"Then my evil spirit and restlessness began to catch up with me. I wanted to be a WAAC and do my bit"
Lia Parfitt, Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, 1917
Preparing shells in a munitions factory, c1916. NAM 1999-11-70-60
Ninety years ago, as the First World War (1914-18) drained Britain’s manpower an official force of women soldiers embarked for France in uniform for the first time. The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) were formed to free up valuable and experienced soldiers from the rear areas for front line service. As part of the mobilisation of the whole country this milestone in the push for equal rights formed the basis for women’s service in the British Army to this day.
Situation serious
As the war progressed, many women felt they should be doing more for the war effort. On 21 July 1915, a march took place in London to persuade the authorities to widen women’s role using the slogan ‘The Situation is Serious’. The Government, faced by shortages of men in key industries had no choice.
Women’s Legion Cooks, c1916. NAM 1995-01-21-60
Women were soon recruited as bus and train conductors. Later that year they were recruited as factory workers. These ‘Munitionettes’ played a vital role, taking over men’s jobs, often at great personal risk.
As well as accidents, many suffered from the chemicals they worked with, which turned their skin yellow, prompting the nickname ‘canaries’.
An Army marches on its stomach
In 1915, Lady Londonderry proposed the creation of a unit to cook for the Army. In August 1915 the creation of the Women’s Legion was sanctioned by the Army Council.
Based in Dartford, this cookery section formed the basis of a growing force. It provided cooks, waitresses and gardeners and from 1916, motor transport drivers. The latter chiefly served with the Royal Flying Corps (RFC).
The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps are Coming!
Women's Auxiliary Army Corps waitresses, c1917. NAM 1995-01-23-14
As the manpower shortage worsened in 1916, conscription was introduced. After the heavy losses on the Somme in the summer of 1916, a report by Lieutenant General Sir Henry Lawson was commissioned to investigate the possibility of using women as substitutes for men in auxiliary roles. Sir Douglas Haig, commanding the British Expeditionary Force, felt it was a good idea. The sister of Brigadier A C Geddes, the War Office Director of Recruiting, Mrs Chalmers Watson, was appointed to lead the new force in the United Kingdom. A smaller contingent would embark for service in France.
Vaughan in command
Women's Auxiliary Army Corps recruiting poster, c1918. NAM 1993-11-1-110
With the support of the War Office and the Headquarters in France, the WAACs arrived on the Western Front on 31 March 1917, under their first commander in France, Assistant Controller Helen Gwynne Vaughan. One of this first group was Emmy Gaunt, who later wrote:
'All the preliminaries completed, we duly received embarkation orders to proceed to Victoria Station, there to take the Continental Boat Train to Folkestone, and thence to Boulogne –the first draft of khaki-clad members of the Women’s Army who were destined for the duration to do their bit side by side with the soldiers.'
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On arriving in France, Vaughan began to organise the women. She proved an able commander despite the obstruction of some of her male colleagues, writing later:
'I discovered that the objection to the employment of women was almost universal. The Services, of all professions, had, naturally the least experience of working with women, they knew little of the extent to which, even then, men and women were working easily together, they mistrusted the complications which the influx of a large body of women might entail, they disliked the intrusion into their offices and workshops of an alien element.'
‘Service with the Army’ 1942
‘Thomasina Atkins’ goes to war
A WAAC mechanic in a Royal Flying Corps workshop, c1917. NAM 1995-01-29-87
Recruiting was initially done at Labour Exchanges, the women being enrolled, rather than enlisting, as with male soldiers. This gave them a different status to men, more like that of civilians in uniform. The chance of Army service was attractive to many young women, like Lia Parfitt, ‘an excitable spitfire’,
'In 1917 I began to see girls in khaki uniforms, these were the original WAACs, members of the women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. Then my evil spirit and restlessness began to catch up with me. I wanted to be a WAAC and do my bit – this was my usual theme of conversation whenever my poor father was home, and his usual answer was No, No, No! Unbeknown to my father I wrote to the Recruiting Office of the WAACs and offered my services. Soon a long envelope bearing the magic letters OHMS (on His Majesties Service) came for me.
It advised me that my application had been received and told me to report to the Board of Examiners for an oral examination and also a medical examination at Southampton. My father would happen to be home at the time and he hit the roof!'
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The Women's Auxiliary Army Corps learn to drill, c1917. NAM 1995-01-23-36
Sent for training, the women were issued with their service clothing as Florence Hill later recalled:
'Next was the uniform. So down I went to the Issue Room. Honestly, my 5ft 2 1⁄2 inches was quite a problem. Everything was much too big and WAAC greatcoats out of stock. By the time I got my uniform it was a Tommies greatcoat for me. What a sketch I looked and it caused a lot of laughter when I put it on. The next step was the tailors…..
Skirts in those far off days had to measure 8 1⁄2 inches from the ground so that tailor had a lot of work to do on my uniform.'
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Based in hostels and camps behind the lines, the accommodation sometimes left much to be desired. Unit Administrator Isobel Turner described a hostel in Rouen in 1917:
'This Hostel was a dreadful little place….the only bathroom was in a built-on shed through the coal cellar, and there was a wooden partition, shielding it from the street, which unfortunately had cracks in it. One used to see bright eyes glued to these cracks, whilst one had one’s bath, unless you remembered to hang something over it!.'
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