29 Fascinating Color Photos of British Women During World War II _ Ye Olde England

   

“The wars were a catalyst for women to work in more roles,” says Jenny Dibden, a director in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. “Now, there’s a much stronger sense that women working within the civil service is normal and natural. The real effort should now be on enabling women to progress to the higher grades.”

Women in World War II took on a variety of roles from country to country. World War II involved global conflict on an unprecedented scale; the absolute urgency of mobilizing the entire population made the expansion of the role of women inevitable.
This set of 29 fascinating color photos shows everyday life of British women during wartime.

 
On the River Avon, 1944

 

 
Cambridge Market Square, 1944

 

 
Day Nursery, Hatfield, June 1943

 

 
Feeding and cleaning time, 1944

 

 
Flowers grow on bomb site in Gresham Street, London, July 1943

 

 
Hill street, Richmond in Sept. 1939

 

 
Land Army girls in 1944

 

 
Land Army girls quenching their thirst, 1944

 

 
London window shopping, 1941

 

 
Marlow, Buckinghamshire, May 1944

 

 
Models wearing Berketex utility fashions designed by Norman Hartnell, June 1943

 

 
Models wearing Berketex utility fashions designed by Norman Hartnell, London, June 1943

 

 
Pupils from a primary school out walking, rest beside a river path at Saxton Road, Abingdon, July 1944

 

 
Refugees from Plymouth at Tapeley Park, October 1942

 

 
Soldier embraces his wife and children at his home in Irby in Cheshire, at the start of seven days leave, 14 April 1944

 

 
The family butcher from Aswell, Hertfordshire, 1944

 

War Workers on holiday in Cornwall enjoy a day on the beach surrounded by rugged cliffs on a sunny day, September 1943

 

 
Wartime bride, 1945

 

 
Wartime fashion, 1944
 

 

 
Woman learns to use with gas masks, 1940

 

 
Women bicycling on Cambridge street, 1944

 

Women painting finished petrol self-sealing tanks, Dec. 1942

 

A Land Army girl busy with her Standard Fordson tractor in Oxfordshire, 1944

 

A woman at Anderson Shelter, 1940

 

A young woman comforts her kid on a beach in Cornwall, 6th September 1943

 

Aiding the war effort, October 1943

 

 
Bishop's Stortford, Essex, June 1944

 

 
British servicewomen enjoying a 'garden' on a bombed-out site in London, 1944