On 4 August 1914, when Britain declared war on Germany, the lives of men and women everywhere were set to change. Here we take a look at how the war had an impact on women, and in particular guiding members.
As men were sent to war across the channel and engaged in treacherous battle, women were needed to step out of the domestic realm and into the workforce.
Some of the roles undertaken by women included:
- Nursing soldiers in hospital
- Working in convalescent homes
- Labouring in factories, shops, banks, offices and the postal service
- They helped the transport infrastructure – keeping buses, trams and trains running
- They farmed the land and tended to livestock
Women kept the UK running. Meanwhile, overseas, women:
- Drove ambulances
- Cooked for troops
- Ran communications networks
Plenty of middle class women who had never done a day’s work in their lives were forced to take up tools and move into the public sphere.
The guiding movement came into its own around this time. With war raging around them, it was no longer considered unfeminine for women to contribute to their community in factories and hospitals. It was necessity.
Guiding members
Guides were some of the first to lend a hand to the war effort – the ethos of ‘being of service and thinking of others’ meant volunteers were keen to assist. This ethos rings true today as these values are still immortalised in our current Promise and Law.
- 14-16 year old Guides worked for M15 as messengers – due to their reliability
- Guides worked for the confidential Marconi and Wireless Telegraph company, as well as the Postal Censorship office
- Rangers and Leaders were asked to be messengers in Versailles during the peace treaty negotiations
- Guiding members helped in hospitals, made warm clothes for families and cooked for the hungry – even setting up feeding posts at railway stations for returning soldiers
- Members gathered waste paper for the war effort and collected eggs for wounded soldiers in France.
Badges
War service badges were awarded for doing 21 days’ work towards the war effort, or making at least 15 items of clothing.
Telegraphist’s badges were earned by girls who could make their own wireless receivers and send messages in Morse code.
Brownies
It wasn’t just the older girls that contributed. Brownies, who were a brand new section in 1914, also got to work! Brownies helped by:
- Rolling bandages
- Washing old medicine bottles to sell to chemists
- Collecting books and magazines for injured soldiers
There were also individual acts of heroism - a Guide Leader pulled children out from the rubble of a bombed school in the East End of London.
As the war raged on, guiding grew in other countries: France, Switzerland, Belgium, Czechoslovakia and Luxembourg. Things were never the same again for anyone – including guiding members. Women had proved their worth and independence.