Women’s official uniformed service within the British Army began in 1917 with the formation of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. However, women already suppored the armed forces in the First World War through organisations such as the Women’s Legion and the Women’s Forage Corps, both of which were attached to the Army Service Corps.

In the first year of the war, local stocks of hay on the Western Front were diminished by the huge demand for forage. Whilst trench warfare had seen a decline in cavalry, most transportation was still horsedrawn, and these horses required feeding. In 1915 the War Office formed a Forage Committee to address supply issues with hay and other farm produce to troops both abroad and at home. The Forage Department ASC came out of this Committee, consisting of eight Forage Department Companies and the Women’s Forage Corps.

Naturally, the formation of a female corps of this type was criticised by some, who claimed the hard manual work of hay baling was too strenuous for women. These critics were to be proved wildly incorrect. The work was indeed strenuous, and included baling, forking hay into machines, wiring and tying hay bales, and driving horse drawn transport from farms to railway stations, but after the war, in 1919, the women were described by The Journal of the Army Service Corps as “equally efficient and physically capable as the men”. Among the recruits were servants used to manual labour, and women who owned their own horses. They were not classed as soldiers, and instead were civilians under command of the ASC, who were paid a wage and held their own command structure. The Journal of the Army Service Corps listed the five grades of Women’s Forage Corps as:

RLCAB000796: Women of the Forage Corps sacking bags of chaff. Avington Camp, near Winchester, September 1917.

“Industrial members, engaged in gangs of six on hay baling, responsible for feeding the machine by forking the hay bales from the stacks, wiring and tying the bales with wire and checking the weight of each bale when expelled from the machine.

Horse Transport Drivers, with the charge of the teams of horses and wagons for transporting the bales of hay to the nearest railway station.

Forwarding Supervisors, classed as 2nd grade officials, engaged at the railway stations checking the weight of bales and supervising the loading of trucks before being put on rail to their destination.

Section Clerks. Also graded as 2nd grade officials, attending to all correspondence connected with the supply of forage.

Quartermistresses, engaged to drive the Mechanical Supervisors on their rounds of inspection of hay bailing machines and to distribute the rations both to the men and women.”

Overall, the Women’s Forage Corps was administered by General H G Morgan from Whitehall, with Mrs Athole Stewart as Superintendent of Women. Despite being a civilian organisation, the women wore military style uniforms of khaki and green, and a cap badge consisting of the letters FC circled by an eight-pointed star, which reflected the women’s association with the ASC. Sometimes, when supply issues affected the Forage Corps cap badge, the women wore the ASC badge in its place. However, there are also photographs of women wearing a simple cap badge consisting of just the letters FC.

At the Corps’ height, 6000 women gathered forage in the UK for military horses. The success of these women led, in part, to the formation of the Women’s Land Army in March 1917, which absorbed the Women’s Forage Corps.

Sam Jolley – Head Curator

Main image – RLCAB000795: Women of the Women’s Forage Corps (ASC) and men of the ASC loading bales of hay. Avington Camp, near Winchester, September 1917.