de bene esse: WW1 led to ‘ladette culture’ as women turned to drink

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

It is remembered as a period in which women emerged to play a greater role in society, with more moving into the workplace and finally getting the vote. Now, new research has shed light on another area in which the First World War changed the lives of women.

A woman hard at work in an armaments factory in England, 1914 Photo: HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

The study shows how their drinking habits were transformed during the conflict. With more of them working and with so many men away at the front, women found themselves with more disposable income and freed from many domestic restraints. In increasing numbers, they flocked to pubs, traditionally the preserve of men, and drank alcohol in greater quantities than before.

The trend prompted moral outrage among many observers, with calls for the Government to take action to keep women out of bars, for publicans to stop serving them, and even for changes to the design of pubs, to discourage female drinkers.

^{Female navvies hard at work in Coventry in 1917. (Central Press)}

The research, by Genes Reunited, the family history website, involved a search of its own newspaper archives from the period, to find discussions of the issue.

Among scores of articles covering the topic was one in the Aberdeen Journal in 1914 – the year the war began – which discussed “the evil” of an “increase in the consumption of alcoholic liquor by women”.

In 1916 the matter was debated by magistrates in Bootle, on Merseyside, and the Liverpool Echo – under the headline “Light on the ways of women drinkers” – reported that “the great increase in the number of women visiting public houses during the past year has demanded drastic treatment”.

^{Female porters in Somerset in 1916 (GETTY IMAGES)}

A number of different measures were proposed to “eradicate this blot”, including fitting clear windows to pubs and removing “partitions, snugs and other obstacles likely to facilitate secret drinking”. The magistrates resolved to pass on their recommendations to the Liquor Control Board and to urge Parliament to legislate on the issue.

The same newspaper, two years later, revealed how the authorities in Warrington were concerned about “the army of women crowding the public houses”. A member of the public from Birkenhead wrote in to complain that the amount being drunk by women was “abnormal” and that male workers heading home from work were, as a consequence, “unable to obtain any refreshment”. He called on landlords to “use more discretion” in the serving of women.

A similar idea was proposed in Dundee, where clerics called for the granting of licenses to purchase alcohol, as well as to sell it, and even an outright ban on women in pubs.

In 1915, the Manchester Evening News reported that a magistrate, Theophilus Simpson, had conducted an inquiry into the local “underworld” in which he reported “increased drinking amongst women”. As part of his research, he had observed a pub and had been shocked to count “26 women enter a licensed house in ten minutes, with 16 coming out who he had not seen enter”.

^{Women working in the fields in Suffolk. (TOPICAL PRESS/GETTY IMAGES)}

He likened women drinkers to prostitutes and suggested that no action was taken, soldiers would return at the end of the war to “find their wives dishonoured and drunkards”.

Although the licensing laws were tightened during the conflict – with early morning, afternoon and earlier evening closing all introduced – there were no measures specifically targeted at women.

Rhoda Breakell, from Genes Reunited, said: ‘‘Despite the negative press, women continued to enjoy themselves in the pubs. Looking through the records on Genes Reunited can provide a great insight into social history, shedding light on how much things have changed for all of us in a comparatively short space of time.”

The experience of women on the “home front” will be covered by a new First World War gallery due to open at the Imperial War Museum next year, the centenary of the conflict’s outbreak.

^{A Ministry of Munitions poster.}

James Taylor, a historian at the museum, said: “A lot of the fear was that the changes in society would lead to a decline in women’s standards. There were fears, not only about drinking, but women smoking, doing certain jobs and wearing trousers.

“There was a lot of disquiet. I think it is fair to say people did appreciate what women were doing – in munitions work, for instance – but there was a moral undertow. And of course, at the end of the conflict, things did not all go back to how it was before.”

Before the war, most women’s work tended to fall into traditional female categories, such as domestic service and the textile industry. The absence of men serving in the forces and need for military materiel, led to significant changes, although some historians have since claimed these have been overstated.

By the armistice, 900,000 women had served in munitions factories, 117,000 in transport jobs and 113,000 on farms. More than 80,000 women had volunteered for war service, with another 100,000 serving as nurses. In February 1918, legislation was passed under which women over the age of 30 were granted the vote.