Like all wars, when WWI started everyone thought it would be done “by Christmas.” When Great Britain went to war in 1914, men quickly did their patriotic duty and joined up. Entire factories, villages, cricket teams and male members of a single family enlisted into the same regiments. As the war dragged on, the men from entire factories, villages, cricket teams and families were killed or wounded. Women, who had been busily organizing for the right to vote, became an essential part of the war effort. The authors tell us that these suffragettes were prime candidates to take up jobs traditionally held by men. Whether it was delivering the mail, farming or working in munition factories, women began to step in the empty shoes left by soldiers at the front.

This book details some of the organizations that put women to work, enumerates individual stories, lists women who lost their lives during the war and discusses the unique role played by the female members of the royal family. The book is chock-full of photographs, which portray the individual women in all their feminine yet most assuredly strong personas. Their bravery and perseverance, which predate Rosy the Riveter, laid the groundwork for who we are as women today. I highly recommend this well-researched book!