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By 1915 village women were being called upon to work on the land and maintain the country鈥檚 food supply, yet they were often reluctant to do so.

In a bid to motivate them, a group of women speakers, led by Professor Salmon of University College, Reading, set off for France in February 1916 to witness how women there were carrying on the cultivation of the land during the war.

The two week trip encompassed a number of villages behind French Army lines that had previously been invaded by German troops.

There they found that despite the proximity to warfare, village life continued with women of all ages working the land with 鈥渦nremitting energy鈥� and even using heavy machinery that they had not been accustomed to dealing with prior to the onset of war.

The French women were also cooking for soldiers billeted locally in addition to their other work and in one village a field bakery was providing bread for thirty thousand men per day.

The expedition was a direct response to the speech made by Lord Selborne, President of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries on 鈥淲oman鈥檚 Labour on the Land鈥� in December 1915. Representatives from the Berkshire Committee were inspired to initiate the crusade to France and invited seven women to accompany Professor Salmon. They included members of the Board of Trade and the Women鈥檚 Farm and Garden Union as well as speakers from Surrey, Staffordshire and Berkshire.

The idea was to 鈥渆nable the speakers to make a more effectual appeal to country women in England and arouse their patriotism and imagination.鈥� It was significant as the Women鈥檚 Land Army had not yet been formed and village women played a key role in maintaining the food supply.

Meanwhile University College, Reading, which had been established in 1912, was being used to train women in agriculture and particularly as dairywomen.
The site is now the University of Reading鈥檚 London Road campus.

Location: University College, London Road, Reading RG1 5EX
Image: A gang of potato pickers c1914, courtesy of Museum of English Rural Life, University of Reading.
Extracts from Report of the Women鈥檚 Mission to French Farms in February 1916 courtesy of Berkshire Record Office. News bulletin read by Mike Powell.
Presented by Janice Hunter

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