How the women of Britain kept calm and carried on during WWI: Unseen photos reveal how the nation’s female workforce made millions of shells, sew thousands of uniforms and tended to the wounded

Pictures published online for the first time show how Britain pulled together when the country went to war in November 1914. The country was in a state of flux as stately homes found themselves being converted into makeshift hospitals while humble family businesses were suddenly producing parts of RAF aircrafts. While an all-female workforce at an explosives factory in Bootle, Merseyside, was one of 218 First World War government factories that manufactured everything from tanks and gas masks, to explosives and shells. Fascinating images show how the country coped when 733,000 men left the UK to fight Germany, Austria and Hungary and the Ottoman empire. A W H Smith news stand at Piccadilly Circus underground station in 1916 shows newspaper placards mentioning the Somme, Vogue magazine and novels while an advertisement for The Gentlewoman promotes an article on ‘Gentlewomen as Munition Workers’. Woburn Abbey in Bedforshire was one of many country houses transformed into a hospital during the First World War. Pictures show soldiers relaxing on the home’s huge tennis courts. And poignant photographs show how the country remembered their dead – and those who fought with them – when the conflict came to an end in 1918. Muslim Burial Ground… Read full this story

How the women of Britain kept calm and carried on during WWI: Unseen photos reveal how the nation's female workforce made millions of shells, sew thousands of uniforms and tended to the wounded have 287 words, post on www.dailymail.co.uk at February 10, 2018. This is cached page on CuBird. If you want remove this page, please contact us.