66 Vintage Photographs Documenting British Women at Work During World War I

   

During World War I, large numbers of women were recruited into jobs vacated by men who had gone to fight in the war. New jobs were also created as part of the war effort, for example in munitions factories.

The high demand for weapons resulted in the munitions factories becoming the largest single employer of women during 1918. Though there was initial resistance to hiring women for what was seen as ‘men’s work’, the introduction of conscription in 1916 made the need for women workers urgent. Around this time, the government began coordinating the employment of women through campaigns and recruitment drives.
Here's a collection from UBC Library Digital Collections consists of vintage photographs of British women at work during World War I.

 
General view of brass fittings shop

 

 
Women inspecting motor engine parts

 

 
Women loading nitrate of soda into a skip

 

 
Women straightening and bending steel girder

 

Women painting steel work

 

 
Women operating radial drilling machines, drilling holes in girders

 

 
Women copper banding t60 pdr shrapnel

 

 
Women taping planes

 

Women in charge of electric motor

 

View of canteen at munitions factory

 

 
Women wheeling away earth excavated for the installation of hydraulic pumps

 

Woman driving O.E.T. crane

 

Women operating radial drills, drilling valve covers and strainer plates for weed boxes for marine engines

 

Women stacking wood

 

Women painting War Office vehicles

 

Women cleaning windows

 

Woman acting as helper at punching and shearing machine

 

Women transporting rough castings to the General Store

 

Women engaged in labouring work in dressing shop

 

Woman are with cores for ingot mould

 

Woman at battery drills, drilling angles and T bars for ribs of airship sheds

 

Woman operating vertical drilling machines, drilling angles for connections to ribs of airship sheds

 

Women operating circular saw, cutting steel bar

 

Woman operating a Sunderland gear planer, gear cutting

 

Woman driving 20 ton O.E.T. crane

 

Women inserting and packing tubes in condensors for marine engines

 

Women machining Admiralty electrical fittings

 

General view of women engaged on small parts for boilers and condensors

 

Workers preparing for the construction of concrete ships

 

Railway workers cleaning carriages

 

Railway workers unloading goods from train

 

Women railway workers painting and decorating

 

Mine net workers wiring the floats together

 

W.R.N.S. fitting a mine

 

Women testing a mine with air presssure

 

W.R.N.S. instructor at respirator and mask drill for military recruits

 

Railway worker pulling signal box levers

 

Window cleaners

 

Girl operating stitching machine in Leicestershire boot factory

 

British women moulding and finishing stoneware taps at terra cotta works in Leicestershire

 

British woman winding cotton from spools on to rollers at lace factory in Nottingham

 

British women working in lace factory in Nottingham

 

British women working in tannery in Nottingham

 

British women in Nottingham tannery drawing skins from the lime pit

 

British women cleaning locomotive in Midlands

 

British women in glass factory cutting shop near Birmingham

 

British women in glass factory near Birmingham

 

British women painting planes at aeroplane factory near Birmingham

 

British woman splicing airplane joints in aeroplane factory near Birmingham

 

British women aeroplane workers near Birmingham welding frame tugs for planes

 

British women working in chemical laboratory near Manchester

 

Chemical works near Manchester - British women chemical workers in the Midlands

 

British women chemical workers in the Midlands taking limestone from stock, loading and wheeling barrows of lime to wagons

 

British rubber workers in Lancashire spreading machine for coaling canvas for tire making

 

British women rubber workers in Lancashire fixing studded tires

 

British women asbestos workers in factory in Lancashire

 

British women oil workers in Lancashire moulding cakes

 

British women rubber workers in Lancashire making mouth-pieces for gas masks

 

British women rubber workers in Lancashire forming the foundation for the tread

 

British women millers in Lancashire packing flour

 

British women millers in Lancashire filling sacks with Government Flour

 

British women Glass Workers

 

British Women Glass Workers in a factory in Lancashire - Plaster house workers

 

With the British Navy in wartime - Working a machine to extract the metal from the rubbish

 

The Royal tour in the North Eastern Countries - The King chatting to some of the munitions girls

 

 
Mechanic