The Women’s Land Army made a significant contribution to the war effort in both the Great War (1914-18) and in the Second World War (1939-45).
Prior the the Second World War, the UK imported most of its food. However, the onset of war necessitated the farming of more home-grown food. With many farm workers enlisted in the armed forces, women were needed to tend the land and to boost food production.
At its peak in 1944 there was in excess of 80,000 women working on the land in the UK. Thus, the WLA became known as the ‘Land Girls’. From the end of 1941 women could be conscripted to work on the land and could be directed to work anywhere in the UK.
Most Land Girls lived on the farms where they were assigned to work. Others lived in one of the 700 special hostels set up by the Government.
Since rats, foxes, rabbits and moles posed a serious threat to food supplies and animal fodder, Land Girls were formed into special anti-vermin squads.
Land Girls were paid directly by the farmers who employed them. The minimum wage was 28 Shillings (£1.40p at today’s prices) from which a Land Girl would pay 14 Shillings (now 70p) for their board and lodging. The average wage of a male farm worker was 38 shillings per week, and so women were paid significantly less than men. The basic working week of a Land Girl was 48 hours in the winter and 50 hours in the summer. After 1943, Land Girls were given one week’s holiday per year.
By 1943 Land Girls could find themselves in the fields working alongside Italian prisoners of war.
Exhibited are photographs of some of the Land Girls who worked on the Land in and around Salthouse.