Woman at War

Auxiliary Territorial Service: Princess Elizabeth, a 2nd Subaltern in the ATS, wearing overalls and standing in front of an L-plated truck. In the background is an Austin K2/Y military ambulance

From the Imperial War Museum Collection. Image in the public domain.

This page contains stories of women at war and women's wartime activities. You can access the stories by clicking on the women's names below. Our offerings for International Women's Day in 2025 also focussed on women at war.

Here are some resources to help with this topic:

Adie, Kate Corsets to Camouflage: woman and war Hodder & Stoughton (2003)

Ashworth, Emily The Land Army's Lost Women Pen & Sword (2023)

Antrobus, Stuart ‘We Wouldn’t Have Missed It For the World’: The Women’s Land Army in Bedfordshire, 1939-1950 Book Castle (2008)

Bales, Mitzi They said ‘No’ to War: British women conscientious objectors in world war 11

Baker, Nina "Supposed Killed or Drowned by Enemy Action at Sea": Scottish merchant navy women who died as a result of enemy action in the first and second world wars Barnes & Noble (2026)

Bates, Martha. Snagging Turnips and Scaling Muck : The Women's Land Army in Westmorland Kendal Helm Press (2001)

Brits, Elsabe Emily Hobhouse: Beloved Traitor Tafelberg (2016)

Clammer, David Ladies, Wives and Women, British Army Wives in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars 1793- 1815 Helion and co. (2022)

Clarke, Gill The Women’s Land Army: a portrait Sansom and Co. Ltd. (2008)

De la Haye, Amy Land Girls: Cinderellas of the soil Royal Pavilion Libraries & Museums (2009)

Gordon, Dee Voices from History: Essex Land Girls The History Press (2015)

Griffiths, Gareth R Women’s Factory Work in World War One Sutton Publishing (1991)

Hampton, Janie How the Girl Guides Won the War Harper Collins (2011)

Harding, Phil The British Shell Shortage of the First World War Fonthill Media (2015)

Healey, Robynne Rogers and Spencer, Carole Dale [eds.] Quaker Women, 1800–1920: studies of a changing landscape Penn State University Press (2023)

Ingham, Mary Tracing your Servicewoman Ancestors Pen and Sword (2012)

Jolly, Emma My Ancestor was a Woman at War Society of Genealogists (2014)

Kramer, Ann Land Girls and their Impact Remember When (2010)

Macdonald, Lyn The Roses of No Man's Land Penguin (1993)

Mant, Joan All Muck No Medals: Landgirls by Landgirls Book Guild Publishing Ltd. (1994)

Marlow, Joyce [ed.] The Virago Book of Women and the Great War Virago (1999)

Malcolmson, Patricia & Robert Women at the Ready: the remarkable story of women’s voluntary services on the home front Little Brown Book Group (2013)

Newman, Vivien We also Served: the forgotten women of the first world war Pen & Sword (2015)

Philo-Gill, Samantha The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps in France 1917-1921: women urgently wanted Pen & Sword (2017)

Probert, Rebecca [ed.] Catherine Exley's Diary, the life and times of an army wife in the Peninsular War Brandram (2014)

Rattray, Veronica My Land Girl Years Athena Press (2009)

Scott, Caroline Holding the Home Front: the women’s land army in the first world war Pen and Sword (2020)

Shipton, Elisabeth Female Tommies; the frontline women of the first world war The History Press (2014)

Storey, Neil and Housego, Molly Women in the First World War Shire (2010)

Storey, Neil R and Housego, Molly The Women’s Land Army Shire Publications (2012)

Storr, Katherine Excluded from the Record: women refugees and relief 1914-1929 Peter Lang UK (2009)

Summers, Julie Jambusters: the story of the Women’s Institute in the second world war Simon and Schuster (2014)

Twinch, Carol Women on the Land: their story during two world wars Lutterworth Press (1990)

Tyrer, Nicola They Fought in the Fields: the women’s land army The History Press (2016)

Walker, Robyn The Women who Spied for Britain: female secret agents of the second world war Amberley Publishing (2015)

Whittell, Giles Spitfire Women of World War II Harper Perennial (2008)

Williams, M A A Forgotten Army: The Female Munitions Workers of South Wales, 1939-1945

University of Wales Press (2002)

Woollacott, Angela On her their Lives Depend: munitions workers in the Great War University of California Press (1994)

The Women's Land Army and Timber Corps

The Women's Land Army and Timber Corps in Scotland

Red Cross Database of Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) workers

Twenty Incredible Pictures of Women’s War Work From Our Newspapers The British Newspaper Archive

Women Conscientious Objectors of World War 11 British Library Sound Archive

World War 2 interviews and oral histories on Ancestry

For more information about tracing those associated with the VAD see the Historical Musings blog.

Remembering British Women in World War 1 Facebook page.

Nellie Etches 1891-1967 from Market Drayton, Shropshire – No Descendants, Women at War, Women at Work, Cheshire County Training College. 9 minute read.

Ethel Fraser 1874-?1958 from Leeds, Yorkshire - No Descendants, Women at War, Women at Work, Fleming Memorial Hospital. 8 minute read.

Ida Muriel Elizabeth Johnstone 1890-1964 from India - Disability, Women at War, Schools for the Deaf (Margate). 10 minutes read.

Bessie Jones 1891-1967 from Upton, Cheshire – No Descendants,Women at War, Women at Work, Cheshire County Training College. 6 minute read.

Christine Kellock 1860-1943 from Govan, Lanarkshire, Scotland - No Descendants,Women at War, Women at Work, Fleming Memorial Hospital. 2 minute read.

Olive Hope Rowntree 1887-1969, from Scarborough, Yorkshire – No Descendants, Women at War, The Mount School. 3 minute read.

There are additional stories about women at war on our VAD Personnel page and at International Women's Day in 2025.