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The Women of Britain

O

O.C.

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With Rowans Permission to use this poem,which she found and had been put away a long time ago  this section is all about how Britain could not have survived without the help from the Women of this country.
Who overnight turned from being a housewife to........Doing .....well everything a man had done before.workwise, except working down the pit.
 
Photo 1 shows a Women Conductress
Photo 2 shows a women doing a mans backbreaking job Delivering Coal and Coke
Photo 3 shows Two women Railway Guards
Photo 4 Shows a Women Bill Poster posting posters at a railway station
 
Photo 5  A lady Pagette (Hotel Page)
Photo 6 Women Porters on a railway station
Photo 7 Milklady
Photo 8 A Lady Chimneysweep
 
What fabulous photos!
My grandmother was a milkwoman during WWII - with a horse and cart - so these really rang a bell with me.
 
Daleaway the first one is for you,
First photo is a milklady on her rounds
second photo are women window cleaners
Third photo women fillings sacks with coal for local delivery
last photo women fetching coal from the railway wagons
 
:angel: Graham I love those pic's :smitten: WE BRA girls know girls can do anything! O0

Chris :angel:
 
Cromwell,  My Mum worked as a Goods Porteress on the iron corner near the bridge (that used to be ) in Avenue Road during the second world war so things may have been similar to conditions of the First World War.  Those photo's are great and makes the past come alive again and a real tribute to those people of years ago.
 
Thanks for your intrest, its about time the Women got their just dues over the effort they put in to keeping Britain going 1914-18 I have a lot more info and pictures to post but its a bit slow as most are old newspaper pics gone yellow and I have to remove the dots ( moire pattern) so it is not a fast process
another 15 photos to go
Here is anothe pic of the women going up the steps with 1cwt. of coal on her back which i have just found
 
Amazing photographs!!! :smitten:
My Grandmother used to tell me about jobs she did during the war and her mothers jobs etc.. I hadn't realised till seeing these pictures just how hard life must have been in those days. :'(

Didn't these women get to grips with these tough jobs in those days!! I can't believe how hard their days must have been - I'd always thought of the wars as in the men going away fighting etc.. and the losses there with that side of stuff.
These ladies must have had such a tough time too!!! I truly don't know how these ladies coped - they did an impossible job in Britain didn't they?? So nice to see the other side of the wars and how hard the ladies worked.
THANK YOU FOR SHARING THESE PICTURES - they show such a different side of these wars. Just another reminder of how great our ancestors were!!
 
Great pictures, Cromwell. Can't imagine many women wanting to get their hands dirty these days. Come to think of it - not many men either. ::)
 
I know a lot of you remember the man comming round to empty the gas and electric meters, remember the big leather bag he had to put all the pennies in ?
Photo 1 shows a lady Meter Reader, just look at that bag on her back I just wonder how much in pennies she could carry.
Photo 2 Women working away at Coventry Gas Works
Photo 3 The women is pushing one hundredweight of coke up a plank which is a very hard thing to do,and she did it every day.
Photo 4 Street Cleaners just starting their day
 
The first photo shows women firefighters in their bunks hoping they would have a good nights sleep as all the firemen had joined the army
Photo 2 A Women Stoker shovelling coal into the boilers
Photo 3 Women working in the Timberyards
Last photo is our Lady coal workers delivering coal
 
Whoever made the statement "Women are the weaker sex" 'ought to take a look at the photo's of these wonderful women. And I bet they looked a million dollars after work.They were the unsung heroes of the Great War which could not have been won without their effort, who did not want any praise or medals they just got on with the job which they felt they had to do, to stop the country from being bought to its knees and they succeeded.
All this went on in the years women were not allowed to vote.
It is hard as well to imagine that Mrs Pankhurst in 1913 was given 3 years penal servitude and 182 suffragettes were put in prison.
It was the coming of the Great War which really ended the Suffragette Movement.It changed all those political and militant leaders into women war workers.
I feel today not enough credit has been given to the Suffragette leaders for the manner in which they did throw themselves wholeheartedly into the work of keeping this countries head above water and providing all what was needed  for the soldiers who had left for France to fight.
Eventually the women gained all and more than they demanded, the right to Vote which they richly did deserve
Photo 1 & 2 women with the steel helmets they have just made called the Brodie Helmet
Last photo making Lamps for the Navy
 
If your wondering were the women was going pushing that 1cwt weight of coal up that plank here is the next photo, feeding the conveyor belts at the gas works
 
I knew the women did nearly everything, but I have never seen a lady Bricklayer but here is the photo of one.
2nd Photo is a women and and elderly gentleman who was to old to join up staking bricks in a Light narrow gauge railway wagon.
3rd Photo is in a steel tube factory
last photo are women Shipyard workers
 
The first photo is Forestry Workers (known as Woodpeckers)
2nd Photo which is not good quality is women sewing Railway wagon Sheets
3rd  photo is making optical instruments for the army navy and air force
 
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