Hidden history and vital identity with a First World War servicewoman’s suitcase of memory – Robert MacKinnon and Denby Humphries

Scanning Auntie Emmie’s attic with torchlight, a time-worn leather suitcase caught Susan’s eye. Emmie would regularly retrieve the suitcase from the attic, but its contents were never shared. Opening it up carefully, Susan was presented with material traces of a personal story her great-aunt Emmie Chester had only vaguely and fragmentally revealed. Protected and hidden from others during Emmie’s life, the suitcase formed a personal archive of mementoes relating to a particular time in Emmie’s life: service in France with Britain’s Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) during and just after the First World War (1914-18).

This blog post explores the contents of her suitcase, including an object that may reflect a reassertion of traditional gender roles after the First World War. We posit Emmie’s hidden story offers insight into a private and materially focused practice, performance and presentation of First World War servicewoman or veteran identity. Our post is based on a display we have co-curated at the Soldiers of Shropshire Museum.

Photograph of an older woman with grey hair and glasses next to a museum sign and display. — Emmie’s great-niece Susan infront of the display, ‘Auntie Emmie’s suitcase: A wartime service life unpacked’. Soldiers of Shropshire Museum.

Women’s mobilisation for war

High casualty rates on the Western Front by 1916 and the associated desire to use fit men undertaking non-combat military work, prompted the British government to employ women as ‘auxiliary’ workers within the army. Jobs fell into seven categories including ‘Clerical’, ‘Household’ and ‘Mechanical Overseas’. Emmie likely undertook clerical work, as she specialised in this prior to joining the WAAC. She previously worked at ‘Philips’, a Shrewsbury grocery and provisions business. Some 57,000 women had been enlisted for service by the end of the war. [1]

Poster which reads women urgently needed for WAAC, with an image of a woman in military uniform. — Recruitment poster ‘WOMEN URGENTLY WANTED for the W.A.A.C’, 1917. Imperial War Museum © IWM Art.IWM PST 13171.

Black and white photograph of a young woman wearing a white shirt and dark hair. — Studio portrait photograph of Emmie, 1911. Soldiers of Shropshire Museum.

Emmie was born in 1893. She had four brothers and three sisters and enjoyed a comfortable upbringing in Shrewsbury before enrolling with the WAAC in June 1917. Intriguingly, her opened envelope and letter of acceptance from the National Service Department (which begins the display story), is marked with the address of a friend. Emmie may have tried to hide momentarily from her family her joining intentions, perhaps to mobilise courage and/or minimise envisaged domestic and individual distress. Months later, Emmie’s father apologised for ‘being a selfish old man […] but it was hard to part’.[2] Sadly, we do not know why Emmie joined the WAAC, higher wages, travel and/or a sense of civic contribution may have been factors.

Photograph of a brown letter — Opened letter envelope from the National Service Department, 1917. Soldiers of Shropshire Museum.

Rouen, France

Emmie was quickly sent to Rouen in France, a city and important military centre for British and Empire forces. An undated petition submitted to a WAAC Unit (hostel) Administrator lists grievances members of Emmie’s unit had about their WAAC living conditions. Although technically civilians, the women were subject to the same regulations as soldiers, but as the petition states, ‘It has often been said that we are treated as soldiers, if this is so, why cannot we be trusted as soldiers are?’ This powerful direct question relates to a desire for morning roll call to be ‘abolished […] in view of the fact that roll is called in the evening and a N.C.O [non-commissioned officer] posted at the [hostel] gate’. We do not know the impact of the petition, but the roll call complaint highlights the surveillance the servicewomen were subjected to over fears of male contact.[3]

Black and white photograph of a large group of young women dressed in uniform. — Undated group photograph (1917-19), likely of Emmie’s WAAC unit, Emmie is front row 4th from left. Soldiers of Shropshire Museum.

Cream piece of paper with typed text. — First page of an undated petition (1917-19) listing grievances members of Emmie’s WAAC unit had about their living conditions. This included a lack of food and heating, no running hot water, as well as timed restrictions on mobility during leisure hours. Soldiers of Shropshire Museum.

We think Emmie undertook clerical work for the ‘3^rd Echelon General Headquarters’, an administrative branch of the army that dealt with records, casualties and reinforcements. Through bureaucratic paper activity Emmie would have faced and dealt with the violent realities of war.

Black and white photograph of numerous women working at desks and wearing uniform. — WAAC clerical members of the 3rd Echelon working in the Archbishops Palace, Rouen, 1919. Pictured by Olive Edis. Imperial War Museum © IWM Q 8122.

Although the suitcase is frustratingly silent on Emmie at work, it is contrastingly rich on her time away from it. Despite timed restrictions on travel during leisure hours, Emmie sought an active social and cultural life, especially through leave, evidenced through a cinema pass, dance cards and theatre and exhibition programmes. She developed a friendship group with seven WAAC colleagues, nicknamed ‘The Blighty Girls’ and whose bond with several carried through strongly into later life.

Army Form W 3105, a travel pass, it details permission for Emmie to be ‘absent from his [sic] quarters from 9.30 to 11 pm’ for the ‘purpose of proceeding to cinema’, 1919. Soldiers of Shropshire Museum.

Photograph of Emmie’s WAAC friendship group ‘The Blighty Girls’, undated (1917-19). Emmie is seated front at right. Soldiers of Shropshire Museum.

Collection of four army dance cards (with signatures inside of Emmie’s dance partners),Omnia Cinema programme, Tivoli Music Hall programme and an exhibition flier for the Panthéon de la Guerre, 1917-19. Soliders of Shropshire Museum.

Domesticity

In April 1919, Emmie was invited to work as a permanent member of army staff in Switzerland with the newly formed League of Nations. The next month – and an object from the suitcase – a telegram – arrived for Emmie: ‘MOTHER ILL COME AT ONCE NO ONE AT HOME, – COPE’. Emmie quickly came to Shrewsbury. Answering the door was her mother who appeared fine! Susan’s mother, who was 6 at the time and later lived with Emmie, believed ‘the family were determined to claim Emmie back before it was too late’.[4] Emmie was likely pushed to re-enter the domestic sphere to care for her aging father and mother, a role she undertook until their respective deaths in 1936 and 1949. For many women having experienced considerable economic and social independence through war service work, traditional and unequal gender relations were to be reasserted post-war.[5] Emmie returned to Rouen, but officially left the WAAC several months later in August 1919, removing from her uniform and preserving her WAAC buttons, a cap badge and shoulder badges.

Photograph of a pale green telegraph — Telegram received by Emmie from her mother, 1919. Soldiers of Shropshire Museum.

Photograph of brown buttons with a cloth badge which is embroidered with WAAC — Emmie’s leather uniform buttons and cloth WAAC shoulder badges. Soldiers of Shropshire Museum.

Image of a metal badge with a the name WAAC detailed in the centre — Emmie’s brass WAAC hat badge. Soldiers of Shropshire Museum.

Photograph of two medals; one is gold with a rainbow coloured fabric attached, the other is a silver medal with purple and orange material — British First World War campaign medals awarded to Emmie. On left, the Victory Medal and on right the British War Medal. Soldiers of Shropshire Museum.

Identity and the suitcase archive

Emmie was associated with the Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps (QMAAC) ‘Old Comrades Association’ in the 1920s (in 1918 the WAAC was renamed the QMAAC). Emmie kept a London Branch ‘Programme of Events for 1925’. She likely attended the ‘Sixth Annual Reunion Dinner’ (1925), for on the reverse of the menu from the event are collected signatures, including Emmie’s. As the historian Jane Clarke has noted, women were to ‘reunite’ and ‘share and celebrate memories of their wartime service’ through the ‘social spaces’ of the Old Comrades Association’s journal and local and national events and activities.[6] These were spaces for Clarke where veteran and ex-servicewomen identities were fostered, performed and presented and ‘domestic roles, marital relationships and maternal identities could be temporarily relegated’.[7]

Cover to Emmie’s QMAAC Old Comrades’ Association London Branch ‘Programme of Events for 1925’. Stamped on the front is ‘224’, maybe her membership number or the programme number. Soldiers of Shropshire Museum.

32 collected signatures, including Emmie’s (top left) on the reverse of the QMAAC Old Comrades’ Association ‘Sixth Annual Reunion Dinner’ menu, 1925. Soldiers of Shropshire Museum.

Front of the QMAAC Old Comrades’ Association ‘Sixth Annual Reunion Dinner’ menu, 1925. The location and date of the dinner is described: ‘Georgian Restaurant / Harrods Ltd., / BROMPTON ROAD S.W.1 / Saturday 12th December, 1925. Soldiers of Shropshire Museum.

Emmie rarely divulged with family members her wartime experiences and service, but she did collect and keep the material we have explored here – the suitcase archive. However, as well as her memories, the archive was largely hidden from others. When Emmie was living with Susan’s parents from 1952, Susan remembers that Emmie would periodically bring the suitcase down from the loft and engage with it in the privacy of her bedroom. For Susan, Emmie’s archive and the displayed ‘Blighty Girls’ picture were ‘most definitely [an exception] to her normal practice [of disposing and not collecting]’, suggesting the objects were formative of Emmie.[8] Constituting the archive, its objects and their periodic encounter were spaces and practices whereby Emmie’s servicewoman or veteran identity was arguably fostered, performed and presented. Emmie’s collection of WAAC mementoes was an affective presence in her life. Emmie took her collection with her to different places and displayed some objects up to her death in 1988 within her bedroom. It was only in death that the suitcase became permanently shut for Emmie.

Black and white photograph with a woman sat in a chair, and a young girl standing next to her. — Scanned photograph of Susan with Emmie in chair, 1948. Private collection.

Find out more about the display at the Soldiers of Shropshire Museum.

Dr Robert MacKinnon is Curator at Soldiers of Shropshire Museum, Shrewsbury Castle.

Denby Humphries is a Collections Assistant with the National Trust at Powis Castle and Co-curator on the Soldiers of Shropshire Museum display ‘Auntie Emmie’s suitcase: A wartime service life unpacked’.

Top image credit: Studio portrait photograph of Emmie Chester in her Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps uniform, 1917. Soldiers of Shropshire Museum.

[1] See Imperial War Museum, The vital role of women in the First World War. https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-vital-role-of-women-in-the-first-world-war [accessed 21/10/24].

[2] Letter from Samuel Chester to Emmie Chester, 25/12/1917. Private collection.

[3] See K. Robert, ‘‘Discipline with Home-Like Conditions’: The Living Quarters and Daily Life of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps in First-World-War Britain and France’, in Hamlett, J., Hoskins, L., and Preston, R. (Eds) Residential Institutions in Britain, 1725–1970 (London: Routledge, 2015) pp. 141-154.

[4] S. Davies, Auntie Emmie’s suitcase (YouCaxton publications: Shrewsbury, 2018), p.27 quoting Susan’s mother.

[5] See L Noakes, ‘Women’s Mobilization for War (Great Britain and Ireland)’ in 1914-1918 online: International Encyclopedia of the First World War. https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/womens-mobilization-for-war-great-britain-and-ireland/ [accessed 01/10/24].

[6] J. Clarke, ‘Gender, identity and the legacy of the First World War: An analysis of the female Old Comrades Associations as emotional communities, 1920 – 1945’, Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Manchester, p.22. https://pure.manchester.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/182559648/FULL_TEXT.PDF [accessed: 21/10/24].

[7] Ibid, p.211.

[8] S. Davies, Email to Robert MacKinnon, 17/10/24.