Margaret Wilson (née Adams)
General Information
First Name(s): Margaret Ellen Elizabeth Mary
Unmarried Surname: Adams
Married Surname: Wilson
Date of Birth: 12 November 1921
Place of Birth: Claremont Street, North Woolwich
Date joined WLA: 21 September 1942
Date left WLA: 5 November 1945
WLA number: 99945
Previous occupation: Office work in Silvers in Silvertown and the Electricity Department of Woolwich Borough Council and in the Woolwich Arsenal.
Reasons for joining: She thought she would prefer farm work to factory work making ammunitions.
Treatment by farmer or market gardeners: Mum said they were not treated well by the farmer and one was a brute of a man.
Reasons for leaving: End of the War and getting married
Employment
Employed by: Private farmer in Staines, Ashford. Mum was sent to several different farms during her time as a Land Army girl, and I know one placement was to a farm near Staines, which after the war became the site of the expanded Heathrow airport.
Type of work undertaken: Planting and picking field crops, loading heavy bales onto trucks. Worked with Stella Owen (née Russell).
Work liked least: Least liked work was picking sprouts in freezing conditions.
Best and worst memories: One memory of Mum’s from this time is of a narrow escape; as they were working in a field harvesting sprouts they watched a doodlebug or unmanned rocket coming towards them and they all fell flat on the ground hoping it wouldn’t reach them and thankfully it landed in the field next to them!
Mum and her friend were always hungry and would go to the local local tea rooms and on their meagre pay would share a cup of tea and teacake between them.
They also had to share a bed.
Accommodation: Lived in private billet.
Life after the war
Did you they return back to their pre-war occupation? No, married in September 1945. Household duties. First child born September 1946 (Me), a son and daughter were born later. My parents married quickly after the end of the war as my Father was taken as a POW near Dunkirk in 1940 and spent five years apart from Mum but she waited for him.
How did work in the WLA effect their life? Unfortunately lack of training in farm work led to Mum having back problems for the rest of her life.
Contributor Information
Name: Janet Margaret Crowder
Relationship to Land Girl: Daughter
