Cinderellas of the Soil

In the last three or four years the history of the Second World War Women’s Land Army (WLA) has begun to attract attention in the press and elsewhere. WLA vets were ‘allowed’ to march past the Cenotaph on Armistice Day for the first time in 2000, and their award, at last, of an official service badge in 2007 has led to an upsurge of interest, particularly in country areas. However, most of that interest has centred on the ‘popular’ end of history. In my own part of West Sussex, for example, the last couple of years have seen a plethora of local publications and especially articles in the local press focusing on the memoirs and experiences of ex-Land Girls. In contrast there has been virtually no academic work on the WLA during and immediately after the Second World War (it was not disbanded until 1950). In a way this is...

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