‘Come into the Army, Maud’: Women, Military Conscription, and the Markham Inquiry

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Notes

I am grateful to the Trustees of the Imperial War Museum for allowing me access to their collections and to Finella MacKinnon for granting me permission to quote from the papers of J.R. Macbeth. Every effort has been made to trace other copyright holders.

1 ‘Come into the Army, Maud’, by Sagittarius, New Statesman and Nation 22/563, 6 Dec. 1941, p.469.

2 D.C. Wadge, Women in Uniform (London: Sampson Low/Marston 1946) pp.72–4, 115–19, 177–81.

3 V. Douie, The Lesser Half (London: Women’s Publicity Planning Association 1943) p.32.

4 The National Archives, Kew [hereafter TNA], WO 32/10031, ‘It is an Honour to Serve your Country with the Auxiliary Territorial Service’, War Office, April 1941; ibid., WO 277/6, ‘The Auxiliary Territorial Service’, compiled by Controller J. M. Cowper ATS, War Office, 1949, pp.15–17, 28–31, 67–71, 216–17; War Office, Regulations for the Auxiliary Territorial service (London: HMSO, 1941) pp.27–30; TNA, AIR 2/6373, ‘Women’s Auxiliary Air Force: Notes for the Information of Candidates’, Air Ministry, July 1941; ibid., Air 10/5546, ‘The Women’s Auxiliary Air Force’, Air Ministry (Air Historical Branch, hereafter AHB), 1953, pp.7–8, 38, 59–62; Royal Naval Museum, Portsmouth [hereafter RNM], Wren collection, 230/90(10), ‘Women’s Royal Naval Service: Join the Wrens and Free a Man for the Fleet’, Admiralty, undated; TNA, ADM 234/219, ‘Histories of Special Subjects 1939–1945’, BR 1076, ‘The Women’s Royal Naval Service’, Admiralty, 1956, pp. 45–51, 54–6. The upper age limit for the WRNS was 45 (rather than 43 for the ATS and WAAF) but all the women’s services were prepared to accept women up to the age of 50 if they had exceptional qualifications or experience.

5 TNA, RG 23/5, ‘An Investigation of the Attitudes of Women, the General Public and ATS personnel to the Auxiliary Territorial Service’, the Social Survey, Oct. 1941, pp.30–1; Tom Harrisson Mass Observation Archive, Univ. of Sussex [hereafter MOA], ‘General Picture of WAAF Life’, file report 757, 25 June 1941, p.1; J. Waller and M. Vaughan‐Rees, Women in Uniform 1939–45 (London: Papermac 1989) pp.11–12; E. Taylor, Women Who Went to War 1938–1946 (London: Grafton Books 1989) pp.27–9; G. Braybon and P. Summerfield, Out of the Cage: Women’s Experience in Two World Wars (London: Pandora 1987) p.165.

6 TNA, RG 23/5, ‘An Investigation of the Attitudes of Women, the General Public and ATS Personnel to the Auxiliary Territorial Service’ (note 5) p.31; MOA, ‘General Picture of WAAF Life’ (note 5) p.1; Imperial War Museum, Dept. of Documents, London [hereafter IWM], misc. 156 (2422), ATS file, E. M. Hazell, undated; P. Summerfield, Reconstructing Women’s Wartime Lives: Discourse and Subjectivity in Oral Histories of the Second World War (Manchester UP 1998) p.83.

7 Quoted in Waller and Vaughan‐Rees, Women in Uniform (note 5) p.11.

8 TNA, RG 23/5, ‘An Investigation of the Attitudes of Women, the General Public and ATS personnel to the Auxiliary Territorial Service’ (note 5) p.30.

9 IWM, Papers of J. Myler, 98/9/1, ‘The War under the City’, undated; ibid., Papers of D. Coyne, 93/22/1, untitled manuscript, undated.

10 Ibid., Papers of J.F. Wheatley, 91/36/1, ‘WRNS 1943–1946’, undated; ibid., misc. 156 (2422), WRNS file, P. Burningham, undated; Waller and Vaughan‐Rees, Women in Uniform (note 5) p.6; Summerfield, Reconstructing Women’s Wartime Lives (note 6) p.50.

11 T. Stone, ‘The Integration of Women into a Military Service: The Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in the Second World War’, (Ph.D. Thesis, University of Cambridge 1998) p.93.

12 IWM, Papers of C.I. Lambert, 88/2/1, untitled manuscript, undated.

13 TNA, RG 23/5, ‘An Investigation of the Attitudes of Women, the General Public and ATS Personnel to the Auxiliary Territorial Service’ (note 5) p.47.

14 Ibid., pp.iii, 7.

15 Waller and Vaughan‐Rees, Women in Uniform (note 5) pp.5–6.

16 IWM, Myler (note 9) 98/9/1; ibid., Coyne (note9) 93/22/1.

17 Ibid., misc. 156 (2422), WAAF file, H. L. Williams, undated.

18 TNA, AIR 10/5546, ‘The Women’s Auxiliary Air Force’, p.63; ibid., WO 277/12, ‘Manpower Problems’, compiled by Maj.‐Gen. A.J.K. Pigott, War Office, 1949, App. ‘C’, p.80; ibid., ADM 234/219, ‘The Women’s Royal Naval Service’, pp.63–4; ibid., LAB 76/13, ‘Women’s Auxiliary Services’, by J. L. Brooke‐Wavell, Ministry of Labour, undated, p.106; H.M.D. Parker, Manpower: A Study of War‐time Policy and Administration (London: HMSO 1957), Table iv, p.486. These figures relate to the period Sept. 1939–Dec. 1945. Precise WRNS volunteering figures for Sept. 1939–Dec. 1940 do not seem to be available, so the total given for that service includes an element of estimation.

19 Parker, Manpower (note 18) Table iv, p.485. Between 1939 and 1945 approximately 1.4 million male volunteers joined the armed forces out of a total of 4.6 million men who were enlisted for service. Volunteers made up 20 per cent of the Army’s total intake, 40 per cent of the Royal Navy’s total intake, and 50 per cent of the RAF’s total intake.

20 P. Scott, They Made Invasion Possible (London: Hutchinson 1944) p.31.

21 B. Pimlott, The Queen: A Biography of Elizabeth II (London: HarperCollins 1996) pp.74–5; L. Whateley, As Thoughts Survive (London: Hutchinson 1948) pp.152, 158–9; R. Terry, Women in Khaki: The Story of the British Woman Soldier (London: Columbus Books 1988) pp.160–1; B. Castle, The Castle Diaries 1964–1976 (London: Papermac 1990) p.213.

22 TNA, LAB 76/13, ‘Women’s Auxiliary Services’ (note 18) pp.14–23; Parker, Manpower (note 18) p.283.

23 MOA, ‘Summary of Report on ATS Campaign’, file report 1083, 2 Feb. 1942, p.7; IWM, Papers of M. Hazell, 75/119/1, ‘Just like the men’, undated.

24 IWM, Hazell, 75/119/1 (note 23).

25 TNA, RG 23/5, ‘An Investigation of the Attitudes of Women, the General Public and ATS Personnel to the Auxiliary Territorial Service’ (note 5) p.45; MOA, ‘Summary of Report on ATS Campaign’, file report 1083, 2 Feb. 1942, p.10.

26 Twelfth Report from the Select Committee on National Expenditure (London: HMSO 1940) p.8; Report of the Committee on Amenities and Welfare Conditions in the Three Women’s Services (London: HMSO 1942) pp.5, 9; TNA, LAB 76/13, ‘Women’s Auxiliary Services’ (note 18) pp.139–40; MOA, ‘Summary of Report on ATS Campaign’ (note 23) p.10; L. Noakes, Women in the British Army: War and the Gentle Sex 1907–1948 (London: Routledge 2006) p.107.

27 Quoted in M. Izzard, A Heroine in Her Time: A Life of Dame Helen Gwynne‐Vaughan 1879–1967 (London: Macmillan 1969) p.301.

28 TNA, RG 23/5, ‘An Investigation of the Attitudes of Women, the General Public and ATS Personnel to the Auxiliary Territorial Service’ (note 5) pp.45, 47–8; MOA, ‘Summary of Report on ATS Campaign’ (note 23) p. 9; G.J. De Groot, ‘“I Love the Scent of Cordite in Your Hair”: Gender Dynamics in Mixed Anti‐Aircraft Batteries during the Second World War’, History 82/265 (1997) p.79.

29 TNA, RG 23/5, ‘An Investigation of the Attitudes of Women, the General Public and ATS Personnel to the Auxiliary Territorial Service’ (note 5) p.47.

30 Quoted in P. Summerfield and N. Crockett, ‘“You Weren’t Taught that with the Welding”: Lessons in Sexuality in the Second World War’, Women’s History Review 1/3 (1992) p.442.

31 Izzard, A Heroine in Her Time (note 27) pp.331–42; Terry, Women in Khaki (note 21) pp.123–30; Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King’s College, London [hereafter LHCMA], Papers of R.F. Adam, 3/13, ‘Various Administrative Aspects of the Second World War’, 1960, Ch. 8, p.3; TNA, WO 277/6, ‘The Auxiliary Territorial Service’ (note 4) pp.184–5, 203–4; Noakes, Women in the British Army (note 26) p.110.

32 Whateley, As Thoughts Survive (note 21) p.30.

33 TNA, LAB 76/13, ‘Women’s Auxiliary Services’ (note 18) pp.95–6; Terry, Women in Khaki (note 21) p. 130; Noakes, Women in the British Army (note 26) pp.113–14.

34 TNA, LAB 76/13, ‘Women’s Auxiliary Services’ (note 18) pp.18–20, 89–96; ibid., WO 32/10031, extract from conclusions of a meeting of the War Cabinet, 10 Nov. 1941; Ministry of Labour and National Service: Report for the Years 1939–1946 (London: HMSO 1947) pp.42–3; Parker, Manpower (note 18) pp.143–5, 223–4, 284–85.

35 TNA, LAB 76/13, ‘Women’s Auxiliary Services’ (note 18) pp.26, 97; Parliamentary Debates, 5th series, 1941–42, vol. 376, cols. 1035–6.

36 TNA, LAB 76/13, ‘Women’s Auxiliary Services’ (note 18) p.25.

37 Ibid., pp.26–8.

38 Ibid., p.29; ibid., WO 32/10031, extract from conclusions of a meeting of the War Cabinet, 10 Nov. 1941.

39 Quoted in ibid., TNA, LAB 76/13, ‘Women’s Auxiliary Services’ (note 18) p.29.

40 Ibid., WO 32/10031, extract from conclusions of a meeting of the War Cabinet, 10 Nov. 1941.

41 Ibid., LAB 76/13, ‘Women’s Auxiliary Services’ (note 18) p.32; ibid., CAB 65/20, Minutes of the War Cabinet, WM 121 (41), 28 Nov. 1941; A. Bullock, The Life and Times of Ernest Bevin, Vol. 2, Minister of Labour 1940–1945 (London: Heinemann 1967) pp.137–9.

42 Parliamentary Debates, 5th series, 1941–42, vol. 376, col. 1079.

43 Ibid., col. 1087; Noakes, Women in the British Army (note 26) pp.53, 117.

44 TNA, LAB 76/13, ‘Women’s Auxiliary Services’ (note 18) p.37; Ministry of Labour and National Service: Report for the Years 1939–1946 (note 34) p.10.

45 M. Goldsmith, Women at War (London: Lindsay Drummond 1943) p.36.

46 TNA, LAB 76/13, ‘Women’s Auxiliary Services’ (note 18) pp.31–7, 107–10; Ministry of Labour and National Service: Report for the Years 1939–1946 (note 34) pp.30–1; Parker, Manpower (note 18) p.286; Bullock, Ernest Bevin (note 41) p.139. It should be noted that women between the ages of 18 and 50 could theoretically be called up under the act, but it was indicated in the parliamentary debate that only those between 20 and 30 would be summoned. The liability to serve did not extend to women in Northern Ireland [see J. W. Blake, Northern Ireland in the Second World War (Belfast: Blackstaff Press 2000) pp.198–9].

47 TNA, LAB 76/13, ‘Women’s Auxiliary Services’ (note 18) pp.33–4, 112, 128–9; ‘How the “call up” affects the women of Britain: an official explanation of registration and compulsory call‐up’, The Times, 24 Feb. 1942, p.8. The civil defence option was withdrawn after a few months because of the restricted number of vacancies, but the choice between the women’s services and industry remained.

48 TNA, LAB 76/13, ‘Women’s Auxiliary Services’ (note 18) pp.128–9; ibid., ADM 234/219, ‘The Women’s Royal Naval Service’ (note 4) pp.47–8.

49 Ibid., LAB 76/13, ‘Women’s Auxiliary Services’ (note 18) pp.39, 113–19, 130–4; ibid., WO 32/10663, JAG to AUS, 30 Dec. 1944; ibid., ‘Compulsory Posting Overseas of Members of Auxiliary Territorial Service and Women’s Auxiliary Air Force: Case for the Opinion of the Law Officers’, by Treasury Solicitor, 11 Jan. 1945; ibid., ‘Compulsory Posting Overseas of Members of Auxiliary Territorial Service and Women’s Auxiliary Air Force: Opinion: the Law Officers of the Crown’, by D.B. Somervell and D.P. Maxwell Fyfe, 12 Jan. 1945; NMM, DAU 171/2, ‘National Service acts 1939 to 1941: Position of Women: Explanatory Note’, 1942; Ministry of Labour and National Service: Report for the Years 1939–1946 (note 34) pp.9–10, 30; E. Summerskill, A Woman’s World (London: Heinemann 1967) pp.76–7.

50 TNA, LAB 76/13, ‘Women’s Auxiliary Services’ (note 18) p.111; Parker, Manpower (note 18) Table 4, p. 486.

51 TNA, LAB 76/13, ‘Women’s Auxiliary Services’ (note 18) p.110.

52 Parker, Manpower (note 18) Table IV, p.485. Between 1939 and 1945 approximately 3.2 million male conscripts joined the armed forces out of the total of 4.6 million men who were enlisted for service. Conscripts made up 80 per cent of the Army’s total intake, 60 per cent of the Royal Navy’s total intake, and 50 per cent of the RAF’s total intake.

53 IWM, Papers of J.R. Macbeth, 91/27/1, ‘Lecture to the Reay Women’s Guild’, Feb. 1943.

54 Parliamentary Debates, 5th series, 1941–42, vol. 376, cols. 1066, 1087–8, 1341, 1453–4, 1568.

55 TNA, AIR 2/6374, Ernest Bevin to Sir Archibald Sinclair, 24 Dec. 1941.

56 Ibid., David Margesson to Ernest Bevin, 30 Dec. 1941; ibid., Archibald Sinclair to Ernest Bevin, 1 Jan. 1942.

57 Ibid., Sinclair to Bevin, 1 Jan. 1942.

58 Ibid., ‘Discussion between the Ministers Concerned about the Establishment of Uniform Standards for the Welfare of Women in the Services’, 1 Jan. 1942; ibid., Minutes of 1st Meeting of Committee of Parliamentary Under‐Secretaries of the three Service Departments and the Ministry of Labour, 19 Jan. 1942.

59 Ibid., PREM 4/14/11, Gwendolen Peel to Winston S. Churchill, 23 Dec. 1941; ibid., Irene Ward to Sir John Anderson, 11 Jan. 1942; H.L. Smith, ‘The Womanpower Problem in Britain during the Second World War’, Historical Journal 27/4 (1984) pp.928–32.

60 TNA, PREM 4/14/11, Ward to Anderson, 11 Jan. 1942.

61 Ibid., extract from Parliamentary Debates, vol. 377, 3 Feb. 1942, cols. 1040–2; T. Cazalet‐Keir, From the Wings (London: Bodley Head 1967) p.131; J. Grigg, ‘Keir, Thelma Cazalet‐ (1899–1989)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography [hereafter Oxford DNB] (Oxford: OUP 2004); Smith, ‘The Womanpower Problem’ (note 59) p.936.

62 J. Rosenzweig, ‘The Construction of Policy for Women in the British Armed Forces 1938–1945’, (M.Litt thesis, Univ. of Oxford 1993) pp.107–8.

63 TNA, PREM 4/14/11, TLR [Thomas Leslie Rowan] to Prime Minister, 23 Jan. 1942; ibid., WSC to TLR, 3 Feb. 1942.

64 Ibid., TLR to Prime Minister, 4 Feb. 1942; ibid, note by TLR, 5 Feb. 1942.

65 Ibid., ‘Conditions in the Women’s Services’, by CRA, undated.

66 Ibid.

67 Ibid., WSC to Lord Privy Seal and Sir Edward Bridges, 14 Feb. 1942.

68 V.R. Markham, Return Passage: The Autobiography of Violet R. Markham (London: OUP 1953) pp.155, 225–6; H. Jones, ‘Markham, Violet Rosa (1872–1959)’, Oxford DNB (Oxford: OUP 2004); Report of the Committee of Enquiry Appointed by the Minister of Labour to Enquire into the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps in France (London: HMSO 1918);Cazalet‐Keir, From the Wings (note 61) p.131; Summerskill, A Woman’s World (note 49) pp.75–6; J. Stewart, ‘Summerskill, Edith Clara, Baroness Summerskill (1901–80)’, Oxford DNB (Oxford: OUP 2004); M. Stocks, My Commonplace Book (London: Peter Davies 1970) p.170; D. Sutherland, ‘Stocks, Mary Danvers, Baroness Stocks (1891–1975)’, Oxford DNB (Oxford: OUP 2004); M. Linklater, ‘Elliot, Katherine, Baroness Elliot of Harwood (1903–4)’, Oxford DNB (Oxford: OUP 2004).

69 Report of the Committee on Amenities and Welfare Conditions in the Three Women’s Services (note 26) pp.6–7; Rosenzweig, ‘The Construction of Policy for Women in the British Armed Forces 1938–1945’ (note 62) pp.111–12.

70 Report of the Committee on Amenities and Welfare Conditions in the Three Women’s Services (note 26) pp.8–9, 24–5.

71 Ibid., p.9.

72 Ibid., p. 8.

73 Rosenzweig, ‘The Construction of Policy for Women in the British Armed Forces 1938– 1945’ (note 62) pp.116–17.

74 Douie, The Lesser Half (note 3) p.35.

75 Report of the Committee on Amenities and Welfare Conditions in the Three Women’s Services (note 26) pp.49–52.

76 Ibid., p.51.

77 TNA, AIR 2/8370, ‘The Markham Committee Report’, joint handout by Press Div., Admiralty, Director Public Relations (DPR), War Office, and DPR, Air Ministry, 18 Aug. 1942; ibid., ‘The Markham Report’, joint handout by Press Div., Admiralty, DPR, War Office, and DPR, Air Ministry, 21 Aug. 1942.

78 Whateley, As Thoughts Survive (note 21) p.71; LHCMA, Papers of R.F. Adam, 3/13, ‘Various Administrative Aspects of the Second World War’ (note 31) Ch. 8, p.4; TNA, LAB 76/13, ‘Women’s Auxiliary Services’ (note 18) pp.150–1.

79 Whateley, As Thoughts Survive (note 21) p.152.

80 TNA, LAB 76/13, ‘Women’s Auxiliary Services’ (note 18) pp.75–7, 138.

81 Call Up to the Forces in 1947 and 1948 (London: HMSO 1946) p.3.

82 Parliamentary Debates, 5th series, 1941–42, vol. 435, cols. 1955–6; Noakes, Women in the British Army (note 26) p.145.