.ltWomen & the war

The Times,
30 December 1914

A RECORD OF QUIET SERVICE

Some of the easy judgments which we passed six months ago would appear rather foolish to-day. In the pacific era there were those who sadly contrasted the English-woman - "bridge her only interest" - with the businesslike Frenchwoman or the domesticated German frau. To-day our admiration for the daughters of France has assuredly not diminished, and we do not doubt that the women of Germany are meeting the trials of war with the fortitude which we associate with Teutonic stolidity. We respect our neighbours no less, but we have formed a more correct opinion of our own womankind.

Lanam fecit, domi mansit was the Roman ideal of feminine virtues. To-day the women of Great Britain are also knitting their wool, and if they are not staying at home it is because there is work to be done out of doors and in the homes of others. In London the initial heavy work of the War Refugees Committee was almost wholly done by women, and we have seen and appreciated the service given by women to the Queen's Work for Women Fund, the National Relief Committees, and kindred organizations. What we perhaps do not fully recognize is the loyal and silent work which is being performed by women in the towns and villages throughout the kingdom.

The war has brought with it duties which can best be performed by women. When war was declared and the Reservists were called out, many a family lost its only bread-winner. There was delay in the payment of separation allowances, and relief funds had not yet been organized. In the smaller towns and in the villages families were temporarily destitute, and only the ready intervention of the women workers of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Families Association prevented much suffering.

THE EXAMPLE OF PORTSMOUTH

Throughout the country the women workers, of whom little is heard, have acted together in the most ready and energetic manner. To review the whole of the work that has been done is too great an undertaking, but one may instance the case of a town which presented a special problem. In Portsmouth there are many dependents of Service men. Here, at the request of the mayor, the local agents of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Families Association have joined hands with the National Relief Committee, to form a joint body of 80 ladies with their headquarters at the Town Hall. For greater efficiency the work was divided between a Service Committee, which looks after the dependents of Service men, and a Civilian Committee. To these two committees has fallen all the war relief work of the town - no light matter. Since August 4,000 separate families have been visited, and their needs carefully considered and supplied. There is a large hospital for the wounded, controlled by the Red Cross Society and the St. John Ambulance, and staffed by the ladies of the association. At Southsea similar work is done at the Red Cross hospital for wounded British and Belgians.

The way in which all classes are joining together in the work is illustrated by the organization in a small town in Kent. A woman's committee, assisted by local medical men, does practically all the work of the hospital. School teachers, shop assistants, housemaids, and charwomen give up a portion of their small leisure for the clothing of the patients. The wives of men employed in the factories devote part of their morning to the washtub at the hospitals, while others overhaul and repair the clothing of the patients.

A great deal of useful work has been done at Folkestone by the women who have been giving their services to assist the refugees arriving from Belgium and France. The vast majority of refugees have been women and children, and the care of them has naturally fallen upon the shoulders of the women workers. Day after day, and in all kinds of weather, a little band of women has been at Folkestone Harbour helping the women and children, providing them with food and useful advice during their first hour on English soil, and then passing them on to others who deal with them according to their needs.

.lcAs the war progressed, women began to replace a large percentage of the male workforce, only to be told by the unions that their jobs would be temporary. At the end of the war women were dismissed to make way for men returning from abroad.
.llWar and peace: Behind the lines
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