Violetta Thurstan

…all day long there came an endless procession of women wanting to help, some trained nurses, many – far too many – half-trained women; and a great many raw recruits, some anxious for adventure and clamouring ‘to go to the front at once,’ others willing and anxious to do the humblest service that would be of use in this time of crisis.

As the movement for gender equality continued to progress within the spheres of education, employment and politics, the outbreak of war in Europe provided the opportunity for women to establish a new role in military matters.

In Britain, the war generated a wave of patriotism and a surge of eager volunteers keen to support their country in its time of need. In August 1914 there were already several different routes that women could take if they wanted to become an active part of the war effort. Firstly the official organisations overseen by the War Office included the military nurs ing services, the British Red Cross, the St John Ambulance Association or the Voluntary Aid Detachment scheme. Alternatively there were several independent voluntary societies, such as the well-established First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY), and others which were swiftly founded in direct response to the declaration of war, such as the Women’s National Service League, the Women’s Emergency Corps, and a range of ambulance units. Most of these independent organisations were set up by middle- and upper-class women such as Grace Ashley-Smith and Mabel St Clair Stobart, who either had sufficient personal wealth or friends wealthy enough to provide financial support. On the other hand, suffragists such as Elsie Inglis, the founder of the Scottish Women’s Hospital, relied on women’s suffrage groups for funding.

Britain was not short of women declaring their desire to support their country who were eager to volunteer for whatever was needed. But while most of the organisations mentioned above provided medical services, each one was different in terms of its own mission and purpose. The VAD provided workers with basic medical training, the FANY offered a frontline ambulance service and the Scottish Women’s Hospital employed skilled female physicians and surgeons. It was up to each organisation to convince Britain’s military authorities to accept its services and to deploy them where they were needed the most.

In August 1914 the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS) consisted of 297 trained nurses. To be accepted in the QAIMNS a candidate had to be over 25, single (or widowed), well-educated and to have successfully completed three years of train ing. This set of criteria made it difficult to recruit, and during the war the QAIMNS relied heavily on its reserves which ultimately provided nearly 11,000 nurses. By 1918 there were 8,140 nurses who had enrolled for service and of these, 2,280 served overseas. In addition the British Red Cross Society (BRCS) instructed qualified nurses to report to its headquarters in London and it began to deploy small parties of nurses overseas to support their sister Red Cross societies in Europe.

Established as part of Britain’s home defence (should the country be invaded), the VAD was an appealing option for women with little or no medical training. Its members were tasked with setting up and helping to run hospitals for those wounded who were brought home. Active VAD members since 1910, Katharine Furse and her close friend Rachel Crowdy were to become commandants of two new London detachments. As the storm clouds gathered in Europe, Furse recalled: We did not want men to be sick or wounded, but we thought that, if men had to be sick and wounded, we would do our best to help them… we were boiling over with our desire to put into practice what we had learnt.

What was significant was that the majority of the new volunteers in August 1914 didn’t just want to be VADs, but also to be sent to work overseas, near the action. This was not what the VAD had been estab lished for, but there was a lack of direction from the BRCS, and now that the country was at war, its role suddenly seemed less clear. The army’s medical services initially overlooked the VAD, preferring qualified nurses. Faced with the challenge of preventing disillusionment among VAD members eager to serve, Furse set to work organising training for new recruits, finding them employment, and ultimately establishing the VAD ser vice overseas.

The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) also got off to a slow start, but unlike the VAD its members knew exactly what their role should be in war. The delay was down to the fact that at the beginning of August, the FANY’s leader Grace Ashley-Smith was en route to South Africa for a holiday. As soon as she heard that Britain was at war, she transferred to the next ship sailing back to England. In her absence, other members of the FANY tried to organise meetings with the Army Medical Services. keen to be sent to Belgium in an official capacity.

While the VAD reorganised themselves and the FANY awaited the return of Ashley-Smith, several of the new independent organisations were able to get off to a quicker start.

The president of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), Millicent Garrett Fawcett, announced that the group would suspend all activities and support the British government for the duration of the conflict. Evelina Haverfield, who had been an ardent suffragette, founded the Women’s Emergency Corps at the beginning of August. The Women’s Emergency Corps reported that within its first two weeks, it had received “over 10,000 offers of personal service… They were classified in professions and trades, and lists were sent to the heads of institutions, mayors and local bodies”.

Names and addresses of a large number of women “skilled in the man - agement of horses and motors and thoroughly competent to take charge of a remount camp were also registered to be ready if required”.

Right from the beginning of the war, Haverfield channelled all her energies into organisations that promoted the principle of a new, stron ger and more assertive woman. She also became involved in the early debate over women bearing arms. In the pre war years, members of the FANY had trained with guns and taken part in shooting competitions. But outside the world of hunting and sporting competitions, British society was still deeply uncomfortable with the idea of armed women. So Haverfield was careful to argue the case for self-defence, rather than suggesting that women should actively identify and kill the enemy.