During the First World War some soldiers received wounds that needed special treatment in order to heal or to recover from. To help them recover, special camps were created around the country.

Summerdown Camp was built near Eastbourne in the South Downs, and opened in 1915 to treat wounded soldiers. At its height Summerdown contained 3,500 wounded men who were known locally as ‘Blueboys’ because of the different uniforms they had to wear. It was important for wounded men from the camp to be easily recognisable when out in the town. Some wounds were not obvious at first glance and being a man who seemed fit and healthy and yet was not in army uniform could result in pressure being placed upon them by civilians to join the army. The handing out of white feathers by women to men suspected of being too cowardly to join the army was humiliating at the time. Wearing a blue uniform let everyone know that the man was already in the army and had been wounded.

The treatment given to men at Summerdown included massage sessions to help speed up recovery. This sessions were performed by the Almeric Paget Massage Corps, who were organised by Pauline Page Whitney, wife of Almeric Paget. To begin with there were 50 women working in the Massage Corps. This number increased during the war and reached 2,000 during 1918. The group would be renamed as the Almeric Paget Military Massage Corps (also known as the A.P.M.M.C) in 1916.

Women in the Corps were easily distinguishable from women in the regular Nursing Service. The wore a simple uniform with the badge of the A.P.M.M.C on their left arm,and senior women wore red bars on the shoulders

Before her marriage Pauline had been born and raised in the United States. With the formation of the A.P.M.M.C and the outbreak of the war, she became active in the organisation and was regularly seen at Summerdown Camp organising the women there. The wounded soldiers liked her and the masseuses so much that she was widely referred to as the ‘Angel of Summerdown’.

Living in her house at Berkley Square in London, Pauline Paget kept her interest in the women of the A.P.M.M.C and the services they provided to wounded soldiers. However following three weeks of illness she died in November of 1916 and, as a result, never lived to see how important the organisation would become.

News of her death was published in the New York Times and a monument to her still exists in the grounds of St Mary’s Church in Hertfordshire.

Questions:

1) Who was the ‘Angel of Summerdown’?

2) What role did women have in WW1 hospitals?

3) Why did wounded soldiers wear blue uniforms?

4) How many women were serving in the A.P.M.M.C. by the end of the war?

Pictures

Click here to download a copy of this resource: First World War – Angel of Summerdown – students

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When men left Brighton and Hove to join the army and navy, many jobs and businesses became short staffed. As a result new job opportunities opened up for women. Gertrude was able to leave her work as a domestic servant and on 10th May 1915, she started work as a ticket collector at Brighton Station.

Her son, Gerald Wheatley, remembers her popularity with the station staff:

‘She knew a lot of the railway personnel, you see, because she was in this big station. When I was a kid in Newhaven, she’d go once a week either to Lewes or Eastbourne or another place nearby by train and take me with her, and she’d always stop and talk to the ticket collectors … they all knew each other.

She loved her job and I think she really didn’t want to give it up, but she had to when the war ended.’

The war left its mark on the family as Gertrude’s brother, William, had been killed in action in 1916:

‘He was the only lad in a family of four sisters and he was killed on the Somme in July [1916]. I think the whole family was devastated. My grandmother would never talk about it and nor would any of the girls. I used to ask Mum about my uncle and she’d say, “He was a lovely chap.” And they were all absolutely shattered.

So from the age of five my poppies have gone on his photograph and Remembrance Day really meant something, that’s how it brought it home really.’

During the war, Gertrude kept an autograph book. Through the entries in this book, we learn something of her life during the years of the First World War.

When war was declared on 4th August 1914, the entries in the autograph book show a change of mood. Some verses display the patriotism of the time, others make fun of the German Kaiser, while many still refer to the everyday lives and loves of young people.

As Gertrude’s soldier friends and relations left for war, some wrote verses for her. There is one entry by Gertrude’s future husband, Joseph Wheatley:

I want you just to cheer me
when I’m in the fighting line
That’s why I write these few lines
for the sake of “Auld Lang Syne”

Xmas 1914 J. Wheatley 47903 R.G.A.

As the railwaymen returned home after the war, the women, who had kept the railway industry going during the war years, were also expected to return to their pre-war occupations and families. Gertrude’s employment at Brighton Station came to an end on 5th December 1919, and the next year she married Joseph Wheatley. Together they ran the Ark Inn pub in Newhaven.

Questions

1) What was Gertrude’s job before the war?

2) Why did women like Gertrude need to work on the railways?

3) Why did Gertrude leave her job as a ticket collector?

Pictures

Click here to download a copy of this resource: First World War – Gertrude Coggins – Ticket Collector – students

The post Gertrude Coggins – Ticket Collector appeared first on WW1 East Sussex.

During the First World War, Britain faced the risk of starvation. Huge numbers of men had joined the army and, as a result, there were not enough men to work as farmers. Meanwhile German U-Boats sank ships in the Atlantic in a bid to prevent food from reaching Britain. To keep Britain’s farmland productive, the Women’s Land Army was created.

In 1917 the British harvest failed. With enough food for only a few more weeks the country faced, disaster, and likely defeat. In a bid to rescue the situation, it was decided to create the Women’s Land Army (WLA); a dedicated group for women to take over important jobs and tasks on farms.

Women had already been working the fields in Sussex since 1916. Lady Cowdray and the Countess of Chichester had worked to form Women’s Agricultural Committees in the county. These were designed to combat prejudices at the time in regard to women workers.

The Women’s Land Army participated in most forms of farming for the remainder of the war. Women milked cows, ploughed fields and harvested crops. In exchange for their services, they were generally paid 25 shillings a week minus 17 shillings for board.

Additionally, the Women’s Forestry Corps worked alongside the WLA in East Sussex. The Forestry Corps combined elements of military formation, uniform and discipline with the same objectives of the WLA. In 1917 and 1918, women felled trees in Heathfield and were also sent to work in the forests of Tunbridge Wells.

The Women’s Land Army was formally disbanded in 1919. Their efforts had ensured that the countrydid not starve during the last years of the war. However, the returning numbers of men from the battlefields meant that most women who had worked in organisations such as the WLA lost their jobs to make way for the men.

There was praise for their efforts though. In 1919, members of the Women’s Land Army from East Sussex were participants in a medal presentation and ‘stand down’ march through the town of Lewes.

Questions 

1) Why was Britain struggling for food during the war?

2) Why were women needed to work the fields?

3) What happened to women working on farms when the war ended?

Images

Click here to download a copy of this resource: First World War – Women’s Land Army – students

The post Women’s Land Army appeared first on WW1 East Sussex.