The Landswoman magazine: Beauty on Duty

By

Lauren Kastner

Fall 2015

The Landswoman magazine was created During World War I as a tool to support and communicate with girls far away from their homes, working hard in fields and woods to do their patriotic duty. These members of the Women's Land Army, or Land Girls were the culmination of a push to allow education and opportunities for women interested in agriculture and farming. The need to free up men to serve in battle and the shortage of food in the latter half of the war led to governmental support in the formation of the Women’s Land Army. The Landswoman magazine was created with these hard working women in mind as its target audience. There is a patriotic ‘you can do it’ attitude throughout its pages. The publication walks a line with the Land Girls between the promotion of new roles for women while still stressing the importance of traditional gender expectations; it simultaneously served as an outlet for these girls in an unfamiliar situation.

As far as the British government was concerned food would not be an issue during the war. The British government had spent £269 million in imported food and supplies leading up to the war and the country itself had a good harvest in 1914. The expectation of a short war led them to believe that imports would continue, grain supply would be plenty and labor would be of no concern. As the confidence of a quick victory began to dissolve, more men were recruited and women rushed to urban areas in order to capitalize on potential earnings at factories in need of labor. By 1916 rumors of potential food shortages were spreading. The lack of men to work on docks coupled with submarine warfare closing the English Channel to shipping left the importation of food to Britain an unreliable option. The shortage of men to work the fields would need to be addressed in order for Britain to sustain itself.

The Women’s Institute along with other women’s groups had been pushing the cause for women that wanted to work in agricultural fields. At the outbreak of war in 1914 Louisa Wilkins, an influential member of the Women’s Agricultural and Horticultural International Union (which would become the Women’s Farm and Garden Union in 1915) spoke of the need for more women to work on the land. Wilkins even went so far as to suggest that the Union participate in work for the war. Training centers under the sponsorship of the WFGU began teaching women the basics of working on a farm. The trained women were formed into Women’s National Land Service Corps which was a branch of war workers on the land.  The WNLSC began recruiting educated women in larger towns hoping to be able to fill the potential need Wilkins had forecast. The call for 5,000 women to serve resulted in 2,000 volunteers. The efforts made early on by organizations such as these to allow women to pursue independent interests and give them a political voice; combined with national need for farm labor led to government assistance in women’s agricultural programs and the formation of the Women’s Land Army.

The Women’s Land Army was formed in January 1917 and initially utilized recruits from a patchwork of organizations under the umbrella of the Women’s Branch of the War Agricultural Committee and the Women’s Institute. Organizers thought national backing may help convince farmers, potential recruits and the public of the role women could play in agriculture, both during wartime and afterwards. Since the bulk of the recruits were being relocated far from family and friends it was important for the Land Girls to feel like they had a strong support system. This was one reason for the creation of The Landswoman Magazine.

The Inaugural issue of The Landswoman was published in January of 1918, a full year after the creation of the WLA. The Journal of the Land Army and The Women's Institutes kicks off with a foreword by Meriel Talbot, the Director of the Women's Branch. She writes of her visit with the Queen and Her Majesty’s interest in the work and conditions of the Land Girls. “I also spoke of the sacrifice made by many in the Land Army, who had left their homes in the towns, for what was often hard and lonely work, and how for them, as for all land workers, the Women’s Branch of the Board of Agriculture had started this magazine, so they might have news of one another, and have a paper of their own through which to make known their ideas and their needs… So our magazine is given a right royal send-off, for which we offer our most grateful thanks to Her Majesty”. The lack of companionship and need for communication was a recurring theme in the January 1918 edition of the journal. “As days shorten and winter deepens, women on the land, especially if they have been accustomed to towns or have been trained in agricultural classes, feel the loneliness in their lives. They have little chance for rest and recreation. They pine for some congenial soul with whom to compare notes. We hope the Magazine will be a companion, and the women will talk to one another through its pages” said R.E. Prothero, the President of the Board of Agriculture in his message to the Landswomen.

The content of the magazines included News from the Federation of Women's Institutes and other happenings, lengthy articles about subjects related to farming as well as well written stories. Considering the Land Girls were largely middle class girls from urban areas that would have had some type of education the written content was engaging and interesting as well as useful and practical. In the first few magazines advertisements were few and specifically aimed at the Land Girls. Ad’s like the Royal Vinolia Cream’s “Beauty on Duty Has A Duty to Beauty”, which not only references the chapped hands or rough skin that a “farmer’s girl” might experience due to exposure but also reminds these working women that they are women first and must still look the part. As the readership expanded to include not only the growing number of Land Girls, but women at rallies more advertisers were attracted and became more varied. The January 1919 edition of The Landswomam contained ads for Land Girl specific items, items of universal female appeal like Lux soap for washing delicate fabrics as well as items a Land Girl would not possibly need, such as Price’s Night Lights, to “Banish Baby’s night time fears”.

The magazine itself became propaganda for recruitment as it gave a glimpse into the lives of the Land Girls working so hard via photos of the girls working as well as essays, stories, poetry and limericks they would submit. Lines like “Three girls said good-bye to their maters, And dressed in short smocks and long gaiters, Explained, ‘There’s no fun Like defeating the Hun By the drilling of turnips and taters’” could intrigue potential new members with implied camaraderie and patriotism. The lead article in the April 1918 issue of The Landswoman covers a large rally in London in which WLA leaders paraded through the streets with banners flying, ending at Buckingham Palace where they were inspected by the Queen herself. The author of this article states “It was a great reward for all our hard work- at the end of the day to be told that we had brought in 500 recruits and sold 5,000 of “The Landswoman.” I have since heard that that as a result of the Rally 1,000 girls enrolled in the Land Army”. The magazines spreading through Britain would not only help with recruitment, but it would help to give credibility to the women that were actively engaging in what had been previously considered work that was far too difficult for them.

The Landswoman was also a useful means to promote what would eventually become the new style norm for women. Cropped hair and breeches on a woman were an uncommon sight in the country and initially met with hostility. It did not take long for opinions to change, the March 1918 issue of The Landswoman included an advertisement from stylish Harrod’s store promoting their outfits for every type of war activity and by April 1919 Harrod’s advertises, “Already tens of thousands War workers in all parts of the country have proved not only the excellent quality and workmanship of these garments but also their splendid comfort in wear, due to their full cut and thoroughly practical design”. What began as practical need for women filling a man's role was now spread into popular culture through advertisements by dapper stores and the readership of The Landswoman.

In contrast to the fashion forward thinking stores The Landswoman advertisements included plenty of ads promoting the image of a more traditional woman, like the Liberty Bodice “... allows perfect freedom of movement in their activities and yet supports the figure…” This fits perfectly into the image the WLA was propagandizing. As Royal Vinolia Cream made clear in the first issues of the magazine, “Beauty on Duty has a Duty to Beauty”. The lion's share of the advertisers placed emphasis of patriotism and femininity. Many ads praised the girls for ‘doing their bit’ while attempting to sell them things that would help keep them soft and sweet smelling.

Women land workers were starting in the country with a disadvantage, the farmers did not believe the women would be able to do the hard work that was expected of them, and the local women were distrustful of the girls. Earning the trust of the local women was important not only for the morale of the Land Girls, but also because of the local knowledge these women possessed, the Land Girls would often be working with local women. Keeping your manners in check and looking like proper English girls was one way to win over the locals. The Landswoman printed an appeal to the girls at a Hereford rally; “when people see you go by they know at once; they say, ‘There goes a Land Army girl.’ See to it that this phrase means, ‘There goes a steady, pure-minded, hard-working, yes, and attractive girl.” The Magazine also printed advice for the girls. Under the title of “Hints for Landworkers” the magazine printed a poem about proper tea etiquette; “… If to make a good impression on your hostess you aspire, You must not appear at the table in inadequate attire, And the feelings of the family will certainly be hurt, If you don’t remove beforehand just a layer or two of dirt…” This type of whimsical advice would augment what was told to the girls in the WLA handbook “You are doing a man’s work, and are dressed rather like a man; but remember that just because you wear a smock and breeches you should take care to behave like an English girl who expects chivalry and respect from everyone she meets… When people see you pass show them an English girl who is working for her Country on the land is the best sort of girl.”

Proving their worth to the farmers was a bit more straightforward. The WLA had girls that excelled in training perform in exhibitions and agricultural competitions. These competitions and demonstrations in areas like milking, horse and tractor ploughing, thatching and wagoning were often published in The Landswoman along with news of rallys around Britain. The magazine wrote of one such land demonstration at Maidstone;  “…the unwilling attitude of the farmer to experiment with women on the land, which was so prevalent in early stages of this movement, had gradually disappeared, wiped out by the fact that women had shown themselves, not only willing, but able, to take the place of men in almost every branch of farmwork.” These efforts as well as their performance on the farms themselves slowly convinced farmers that at one time considered women laborers as weeds on the land of the worth of having Land Girls in their fields. A nursery rhyme printed in The Landswoman gives a little nod to the once reluctant farmer “Drive a crock hoss to Banbury Cross, They’ve taken my men and my only sound hoss, But milk’s at the station, and pork’s in the pot, All along of that good little land lass I’ve got.”

Advice was sprinkled throughout the magazines. In the form of poetry, queries, and essays. The publication frequently hosted competitions and awarded prizes for the best stories, essays, tips or cures. First prize winning “Tips for Lassies” includes practical advice on how to avoid wearing holes in your socks, how to make your sweater look a little better for special occasions and, arguably the best tip in the bunch “Don’t be afraid of being taught by “ye ancient farm hand” They generally know the right way to do things, and if they don’t, it’s best to let them think they do.” The Landswoman would create contests based on the needs of the girls as well. The cold winter months were especially hard on laborers hands leading the editors of the magazine to run a contest on the best cure for chilblains, a painful result of exposure to cold temperatures. The practical advice by the land girls compared to the overtly feminine way products were promoted in ads points to duplicity required for a woman in service on the land. The irony was not lost in this prize winning limerick, “A girl trained in Land Army ways, Cleaned the pig-sty --Oh quite beyond praise-- The pig now demands, Scented soap for his “hands” And a powder-puff, curlers and stays.” In these ways the girls were able to help one another and feel a sense of camaraderie through common struggles and experiences.

A query printed in the second issue of the magazine gave voice to a concern that may have been on the minds of many of the Land Girls, “E.M.P. Wants to know if anything is being done at present for girls who wish to take up farming in the colonies after the war.” As the WLA was initially created from various other groups that promoted women in agriculture both before the war and after it would be safe to assume that similar questions would be on other girls minds as well. They would not have answers until post war. The Landswoman printed a letter from Talbot in May 1919 thanking the Land Army for their service and asking for Land Girls to continue their service due to a persisting lack of labor. Despite Talbots efforts to convince the government of the role women could still play in agriculture, funding was scarce. The WLA was disbanded November 30th, the December 1919 issue of The Landswoman included a farewell from R.E. Prothero; “The Land Army may be justly proud of its record of service. It has proved its grit. At first the Army had to fight against a mass of prejudices. It conquered those prejudices with sheer hard work, stuck to in difficult conditions and circumstances…”

Undeterred by the disbanding of the WLA, Talbot saw a continued need for women land workers. Not only to help food production, but to help women fulfill a desire to pursue agricultural training. Talbot reorganized and formed the National Association of Landswomen. Talbot was not alone in her zeal for the work they had been doing. A prize winning essay in the January 1919 issue of The Landswoman includes an essay titled Our Institute; “Hitherto nobody had visualized “Women in Collective Action” in quite the same way as Our Institute was going to do. Social, political, and religious organizations for women abounded, but an organization where little things which make or mar our daily life could be discussed by women of all ranks and shades of opinion, and discussed in relation to the larger life of society as a whole, had so far never become an accomplished fact…”It is clear that service in the WLA meant more to this Land Girl, and many others than ‘doing her bit’.

The Landswoman magazine was created as a tool for support and communication with the girls laboring on the land during WWI. It quickly became the collective voice of the girls as they walked together down the thin line of modern and traditional roles for women. The magazine not only offered tips for the hard work they would be doing, but also on how to keep their spirits and appearance up. After all, if women wanted to do their patriotic duty they must fill the feminine duty to beauty as well.
 

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