Louisa James

Place of birth: Merthyr Tydfil ?

Service: Munitions worker, not known / anhysbys

Notes: Louisa James was photographed in her munitions worker uniform.

Reference: WaW0358

Louisa James

Louisa James in munition workers uniform. Peoples Collection Wales.

Louisa James (reverse)

Louisa James in munition workers uniform (reverse) . Peoples Collection Wales.

Louisa Jones

Place of birth: Harlech

Service: Munitions worker, Not known / anhysbys

Notes: Louisa Jones was injured when a shell fell on her foot at the munitions factory where she worked. The local paper reported that she was home in Harlech on sick leave.

Reference: WaW0359

Newspaper article

Article reporting Louisa Jones’s sick leave. Cambrian News and Merioneth Standard 18th May 1917.

Margaret Sara Meggitt (née ?)

Place of birth: Grantham

Service: Teacher, trade unionist

Notes: Margaret Meggitt moved to Newport, Mon, in 1906 with her husband. They had previously lived in Mansfield, where she had been involved in the Suffrage movement. She joined the Labour Party in 1913, and formed the Newport Branch of the National Federation of Women Workers, serving as secretary for four years. She was the first woman to sit on the Newport Trades and Labour Council, and was an assessor on the Munitions tribunal of Monmouthshire, with particular emphasis on the working conditions of girls and women. She was also an executive member of the Monmouthshire Committee of the National Council for the Unmarried Mother and her Child, and supported the defence appeal for Gladys May Snell [qv].

Sources: Who’s Who in Newport 1920

Reference: WaW0363

Margaret Merritt

Photograph of Margaret Meggitt from Who’s Who in Newport, 1920.

National Union of Women Workers badge

Badge of the National Federation of Women Workers, possibly from Monmouthshire. Thanks to Pete Strong.

Gweneth Kate Moy Evans

Place of birth: Swansea

Service: Clerk, Sandycroft, NEF Queensferry, 1916 - 1918

Notes: Gweneth was appointed a clerk at the Labour Exchange attached to the National Explosives Factory, Queensferry, without having to sit the usual Civil Service examination. She had previously worked in the Labour Exchange in Neath. Gweneth was awarded the MBE in June 1918.rnrn

Reference: WaW0366

Edinburgh Gazette

Notice of Gweneth Moy Evans’s appointment as clerk. The Edinburgh Gazette, September 12, 1916.

Newspaper report

Report of Gweneth Moy Evans’s award of MBE. Amman Valley Chronicle 13th June 1918.

Edinburgh Gazette

Announcement of Gweneth Moy Evans’s award of MBE. The Edinburgh Gazette June 19th 1918.

Gladys May Snell

Place of birth: Cadoxton, Barry

Notes: Gladys Snell was arrested on 7th May 1919 for the infanticide of her illegitimate 21 month-old son Ieuan Ralph. He had been drowned. She was sent for trial from the magistrates’ court to the Assize Court in Swansea. The jury there could not agree, and she then appeared at the November Assizes, where Gladys, then 19, was found guilty of manslaughter rather than murder. She was sentenced to nine months imprisonment. A number of well-wishers across S Wales, including the Boy Scouts, contributed to a fund to pay for her defence. The full story appears on the front page of the Cambrian Daily News, 25th July 1919.

Reference: WaW0364

Newspaper report

Report of the arrest of Gladys May Snell for infanticide. Barry Dock News 9th May 1919.

Newspaper letter

Letter appealing for defence funds for Gladys Snell. Barry Dock News 16th May 1919.

Defence fund accounts

Donations to Gladys May Snell defence fund, Barry Dock News 27th June.

Newspaper report

Report of jury’s failure to agree a verdict. Cambria Daily Leader26th July 1919.

Newspaper report

Newspaper report of jury’s verdict of manslaughter. Barry Dock News 7th November 1919.

Elsie E Williams

Service: Munitions worker, Not known / anhysbys

Notes: Elsie Williams claimed that she was sexually assaulted on a train by a foreman at the same munitions factory, and became pregnant. The Court at Swansea agreed that he was the father of her child.

Reference: WaW0368

Newspaper report

Report proving paternity of Elsie Williams’s baby. Herald of Wales 22nd December 1917.

Ada May King

Place of birth: not known

Service: Railway Porter, TVR

Notes: Ada, a railway porter, possibly at Aberdare station, was sworn at and ‘struck on the chest’ by one Alfred Collins. He was attempting to avoid paying for a ticket (again).

Reference: WaW0372

Newspaper report

Report of the assault on Ada King. Aberdare Leader 5th May 1917.

Alys Bertie Perkins (née Sandbrook)

Place of birth: Swansea

Service: Commandant and committee woman, British Red Cross

Notes: Alys Bertie Perkins was Commandant and Secretary of Swansea Red Cross Society, and commandant in charge of recruitment across the whole county of Glamorgan. By early 1918 Swansea was reported to have the greatest number of Red Cross hospital beds in the whole of South Wales. She was awarded the OBE in January 1918, when she described by the Cambria Daily Leader as ‘the enthusiastic and popular Sketty Red Cross worker and organiser’.

Reference: WaW0369

Alys Bertie Perkins

Photograph of Alys Bertie Perkins OBE, part of the Women’s Work Collections of the Imperial War Museumrn

Newspaper advertisement

Advertisement for a Red Cross course of first aid and nursing. Cambria Daily Leader 22nd February 1916.

Edinburgh Gazette

Supplement to the Edinburgh Gazette, with Alys Bertie Perkins’s award of OBE January 9th 1918.

E M Jenkins

Place of birth: Ferndale

Service: Opthalmic optician

Notes: Miss E M Jenkins qualified as an ophthalmic optician in December 1914. This apparently entitled her to the freedom of the City of London.

Reference: WaW0371

Newspaper report

Report of Miss E M Jenkins’s qualification as an ophthalmic optician. Carmarthen Journal 1st January 1915.

Sarah Ann Rees

Place of birth: Newport

Service: Assistant Cook, WAAC, Ionawr - Mawrth 1918 / January

Notes: Ann Rees applied to the WAAC as a kitchen maid; her current employment was flour packer at Star Mills, Newport. Curiously, though her religion is given as C of E, her references are from Father Hickey, Priest of St Mary’s Church, Stow Hill, and Sister Agnes of St Joseph’s Convent, and she went to Holy Cross school. Apparently she joined the WAAC without her parents’ knowledge or consent early in 1918; following correspondence from her and her mother, Ann was given a compassionate discharge on 14th March 1918.

Reference: WaW0379

Letter

Letter from Sarah Ann Rees asking for discharge from the WAAC. National Archives.

Letter

Letter from Mrs Bridget Rees, Ann’s mother, explaining why she is needed at home [1]. National Archives.

Letter

Letter from Mrs Bridget Rees, Ann’s mother, explaining why she is needed at home [2]. National Archives.

Letter

Letter from Mrs Bridget Rees, Ann’s mother, explaining why she is needed at home [3]. National Archives.