Remembering the Women of WWI

As we remember those who fought bravely for the allies in WWI, we must also remember the New Zealand and Australian women as part of the ANZAC narrative. Read below for a few of the women whose roles in in WWI were often left unrecognised and whom we are inspired by. 

Alice Scott was the daughter of a Ngāpuhi woman. She was born on Norfolk Island, and moved to London with her husband Bill Scott. During the war, she looked after Māori soldiers in her home, with the support of the New Zealand War Contingent Association and the NZ Expeditionary Force.

When Alice died in 1961, a Ngati Porou elder wrote to her son; "We are sorry for the loss of a lovable mother not only for you but also for those of the Māori Battalion she knew in the 1914-18 War." Her name is engraved under those of the men on the memorial board at St Mary's Church, Tikitiki. (1)

Gladys Sandford was a remarkable woman, who achieved an extraordinary amount in her lifetime. In a 1969 interview she said, “When I was young, women weren’t supposed to do anything much, not even express themselves……For my own part, if I found a barrier, I just crashed through it.”

Gladys was one of the first to follow her husband and brothers overseas for the war effort, where she drove ambulances through Gaza and France (both Gladys’ husband and brothers died in the war). She eventually organised the Motor Transport Division for The New Zealand Expeditionary Force) in England. Gladys was also one of the first to take a car engine apart and drive it round Auckland. In 1924, Gladys became the first woman to gain a pilot’s license in New Zealand. (2)

Kitty Mair, Esther Barker and Beatrix Dobie, as well as her sister Agatha, a music student at the time, were on a painting holiday in France when the war broke out. Beatrix and Agatha made 12 shirts in two days for French soldiers. Esther took photos of dead soldiers and French prisoners on the frontline to record as evidence.

 ‘The Trio’, as the artists called themselves, were British Red Cross Voluntary aides during the Gallipoli Campaign. Kitty Mair wrote to her father following her first night’s work; “[My] first task was cutting up dressings and making drinks. Then I was taken round to see the men, some of whom were cruelly mangled… One, an Australian bushman… had his patella shot away and the doctors are still trying to save his legs. Another, a British Tommy, had just had his leg amputated; it is terribly septic and he suffers great agony.” (3)

Beatrix Dobie and Esther Barker worked at Aotearoa, the New Zealand War Contingent Association canteen at Codford in 1916, after returning from Malta. Retrieved from Stuff

Lest We Forget.