The colour photos that show the war effort of two million women 100 years ago

Anna Clarke

Updated Sun, November 11, 2018 at 7:00 AM UTC

Members of the Princess Royal's Volunteer Corps (FANY) in France - Reproduced with the permission of the British Red Cross Museum and Archives

Women’s contribution to extraordinary moments in history are often downplayed and written out, but we would do well to recognise the war effort of women this Remembrance Sunday, the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.

After the outbreak of war in 1914 ‘women’s work’ suddenly took on an entirely new meaning. No longer resigned to the home, as mere wives and daughters, these brave women took up the mantle to serve King and country, refusing to sit idle while hostile forces were at play. Adapting to new roles in munitions factories at home and Red Cross ambulance drivers abroad this willful lot stood alongside the men in body and spirit. Amongst them, the great pacifist Vera Brittain, who in her visceral account of the wounds of war Testament of Youth believed “whatever we do, as individuals or as nations, deeply affects everyone else.”

The real heroines of the Great War remain the two million women that rejected the day’s conventions to take up new roles, overcoming prejudice and fighting for what was truly right.

Red Cross drivers run to their ambulances in Etaples on 27 June 1917

Ambulance drivers run to their vehicles - Credit: Reproduced with the permission of the British Red Cross Museum and Archives — Credit: Reproduced with the permission of the British Red Cross Museum and Archives

Sister White and Voluntary Aid Detachment Sybil Hare with patients at Red Cross Hospital in Weston-Super-Mare

Hospital patients with nurse and VAD - Credit: Reproduced with the permission of the British Red Cross Museum and Archives — Credit: Reproduced with the permission of the British Red Cross Museum and Archives

VAD nurse Dorothy Hancock sitting playing cards with patients at Southmead Hospital

VAD member playing cards with patients - Credit: Reproduced with the permission of the British Red Cross Museum and Archives — Credit: Reproduced with the permission of the British Red Cross Museum and Archives

Two VADs and a nurse feeding chickens at Leeswood Hall VAD Hospital

Two VADs and a nurse feeding chickens - Credit: Reproduced with the permission of the British Red Cross Museum and Archives — Credit: Reproduced with the permission of the British Red Cross Museum and Archives

A World War I tableau: Britannia (centre) with a wounded soldier, nurses and hospital staff

Britannia seen here with shield and wounded soldier, nurses and hospital staff - Credit: Reproduced with the permission of the British Red Cross Museum and Archives — Credit: Reproduced with the permission of the British Red Cross Museum and Archives

VAD War Office Inspection in Kent

members of the voluntary aid detachment - Credit: Reproduced with the permission of the British Red Cross Museum and Archives — Credit: Reproduced with the permission of the British Red Cross Museum and Archives

**A copy of the weekly journal The Gentlewoman from 1914 showing a little girl, dressed as a VAD, collecting donations**

The front cover of the weekly journal The Gentlewoman - Credit: Reproduced with the permission of the British Red Cross Museum and Archives — Credit: Reproduced with the permission of the British Red Cross Museum and Archives

Members of the Voluntary Aid Detachment

Show the power of kindness and help the British Red Cross continue the incredible legacy of its WWI volunteers by signing up today: redcross.org.uk/volunteer The red cross emblem is a protective symbol used during armed conflicts and its use is restricted by law.

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