Nel Shearman: A Land Girl and a generation who answered the call

Today, members of Pudsey & Farsley Royal British Legion had the privilege of spending time with a remarkable member of our local community.

Branch members Steve, Malcolm and Mick visited St Luke’s Care Home in Calverley, where they met Nel Shearman, who is 102 years old and will soon celebrate her 103rd birthday on the 6th November.

During the Second World War, Nel was one of thousands of young women who answered their country’s call by joining the Women’s Land Army.

Today, more than 80 years later, opportunities to sit down with members of that wartime generation are becoming increasingly precious. Nel’s story also gives us an opportunity to remember a part of the war effort which can sometimes receive less attention than the fighting overseas: the enormous contribution made by women across Britain.

The Women’s Land Army

The Women’s Land Army actually had its beginnings during the First World War, when it was established in 1917 to help address the shortage of agricultural workers as men left farms to serve in the Armed Forces.

It was disbanded after the war, but as another conflict approached, the organisation was re-established in June 1939, several months before Britain declared war on Germany.

The women who joined became affectionately known as Land Girls.

By 1943, at its peak, more than 80,000 women were working in the Women’s Land Army. They came from all walks of life. Some had agricultural backgrounds, while others arrived from towns and cities with little previous experience of farming.

Their work was far removed from the romantic image sometimes presented by wartime recruitment posters.

Land Girls ploughed and harvested fields, milked cows, cared for livestock, drove tractors, maintained land and carried out countless other agricultural jobs. Conditions could be difficult, hours were long and pay was relatively low. Many lived away from their families, either on farms or in hostels.

Yet the work they were doing was vital.

Britain relied heavily on imported food when the war began. With German U-boats targeting merchant shipping in the Atlantic, every ship carrying food to Britain faced danger and every acre cultivated at home became increasingly important.

The battle to feed Britain was therefore part of the wider battle for survival.

Women such as Nel helped keep farms operating, food growing and the country fed while hundreds of thousands of agricultural workers and other young men were serving elsewhere.

And their job did not finish when victory was declared in 1945. Britain continued to face shortages after the war and the Women’s Land Army remained in existence until 1950.

Far more than the Land Army

Nel’s service also represents just one part of a much larger story.

The Second World War transformed the lives and responsibilities of millions of British women.

When we picture the defence of Britain, it is natural to think first of soldiers, sailors and airmen. Their courage and sacrifice cannot be overstated.

But a modern war on the scale of the Second World War could never have been fought by the Armed Forces alone.

Behind every aircraft taking off, every ship sailing and every soldier being supplied was an enormous network of people producing weapons, growing food, maintaining communications, caring for casualties, transporting supplies, gathering intelligence and keeping the country functioning.

Women were embedded throughout that network.

The scale is extraordinary. The National Archives estimates that around seven million women were employed as part of the wartime effort. Around 1.5 million worked in engineering and metal industries, while women made up more than half of the workforce in the chemical and explosives industry. They manufactured shells, bombs, electrical equipment, uniforms, parachutes and countless other supplies needed by the Armed Forces.

Many worked long shifts in factories which were themselves targets for enemy bombing. Industrial and explosives work could also be inherently dangerous, quite apart from the threat posed by air raids.

Women in uniform

Hundreds of thousands more women put on uniform.

More than 250,000 served with the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the women’s branch of the British Army. Their roles developed far beyond the clerical and domestic work initially envisioned for them. Women became drivers, mechanics and communications specialists and worked with anti-aircraft batteries and searchlight units defending Britain from enemy aircraft.

Among those who served in the ATS was 18-year-old Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen Elizabeth II. In 1945 she trained as a driver and vehicle mechanic, becoming the first female member of the Royal Family to serve as a full-time active member of the Armed Forces. Her service came towards the end of the war, but it remains a particularly recognisable example of how widely women had become involved in Britain’s wartime effort.

The Women’s Auxiliary Air Force worked alongside the RAF. Women maintained aircraft, plotted aircraft movements, interpreted reconnaissance photographs, forecast weather, worked in intelligence and performed numerous other specialist roles. By 1943, the WAAF had around 182,000 members.

Members of the Women’s Royal Naval Service, better known as the Wrens, performed vital work for the Royal Navy, including communications, radar, driving and technical duties. Some were entrusted with highly secret work connected with intelligence and codebreaking.

From December 1941, the need for manpower was so great that Britain introduced conscription for women, initially affecting single women aged between 20 and 30, who could be directed towards the auxiliary services or other essential wartime work. By June 1944, more than 450,000 women were serving in the auxiliary Armed Forces.

On the Home Front and beyond

Others became nurses, ambulance drivers, firefighters, air raid wardens and members of civil defence organisations.

Women raised families through bombing raids and rationing, took in evacuees, cared for relatives and maintained homes while simultaneously taking on work previously carried out by men.

And for a small number, the war took them directly into enemy-occupied territory.

Women served with organisations including the Special Operations Executive, undertaking clandestine intelligence, communications and resistance work in occupied Europe. Some were captured and killed as a consequence of that service.

The roles differed enormously, but they formed parts of the same national effort.

A country defended together

More than eight decades later, it can be tempting to view the Second World War through a simplified lens.

Men fought the war. Women stayed at home.

The reality was considerably more complicated.

The overwhelming majority of front-line combatants were men and millions of them endured experiences and made sacrifices which must never be diminished. But acknowledging that does not require us to diminish the contribution of women in return.

Britain could not have sustained six years of total war without them.

Aircraft cannot fly without being built, maintained, armed and directed. Armies cannot fight without food, equipment and ammunition. Casualties need nurses. Cities under attack need ambulance crews and civil defence workers. Intelligence has to be gathered and communications maintained. And while millions of men were away serving, somebody still had to keep farms, factories, transport, families and communities functioning.

Women did not merely watch Britain’s war from the sidelines. They were part of it.

Their contribution took many forms. Some wore military uniform. Some worked beneath the wings of bombers or beside anti-aircraft guns. Some manufactured the weapons sent to the front. Some cared for the wounded. Some carried secret messages through occupied Europe.

And tens of thousands, including a young Nel Shearman, pulled on their boots and went to work on Britain’s farms.

Today, Nel is 102 years old.

When Steve, Malcolm and Mick sat with her at St Luke’s, they were spending time with someone who belongs to a generation whose experiences are rapidly passing from living memory into history.

For us as a branch, visits such as this are about more than looking backwards. They are about listening while those stories can still be told, recognising service in all its forms and making sure those contributions are not forgotten.

We would like to thank everyone at St Luke’s Care Home for welcoming our members today and, most importantly, Nel for allowing us to spend some time with her.

And with a rather special birthday approaching on 6 November, we hope we will have another opportunity very soon to wish Nel a very happy 103rd birthday.