Blencowe Women At War
In the First World War, women began to make a significant addition to the manpower needed for the war effort, the need to replace the large number of men who left for war meant that women performed roles they had never done so before.
Women worked in all sorts of military-industrial capacities from the armaments factories to the clothing and supplies manufacturing and of course in a direct replacement for men in roles such as Railway Porters, Guards and Train, Tram, Bus Drivers etc.
Munition workers were considered to be highly paid jobs relative to other manufacturing work and this was to result in many women having greater income than ever before. In literally all cases the end result of Women in the war workforce was to raise expectations about women’s roles outside the home after the war. Unfortunately, these expectations were not met as the years after the war were high in unemployment and men were to be given priority for the jobs that did exist.
The transport industry was one of the largest wartime employers of British women.
Photograph right shows a woman railway worker taking the number of a train at an un-named platform station. Two men are looking on from the train itself. Though it appears staged, the photograph probably offers an unwitting insight into the division of labour between men and women in the railway industry during the war. Though large numbers of women were employed as station staff, far fewer were allowed to work as train drivers.
Munition Workers
Thousands of women and men joined in the war needed to produce never before seen quantities of munitions, well paid these jobs attracted many new entrants to the workplace and the Blencowe women were no exception. In the war, at least three Blencowe women and one Blencowe wife from Banbury worked in very dangerous conditions at the Grimsbury, Banbury shell filling factory. Their risks were high as was the pay.
Banbury Munitions workers
Elizabeth Mary Blencowe 1895 daughter of James and Caroline Blencowe and sister to Frederick William who served from 1908-1919 with the Indian army and the East Surrey Regiment
Gertie Blencowe 1892 daughter of Henry and Hannah Blencowe and sister to Albert KIA 1917 and William who served with the Royal Engineers.
Hilda Blencowe 1895 daughter of John and Ada Blencowe and brother to Henry Tollerton Blencowe. Sister in law Ethel worked with Ada.
Ethel Blencowe (nee West) wife of Henry Tollerton Blencowe who served as Sergeant in the Royal Garrison Artillery and survived the war.
Watch a video about the Banbury Shell Factory
Other Roles
There is a lack of information about women in war-time roles consequently we have no idea how many Blencowe women served in the war in occupations replacing men. We can be certain though that many Blencowe women served in these ‘Civilian” roles, proof of this can be found within the photographic archives that show many thousands of women in wartime work.
From the top left a women woman shaping a steel knee splint at the Kensington War Hospital supply depot, November 1917. (Photo by Topical Press Agency), Top right women Navvies pushing loaded wheelbarrows in Coventry during World War I, circa 1917. (Photo by Central Press). Middle left new women Police Constables trying on new boots for the job. (Photo by Topical Press Agency)Bottom women workers working in an engineering shop, 1917. (Photo by Hulton Archive)
British Nursing
Nursing since the Crimean war had been the domain of women, and at start of the war, there was an established military nursing presence through the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMS) and Territorial Force Nursing Service (TFNS). At the outbreak of war, the Red Cross enlisted a number of Volunteer Aids and these were designated VAD. Sue Light a WW1 nursing researcher writes “The Red Cross and Auxiliary hospitals sprung up rapidly in church halls, public buildings and private houses, accommodating anything from ten patients to more than a hundred. The proportion of trained nurses in the units was small, and much of the basic work was the responsibility of the VADs – they cleaned, scrubbed and dusted, set trays, cooked breakfasts; they lit fires and boiled up coppers full of washing. They also helped to dress, undress and wash the men – which was, of course, a big step for young women who may never have been alone and un-chaperoned with a member of the opposite sex before, other than their brothers.”
Unfortunately in these times Nursing roles were restricted to women from the right families and single as well! Because of this, its clear the Blencowe nurses are limited in which areas and families they come from.
For an appointment to QAIMNS as a Staff Nurse or Sister, women had to be between twenty-five and thirty-five years of age, well-educated, of good social standing, and with a three-year training in a hospital approved by the Nursing Board.
As recruitment became more difficult nurses were recruited from smaller hospitals without the 3 years training in an approved hospital but the age and of good social standing meant working-class Blencowe’s would not be recruited no matter their personal desire to serve.
Never the less our Blencowe served with distinction, Emily Georgina Blencowe was mentioned in Despatches as was France Isabel Blencowe and Mabel Edith Blencowe from Oxford was the only Blencowe women to die in the war, dying in 1917 in France from an infection.
United States Nursing
U.S. Military nurses arrived in Europe before the American Expeditionary Forces. At the outset of World War I the Army Nurse Corps comprised 403 women were on active duty in the Army Nurse Corps, founded in 1901. By Armistice Day on November 11, 1918, 21,480 nurses had enlisted and over 10,000 had served overseas. They served with distinction: three were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, 23 received the Distinguished Service Medal, and numerous nurses received meritorious awards from allied nations. Several were wounded; more than 200 died in-service.
The Navy Nurse Corps, founded in 1908, grew from 406 to 1,386 members who served in the U.S., in the Philippines, Guam, Samoa, Haiti and the Virgin Islands. More than 325 served in Europe in field hospitals, on troop transports and on loan to Army Nurse Corps units. Thirty-six died and three among them were posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for service during the influenza epidemic.
The US military started to recruit and deploy nurses in 1917 in advance of the American Expeditionary Force embarking for Europe, the Army Nurse Corps sent many nurses to France to work in Base Camp Hospitals and Field Clearing Centres one of these was to marry Howard Washington Blinco a soldier serving with the US Army in France she was Helen Manley.
The American Red Cross does not appear to have records online of WW1 nurses but this organisation alone recruited 20,000 nurses in WW1.
The Blencowe Women that served.
These are the twelve women who served in either the Forces or Nursing in the war. These include two sisters Mabel Edith and Florence, Mabel Edith Blencowe from Oxford.
| Surname | First Name | Born | Rank | Birthplace | Military Unit |
| Blencowe | Mabel Edith | 1879 | Nursing Sister | Oxford | Territorial Forces Nursing Service |
| Blencowe | Florence Mary | 1887 | Nursing Sister | Oxford | Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service |
| Blencowe | Emily Georgina | 1886 | Nurse Probationer | Bury St Edmunds | Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing ServiceMentioned in Despatches |
| Blencowe | May Edith | 1896 | Clerk Member | St Olaves | Women’s Royal Air Force |
| Blencowe (nee Buzzard) | Edith | 1891 | Aircraft Woman | Banbury | Women’s Royal Air Force |
| Blencowe | Frances Isabel | 1864 | Nurse | Chailey | Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD)Mentioned in Despatches |
| Blencowe | Margaret Penelope | 1890 | Probationer | Steyning | Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) |
| Blencowe (nee Ingram) | Mabel Frances | 1861 | Nurse | Lewes | Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) |
| Blencowe | Marjorie Edith S. | 1884 | Voluntary Nurse | Marston St Lawrence | Red Cross Hospital Banbury |
| Blencowe ( nee Manley) | Helen Catherine | 1895 | Nurse | Pennsylvania | US Army Nurse Corps |
| Blencowe ( nee Edwards) | Ellen Mary Blanche | 1875 | Nurse | East Budleigh | Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) |
| Blencowe ( nee Swindale) | Hannah Windlow | 1891 | Nurse | Newcastle | Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) |
| Barber | Rose Ellen | 1877 | Nurse | Banbury | Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) |
| Blencowe | Edith Cecilia | 1890 | Nurse | West Kirby, Cheshire | Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) |