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Women were sometimes the unsung heroes of World War II. Working tirelessly behind the scenes to manufacture the nuts and bolts for weapons and machinery, their work contributed as much to the war effort as those on the frontline. Our curator Henrietta took a deep dive into our Guest, Keen & Nettlefold (GKN) archive to find out more.
Both the first and second world wars provided huge opportunities for women to enter the workplace. GKN mounted a recruitment drive to attract women to join the workforce in the early 1940s – and we are very lucky to have one of the leaflets issued at that time. The leaflet makes a direct appeal to women’s sense of duty, while at the same flattering them as ‘women of spirit’. The leaflet opens with ‘But for these vital parts – SCREWS. BOLTS. NUTS – not a TANK, PLANE, GUN or SHIP could go into action. YOU – what about it?’, showcasing just how essential women’s work was to the war effort.
The appeal is specifically to ‘housewives’ and women over 31 years old. The leaflet emphasises the excellent facilities available for women. Alongside photos of the canteen and the well-staffed sick bay, the text seeks to show ‘how your “inner woman” is catered for, your minor ailments considered, and how we recognise that drudgery would be the worst enemy of willing effort.’ War work was to be considered just as important as service in the forces, and GKN were keen to suggest that taking part in the war effort would improve women’s wellbeing: ‘Britain’s happiest women are those who are busy with their hands and heads and hearts, intent upon helping to “finish the job”’.
Inside the leaflet, we find an interesting strapline across the bottom. Churchill is pictured on the left, and Hitler on the right. The text reads ‘Who will you help? Both men are watching British women.’ The clear implication is that women who do not come forward will be actively helping the enemy.
This leaflet came to us from the daughter of a man who had worked at GKN. We don’t know exactly why he preserved the leaflet for decades, but we can make a guess. He met his wife while they were both working for the company during the war, and it’s possible that this very leaflet prompted her to join the workforce. If that is the case, it would have had romantic associations for them both.
One woman who started her working life at GKN in 1943 was Doreen Hale. She was just 14 when she joined the company, and her recollections give a vivid picture of life among the girls on the factory floor. Her work involved labelling up boxes of screws, which had been weighed out by other female workers. There was plenty of fun to be had:
‘In the canteen somebody came and entertained you, and we had some good old sing-songs and the music of them days, the forties, like. It was called workers’ playtime. There was a girl used to teach me how to dance in the dinner hour and we used to dance up the aisles! There was a girl there, her sister worked at a sweet factory and we used to buy little bags of sweets off of her for two shilling.’
There was also a sense of mutual support:
‘The one girl, her fiancé was in the army and he was coming home on leave, and they were going to get married. So we all saved our clothing coupons and gave them to her to get her wedding outfit.’
This feeling of camaraderie comes over in some of the photographs we have of women at work during the war. The GKN headquarters in London was forced to operate from a basement during the blitz. This photograph shows the secretaries cheerfully making the best of this situation. One of them is Joan Roberts, whose son spotted her in the picture when he visited Winterbourne in 2022.
GKN commissioned a series of photos of women workers at the Smethwick Heath Street works towards the end of the war. The company was clearly keen to portray itself as a good employer in the hope of retaining the services of women once the war was over.
One of the women in this photo is Frances Holden, née Bowering. This lady was also identified by her son when he was visiting Winterbourne. By 1939, Frances was a nut-tapping machinist at GKN’s Heath Street works. During the war, she served as an ARP warden at the works. A telegram she received from Lord Beaverbrook epitomises the Government’s attitude towards women workers at this time: ‘My thanks go to you as pioneer and torchbearer in the march of women to the war factories. I am proud of the fine job you are doing in Bham. Now your example and your spirit will lead many women like you to the places waiting for them in the forges and arsenals of the island’.
While these photos generally show women simply getting on with the job, one or two are carefully staged. One of my favourites is this cheeky image of a screw-sorter peering through her sieve. If only we knew who she was!
