In our articles looking at those who served in the Great War we have so far only considered servicemen. We must not forget that women also played an extremely important role throughout the war years.

Before the war the traditional female role was confined to domestic work; either in their own homes, in domestic-service, or employment in certain types of jobs such as in schools or in the clothing trades.

For example in Great Britain in 1911 of the approximately 24 million adult women, around 1.7 million worked in domestic service, 800,000 in the textile manufacturing industry, 600,000 in the clothing trades, 500,000 in commerce, and 260,000 in local and national government, including teaching.

The British textile and clothing trades, in particular, employed far more women than men and these jobs were regarded as 'women's work'.

Furthermore, very few women had the right to vote, although the suffragist (peaceful) and suffragette (militant) movements were drawing the country’s attention to this inequality.

Partly because of their participation in the war effort, Britain was among many European countries, as well as the USA and Canada, to extend the right to vote to women in the years after the Great War.

Women’s involvement during the Great War on the Home Front tended to depend on their social class, because Britain was still a class-based society.

Working class women tended to work in manufacturing industries such as munitions. They chose this industry due to a mixture of the patriotism they felt for working and helping their fathers, brothers and husbands with the fighting, and because the wages received were double what they had previously earned.

Munitions factories produced supplies for the men on the front including tailoring, metal trades, chemical and explosives, food trades, hosiery and woollen and worsted industries.

The women working in these munitions factories were called Munitionettes and the work was long and exhausting, as well as hazardous to their health. Yet they were expected to work quickly and efficiently.

Much of the work consisted of making gun shells, explosives, aircraft and other materials that supplied the war at the front. This was dangerous and repetitive work because the women were constantly around toxic fumes. Also they were handling dangerous machinery and explosives with little training.

The worked in different groups, each having their own particular job, such as putting the cordite into the shells, another group was to put together the fuses, and so on.

The women worked long twelve hour shifts, six or seven days a week, and at times would be expected to work overnight.

This resulted in lack of sleep which compounded the harmful effect of the chemicals, and so these factories took a toll on the health of the women.

The munitionettes were brave and hard working women who knew their lives were in danger. They worked through illness and the dangers of their work to do their part in the war. The women also had to maintain their domestic life, which often included their children. So they took on responsibility for managing the home, at the same time becoming the heroines of the home front. This significantly raised women’s self-esteem as it allowed them to begin to realise their full potential and do their part in the war.

Women filled many of the jobs brought about by wartime needs, so that the total number of women employed increased from 3,224,600 in July 1914 to 4,814,600 in January 1918.

In High Wycombe the most prominent member of the suffragists’ movement was Frances Dove, founder and Headmistress of Wycombe Abbey School for Girls.

She was also a powerful figure in local politics, having been elected to Wycombe Council in 1907. Miss Dove would have been later elected as Wycombe’s first female Mayor were it not for some last minute maneuverings by her male colleagues on the Council.

There were no prominent local members of the suffragettes’ movement, but the Women’s Social & Political Union founded by the Pankhursts (two sisters, and then a daughter) in 1903, was active locally. This culminated in June 1913 with the National Pilgrimage of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, whose route from the North to London included High Wycombe.

Following the start of the Great War the Pankhursts scaled down the WSPU's militant campaign. They justified this by argueing that the military triumph of a 'male nation' such as Germany would be 'a disastrous blow to the women's movement'.

They also foresaw that the war would provide new employment opportunities for women, a view entirely justified as we have seen. During the war the furniture factories in Wycombe converted their production to both munitions and to the new aircraft industry.

Amongst those engaged in munitions work were Harry Broom’s factory in Oakridge Road, C.C.Hugo and Dexter & Co in Queens Rd, and the factories of Birch & Co in Denmark St and Leigh St. Wethered’s Brewery in Pound Lane, Marlow was also involved.

The manufacture of aircraft components during the war was seen as offering the potential to make a major contribution to the long term prosperity of the town. Aircraft propellers were made and all the local dignitaries were present to celebrate the completion of the first aircraft wing.

Local entrepreneur Aleck Stacey even went so far as to build a large factory for the assembly of complete aircraft off Hughenden Avenue.

Unfortunately these hopes were dashed when orders from the Government for new aircraft ceased completely after the Armistice was signed – aviation was still mainly a military activity at that time, civil aircraft were still years away.

Wycombe’s involvement in aircraft component manufacture was not revived until WWII 20 years later.