The Women’s Voluntary Service: 

During World War II, the Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS) emerged as the most vital and resilient organisation on the British home front. In 1938, when war was already threatening, the then Home Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare asked the Marchioness of Reading to mobilise a force of women to help in civil defence and community welfare.

“A proud expression of individual duty”

The widow of a former Governor-General of India, a philanthropist with a deep interest in social welfare, Stella Reading (born Charnaud) displayed remarkable organisational skills in bringing the WVS into being and growing it into Britain’s biggest-ever voluntary organisition.  By 1943 it numbered over a million volunteers, providing crucial support and assistance to the civilian government and armed forces. It’s a story of extraordinary dedication, selflessness, and strength in the face of adversity.  Stella is featured in the IBCC’s Women of War exhibition.

Air raids …

An army of volunteers was sorely needed.  Originally, the WVS was intended to act as a conduit for women into Air Raid Precautions (ARP) work, enforcing the “blackout” of house doors and windows to prevent the lights inside giving direction to bombers, managing air raid sirens and running emergency shelters for those shocked, wounded and made homeless by bombing attacks.  The role rapidly widened to support to stretched nursing staff in hospitals and welfare work in the community. They ran canteens, rest centres and first aid training for housewives, some of which work was described by a misogynist Brigadier as a way of “keeping the WVS out of mischief” but was vital for a frightened and disrupted population for whom government social services were extremely limited.

Mobilising on the Home Front

…and evacuees

As well as this, however, the WVS found itself with the heavy responsibility for carrying out what was intended to be the evacuation of some four million women and children for major cities to more remote “reception areas” at the very beginning of September 1939.  Although 80 per cent of those evacuated in the first wave drifted back home during the “phony war”, subsequent waves of city evacuations, together with the emptying-out of specific areas of the country for military needs, kept the WVS fully engaged in managing the movement of vast numbers of children and arranging for their care at their destinations.

Service and Institute

The WVS worked closely with local Women’s Institutes (WIs), particularly since so many women were members of both. The WI’s structure as a federation of local institutes enabled it to deliver innovative schemes suitable to their areas.  Rural food production and preservation was a particular focus, with such projects as onion-growing (an Oxfordshire success) or the harvesting of rosehips for Vitamin C, The WI supported the WVS in running the Rural District Pie scheme, delivering pies to agricultural workers. They combined in running salvage schemes or organising sewing and knitting circles. But above all, perhaps, members of the WI in reception areas supported the WVS in billeting and receiving evacuees and helping to settle them into rural communities. Their combined work helped to foster a sense of community and resilience in the face of the hardships brought by war.

WVS to RVS

After the war, the Women’s Voluntary Service evolved to meet the changing needs of British society. It was warmly supported by Queen Elizabeth and her family and became the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS) in 1966.  Today it is known simply as the Royal Voluntary Service (RVS), and remains one of Britain’s largest volunteering organisations, providing vital, responsive services which support public health, social care and wellbeing.  The support the RVS provides ranges from bringing people home from hospital to running home libraries and providing companionship support, all designed to promote better health, social interaction and connection and relieve the pressure on NHS and care services. Its work remains, in Stella Reading’s words, “a proud expression of individual duty”.