The WL volunteers became involved in many forms of work, includin...
Announced by the War Office in February 1917 and established a month later as a part of the British Army, the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps was to be made up of volunteers of whom eventually 57,000 were employed. The response was swift and the planned establishment soon achieved. The first WAACs moved to France on 31 March 1917. By early 1918, some ...
Much less well-known that its WW2 successor, the Women’s Land Army was formed in February 1917 in spite of male resistance in farming communities, in an attempt to provide a full-time, properly regulated workforce for agricultural industries. It was not part of the army or even under the control of the War Office – it was funded and controlled by t...
An initially civilian organisation founded in England by Mr & Mrs Almeric Paget. 50 trained masseuses were supplied for work with wounded soldiers. Their early form of physiotherapy was found especially useful in the treatment of muscular wounds. Eventually the organisation was accepted by the War Office and gained official recognition. The APMMC b...
The British army largely ran on horse power, and demand for forage was huge and incessant. The civilian Women’s Forage Corps, formed by the Government in 1915, came under the control of the Army Service Corps
Controlled by the Timber Supply Department of the Board of Trade, this organisation maintained a supply of wood for industrial and paper production at home, but also for construction purposes in the theatres of war. Members of the Women’s Forestry Corps grinding an axe. Imperial War Museum image Q30720.
Mar 3, 2011 · Women in uniform were a novelty in 1914 and yet 80,000 women served in the forces as non-combatants during World War One. Discover how one exceptional Englishwoman answered the call to arms as a...
Pressure from women for their own uniformed service to assist the war effort began in August 1914. Many organisations sprang up, such as the Women’s Volunteer Reserve and Lady Londonderry’s Women’s Legion, which provided cooks for Army camps.
Women were not allowed to fight as soldiers in World War One. So they found other ways to help on the front line. Conditions were dangerous for women travelling to the war zones. They...
We hold the service records of over 5,000 women who served in the Wrens between 1917 and 1919. This is the record for Josephine Carr, from Cork. On 10 October 1918, 19-year-old Josephine became...
Britain decided to employ working-class women, who were able to step straight into jobs ranging from waitresses and cooks, to despatch riders and code-breakers with minimal training. The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps and Women’s Royal Naval Service were established in 1917 followed by the Women’s Royal Air Force in 1918.
