Singled Out: How Two Million British Women Survived Without Men After the First World War

343 Pages·2008·3.63 MB·English

by  Virginia Nicholson

Singled Out
By the same author
Among the Bohemians
Singled Out
How Two Million British Women Survived
Without Men after the First World War
virginia nicholson
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Copyright © 2008 by Virginia Nicholson
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nicholson, Virginia.
Singled out : how two million British women survived without men
after the First World War / Virginia Nicholson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-537822-1
1. World War, 1914–1918—Women—Great Britain.
2. War widows—Great Britain—Social conditions—20th century.
3. Single women—Great Britain—Social conditions—20th century.
4. World War, 1914–1918—Social aspects—Great Britain. I. Title.
D639.W7N73 2008
306.81'53094109041—dc22 2008019971
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Introduction xi
 Where Have All the Young Men Gone?

Twowomen

Thecrownandjoy

Deeplylovedandsadlymissed

Aworldwithoutmen

SurplusTwoMillion
 ‘A world that doesn’t want me’

Thetwilightstate

OddwomenandAnnVeronicas

Thespinsterproblem

Destinyandthedevil

Themoreofusthemerrier
 On the Shelf

Husbands

MrWrong

Heart-to-heartchats

Abuyers’market

‘Butwhowillgivememychildren?’
 Business Girls

War,workandwives

Palacesofcommerce

Arottenhardlife
vi SingledOut

MissAll-Aloneintheclassroom

MissAll-Aloneonthewards
 Caring, Sharing...

Lonelydays

Companions,consolations

Otherpeople’sbabies

Lonelynights

Theblessedfactofloving
 A Grand Feeling

Acause,apurposeandapassion

TheWell

Theurge

Findinghappinessasa‘bach’

Survivingthenight
 The Magnificent Regiment of Women

Thechallengeofloss

Wearenotdownhearted

Agoodstrongcharacter

Doingthingsthatmatter

‘Youlovedhim’
Notes on Sources 
Select Bibliography 
Acknowledgements 
Index 
List of Illustrations
. –: the pitiless destruction of a generation of young men (Imperial War
Museum)
. Wartime munitions workers: in those same four years the female workforce
increasedbynearlyamillion(ImperialWarMuseum)
.Newwomenonbicycles(fromRuthAdam,AWoman’sPlace)
. Winifred Holtby and other Somerville students in  (from Marion Shaw,
TheClearStream)
. Margery Fry was Principal of Somerville College, Oxford, from  to 
(CourtesyThePrincipalandFellowsofSomervilleCollege,Oxford)
.and.Celebratingphysicalvigour,theWomen’sLeagueofHealthandBeauty
maynothavedonemuchtocomfortmenscarredandcrippledbyaremorseless
conflict (Top, from Mary Turner, The Women’s Century; bottom, Imperial War
Museum)
. Richmal Crompton: ‘the last surviving example of the Victorian professional
aunt’(fromMaryCadogan,RichmalCrompton–TheWomanBehindWilliam)
.SocietybelleIsieRussell-Stevenson(CourtesyJulianFellowes)
. Rani Cartwright, a celebrated catwalk model who described herself as ‘free
range’(CourtesyRaniCartwright)
.JoanEvanslostthemanshelovedin,andbytheageoftwenty-twohad
givenuphopeofmarriage(fromherautobiography,PreludeandFugue)
. Cicely Hamilton lived ‘like the traditional spinster, with a cat for company’
(fromherautobiography,LifeErrant)
. With the help of Jessie Monroe and her dogs, Elizabeth Goudge learned to
‘deeply prize the blessings of a single life’ (from her autobiography, The Joy of
theSnow)
. ‘Rose-coloured carpets were mine’; stockbroker Beatrice Gordon Holmes
photographedinthes(fromherautobiography,InLovewithLife)
viii SingledOut
.The staff of the Electrical Association for Women honour their founder
Caroline Haslett, awarded the DBE in June  (Courtesy Institution of
EngineeringandTechnologyArchives)
. Career woman Bessie Webster chose to be photographed leaning against her
Chairman’sRollsRoyce(CourtesyIsabelRaphael)
. After thirty-seven attempts, Victoria Drummond passes her Chief Engineer’s
exam (from Cherry Drummond, The Remarkable Life of Victoria Drummond,
MarineEngineer)
.‘GertandDaisy’:ElsieandDorisWaters(GettyImages)
. ‘I thought a god was there’: Richard Aldington in  (National Portrait
Gallery)
. Irene Rathbone, featured in a round-up of book reviews in the weekly
Everyman,(BritishLibrary,NewspaperLibrary)
.PrivateView()byGladysHynes.Unmistakableinthecentreofthepicture
are Radclyffe Hall and her lover Una Troubridge (from Michael Baker, Our
ThreeSelves)
.AUniversalAunt(fromKateHerbert-Hunting,UniversalAunts)
.NanniesinHydePark(HultonArchive/GettyImages)
.MaryMilne,MatronofStMary’sHospital,Paddington.Herfiance´ waskilled
inthewar(StMary’sNHS TrustArchive)
. In the s nursing was one of the few professions seen as respectable for
decentyoungladies(HultonArchive/GettyImages)
.Afterhermother’sdeath,PhyllisBentleyrediscoveredaguiltlessfreedom(from
herautobiography,ODreams,ODestinations)
. Rowena Cade, founder of the Minack Theatre, Cornwall (Courtesy Minack
TheatreTrust)
.WinifredHawardandLouisHodgkiss(fromWinifredHaward’sautobiography,
TwoLives)
. ‘I would live my life over again’: lady’s maid Rose Harrison (from her auto-
biography,MyLifeinService)
. Post-war, women replenished the ranks of white-collar workers killed in the
trenches(CourtesyCadburySchweppesPlc)
ListofIllustrations ix
.Shopassistants–inninetypercentofwomenworkingintheretailsector
weresingle(MaryEvansPictureLibrary)
.MargeryPerhamwithMasaiwarriorsinKenya,(CourtesyTonyRaine)
.ThearchaeologistGertrudeCaton-Thompson(fromherautobiography,Mixed
Memoirs)
. Women working in the laboratory at Girton College, Cambridge (Courtesy
GirtonCollege)
.MaudeRoydeninthepulpit(fromSheilaFletcher,MaudeRoyden,aLife)
.Preacher,journalistandcharityworkerRosamundEssexwithheradoptedson
David(fromherautobiography,WomaninaMan’sWorld)
.Picnicsandprayermeetings:membersoftheChristianAllianceofWomenand
GirlsonholidayinScarborough,(CourtesyKeychangeCharity)
. Campaigning for spinsters: on the right, Florence White (Courtesy West
YorkshireArchiveService,Bradford)
Illustrations in the Text
p.  ‘Husband hunters’, caricature in Strand Magazine, Vol. , July–December

p.  ‘The gorgon Aunt Jane with her maiden lady companion’, illustration in
HilaireBelloc,CautionaryTales
p.  ‘The literate spinster’, caricature by Nicolas Bentley in Hilaire Belloc,
CautionaryTales
p.‘Thesuperfluouswoman:aholidaytragedy’,fromPunch,August
p.IllustrationtoDaisyAshford’sromance,TheYoungVisiters
p.‘ToMeettheShortageofDancingMen’,fromPunch,October
p.‘MeetingandMating’,illustrationfromPunch,December
p.IllustrationfromDorisLangleyMoore,TheTechniqueoftheLoveAffair
p.IllustratedfeaturefromWeldonLadies’Journal,September
p.  Illustration in ‘Things That Make Me Grouse’, Woman’s Life, September
