August 29 - The Women's Defence Relief Corps is Formed

This Day in History: 29 August 2020

 

29 August 1914

 

106 years ago, today, the Women's Defence Relief Corps was formed in Britain, as World War One approached the end of its first month. Although women's rights organisations in Britain had been initially opposed to the country's entrance into the war, they soon reversed their position. They recognised the opportunity to gain advancement for British women on the home front. To encourage women to undertake work freeing a man for the fighting line, the Women's Defence Relief Corps were founded by Mrs Dawson Scott. The Corps specialised in getting farmers in touch with casual labour and was comprised of at least 465 women by 1916.

 

The Women's Defence Relief Corps were not the only women's organisation formed over the course of the war. Two nursing organisations already existed in 1914, which were the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry and the Voluntary Aid Detachments. Another organisation founded later during World War One, in July 1917, was the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. Members of this group supported the war effort more directly, as they enlisted in the army to perform domestic duties, such as cookery and clerical work. By the end of the war, around 80,000 women had served Britain as non-combatants, both on the home front and on the front lines in France and Belgium.

 

Want to find out more about the role of women in World War One? Click here for more information, or here for find out more about the Women's Defence Relief Corps.