jenfer
29-11-2007, 12:30 AM
Hi
I've got a total brain block on this, I know I should know where these records are or if they still exist but for the life of me I can't remember or get the search right on the National Archives!
Below is what a friend sent me when I asked what he was looking for. Can someone prod my memory please!!!
Jen
feeling rather scatty!!!
.................................................. ............
During World War One, women volunteered for essential work in order to release men to go into the armed forces. Some 25 years later, as World War Two loomed, campaigns emphasised the need for women to volunteer in similar fashion. It was always clear, however, that this time volunteering was not going to meet the demands of wartime production, and in 1940, a secret report by Sir William Beveridge demonstrated that the conscription of women, as well as of men, was unavoidable.
'...it was emphasised that women would not be required to bear arms.'
From spring 1941, every woman in Britain aged 18-60 had to be registered, and their family occupations were recorded. Each was interviewed, and required to choose from a range of jobs, although it was emphasised that women would not be required to bear arms. Many women, however, were eventually to work - and die - under fire.
In December 1941, the National Service Act (no 2) made the conscription of women legal. At first, only single women aged 20-30 were called up, but by mid-1943, almost 90 per cent of single women and 80 per cent of married women were employed in essential work for the war effort.
I've got a total brain block on this, I know I should know where these records are or if they still exist but for the life of me I can't remember or get the search right on the National Archives!
Below is what a friend sent me when I asked what he was looking for. Can someone prod my memory please!!!
Jen
feeling rather scatty!!!
.................................................. ............
During World War One, women volunteered for essential work in order to release men to go into the armed forces. Some 25 years later, as World War Two loomed, campaigns emphasised the need for women to volunteer in similar fashion. It was always clear, however, that this time volunteering was not going to meet the demands of wartime production, and in 1940, a secret report by Sir William Beveridge demonstrated that the conscription of women, as well as of men, was unavoidable.
'...it was emphasised that women would not be required to bear arms.'
From spring 1941, every woman in Britain aged 18-60 had to be registered, and their family occupations were recorded. Each was interviewed, and required to choose from a range of jobs, although it was emphasised that women would not be required to bear arms. Many women, however, were eventually to work - and die - under fire.
In December 1941, the National Service Act (no 2) made the conscription of women legal. At first, only single women aged 20-30 were called up, but by mid-1943, almost 90 per cent of single women and 80 per cent of married women were employed in essential work for the war effort.