February 2014 A tribute to all who died & suffered as a consequence of World War 1.
This is the second of a series of thirteen articles featuring Carlton China models relating to the terrible conflict that began 100 years ago.
Part Two - Women & the War The Home Front
WW1 poster 1914.
Women Munition workers appeal.
The outcome of the war hinged as much on industrial production as action on the battlefield. With millions of men away fighting there was a severe shortage of labour.
During the war many women were able to help on the home front thereby supporting the men who had gone out to fight. The largest area in which the women worked was in the munitions factories.
The posters that enticed women to work in the factories did not show the awful working conditions. Women's work was essential to the war effort. It was long, tiring and exhausting, as well as often dangerous and hazardous to health.
Between 1914 and 1918, an estimated two million women replaced men in employment. Below, on the left, is a Carlton China model of a munitions worker on which is printed "Doing her bit". As you can see, she is holding a shell and at her feet are piled more shells. The scale of shell production in one of many workshops is shown the other photograph.
Left - "Doing her bit" a Carlton China model of a munitions worker. Right - Women at their work.
WW1 Red Cross poster.
VAD recruitment poster.
Looking after the wounded In addition to professionally trained nurses from the Army Nursing Service, casualties of the war were also looked after by The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD), an organization providing field nursing services, mainly in hospitals.
The organisation was founded in 1909 with the help of the Red Cross and Order of St. John. Its volunters worked under the protected emblem of the red cross.
Beneath, on the left, is a Carlton China model of a VAD nurse, who appears to be holding a feeding bottle and a towel. Below, on the right is a photograph of The Royal Pavillion, Brighton, then owned by the town's Corporation, which was turned into a hospital for wounded from the Indian Army, no doubt so that they would feel at home in the Indian inspired interior.
Left - Carlton China model of a nurse. Right - The Royal Pavillion Brighton turned into a hospital for wounded Indian soldiers.
Women after the War Before the First World War, the traditional female role in Western countries was confined certain types of jobs and to their own domestic sphere, or domestic service. It opened up a wider range of occupations to female workers and hastened the collapse of traditional women's employment.
It is said that WW1 was the event that made modern Britain.
