Women in Wartime

The war was only two weeks old when the British Government announced plans for the gradual drafting of at least one million women into war work. They would replace men in occupations such as bus conductors, railway cleaners, textile workers, clerks, shop assistants, and in processed food factories. At this early stage of the war, it was thought that at least 500,000 women would be needed by munitions works, though not in skilled work. By 1945 it is estimated that around 770,000 women were working in engineering, shipbuilding, and vehicle construction. 640,000 were serving in the armed forces, 10,000 in the Merchant Navy, and 260,000 were working in munitions. Tens of thousands more were working in transport (railways, buses and trams, canals, road haulage) and 74,000 were in the Women's Land Army with a further 6000 in the Women's Timber Corps. Others worked in local government, the police, or the post office. Still more were employed in Civil Defence where one in six full time ARP wardens was a woman. Others were pilots ferrying new aircraft from manufacturers to RAF squadrons. At Bletchley Park, women played a major role in deciphering enemy codes, and a very brave few were trained as secret agents operating in enemy held territory. This book contains 200+ Mirrorpix Archive photographs featuring some of the many roles undertaken in women in Britain during the six years of the greatest armed conflict world history. The Mirrorpix Archive includes images from the Daily Mirror, Daily Herald, Daily Record, Western Mail, Manchester Evening News, Liverpool Echo, Birmingham Post & Mail, Coventry Telegraph and the Derby Telegraph.