Women's Land Army
Encyclopedia
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and Second World Wars
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
to work in agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the WLA were commonly known as Land Girls. The name Women's Land Army was also used in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
for an organization formerly called the Woman's Land Army of America
Woman's Land Army of America
The Woman's Land Army of America , later the Women's Land Army , was a civilian organization created during the First and Second World Wars to work in agriculture replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the WLAA were sometimes known as farmerettes...
.
In effect the Land Army operated to place women with farms that needed workers, the farmers being their employers.
First World War
The Board of Agriculture organised the Land Army during the Great War, starting activities in 1915. Towards the end of 1917 there were over 250,000 - 260,000 women working as farm labourers, with 20,000 in the land army itself.With 6 million men away to fight in the First World War Britain was struggling for labour.
The government wanted women to get more involved in the production of food and do their part to support the war effort. This was the beginning of the Women’s Land Army.
Many traditional farmers were against this so the board of trade sent agricultural organisers to speak with farmers to encourage them to accept women’s work on the farms.
Second World War
As the prospect of war became increasingly likely, the government wanted to increase the amount of food grown within Britain. In order to grow more food, more help was needed on the farms and so the government started the Women's Land Army in June 1939.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.
In the Second World War, though under the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, it was given an honorary head - Lady Denman
Gertrude Denman
Gertrude Mary Denman, Baroness Denman, GBE , née Pearson, sometimes known as Trudie, was a British woman active in women's rights issues including the promotion of Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom...
. At first it asked for volunteers. This was supplemented by conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
, so that by 1944 it had over 80,000 members. The WLA lasted until its official disbandment on 21 October 1950.
In popular culture
The Women's Land Army was the subject of the Angela Huth book Land Girls and a film loosely based on the book, The Land GirlsThe Land Girls (film)
The Land Girls is a 1998 movie directed by David Leland and starring Catherine McCormack, Rachel Weisz, Anna Friel, Steven Mackintosh and Ann Bell. It is based on the book Land Girls by Angela Huth.-Synopsis:...
, and also of the 1970s ITV sitcom Backs to the Land
Backs to the Land
Backs to the Land is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 1977 to 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...
.
It also figured largely in a 2004 episode of the ITV detective series Foyle's War
Foyle's War
Foyle's War is a British detective drama television series set during World War II, created by screenwriter and author Anthony Horowitz, and was commissioned by ITV after the long-running series Inspector Morse came to an end in 2000. It has aired on ITV since 2002...
, entitled "They Fought in the Fields".
In the detective novel A Presumption of Death
A Presumption of Death
A Presumption of Death is a mystery novel by Jill Paton Walsh, based loosely on The Wimsey Papers by Dorothy L. Sayers. The Wimsey Papers were a series of articles published by Sayers during World War II, purporting to be letters written between the various Wimseys during the war A Presumption of...
, taking place in the early days of World War II, the plot centers on Harriet Vane
Harriet Vane
Harriet Deborah Vane, later Lady Peter Wimsey, is a fictional character in the works of British writer Dorothy L. Sayers ....
and Lord Peter Wimsey
Lord Peter Wimsey
Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey is a bon vivant amateur sleuth in a series of detective novels and short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers, in which he solves mysteries; usually, but not always, murders...
trying to solve the murder of a land girl who had come to work at a village in Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
.
Influence
During World War II the Women's Land Army of America was also formed in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as part of the Emergency Farm Labor Service, lasting from 1943 to 1947, and the Australian Women's Land Army
Australian Women's Land Army
The Australian Women's Land Army was an organisation created in World War II in Australia to combat rising labour shortages in the farming sector. The AWLA was formed on 27 July 1942 and was modelled on Women's Land Army in Great Britain. When Japan joined the Axis in 1941 male agricultural labour...
was formed in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, lasting from 27 July 1942 until 1945.
Related organisations
- The Women's Timber CorpsWomen's Timber CorpsThe Women's Timber Corps 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...
worked in the forestry industry. Its members were colloquially known as "Lumber Jills".
Recognition
In December 2007, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is the government department responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in the United Kingdom...
(DEFRA) announced that the efforts of the surviving members 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.http://www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/farmmanage/working/wla/index.htm
The badge of honour was awarded in July 2008 to over 30,000 former Land Girls.
See also
- Australian Women's Land ArmyAustralian Women's Land ArmyThe Australian Women's Land Army was an organisation created in World War II in Australia to combat rising labour shortages in the farming sector. The AWLA was formed on 27 July 1942 and was modelled on Women's Land Army in Great Britain. When Japan joined the Axis in 1941 male agricultural labour...
- Woman's Land Army of AmericaWoman's Land Army of AmericaThe Woman's Land Army of America , later the Women's Land Army , was a civilian organization created during the First and Second World Wars to work in agriculture replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the WLAA were sometimes known as farmerettes...
- Victory gardenVictory gardenVictory gardens, also called war gardens or food gardens for defense, were vegetable, fruit and herb gardens planted at private residences and public parks in United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Germany during World War I and World War II to reduce the pressure on the public food supply...
- Rosie the RiveterRosie the RiveterRosie the Riveter is a cultural icon of the United States, representing the American women who worked in factories during World War II, many of whom produced munitions and war supplies. These women sometimes took entirely new jobs replacing the male workers who were in the military...
- Home Front during World War IIHome front during World War IIThe home front covers the activities of the civilians in a nation at war. World War II was a total war; homeland production became even more invaluable to both the Allied and Axis powers. Life on the home front during World War II was a significant part of the war effort for all participants and...
- Air Transport AuxiliaryAir Transport AuxiliaryThe Air Transport Auxiliary was a British World War II civilian organisation that ferried new, repaired and damaged military aircraft between UK factories, assembly plants, transatlantic delivery points, Maintenance Units , scrap yards, and active service squadrons and airfields—but not to...
- WAAFWomen's Auxiliary Air ForceThe Women's Auxiliary Air Force , whose members were invariably referred to as Waafs , was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II, established in 1939. At its peak strength, in 1943, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000, with over 2,000 women enlisting per week.A Women's Royal Air...
- The Land GirlsThe Land Girls (film)The Land Girls is a 1998 movie directed by David Leland and starring Catherine McCormack, Rachel Weisz, Anna Friel, Steven Mackintosh and Ann Bell. It is based on the book Land Girls by Angela Huth.-Synopsis:...
a 1998 film - Canary girlCanary girlThe canary girls were the United Kingdom's trinitrotoluene shell makers of World War I . The nickname arose because exposure to TNT can turn the skin orange-yellow , similar to the plumage of the bird, the canary.Since most men were joining the military, women were required to fill factory jobs...
- Land Girls a BBC drama
- Lotta SvardLotta SvärdLotta Svärd was a Finnish voluntary auxiliary paramilitary organisation for women. During the Finnish Civil War it was associated with the Suojeluskunta. After the war Lotta Svärd was founded as a separate organisation on September 9, 1920. The name comes from a poem by Johan Ludvig Runeberg...
Further reading
- Bates, Martha. Snagging Turnips and Scaling Muck : The Women's Land Army in Westmorland Kendal Helm Press 2001 ISBN 0953183696
- Kramer, Ann. Land Girls and their Impact, Remember When (2008), ISBN 9781844680290.
- Rattray, Veronica. My Land Girl Years, Athena Press (2009), ISBN 9781847485267.
- Twinch, Carol. Women on the Land: Their story during two world wars, Lutterworth Press (1990), ISBN 9780718828141.
- Tyrer, Nicola They Fought in the Fields: The Women's Land Army: The Story of a Forgotten Victory, Mandarin (1997), ISBN 0749320567.