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Women's Land Army

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Members of the British Women's Land Army harvesting beetroot (1942/43
Members of the British Women's Land Army harvesting beetroot (1942/43

The Women's Land Army (WLA) was a British civilian organisation created in 1917 by the Board of Agriculture during the First World War to bring women into work in agriculture, replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the WLA were commonly known as Land Girls (Land Lassies).[1] The Land Army placed women with farms that needed workers, the farmers being their employers. The women picked crops and did all the jobs that the men had done. Notable members include Joan Quennell, later a Member of Parliament, the archaeologist Lily Chitty and the botanist Ethel Thomas. It was disbanded in 1919 but revived in June 1939 under the same name to again organise women to replace workers called up to the military during the Second World War.

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Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (United Kingdom)

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (United Kingdom)

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) was a United Kingdom government department created by the Board of Agriculture Act 1889 and at that time called the Board of Agriculture, and then from 1903 the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, and from 1919 the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. It attained its final name in 1955 with the addition of responsibilities for the British food industry to the existing responsibilities for agriculture and the fishing industry, a name that lasted until the Ministry was dissolved in 2002, at which point its responsibilities had been merged into the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, fisheries and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to live in cities. While humans started gathering grains at least 105,000 years ago, nascent farmers only began planting them around 11,500 years ago. Sheep, goats, pigs and cattle were domesticated around 10,000 years ago. Plants were independently cultivated in at least 11 regions of the world. In the twentieth century, industrial agriculture based on large-scale monocultures came to dominate agricultural output.

Joan Quennell

Joan Quennell

Joan Mary Quennell was a British Conservative politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Petersfield from 1960 to 1974.

Lily Chitty

Lily Chitty

Lily Frances "Lal" Chitty, was a British archaeologist and independent scholar, who specialised in the prehistoric archaeology of Wales and the west of England. She has been described as one of the "pioneers in the mapping of archaeological data".

Ethel Thomas

Ethel Thomas

Ethel Nancy Miles Thomas was a British botanist, best known for her work on double fertilisation in flowering plants as the first British person to publish on the topic. Thomas studied at University College London, largely as a research apprentice to Ethel Sargant, receiving her BSc in 1905. She joined Bedford College and soon became head of the newly formed botany department. Thomas left the Bedford College in 1913, subsequently holding roles at University of South Wales, National Museum of Wales and in the Women's Land Army, before settling at University College, Leicester.

History

First World War

Working on a potato crop during the First World War
Working on a potato crop during the First World War

The Women's Farm and Garden Union had existed since 1899 and in February 1916 they sent a deputation to meet Lord Selborne.[2] Selborne's Ministry of Agriculture agreed to fund a Women’s National Land Service Corps with a grant of £150.[3] Louise Wilkins was to lead the new organisation that was to focus on recruiting women for emergency war work.[4] They were tasked with improving recruitment and provide propaganda about the good cause of women of all classes undertaking agricultural work.[3] The new members of the organisation were to not become agricultural workers but to organise others (eg in villages) to do this work. By the end of 1916 they had recruited 2,000 volunteers but they estimated that 40,000 was required.[3] At the Women’s National Land Service Corps's suggestion a Land Army was formed. The WNLSC continued to deal with recruitment and the network assisted in the launch of a "Land Army"; by April 1917 they had over 500 replies and 88 joined the new Land Army where they became group leaders and supervisors.[5][3]

First World War poster
First World War poster

In time the Land Army would take on 23,000 workers who took the place of the 100,000 workers lost to the forces. The women were paid 18 shillings a week and this could be increased to 20 shillings (a pound) if they were considered efficient. 23,000 was a significant contribution but there were estimated to be 300,000 women working on the land during the First World War.[6]

A Good Service Ribbon was awarded to eligible women.[7] January 1918 saw the publication of the first issue of The Landswoman, the official monthly magazine of the Women’s Land Army and the Women’s Institutes.[8] The organisation was disbanded in November 1919.[9]

Second World War

As the prospect of war became increasingly likely, the government wanted to increase the amount of food grown within Britain. In April 1939, peacetime conscription was introduced for the first ever in British history, which led to shortages of workers on the farms. To grow more food, more help was needed on the farms and so the government restarted the Women's Land Army in July 1939. Though under the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, it was given an honorary head – Lady Denman. At first it asked for volunteers. This was supplemented by conscription, so that by 1944 it had over 80,000 members.

Inez Jenkins, who had served as Lady Deman's assistant director during the establishment of the WLA served as Chief Administrative Officer until 1948. The last Chief of the WLA was Amy Curtis.[10][11] The WLA lasted until its official disbandment on 30 November 1950.[12]

The majority of the Land Girls already lived in the countryside, but more than a third came from London and the industrial cities of the north of England. A separate branch was set up in 1942 for forestry industry work, officially known as the Women's Timber Corps and with its members colloquially known as "Lumber Jills" – this was disbanded in 1946.[13]

In 1943, during the Second World War, Amelia King was refused work because she was black. The decision was overturned after being raised in the House of Commons by her MP, Walter Edwards.[14][15]

Commemoration

In October 2012, the Prince of Wales unveiled the first memorial to the WLA of both World Wars, on the Fochabers estate in Moray, Scotland. The sculpture was designed by Peter Naylor.[16] In October 2014, a memorial statue to the Women's Timber Corps and both incarnations of the Women's Land Army was unveiled at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, England.[17]

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William Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne

William Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne

William Waldegrave Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne, styled Viscount Wolmer between 1882 and 1895, was a British politician and colonial administrator, who served as High Commissioner for Southern Africa.

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (United Kingdom)

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (United Kingdom)

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) was a United Kingdom government department created by the Board of Agriculture Act 1889 and at that time called the Board of Agriculture, and then from 1903 the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, and from 1919 the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. It attained its final name in 1955 with the addition of responsibilities for the British food industry to the existing responsibilities for agriculture and the fishing industry, a name that lasted until the Ministry was dissolved in 2002, at which point its responsibilities had been merged into the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Conscription

Conscription

Conscription is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day under various names. The modern system of near-universal national conscription for young men dates to the French Revolution in the 1790s, where it became the basis of a very large and powerful military. Most European nations later copied the system in peacetime, so that men at a certain age would serve 1–8 years on active duty and then transfer to the reserve force.

Amy Curtis

Amy Curtis

Amy Curtis, was an Irish administrator, superintendent of the Women's Royal Naval Service in the Portsmouth command and the final chief administrative officer of the Women's Land Army.

Women's Timber Corps

Women's Timber Corps

The Women's Timber Corps (WTC) was a British civilian organisation created during the Second World War to work in forestry, replacing men who had left to join the armed forces. Women who joined the WTC were commonly known as Lumber Jills.

Amelia King

Amelia King

Amelia King (1917–1995) was a British woman who was refused entry into the Women's Land Army, during World War II, because she was black. This example of racial segregation in the UK was debated in the House of Commons and was covered in newspapers internationally including The Chicago Defender. The decision would eventually be reversed.

House of Commons

House of Commons

The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. The leader of the majority party in the House of Commons by convention becomes the prime minister. Other parliaments have also had a lower house called the "House of Commons".

Stoker Edwards

Stoker Edwards

Walter James Edwards, known as Stoker Edwards or Wally Edwards, was a British Labour Party politician.

National Memorial Arboretum

National Memorial Arboretum

The National Memorial Arboretum is a British site of national remembrance at Alrewas, near Lichfield, Staffordshire. Its objective is to honour the fallen, recognise service and sacrifice, and foster pride in the British Armed Forces and civilian community.

Recognition

Statue at the National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire
Statue at the National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire

In December 2007, following campaigning by former Land Girl Hilda Gibson, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) announced that the efforts of the Women's Land Army and the Women's Timber Corps would be formally recognised with the presentation of a specially designed commemorative badge to the surviving members. The badge of honour was awarded in July 2008 to over 45,000 former Land Girls.[18]

In October 2012, the Prince of Wales unveiled the first memorial to the WLA of both World Wars, on the Fochabers estate in Moray, Scotland. The sculpture was designed by Peter Naylor.[19] In October 2014, a memorial statue to the Women's Timber Corps and both incarnations of the Women's Land Army was unveiled at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, England.[20]

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Alrewas

Alrewas

Alrewas is a village and civil parish in the Lichfield District of Staffordshire, England.

Staffordshire

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands County and Worcestershire to the south and Shropshire to the west.

Hilda Gibson

Hilda Gibson

Hilda Kaye Gibson was a member of the Women's Land Army, colloquially known as the Land Girls, during the Second World War, and campaigned to gain official governmental recognition for the service of WLA members.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in the United Kingdom. Concordats set out agreed frameworks for co operation, between it and the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive, which have devolved responsibilities for these matters in their respective nations.

National Memorial Arboretum

National Memorial Arboretum

The National Memorial Arboretum is a British site of national remembrance at Alrewas, near Lichfield, Staffordshire. Its objective is to honour the fallen, recognise service and sacrifice, and foster pride in the British Armed Forces and civilian community.

In popular culture

The Women's Land Army was the subject of:

It also figured largely in:

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Angela Huth

Angela Huth

Angela Huth is an English novelist and journalist.

Backs to the Land

Backs to the Land

Backs to the Land is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 15 April 1977 to 1 September 1978. Starring Philippa Howell, Terese Stevens and Marilyn Galsworthy, Backs to the Land is set during World War II. It was written by David Climie and the theme song was sung by World War II sweetheart Anne Shelton. It was made for the ITV network by Anglia Television.

Land Girls (TV series)

Land Girls (TV series)

Land Girls is a British television period drama series, first broadcast on BBC One on 7 September 2009. Land Girls was created by Roland Moore and commissioned by the BBC to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War. The programme was BBC Daytime's first commission of a period drama. Land Girls was filmed in and around the city of Birmingham. The first series features Summer Strallen, Christine Bottomley, Jo Woodcock and Becci Gemmell as four girls doing their bit for Britain in the Women's Land Army during the war.

Powell and Pressburger

Powell and Pressburger

The British film-making partnership of Michael Powell (1905–1990) and Emeric Pressburger (1902–1988)—together often known as The Archers, the name of their production company—made a series of influential films in the 1940s and 1950s. Their collaborations—24 films between 1939 and 1972—were mainly derived from original stories by Pressburger with the script written by both Pressburger and Powell. Powell did most of the directing while Pressburger did most of the work of the producer and also assisted with the editing, especially the way the music was used. Unusually, the pair shared a writer-director-producer credit for most of their films. The best-known of these are The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), A Canterbury Tale (1944), I Know Where I'm Going! (1945), A Matter of Life and Death (1946), Black Narcissus (1947), The Red Shoes (1948), and The Tales of Hoffmann (1951).

A Canterbury Tale

A Canterbury Tale

A Canterbury Tale is a 1944 British film by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger starring Eric Portman, Sheila Sim, Dennis Price and Sgt. John Sweet; Esmond Knight provided narration and played two small roles. For the post-war American release, Raymond Massey narrated and Kim Hunter was added to the film. The film was made in black and white, and was the first of two collaborations between Powell and Pressburger and cinematographer Erwin Hillier.

Sheila Sim

Sheila Sim

Sheila Beryl Grant Sim, Baroness Attenborough was an English film and theatre actress. She was also the wife of the actor, director and peer Richard Attenborough.

Foyle's War

Foyle's War

Foyle's War is a British detective drama television series set during and shortly after the Second World War, created by Midsomer Murders screenwriter and author Anthony Horowitz and commissioned by ITV after the long-running series Inspector Morse ended in 2000. It began broadcasting on ITV in October 2002. ITV director of programmes Simon Shaps cancelled Foyle's War in 2007, but Peter Fincham revived the programme after good ratings for 2008's fifth series. The final episode was broadcast on 18 January 2015, after eight series.

A Presumption of Death

A Presumption of Death

A Presumption of Death is a 2002 Lord Peter Wimsey–Harriet Vane mystery novel by Jill Paton Walsh, based loosely on The Wimsey Papers by Dorothy L. Sayers. The novel is Walsh's first original Lord Peter Wimsey novel, following Thrones, Dominations, which Sayers left as an unfinished manuscript, and was completed by Walsh. A Presumption of Death is written by Walsh, except for excerpts from The Wimsey Papers.

Jill Paton Walsh

Jill Paton Walsh

Gillian Honorine Mary Herbert, Baroness Hemingford,, known professionally as Jill Paton Walsh, was an English novelist and children's writer. She may be known best for her Booker Prize-nominated novel Knowledge of Angels and for the Peter Wimsey–Harriet Vane mysteries that continued the work of Dorothy L. Sayers.

Harriet Vane

Harriet Vane

Harriet Deborah Vane, later Lady Peter Wimsey, is a fictional character in the works of British writer Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957).

Lord Peter Wimsey

Lord Peter Wimsey

Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey is the fictional protagonist in a series of detective novels and short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers. A dilettante who solves mysteries for his own amusement, Wimsey is an archetype for the British gentleman detective. He is often assisted by his valet and former batman, Mervyn Bunter; by his good friend and later brother-in-law, police detective Charles Parker; and, in a few books, by Harriet Vane, who becomes his wife.

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For government statistical purposes, it forms part of the East of England region.

Source: "Women's Land Army", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, March 6th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women's_Land_Army.

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See also
References
  1. ^ "Before Rosie the Riveter, Farmerettes Went to Work"
  2. ^ "History – WFGA". Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d "WW1 Women Land Worker Organisations". Women's Land Army.co.uk. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  4. ^ "Wilkins [née Jebb], Louisa (1873–1929), agricultural administrator". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/50178. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  5. ^ "brassard, British, Women's National Land Service Corps". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  6. ^ "Formation". Women's Land Army.co.uk. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  7. ^ 97 years ago today: Presentation of Good Service Ribbons in Stafford, 1919
  8. ^ "The Landswoman Magazine (WW1)". The Women’s Land Army. Cherish Watton. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  9. ^ 'Women's Land Army', Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 6 October 1919, page
  10. ^ "Timeline 1948 - Bedfordshire Women's Land Army - The Virtual Library". virtual-library.culturalservices.net. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  11. ^ Hawkins, Richard (2009). "Curtis, Amy". In McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.). Dictionary of Irish Biography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  12. ^ "Disbandment".
  13. ^ Vickers, Emma (2011). "'The Forgotten Army of the Woods': The Women's Timber Corps during the Second World War" (PDF). Agricultural History Review. British Agricultural History Society. 59 (1): 101–112.
  14. ^ Bourne, Stephen (2012). The Motherland Calls: Britain's Black Servicemen & Women, 1939-45. Stroud: The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-9071-7. OCLC 817869839.
  15. ^ Romain, Gemma (2017). Race, sexuality and identity in Britain and Jamaica: the biography of Patrick Nelson, 1916-1963. London. ISBN 978-1-4725-8865-4. OCLC 994808229.
  16. ^ "The Prince of Wales unveils memorial to Women's Land Army". Prince of Wales. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
  17. ^ "Memorial Arboretum Land Girls monument unveiled after three-year fundraising campaign". BBC News.
  18. ^ "Women's Land Army". UK National Archives. Archived from the original on 23 January 2013.
  19. ^ "The Prince of Wales unveils memorial to Women's Land Army". Prince of Wales. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
  20. ^ "Memorial Arboretum Land Girls monument unveiled after three-year fundraising campaign". BBC News. 21 October 2014.
  21. ^ "The Land Girls (1998)". Rotten Tomatoes.
  22. ^ Smith, Julia Llewellyn (27 February 2010). "Land girls: disquiet on the home front". The Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 10 April 2012. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  23. ^ "Backs To The Land, 1977". britishclassiccomedy.co.uk. 25 October 2016.
  24. ^ "Mobilising Land Girls". Writers' Guild of Great Britain. 24 September 2009. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 17 January 2011.
  25. ^ House, Christian (30 August 2014). "A Canterbury Tale at 70: a ray of English sunshine". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 21 February 2016.
  26. ^ "Foyle's War:They Fought in the Fields". nothing-fancy.com.
  27. ^ "Fiction Book Review: A PRESUMPTION OF DEATH by Jill Paton Walsh, Author, Dorothy L. Sayers, Author. St. Martin's Minotaur $24.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-312-29100-6". Publishers Weekly.
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