Women’s History Month: Land Girls - the Women Who Fed the Nation

Every March Women's History Month raises awareness of the contributions women have made to events through history and society. This week two of our volunteers look at the impact the Land Girls had during WW2.

Clair and Zoe at work as Land Girls at the COAM allotment.

In 1938 as war clouds gathered over Europe a meeting was held by the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture with government officials to consider the use of women as agricultural workers.  

Britain was heading towards an impending food shortage at a scale never known before. Statistics showed that 70% of food was imported. Should German submarines attack British merchant ships, there was the real threat of starvation. It was imperative to start the urgent task of cultivating more land for the production of food and filling the roles left by male agricultural workers who would be conscripted into the military forces.

Image: IWM (Art.IWM PST 6078)

Lady Gertrude Denman was approached by government to re-establish the Women’s Land Army of WW1. She was chosen because she was the founding President of Britain’s Agriculture Society Organisation (a forerunner of the Women’s Institute). She had the experience and vital network connections which enabled her to re-build the essential service of the Women’s Land Army.

It is down to her hard work and those under her command that over 200,000 women were employed as Land Girls from 1939 until 1950 when the organisation was disbanded.

Land Girls came from all walks of life, typists, cooks, shop girls and parlour maids.  The majority were from modest backgrounds, leaving school early as they were expected to work for a living. They chose the Land Army for a variety of reasons; the open air attracted them and the freedom from being away from home. Many fancied themselves in the attractive uniform or were swayed by the unrealistic posters of glamourous girls nursing lambs or carrying a sheaf of corn. The reality was hard, physical work. 

The uniform was distinctive; a green knitted pullover, corduroy breeches, long fawn socks, fawn shirt, sturdy brown shoes, a brown felt hat and a green armband.  Dungarees, wellingtons, and a milking jacket were also issued.  Length of service was recognised every six months by the issue of a red half diamond to be sewn onto their green WLA armband. A red armband indicated five years’ service, and a yellow armband indicated seven.

Each district in which the girls worked had a Representative. They were responsible for the girl’s welfare such as accommodation, bathing facilities, education and encouraging social events and participation within the local community. The Reps invariably came from county families in contrast to the working-class backgrounds of the Land Girls.

Clair and Zoe volunteering at COAM.

My sister and I have been costumed volunteers at the museum since the beginning of June 2024. You will often spot us on a Saturday dressed in our land girl uniforms in the allotment garden of the prefab.

We can definitely say that we have got the Land Girl bug. Finding out about their role and tracking down memorabilia, has been incredibly interesting, and hopefully we can give these women the recognition they so thoroughly deserve.

So, what have we discovered during our time as Land Girls? We’ve done a little bit of digging and believe there was a Model Farm school in Gorelands Lane, just up the road from COAM, where Land girls were trained.    

Although there was an official land girl song “Back to The Land” there was also an unofficial Land Girl song to the tune of “She’s coming round the Mountain.”   If you visit the Museum on a Saturday our out of tune singing will regale you as we potter.

The WLA also had their own publication called The Land Girl. Printed at the WLA HQ in Balcombe, Sussex it came out monthly and could be purchased for 3d.  We have been fortunate in laying our hands on two. Over 80 years old and still in good condition. As a leisure activity Land Girls were encouraged to write poetry, in fact they wrote more poetry than other services during the War. They were regularly published in the Land Girl and in 1945 Vita Sackville-West edited an anthology of which we have been able to obtain a copy.

We have also managed to purchase 2 original WLA badges manufactured by H. W. Miller the button and badge makers based in Birmingham.

Women's Land Army Memorial © Colin Sweett (WMR-74909). Thanks to IWM.

Unlike other services there were no gratuities and little recognition; only a letter of thanks from Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother issued upon discharge. In 2008 they received some recognition for their service in the form of a badge and a letter by the labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

In 2014 a bronze statue was unveiled at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, to honour those women who served in the Women’s Land Army as Land Girls and Lumber Jills.

As costumed engagement volunteers our aim is to give tribute to the women who took up the call to work on the land.  It has been a real delight to find out more about these women who worked tirelessly; researching their history and stories in order to talk to our visitors about the role that they played.  From the stories we have read it is clear that these women formed deep relationships with each other, they found an intense satisfaction in the work that they performed and a contentment and affinity towards the natural word.