WW1 Research: Women’s Land Army in Cornwall (Research by Julie Newman)

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.