On International Women’s Day I was thinking about women and their stories in our family history. I’m often frustrated by the very little information available to us about women and what they did in the past. Their work or employment may not have been recorded on the census records, particularly before 1911, though their work may have had a significant impact on the family ability to survive and flourish.
So in order to try to address this in just a very small way I decided to recognise two women whose stories I have come across in the course of research over the years, to celebrate their contribution to both their own families story and also to the wider community of their time.
The Imperial War Museum website is a wonderful source of information and I have accessed their site to find some of these women's stories.
Alice was born in 1894 in Greenstreet, Teynham, Kent. She was the daughter of James Richard Post, a Hairdresser and Henrietta (Hettie) Post. She was employed by Curtis and Harvey factory, near Cliffe in Kent. She was living some way away from the factory and had a five mile walk each way to get to work and she worked both day and night shifts. She was employed in a position that required her to handle TNT (trinitrotoluene) to make explosive shells. Only five weeks after starting employment she fell ill, lost her appetite and her skin became blotchy. She was sent home in a taxi on one occasion as she felt so unwell. Soon after this she died on Dec 31st 1916 aged 22yrs.
The Coroners inquest ruled that she had died of TNT poisoning. The jury ruled that girls employed in this environment should pay attention to washing their overalls properly and that they should be given milk and sugar to add to their cocoa every day on arrival at work as at the time it was thought milk could counteract the adverse effect TNT had on the liver.
Alice was just one of at least 400 women who died from TNT poisoning in World War One when working in Munitions factories. Many other ladies died or were injured in explosions and fires at these factories. These ordinary women's stories are often not heard as the incidents were not widely reported in the media at the time.
The next lady who I would like to recognise happily survived the war, despite finding herself in great peril on more than one occasion.
Joan was born in 1899 in Blackheath, London. Her Father was a Professor of Music. Joan enlisted in the Women's Legion, Mechanical Transport Section as a 'Mechanic / Driver during WW1. This was a volunteer reserve organisation that was set up to relieve men who could then be drafted into the army. The Drivers initially worked in the UK and then later in the war were posted to France.
In 1917 Joan was delivering messages across London when there was a Zeppelin raid
and antiaircraft guns were firing. The rear tyre of the car was blown off, so Joan had to stop amid the mayhem to try to change the wheel. Despite her best efforts she could not fix it, so she just drove on. There was shelling close by, and a bomb went off, but she managed to reach the Ministry of Munitions in Northumberland Avenue and deliver the message. Joan received the Medal of the Order of the British Empire for her bravery on that day.
The following year she was sent to France and drove ambulances ferrying injured men from field stations and casualty clearing stations to put the men on trains to transport them back to England. The sights she must have seen are unimaginable and her courage in doing this work was amazing.
Despite putting herself in the way of danger, Joan survived the war and later, together with a group of other ladies who had been drivers, set up an all women chauffeur company offering holiday tours in England and Europe.
Alice and Joan were just two ordinary women whose lives were anything but ordinary. Of course there were countless women who also had incredible determination and bravery to carry out their duties in conditions that we can only imagine.
Do the women of your family have amazing stories to tell?
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