Women in Wartime Clacton

Before the outbreak of war most people thought that the main kind of work for women should be in the home, cooking, cleaning, and sewing. Many women used these homemaking skills in jobs like serving in shops, waitressing and cooking in cafés. When the Government realised that war was very likely it began to make preparations and attitudes towards the work of women had to change.

The First World War had ended only twenty years before and had shown what an important contribution women could make supporting the fighting troops. In 1938 another war was about to begin and women were encouraged to join voluntary groups such as the Women's Voluntary Service (WVS). These women stayed at home and looked after their families but also helped in their local community with the evacuation. They provided hot drinks and food whenever needed, raised money for the troops and many other activities. From the beginning the organisation asked its members to give “ their muscle, their sweat and their thought rather than their purse” with the slogan “The WVS never says no”.

In Clacton the WVS was kept very busy. One very important role was keeping in touch with local men who were fighting in the war and an entry in the December 1941 monthly records that “ During December we dispatched over nine hundred letters of greetings containing 5 / - Postal Orders to local men serving in the Forces. They were sent to all parts of the world; we have already received some hundreds of letters of thanks.”

Lady Reading was given the task of forming the WVS by the government. Here she is visiting volunteers in Clacton to give encouragement and to let them know that their work was a valuable part of the war effort

 

Women also volunteered for the Red Cross. Local Red Cross groups had existed from the beginning of the 20th century to provide volunteers trained in first-aid and hygiene so that they could help their own communities. During World War II their work was vital in supporting existing nursing services in nursing homes and hospitals.

Members of the 86th Detachment, Clacton Red Cross at the ARP Post, Clacton Hospital in 1939

As well as the adult contributing to the war effort through the WVS, Red Cross and other organisations, young girls in organisations such as the Girl Guides also did their bit by helping with various campaigns such as collecting scrap metal and darning and repairing kit for soldiers.

1st Clacton Group of Girl Guides repairing uniforms of naval officers in March 1940

Conscription

After the war had begun the Government realised that women would be needed to do the jobs left vacant by men who had gone to fight the war. In 1941 an order was given that all unmarried women between 18 and 30, and later married women as well, would have to do some kind of war work. Those who did not join the armed forces would have to work in places like factories, on farms or on the railway. In factories women might have to make planes, tanks, guns or bombs.

 

Government Recruitment Posters

On the land they would do all the work that farm labourers did such as ploughing, feeding animals and milking. Some women even became lumberjacks and felled trees. For more on the Land Army, see below.

Many women did dangerous work like fire fighting or operating anti-aircraft guns and searchlights. They could also volunteer for the local ARP.

This group is made up mainly of Red Cross volunteers and female ARP personnel and was taken at the ARP Headquarters in Old Road, Clacton.

Women also volunteered to join the fire service. Recruitment began before the outbreak of war. They were paid £2 per week and provided with a uniform. Records show that by 1943 there were 18 women in Clacton designated as ‘firewomen'.

When war ended women were no longer needed in the more unusual work. Volunteer groups such as WVS and Red Cross had continuing roles in their peacetime communities. However, heavy, dangerous or technical work went to men who had come back from military service and needed jobs. Women went back to their traditional roles. It was decades before women began to be accepted in occupations previously thought of as only done by men. For instance in the Fire Service, women did not become fire fighters until the 1980s.

In 2005 a memorial was erected in London to the women who died during World War II.

Memorial to Women, Whitehall , London , photographed Nov. 2005

More information on Women in wartime Clacton is available in the next module,
THE LAND ARMY (click to view)