'Souvenir of W.G.T.'s Women Carpenters in France, 1917-1919' booklet

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1919

Overview

'Souvenir of W.G.T.'s Women Carpenters in France, 1917-1919' booklet.
The front cover has the title written in black cursive writing on a background of vertical blue, white and red stripes, depicting the French flag.
On the inside cover there is an inscription from the previous owner, Miss Dorothy Catt, giving her address as 'The Better 'Ole, Coulogne Camp, Calais, France'.
The booklet contains nine pages of information reprinted from articles in the 'Surrey Herald', 24 and 31 January 1919 written by Edith Jennins and entitled 'An Appreciation'.
The back cover has an image of a timber hut which has the words 'The Better 'Ole' painted above the door.
The centre leaves of the booklet are loose and the spine has been repaired with tape.

Historical information

The 'W.G.T.' on the cover refers to a building company from Surrey established by Walter George Tarrant (1875-1942). An excellent overview of the company and their use of women to fill worker shortages during World War One is attached.

According to the information in the booklet, 'four score' of women went to France to build wooden huts and during the course of their employment from 1917-1919, 37 000 huts were completed. Miss Dorothy Catt seems to have been one of those 80 women carpenters working at the W.G.T camp near Calais in France.

The booklet was purchased as part of a small grouping which included three original reprints of 'British Official Photographs', all of which are now held by the IWM, albeit with different numbers on the backs. The photographer is listed as Lieutenant John Warwick Brooke of the Topical Press Agency, who was the second British official war photographer to go to the Western Front in 1916. The production date was 28 June 1918.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-119-RoW00550

Item type

Themes

Social History
War and Conflict
War and Conflict > World War 1

Material

Ink