Sep 092017
Sep 082017
Aug 012017
- Land Girls on the beach ready for a swim. Source: Joan Birchall Photo Archive
- Sarah Johnson Duncan and friends in Cornwall ready for a kick about. Source: Julia Greenwood
- Inter-hostel sports competition, Bedfordshire, 6th August, 1949. Source: Stuart Antrobus
- WLA Sports Day at Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire July 1945. Source: Stuart Antrobus
Apr 082017
General Information
First Name(s): Nellie Butcher
Unmarried Surname: Jones
Married Surname: Bennett – 12 June 1926, Joyce – 18 Dec 1954
Date of Birth: 17 Oct 1901
Place of Birth: Kensington, London
Date Joined WLA: 1917?
Employment
Village: Cornwall
Farm Name: Launceston
Life After War
She returned to Fulham, London, having moved there from Kensington as a child. She was then in service in London before she married and had a son. For most of her life she worked part-time as a cook until she retired.
Contributor Details
Name: Alison Botterill
Relationship to Land Girl: Granddaughter
Jul 202014
Julie Newman recently got in touch with the following question:-
I’m researching the Women’s Land Army in WW1 for a short story to be published later this year in an anthology. I would like to know how many, if any, women were recruited for work on farms in Cornwall and if so, when and where?
Julie has very kindly shared some of her research with me so I can publish on the website for others interested in this area:-
I’m steadily looking through the magazines but one of my fellow writers has told me about Elizabeth Hotten who wrote Cornwall At War. I found out that the National Service Scheme was the forerunner of the WLA [The WLA was part of the National Service Scheme]. And Truro District War Agricultural Committee was established in 1916. Ration books in 1918. At Stoke Climsland near Liskeard, Charlotte Matheson joined the Women’s [National] Land Service Corps in 1916 and ‘undertook all kinds of work, heavy and light.’ She fed the pigs and took the bull for his daily walk! Conchies from Bodmin were also put to work on the land, ploughing. You might like to add this bit of information.