Women of War

Women of war is an examination of gender modernity using the world's longest established women's military organisation, the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, as a case study. Formed in 1907, and still active today, the Corps was the first to adopt khaki uniform, prepare for war service, staff a regimental first aid post near the front line, and drive officially for the British Army in Northern France. The FANY were the only British unit to be sworn in as soldiers of the Belgian Army and were the most decorated women's Corps of the First World War.Bringing both public and personal representations into dialogue through an analysis of newspaper articles, Corps ephemera, memoirs, diaries, letters, oral interviews, photographs and poetry, this book reconstructs the formation of this novel organisation, its adoption of martial clothing, its increased professionalisation and its wartime activities of first aid and driving, focusing specifically upon the significance of gender modernity. While the FANY embodied the New Woman, challenging the limits of convention and pushing back the boundaries of what was considered appropriate for women in terms of behaviour, dress and role, the book argues that the Corps was simultaneously deeply conservative, upholding imperial, unionist and anti-feminist values. As such, this volume makes a major contribution to the social and cultural history of Britain in the early twentieth century and will appeal to those working in the fields of military history, animal studies, trans studies, dress history, sociology of the professions, nursing history and transport history.