Women’s Service during the Second World War – Part Two

Working on the Home Front

Civil Defence workers often worked during air raids which was extremely dangerous and sometimes led to fatalities. In 1939, women joining knew little of what was to come and by 1941 many had faced traumatic experiences. Written in NCC’s Civil Defence committee minutes of September 1941, 17/6d was paid in expense to Mrs Ewbank of Whitley Bay in respect of the expense incurred by the death of her daughter, Doris Ewbank. (7). Doris is commemorated, today, in a memorial in Whitley Bay. She was a schoolteacher and ambulance driver for the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service who was killed when a bomb hit the
ambulance she was driving on 28th April 1941. What may be the most devastating detail of this story is that her death wasn’t widely reported at the time as it was feared that anxious female volunteers (influenced by their families) would withdraw from the ARP scheme (4).

Reported in the Shields Daily News after an air raid on Tyneside in October 1941, Mrs Isobel Ali, an air raid warden on duty in North Shields, “was buried in rubble but another warden and herself managed to get clear and assist in rescuing a family from a buried Anderson Shelter (15).” Across the Tyne in South Shields, the first air raid warden, a unknown woman, in that area was killed during the same air raid. (16).

Often women’s heroic effects during air raids went unrecognised. On the night of 3/4th May 1941, Mrs Ellen Lee, an air raid warden, saved the lives of 32 people when an air raid shelter was hit in North Shields. Of the 197 people in the shelter 107 died. While three other men on duty that night received the George Medal, Ellen received no official recognition until 2023 when a blue plaque was erected near the former site of the factory to commemorate her heroic effort on that night in 1941 (18).

While there was worry that women were reluctant to take on dangerous work – which some were – it is evidently clear that women were taking matters into their own hands and making their contributions without being asked. The women of Berwick were denied the opportunity to join the Local Defence Volunteers. So, they set up the Women’s Warden Corps in Tweedmouth in May 1940 to act as air raid wardens. A target of recruiting 50 women was set and 30 volunteers joined in just 2 days (5)(6).

Mary’s Story
Mary, from Westerhope, was an ambulance attendant during the Second World War. She remembers her first job in the ambulance depot involved both men and women working together. Later she was based in Cramlington and recalls they were sent to London to help during the blitz. She remembers how ‘hair-raising’ it was to hear the doodlebugs overhead; there would be a terrific noise but when it cut out the bomb would come down. When she was based at Newburn, during air raids, she had to make her way to Westerhope. The air raids and anti-aircraft guns nearby were quite loud. One night, when she was on duty
with her sister, the ambulance overturned at Hillhead Road. Mary’s sister was the only casualty, sustaining a broken shoulder. During her time in West Wickham, there was one air raid after another. After air raids, the men would go out to help with the demolition and clearing up, but the women weren’t allowed to help. She felt that her time in the ambulance service had broadened her life as she went away with work for months at a time and she had made a lot of friends. After the war she went to work in a post office but as the men returned home, they got their jobs back and she had to leave (2).

It must have been incredibly difficult for the thousands of women who returned to their old jobs after gaining so many skills, new experiences and memories. By around 1949, most had returned to their previous jobs (many were housewives) and it would be nearly two decades before women’s equality in the workplace was campaigned for and the Equal Pay Act was passed in 1970.

Bibliography/references:
1 – Historic England Blog Women in the Workforce During the Second World War: Taking on Men’s Roles
2 – T/480 – Mary Pringle Oral History
3 – NRO 10442/4 – Northumberland Air Raid Precautions booklet
4 – South East Northumberland at War by Craig Armstrong, p48
5 – North Northumberland at War by Craig Armstrong, p39
6 – The Berwickshire News Victory Souvenir Issue, Tuesday May 15, 1945
7 – CC/D/ED/ARP – Minutes of Northumberland County Council’s Civil Defence Committee from 1939 – 1945
8 – Newcastle Journal and North Mail, Monday August 10 1942
9 – Blyth News Ashington Post, Thursday April 11 1940
10 – Blyth News Ashington Post, Thursday March 21 1940
11 – Shields Daily News, Thursday 26 February 1942
12 – Shields Daily News, Saturday 19 July 1941
13 – Blyth News, Monday 11 May 1942
14 – Shields Daily News, Monday 21 October 1940
15 – Shields Daily News, Wednesday 01 October 1941
16 – North East Diary 1939 – 1945 by Roy Ripley and Brian Pears
17 – Blyth News Ashington Post, Thursday April 11 1940
18 – https://northshields173.org/

Further information on images used:

NRO 07023/2/1/14, NRO 07023/2/3/10 – Linda Mccullough was an ambulance driver from c.1939-1942
before joining the ATS in October 1942. She was from Ashington and based in this area until she moved away with the ATS to Fenham Barracks