The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps
This article takes a look at the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, tracing its formation, development and service.
As the combatants of the First World War, struggled with the unprecedented demands of the war for manpower, various strategies were employed to secure more men for the military. Things like varying the age-range for men to be eligible for conscription, relaxing rules on married men serving, combing out industry for non-essential staff who could be pushed into the military and moving men from parts of the military that were under-utilised, such as the German navy, into the active services.
In 1916, a plan to call up men who were beyond the age for military service was considered by the British Department for National Service. Whilst older men might not make effective combat soldiers, they would be able to take over non-combatant roles, freeing up younger men for service in combat units. This idea was great in principle, but analysis of the likely numbers of men that this would provide showed that it would only have a marginal effect. What they needed was a much larger pool of able-bodied people who would be able to jobs that able-bodied men were currently doing; women, being half the population, were the obvious demographic.
However, this was radical thinking at the time and there was plenty of resistance to the idea, but, following the heavy losses of the Somme campaign in the summer and autumn of 1916, something had to be done. Prior to, and at the outbreak of the war in 1914, a number of voluntary organisations for women had been established. These were organisations like the Women’s Sick and Wounded Convoy Corps, the First Aid Yeomanry Corps, the Voluntary Aid Detachments and the Women’s Emergency Corps. These and other organisations were modelled on military patterns, with uniforms, a distinct chain of command and represented a potential core for a women’s service that might help with the manpower situation.
In November 1916, Katherine Furze, the head of the Voluntary Aid Detachments, prompted the Manpower Distribution Board (a committee set up to advise the Cabinet on labour supply to industry) that the Army Council should establish a trained voluntary uniformed corps of women. The express purpose of this new organisation would be to release men from non-combatant roles for service in front line units.
The Army Council began work, looking at the roles that were needed and the numbers of men that would be released if those roles were taken over by women. On the 4th of December 1916, the War Office wrote to Field Marshal Douglas Haig to understand his position on the idea of women substituting for men; on the 10th December he responded that he was, in principle, prepared to accept this step. However, others were not so open to the idea.
Sir Eric Geddes, Director General of Transportation in France, one of the main controllers of non-combatant manpower in the supply chains serving the front and, therefore, the chap who was likely to have to integrate these women volunteers into his organisation, expressed his reservations. Whilst he was happy for women to take over administrative clerk roles, he believed that 10-12% more women than men would be needed. This he justified by saying,
“They cannot stand the long hours which men will work, nor can they stand times of extreme pressure extending over a period of weeks. Further, the proportion of them who are off work for minor complaints is greater than is the case for men.”
With our current viewpoint, this looks like blatant sexism, and I’ve no doubt that it was, but we cannot discount his concern for the operation he was running; any change to the staffing within his operation would risk degrading the service, so I think it was reasonable to build in some contingency into the recruitment levels. Nevertheless, despite his reservations, Geddes requested an initial batch of 96 women for incorporation into his service.
However, despite the obvious need to free up manpower for the front, there was still plenty of bureaucracy to work through before the decision to create the new organisation could be taken.
The types of roles that were to be offered to women needed consideration and some decisions; telegraphists, printers, hospital workers, shorthand writers, typists, clerks, store women and postal workers were all identified as suitable roles for women. The organisation’s approach to military discipline and practices needed to be agreed, for example, it was decided that saluting would not be needed.
Terms of service needed to be determined and the important matter of what type of women should be recruited was discussed; the Voluntary Aid Detachments had been predominantly populated with ladies from the upper-classes, but it was likely that the new organisation would need to recruit from a wider range of the population, not least because of the numbers of women who would be required, but also the nature of the work might not suit women from the more refined sections of society!
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