During the First World War, Britain faced the risk of starvation. Huge numbers of men had joined the army and, as a result, farming and agriculture risked collapse. 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.

Food Shortages

In order to feed itself Britain relied upon trade and imports from its empire. The country only produced 35% of its required food in the years before the First World War. The Royal Navy had always protected British shipping around the world. The use of German U-Boats during the First World War threatened this. Striking without warning from beneath the waves, German submarines represented a threat which the Royal Navy was struggling to deal with. The eventual decision to institute convoys for all shipping across the Atlantic would reduce the danger from U-Boat attack, but they did not become a regular feature until 1917.

Rationing was introduced to Britain in 1918 to deal with food shortages, but even before then, a dedicated poster campaign had sought to educate the public of the results of wasting food and the dangers experienced by men in the merchant navy who were risking their lives to bring food into the country.

To ensure that supplies lasted and ingredients were stretched as far as possible, new recipes and cooking techniques became popular as the war continued.

However, in order to feed both the population at home and the army abroad, the farming and agriculture industries began to employ women to replace men headed into the army.

Women’s Land Army

In 1917 the British harvest failed. Faced with enough food for only a few more weeks the country faced, disaster, and likely defeat. In a bid to rescue the situation, the Board of Agriculture convened to create the Women’s Land Army (WLA); a dedicated group for women to take over important jobs and tasks within the farming and agricultural worlds.

Women had actually 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 the deeply rooted prejudices within the farming industry at the time in regard to women workers. The Committees sought to provide training places, free of charge, to women for milking, hop-picking and fruit growing. In addition to this, Lady Frances Wolseley, renowned for her love of horticulture, declared that she had 2,800 women ready to undertake farm work to aid the nation.

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 the East Sussex/Kent border to work in the forests of Tunbridge Wells.

The End of the War

The Women’s Land Army was formally disbanded in 1919. Their efforts had ensured that the country had stayed on its feet during the last years of the war. However, the returning numbers of men from the battlefields of Europe and beyond meant that most women who had stepped into employment in organisations such as the WLA were either released from their contracts or fired to make way for the men.

There was recognition 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. The group ‘Women’s Land Army Tribute‘ are planning to create a permanent monument to the women of the Land Army from both World Wars at the National Arboretum.

Questions to ask students

1) Why did Britain need to bring food by sea?

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 – teachers

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During the First World War, Gertrude Coggins served as a ticket collector at Brighton Station.

On Christmas day 1912, Gertrude received an autograph book. Through the entries in this book, we learn something of her life during the years of the First World War.

Her mother worked as housekeeper and Gertrude followed her mother into domestic service. By 1914 they were both working for Lady Dunn and living in Hove.

Brighton and Hove was flourishing in the months before the war. Gertrude’s autograph book reflects an enthusiasm for the fashions of the time. She included a newspaper cutting about a musical ‘At Home’ given by her employer, Lady Dunn, and Mrs Rosling at Palmeira Mansions during June 1914.

‘Both ladies were assiduous in looking after the welfare of their guests, amongst which were numbers of well known society folk, and the pretty rooms with their charming furniture, and old china were gay with flowers and bright with the tint of many an elegant toilette,’

Only two months later on 4th August 1914, war was declared. 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 life continued below stairs.

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.

When men left Brighton and Hove to join the army and navy, essential services became short staffed and so new job opportunities opened up for women. Gertrude was able to leave her work in domestic service as on 10th May 1915, she started work as a ticket collector at Brighton Station. Years later 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.’

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.

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.’

After working as a mother and wife, Gertrude’s life was to change again during the Second World War. Her son, Gerald, remembers:

‘And, when the Second World War came, to my surprise she joined up as a temporary civil servant and got a job in the local food office, sorting out the rations books and things like that. She ended up as a personal advisor to the Director of Manpower for Luton and District and she’d never done any office work in her life. I mean she was a clever lass, my Mum! I did admire her really. And she enjoyed [her work], it was quite something.’

Questions to ask students

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?

Images

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

Sources

The information and images for this article were kindly supplied by Jo Palache, Brighton Museum and features photographs by kind permission of Gerald Wheatley © Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove

To find out more about people like Gertrude Coggins visit the ‘Untold War Stories’ exhibit at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery

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

The use of massage as a means of treating wounded soldiers during the First World War was pioneered by the trained women of the Almeric Paget Military Massage Corps (A.P.M.M.C) under the supervision of Pauline Paget.

Of the British soldiers that went to war eighty-eight percent returned from the Western Front alive and would only spend a few days at a time in the front line trenches. However, whether they were to be involved in a major offensive or just in the wrong place at the wrong time, there was always a chance of death or serious injury. Around 1.6m British men were wounded during the war. Some of these wounds were so serious the men needed to return to Britain for medical treatment.

Located near the South Downs at Eastbourne, Summerdown Camp opened in 1915 as a convalescent home for 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. Wounded men were still under military control and curfews so it was important for wounded men from the camp to be easily recognisable when out in the town. Also some wounds were not obvious to an onlooker and being a man who seemed physically fit yet 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.

Almeric Paget Massage Corps

The treatment given to men at Summerdown included regular sessions with the women of the Almeric Paget Massage Corps. Initially founded by Almeric Paget and his wife Pauline Page Whitney, the Massage Corps provided the services of 50 masseuses to the War Office. The number of women who worked as Almeric Paget masseuses increased across the war and reached 2,000 during 1918. The group would be renamed as the Almeric Paget Military Massage Corps in 1916 and the official body for all massage services to the army. From 1917 members would also be sent overseas to provide treatment in France and Italy.

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, whilst the presence of red bars on the shoulders highlighted those women who were senior in rank. The treatment they gave was a mix of massage and electrical stimulation using machines like the Bristow Coil.

Whilst some of these treatments now seem outdated by modern standards they did lay the foundations for much of what we now understand as physiotherapy.

The Angel of Summerdown

Before her marriage to Almeric Paget, Pauline Page Whitney 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 maintained a strong 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 to ask students:

1) Who was the ‘Angel of Summerdown’?

2) What role did women have in WW1 hospitals?

3) Why did wounded soldiers wear blue uniforms?

Images

Click here to download a copy of this resource: First World War – Pauline Page Whitney – Military Massage Corps – teachers

Sources

The information and images for this article were kindly supplied by Eastbourne Borough Council ahead of their forthcoming exhibition on Summerdown Camp. Find out more with their education resources.

Find out more about the Almeric Paget Massage Corps at the ScarletFinders website

For more images of Summerdown Camp see East Sussex County Council’s Library Flickr page

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