Women's Land Army (World War I)

The Women's Land Army (WLA) was a British civilian organisation. It was created in 1915 by the Board of Agriculture during World War I so women could work in agriculture, replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the WLA were commonly known as Land Girls. In effect the Land Army operated to place women with farms that needed workers, the farmers being their employers. They picked crops and did all the jobs that the men would do. Notable members included the archaeologist Lily Chitty and the botanist Ethel Thomas. It was disbanded in 1919 but revived in June 1939 under the same name.

For other uses, see Women's Land Army (disambiguation).
First World War poster
World War One recruitment poster for the Women's Land Army

History
Working on a potato crop during World War I
2012 memorial

A Good Service Ribbon was awarded to eligible women.[1] January 1918 saw the publication of the first issue of The Landswoman, the official monthly magazine of the Women’s Land Army and the Women’s Institutes.[2] The organisation was disbanded in November 1919.[3]

Commemoration

In October 2012, the Prince of Wales unveiled the first memorial to the WLA of both World Wars, on the Fochabers estate in Moray, Scotland. The sculpture was designed by Peter Naylor.[4] In October 2014, a memorial statue to the Women's Timber Corps and both incarnations of the Women's Land Army was unveiled at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, England.[5]

See also

Further reading
  • Kramer, Ann. Land Girls and their Impact, Remember When (2008), ISBN 978-1-84468-029-0.
  • Twinch, Carol. Women on the Land: Their story during two world wars, Lutterworth Press (1990), ISBN 978-0-7188-2814-1.

References
  1. 97 years ago today: Presentation of Good Service Ribbons in Stafford, 1919
  2. "The Landswoman Magazine (WW1)". The Women’s Land Army. Cherish Watton. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  3. 'Women's Land Army', Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 6 October 1919, page
  4. "The Prince of Wales unveils memorial to Women's Land Army". Prince of Wales. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
  5. "Memorial Arboretum Land Girls monument unveiled after three-year fundraising campaign". BBC News.
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