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Introductory Notes, Suggestions
and Resources
for
Folkestone in WW1
KEY:
FOLKESTONE’S UNIQUE WW1 HISTORY BROUGHT TO LIFE
Metropole & Grand: WAACs, War Poets
and Belgian Refugees
Site of Rest Camp No 3. How did the soldiers spend their
last few hours on English soil before setting off for the
Western Front?
Manor House Hospital. WW1 medicine
Nursing, equipment. Dorothy Earnshaw
and her Friendship Album. Hospital Ships
Wartime Folkestone. Recruiting, White Feathers
Air Raids, Troopships, Peace & Remembrance
Bandstand. WW1 music and
entertainment.
© Google maps © Michael George 2013
The Leas
The Metropole and The Grand were both good class hotels before WW1, where well-to-do Edwardians enjoyed every
level of luxury, and from where they could promenade along the famous Leas.
Backgound:
When war broke out on August 4th 1914, Folkestone was transformed from popular seaside resort into a frontline town.
It became a massive army camp, where troops trained and waited for their turn to board the Troop Ships at the harbour
to take them to Boulogne, then onward to Western Front. For many, their stay in Folkestone was the last time they set
foot on English soil.
A whole support system was created in Folkestone to meet the needs of the soldiers: entertainment and recreation,
Religion, medical services, food and rest, training and education.
As well as British, Empire and Allied soldiers heading to the Front, other visitors arrived in Folkestone. Thousands of
Belgian regugees, Chinese workers, wounded and ‘leave’ troops.
The single most useful source of information about Folkestone during WW1 is the
book, Folkestone during the War, 1914-1919, by Reverend J C Carlile.
Luckily it can be found online.It can be searched and downloaded. There are
several refences to The Leas, the Metropole, the WAACs and the Belgian refugees.
To find the book go to:
http://archive.org/details/folkestoneduring00carliala
The Step Short website also has many images and other material that will be useful.
www.stepshort.co.uk
The 2008 book, Dover and Folkestone during the Great War by Michael &
Christine George is also a useful introduction. Much of this book can be read online
at: Google books
The War Poets
We have chosen this topic at The Metropole because Wilfred Owen
stayed there. The hotel was used as accommodation for officers and must
have provided such a contrast to the living conditions experienced in the
Trenches. In a letter to his mother, Owen described this contrast.
The team will need to research the War Poets, find any links to Folkestone
and decide how best to portray this subject. Recitals are likely to to be a key
activity. Is there any novel way of presenting the poetry?
Other poets and authors with a Folkestone WW1 connection:
Vera Brittain
Siegried Sassoon
John Macrae
Private George Willis
Rupert Brooke
Private Charles Davis
JRR Tolkien
Charles Hamilton Sorley
Henry Williamson
Charles Blackall
The WAACs and QMAAC
The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps was formed to enable women to take over some of the
jobs done by soldiers so as to free the men to move into
the front lines to replace those
killed or injured. The WAACs
were trained as drivers and
mechanics, as well as clerks,
cooks and support roles. Nearly
50,000 women were recruited.
Most remained in the UK, but
7000 were trained for service in
France and Belgium alongside
the British Expeditionary Force. It was these women who came to
Folkestone. WAACS renamed Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps in
1918.
In 1917 the officers, for whom the Hotel Metropole had been a pleasant billet en route to the
front, had to find other accommodation. The building was taken over by the WAACs. There
was a permanent staff of some 20 women and they took care of the training and preparations for
those who were chosen for overseas service.
The arrival of the WAACs in Folkestone provided a welcome diversion for the thousands of
soldiers in the town, though the women were very strictly controlled in their social lives.
© OU Digital Archive
With heavy losses on the Western Front in 1916, the British Army became concerned by its
reduced number of fighting soldiers. Lieutenant General Sir Henry Lawson suggested to
Brigadier General Auckland Geddes, Director of Recruitment at the War Office, that far too
many men were doing what he called "soft jobs". After talks with the government it was
decided to use women to replace men doing certain administrative jobs in Britain and France.
These men could then be sent to fight at the front.
In January 1917, the government announced the establishment of a new voluntary service, the
Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC). The plan was for these women to serve as clerks,
telephonists, waitresses, cooks, and as instructors in the use of gas masks. It was decided that
women would not be allowed to hold commissions and so that those in charge were given the
ranks of controller and administrator. Helen Gwynne-Vaughan was chosen for the important
job as the WAAC's Chief Controller (Overseas).
The WAAC uniform consisted of a small, tight-fitting khaki cap, khaki jackets and skirts.
Regulations stated that the skirt had to be no more than twelve inches above the ground. To
maintain a high standard of fitness, all members of the WAAC had to do physical exercises
every day. This included Morris dancing and hockey.
Women in the WAAC were not given full military status. The women enrolled rather than
enlisted and were punished for breaches of discipline by civil rather than military courts.
Women in the WAAC were divided into officials (officers), forewomen (sergeant), assistant
forewomen (corporals) and workers (privates). Between January 1917 and the Armistice over
57,000 women served in the WAAC.
Newspapers in Britain began publishing stories claiming that the WAAC in France were
becoming too friendly with the soldiers and large numbers were being sent home because they
were pregnant. A senior member of the WAAC, Miss Tennyson Jesse, was asked to carry out
an official investigation into these stories. In her report, Tennyson Jesse pointed out that
between March 1917 to February 1918, of the 6,000 WAACs in France, only 21 became
pregnant. Tennyson Jesse argued that this was a lower-rate than in most British villages.
Tennyson Jesse proudly pointed out that of all the women serving in France only 37 had been
sent home for incompetence or lack of discipline.
Although not on combat duties, members of the WAAC had to endure shelling from heavy
artillery and bombing raids by German aircraft. During one attack in April, 1918, nine WAACs
were killed at the Etaples Army Camp. British newspapers claimed that it was another example
of a German atrocity but Helen Gwynne-Vaughan was quick to point out at a press conference
that as the WAAC were in France as replacements for soldiers, the enemy was quite entitled to
try and kill them.
© IWM
The above picture is a powerful portrayal of how the WAACs saw themselves. With military style discipline and ranks, they aspired to
soldierhood. The picture on the left must have raised some eyebrows: cricket was the quintessentially male dominated sport.
Keeping fit was also encouraged, but only with chaperons standing guard!!
Your Research - suggestions
If searching online for information, be sure that you are reading about British WAAC and QMAAC women during the First World War.
WAACs or WACs again became a feature of both the British and American forces during the Second World War.
The National Army Museum website is a good place to start your research. It describes the system of hierachy (ranks) and duties. Below
is a screenshot of one page:
© Michael George, Step Short, 2013