Transport Work

The introduction of military conscription for men aged 18 to 41 in 1916, had a major impact on the British workforce. Women were now called upon to fill the shortfall and support the war effort by taking on a variety of new jobs from agricultural work and munitions manufacture, to transport roles.

Greasers, helping to clean and maintain trains. They were the first British women to wear overalls in a working capacity, an innovation of which they were suitably proud.

Local women also worked as conductors on the local tram network. In some British cities, like Glasgow, they were actually allowed to drive the trams. However in the Capital, the London United Tramways refused to allow this.

Women were also given the opportunity to act as messengers and ambulance drivers for organisations like the Red Cross, and the Scottish Women's Hospitals at field stations near the Western Front. Some also had driving roles in the U.K, like former suffragette, Charlotte Marsh, who became a driver for the Prime Minister, David Lloyd George.