Women in the First World War

Description

The First World War brought about dramatic changes in the role of women in British society. Suffragettes gave up their militant protests to support the war effort, and from the moment war broke out women were ready to help. As increasing numbers of men left to serve overseas, their duties were taken over by women, who took jobs as postal workers, tram clippies, delivery drivers, land workers and others. Then there were the famous'Munitionettes', the women who worked long hours in ammunition and military hardware factories. Women also joined auxiliary military units, such as the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, and acted as nurses near the front line. Told through historical documents, memoirs, photographs, uniforms and ephemera, the authors present a study of this turning point in British social history.

Neil Storey is a graduate of the University of East Anglia. He has written numerous books covering a variety of social and military history topics. He has his own extensive archive, has worked on a number of television documentaries as historical consultant and regularly gives presentations and lectures for both academic and social audiences, at venues including the Imperial War Museum (Duxford). Neil also devised and writes the 'Ancestors at Work' articles published in the monthly Family Tree Magazine. Molly Housego has amassed her own archive of photographs and documents reflecting the changing role, costume and depiction of women from Early Modern Britain to the early Twentieth Century. She has made a specialised study of the role of women in the First and Second World Wars and lectures at the Imperial War Museum 'First World War Uncovered' events.