PHOTO FEATURE: Scottish Women in WW1

One of the lines I throw out there giving talks or writing about the broad strokes of the First World War goes a bit like this:

‘The First World War impacted people away from the battlefield more than any conflict yet in history. Fought on a massive scale, whole populations would have to be mobilised to win it.’

Which is absolutely true. In order to fuel a war involving these sorts of numbers, on the home front the entire economy would have to change tack in order to make enough shells, provide enough uniforms, treat the thousands of those wounded from the front. But what did that actually look like on the ground? How did ordinary peoples’ lives change in order to achieve it? Today, thanks to a commemorative book sent to me by lovely Sam, I’m going to take one random Scottish town; Coatbridge, in North Lanarkshire, and champion all the efforts of local women to do their bit for victory, led by a great selection of photographs. Because frankly, I just want to show you as many of their faces as possible…

The Coatbridge and District Nursing Association. Back Row, left to right: Mr. William McOwat, Nurse Galbraith. Nurse Morries, Rev. W. G. Miller. Front Row: Mrs. A. Shanks, Mrs. Wm. Murray, Mrs. Conacher, Mrs. Macintyre, Mrs. G. Shanks. All images come from the book detailed at the end of this article.

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The first thing we think of when it comes to women and war work is medical matters and the care of the wounded. In terms of Coatbridge, a focal point of this work was Drumpellier House, which was turned into an auxiliary hospital.