Lucy Adlington - Womens Lives and Clothes in WW2

WOMENS LIVES AND CLOTHES IN WW2

READY FOR ACTION

LUCY ADLINGTON

First published in Great Britain in 2019 by

PEN AND SWORD HISTORY

an imprint of

Pen and Sword Books Ltd

Yorkshire Philadelphia

Copyright Lucy Adlington, 2019

ISBN 978 1 52671 234 9

eISBN 978 1 5267 1 236 3

Mobi ISBN 978 1 5267 1 235 6

The right of Lucy Adlington to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

Pen & Sword Books Ltd incorporates the imprints of Pen & Sword Archaeology, Atlas, Aviation, Battleground, Discovery, Family History, History, Maritime, Military, Naval, Politics, Railways, Select, Social History, Transport, True Crime, Claymore Press, Frontline Books, Leo Cooper, Praetorian Press, Remember When, Seaforth Publishing and Wharncliffe.

For a complete list of Pen & Sword titles please contact

PEN & SWORD BOOKS LIMITED

47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS, England

E-mail:

Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

Or

PEN AND SWORD BOOKS

1950 Lawrence Rd, Havertown, PA 19083, USA

E-mail:

Website: www.penandswordbooks.com

With extra special thanks to Denise Curran for beautiful studio photographs, and to the fabulous studio models Francesca Duvall, Lucy Taylor, Meridith Towne, Vee Taylor, Iris Hillery and Elsie Walton.

With thanks also to the many, many people who provided support, photographs, memories, tours, family history, and who donated 1940s clothing to the ever-expanding History Wardrobe collection

Rachel Adie-Rhodes, Ben and Lorna Adlington, Ann Allan, Rachael Applegate, Paula Arkley, Annie Ayling, Ann Ayres, Mary Baldwin, Mavis Ballinger, Sarah Bartlett, Bankfield Museum, Elsie Beesley, Hanni Begg, Pauline Bell, Avri BenZeEv, Dorothy Blewitt, Warren Bone, Stephen Bourne, Judy Brown, Sandi Bullen Janet Bulman-Hawes, Maureen Burrell, Barbara Button, Janet Callender, Miriam Joan Campbell, Lorna Carr, Janet Carter, Jenny Cathcart, Eva Clarke, Jim and Jenny Clarke, Veronica Coatham, Stephanie Coghlan, Christine Cole, Marion Crofts, Richard and Jan Crouch, Bridget Cuthbertson, Lindsey Devey, Digital Images York, Wendy Doeser, Sheila Duncan, Jean Elliot, Enid Ellis, Norman Ellis, Elvington Air Museum, Barbara English, Eunice Fairless, Patricia Ferguson, Mary Firth, Evelyn Gibbs, Judith Gilbert, Cate Gillespie, Judith Gittus, Peggy Glassett, Helen Godson, Yann Golanski, Marilyn Greenwood, Anne Grete, Kris Grey, Ann Guiver, Joan Hackney, Lorna Hale, Dorothy Hanlan, Jenny Harris, Richard Henley, Judith Helsby, Barbara Hind, Valerie Hollinrake, Jean Hordich, Imperial War Museum Manchester, Lynn Ireland, Amy and Paul Kanka, Maureen Kelly, Naomi Kenney, Gillian Kirkham, Wynnith Laidlaw, Kay de Lautour Scott, Paul Lazell, Leicester County Council costume collection, Linda Levick, Val Lewis, Minnie Lindsell, Judith Lindsey, Eileen Little, Vanessa Lorenz, Brigid Lowe, M&S Archives Leeds, Barbara Malcolm, Lesley Manser, Maureen McNeil-Smith, Ann Miller, Elisa Milkes, Helen Mitchell, Roberto Molle, Pam Morgan, Jayne Morland, National Holocaust Centre Ollerton, Nell Nicholson, Sue Oliver, Eileen Orange, Graham Panico, Linda Peace, Chris Pine, Anne Pont, Alison and Robin Powell, Audrey Pratt, Marjorie Pugh, Ruth Pugh, Gaynor Rhodes, Elizabeth Roberts, Helen Rose, Elizabeth Rusby, Noriko Sato, Terry Saunders, Diane Saywell, Jill Scargall, Eva Schloss, Rosalind and Rob Schrimpff, Hildegard McCormick, Mary Sherrard, Patricia Shotton, J.H. Smith, Patricia Snaith, Thalia Soffair, Jo Statham, Christine Steer, Judy Stephens, Pat Swainby, Marjorie Taylor, Ann Tiffany, Liz Tonks, Tullie House Museum, Annette Turner, Elizabeth Turner, Richard and Valerie Tyers, Marjorie Upson, Ulla Vaeretz, Stuart Waite, Elizabeth Walker, Doris Walters, Margaret Walton, Washburn Heritage Centre, Alex Wells, Helen Westmacott, West Yorkshire Archive Service, Peter and Ann Whatson, Liz Whelan, Susan Whitwam, Maxine Willett, Gwen Williams, Susan Wilkinson, Windrush Foundation, Mary Wray, Richard Yasuhara, Hiroko Yomogida.

All images are from the History Wardrobe collection with the following exceptions: p. 10 WPC6, Jill Scargall; p. 11 Four generations, Jo Statham; p. 17 Norwegian housewife school, Anne Grete; p. 18 Rottenburg painting, Elizabeth Rusby; p. 26 WVS, Iris Hillery; p. 28 NARPAC, Vee Taylor; p. 32 Alice Frain, Elsie Walton; p. 33 Milicianas, Wikicommons; p. 34 Zoya Kosodemyanskaya, Wikicommons; p. 39 Major Adams, Wikicommons; p. 41 Mary Whitwam, Susan Whitwam; p. 42 Russian riflewomen, Stuart Waite; p. 50 Mary Wray, Liz Roberts; p. 51 Freshening Up advert, Meridith Towne; p. 60 Esther Bruce, Stephen Bourne; p. 66 Edith Walton, Elsie Walton; p. 69 Doris Bell, Jenny Cathcart; p. 74 Lee Miller, Wikicommons; p. 75 Czech fabric samples, Graham Panico; p. 84, Blue dress, Vee Taylor; p. 99 Tailors shop, Janet Bulmer-Hawes; p. 104 US cotton picker, Wikicommons; p. 105 Norwegian farmers, Anne Grete; p. 115 Irene Nequest, Diane Saywell; p. 122 Lettice Curtiss, Yorkshire Air Museum; p. 125, Russian bomber crew, Wikicommons; p. 128 Beachball, Terry Saunders; p. 131 Vivian Bullwinkle, Australian War Memorial; p. 135 Annice Sharp, Ann Tiffany; p. 149 Pyjama pattern, Meridith Towne; p. 154 Silk map housecoat, Macclesfield Museums; p. 159 Sylvia Bailey, Jenny Cathcart; p. 165 Noor Inayat Khan, Wikicommons; p. 167 Party girls, Audrey Pratt; p. 170 Peggy Colbourne, Susan Wilkinson; p. 172 Hattie McDaniel, Wikicommons; p. 173 Elisabeth Welch, Stephen Bourne; pp. 173/175 Mildred Turner, Terry Saunders; p. 194 New Zealand bride, Elizabeth Rusby; p. 197 1940 wedding, Alex Wells; p. 198 Nancy wedding, Christine Cole; p. 222 Civil Defence uniform, Vee Taylor; p. 231 Stella Eves, Robin Powell; p. 243 SS guards, Wikicommons (Yad Vashem); p. 246 Marta Fuchs, Thalia Soffair.

Whilst every effort has been made to trace the owners of copyright material, the author would like to apologise for any omissions and will be pleased to incorporate missing acknowledgements in any future editions.

War has at all times called for the fortitude of women. Even in other days when it was the affair of the fighting forces only. Now all this has changed. For we, no less than men, have real and vital work to do.

Speech by Queen Elizabeth for Armistice Day, 11 November 1939

I visited Berlin one cold February a few years back. The city was overlaid with so many historical experiences, yet vibrant with modern energy and architecture. I sought out the usual mementoes of past conflict the re-built Reichstag building, Checkpoint Charlie, chunks of Berlin Wall. Crows perched on the hauntingly beautiful grey slabs of the Holocaust memorial built above wartime bunkers. Amid all this history, the story that stuck in my mind was a snippet recounted by a teacher I knew, whose mother had been in the Bund Deutscher Mdel (Nazi League of German Girls). On the day Berlin buzzed with the news of a near-miss assassination attempt of Hitler this young German came up the steps of the metro and all she could think about was that her shoe strap had broken. Little details such as this ground us amid more monumental events.