The English Garden – September 2019

104 THE ENGLISH GARDEN SEPTEMBER 2019

timeinthecountrysideandtheyhadliterallyno
ideawhattodo.Therewasthewidercultureshock
ofcomingfromtownsandcitiesbuttherewasalso
resentmentoftheseoutsidersamonglocalwomen.”
Womenwereputtoworkinallareasoffarmlife:
milking,hedge-laying,ploughingandrat-catching.
“Itwasincrediblytough,andI thinkthat’swhyit
gotgoingsoquicklyagaininWWII– they’dseen
thevalueofwomeninWWI.Butofcourseit was
Catch-22,becausethewomen
were dropped as soon as the men
came back,” muses Catherine.
The Land Girls’ eorts paid
o, however. “At the beginning
of the War, Britain imported 70
per cent of its food but by the
end we were 70 per cent self-
sucient,” explains Cherish.
Many surviving Land Girls
bore the physical eects of
their hard work, succumbing
to rheumatism or skin cancer.
The endeavours of the Women’s
Land Army and Timber
Corps were not specifically
acknowledged until 2014
though, when a statue of a Land
Girl and Lumber Jill was erected
at the National Arboretum,
Staordshire, sponsored by the
Staordshire Women’s Food
and Farming Union. ■

Wartime shifts brought new

employment possibilities for women

inclined towards horticulture. Vita

Sackville-West notes opportunities for

those keen on pursuing a horticultural

career in her book, The Women’s Land

Army, but women’s long-term accession

to the field was slow, especially since

the return of men to the fields rendered

them seemingly redundant.

For women who wished to continue

in this profession, Vita imagined small-

scale market gardens modelled on the

French style: “I see mushroom sheds

and pedigree poultry runs; I see acres

of flowering bulbs,” she wrote.

In 1918 30 women were employed at

RGB Kew, with some staying on until

1922 when the employment of women

ceased. In 1939 they were allowed to

work at Kew again and there was a

female staŠ of 12 in 1940, increasing

to 25 by 1941. Most of these women

had previously trained as gardeners,

but some arrived through the Auxiliary

Territorial Service and the Women’s

Land Army. Women were employed in

the propagating pits, flower and rock

gardens and in certain sections of the

tropical department.

Yet by 1952, there were no women

gardeners on record at Kew.

THE START of new opportunities

The war opened doors to women seeking independence through a career in horticulture

Below The Monument to

the Women of World

War II on London’s

Whitehall honours the

many diŠerent jobs

undertaken by women

during both World Wars.

Right Land Girl & Lumber

Jill commemorates these

specific war roles at the

National Arboretum.

WOMEN’S LAND ARMY

IMAGES

ALAMY