During WWI and WWII, the Women’s Land Army contributed greatly to food production in Britain. These women worked tirelessly on farms across the United Kingdom in an effort to support struggling farmers who had lost their mostly male workforce to the armed forces. They completed a variety of agricultural jobs, including harvesting, plowing, fruit picking, milking cows, and even rat-catching, among other work. Between 1939 and 1950, the Women’s Land Army employed over 200,000 women who worked the fields of Britain (rain or shine) and ensured families across the nation were fed.
Origins of the Women’s Land Army
By the winter of 1915, in the midst of the Great War, farmers across the UK found it difficult to carry out seasonal work and produce food. Thousands of men had been sent to continental Europe to fight on the frontlines, and along with those men were farmhands who had to leave their jobs to take up arms. German submarines also posed a threat to supplies, creating panic across Britain. To assist in the war effort, women began volunteering on farms. In 1916, the Women’s National Land Service Corps was established to employ women on farmland. Counties across the nation also created War Agricultural Committees to aid in food production. However, many of these committees did not encourage women to join as members felt they would not be able to handle the work.
In the face of mounting prejudice against women in the workforce, the Board of Agriculture sought to showcase women’s capabilities on farms by hosting rallies, competitions, and demonstrations in which women showed that they could do farm work just as well as men. These rallies, demonstrations, and competitions proved fruitful when a Women’s Branch of the Board of Agriculture, headed by Director Meriel Talbot, was created in 1917. In the spring of that year, Talbot established the Women’s Land Army (WLA), a civilian women’s labor force that would recruit and train young adult women in farm work.
Land Girls in the Great War
The WLA interview process consisted of a medical exam and an aptitude test to assess women’s capabilities for physical labor. Women who were familiar with agricultural work and were currently jobless and women over the age of 20 were prioritized in the recruitment process. If successful, the women would be sent to one of the WLA training centers, which were held on selected farms, or they would be sent to agricultural colleges to attend courses. By the autumn of 1917, hundreds of training centers had been created. At the end of the four/six-week training period at these centers, female recruits were sent to struggling farms across the UK.
Women’s Land Army recruitment posters illustrating a starving Britain appealed to women across the UK, encouraging them to join. Rallies showcasing WLA members in their uniforms inspired others to enter the labor force. Between March 1917 and May 1919, 23,000 women had become official full-time Women’s Land Army members.
Members of the WLA were known as “Land Girls,” and they completed a variety of work on farms, including agricultural labor, such as caring for livestock and milking, timber cutting, and foraging. They generally signed up for twelve-month contracts and could be sent to farms anywhere in Britain. Revolutionary for the time, women in the WLA wore breeches as part of their uniform so that they could perform agricultural work more readily. Some women even chose to have their hair “bobbed” short, which was seen as unladylike at the time.
At the end of WWI, the Women’s Land Army disbanded but was reinstated in 1939, when WWII began.
The Women’s Land Army During WWII
In 1939, the Women’s Land Army reformed. Recruits initially volunteered to serve in the labor force, and by the fall of 1941, 20,000 women had volunteered. By late 1941, women could also be conscripted into the Land Army.
Women in big cities like London were intrigued by the WLA, believing it would provide a healthy and invigorating lifestyle. Many of the Land Girls lived on the farms they worked; however, these farms could be lonely and isolating for the women, especially those from cities, where they were used to frequent socializing and living in more modern facilities. Therefore, hostels were set up to facilitate them, and by 1944, 22,000 Land Girls were living in 700 hostels across Britain. The new system also made it easier for farmers’ wives who did not have to cook for the Land Girls.
While women earned 28 shillings per week, men performing similar work were paid ten more than that. During the winter months, the Land Girls worked 48 hours per week, and during the summer, they worked two extra hours. The women were not given holidays, but this changed in 1943 with the passing of the Land Girls Charter, which guaranteed one week of holiday per year and increased the minimum wage.
The Women’s Land Army’s Duties on the Homefront
During WWII, Land Girls were once again tasked with cultivating land so that Britain could provide food to its people instead of relying on imported goods. Land Girls were involved in growing crops, like tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, and potatoes. The produce was provided to those on the homefront and those fighting on enemy lines, like soldiers on naval hospital ships.
The women took part in various agricultural jobs as part of their duties and even worked alongside Prisoners of War (POWs). In 1943, 40,000 Italian POWs were working with the Land Girls. Though some Land Girls actually worked as gardeners on private country estates and in botanic gardens, most women completed general farm work as part of their WLA duties.
In an excerpt from The Land Girl, published in the February 1946 issue of The Land Girl, E. Entwisle describes her experience of being part of the WLA during WWII:
She walks a dozen miles each day,
She carries bales of straw,
She cuts the corn and mows the hay,
She learns to chop and saw.
She ploughs, she sows, she tends, she reaps
The harvest when it’s ripe.
She milks the cows—their records keeps
(It’s time she had a stripe!)
She toils with pitchfork, spade and knife,
She very rarely stops,
But ask her if she likes the life,
She answers, “It’s the tops!”
Dairy Farming & Animal Farming
By 1944, nearly a quarter of Land Girls worked as dairy farmers. Land Girls could be tasked with overseeing up to 40 cows at a time. They assisted with milking the cows, washing the udders, recording how much milk the cows produced, cleaning the equipment used for the milking process, and even delivering milk to the surrounding communities.
Many of the women in the WLA spent much of their time tending to livestock on farms. They assisted with the care of pigs and other animals, tending to them from birth. They made food for the animals, assisted with the birthing process, and separated breeds. The Land Girls would shear sheep and feed lambs.
Rat Catching & Pest Control
Millions of rats and pests existed across the British Isles and threatened food supplies on farms. Therefore, some Land Girls were put into anti-vermin squads to act as pest control. They were also tasked with catching moles, foxes, and rabbits.
Two Land Girls were even recognized as top rat catchers, having killed 12,000 rats in a year. As part of their pest control training, the women were tasked with applying pesticide powder and spray to apple trees. They also assisted with eradicating the Colorado beetle, a pest that threatens potato crops.
Hedging and Ditching, Plowing and Threshing
The Land Girls cut and laid hedges, even cleared ditches and wasteland, and cut back trees to ensure animals wouldn’t get trapped or escape. In fact, in East Anglia, the Women’s Land Army assisted the government in draining thousands of acres in an effort to reclaim the land for food production, using excavators and tractors in the process.
The Land Girls also became familiar with plowing, often learning the practice on the job from more experienced farmhands. They learned how to maneuver heavy machinery, which was a skill they could list on future job applications, widening job prospects for women.
The Land Girls became skilled at threshing, especially during harvest season in the late summer months. After reaping the harvest, the women would take part in threshing, wherein they would loosen the edible part of the grain from the chaff. The work was tedious, exhausting, and dangerous, especially since they had to fight off vermin, placing strings around their trousers to prevent pests from running up their pants.
The Women’s Land Army’s Timber Corps
In 1942, a branch of the WLA, the Women’s Timber Corps, was established to assist in gathering enough wood for telegraph poles and pit (mine) props, or lumber used to hold up tunnels in coal mines. Britain had relied on imported timber from abroad, but this was disrupted by the German occupation of Norway.
The women chosen to work in the Timber Corps had to undergo a stricter medical inspection than the Land Girls. Lumber Jills, or women who worked in the Timber Corps, were tasked with selecting and measuring trees to be felled and sawed. Working alongside men, they learned how to use an ax and load timber into lorries. They would also lift timber and burn brushwood along with carrying out administrative work in forests. Nearly 6,000 women worked in the Timber Corps.
The Women’s Land Army After the War
Though WWII ended in 1945, this monumental event in history didn’t signal the end of the Women’s Land Army. As men and POWS gradually returned home, the women continued their work. Finally, in November 1950, the WLA was disbanded. Upon completing their service, the women were honored in a number of ways, including receiving a letter from the royal family thanking them for their service to their country. They received their final weeks’ pay, armbands, and even clothing coupons once they returned their uniforms.
However, these women did not receive the same benefits as other women’s services during the war, despite going through recruitment, a rigorous interview process, and wearing a uniform. Leaders in the WLA felt the women were treated unfairly for their hard work and dedication on the homefront, and some referred to the WLA as a “Cinderella Service” for this reason.
Despite the lack of recognition, the Women’s Land Army left a lasting impression on British history. They not only contributed greatly to the war’s outcome but also showed their communities and their country what women were capable of achieving.
