Mary Edith (Minnie) Jones

Place of birth: Llanfrothen

Service: Lady Superintendent, HM Factory Penrhyndeudraeth, 1916? - 1918

Death: 1964, Cause not known

Notes: Minnie Jones was the sister of Bessie Jones [qv]. She was appointed Lady Superintendent of the Munitions factory at Penrhyndeudraeth, probably in 1916 when it reopened after an explosion and nationalisation. In September 1918 she showed Mrs Lloyd George around the works when she came to open the new Y W C A attached to the factory. When production ceased in December 1918, Minnie was presented with a silver bowl ‘by the Women Workers of H M Factory as a mark of esteem and appreciation of many kindnesses’. Minnie was the recipient of Bessie Jones’s letters from France. She later became a JP.

Reference: WaW0441

Newspaper report

Report of Mrs Lloyd George’s visit to H M Factory Penrhyndeudraeth. North Wales Chronicle13th September 1918.

Newspaper report

Report of the presentation of a silver bowl to ‘Miss M E Jones, Supervisor’. North Wales Chronicle 13th December 1918.

Violet Williams

Service: Police constable, formerly nurse, Ministry of Munitions Women’s Police Service

Notes: Violet Williams, together with Muriel Richards [qv], was part of a ‘sting’ operation on 28th December 1918 to expose two bogus fortune tellers in Tanerdy, Abergwili. The first woman, Eleanor Rees, told Violet that a ‘dark man’ loved her, and had written her many letters that she had not received. When asked if she had written to a man, Violet replied ‘Yes – I have written to my brother several times’. She paid 6d for the session. The second woman, whom the two police constables visited later the same morning was Mary Evans. She told Violet that a ‘dark man ... in a good position under the Government’ wanted to marry her, and that they would have twelve children including two sets of twins! Mrs Evans charged her 1/- for the session. The two fortune tellers were found guilty and each fined 5/-

Reference: WaW0446

Newspaper report

Part of the court report of the trial of two fortune tellers; Violet Williams was one of two police witnesses. Carmarthen Journal 10th January 1919.

Beatrice [B] Picton Turbervill (Picton Warlow)

Place of birth: Fownhope, Herefordshire

Service: Temperance and welfare worker, munitions hostel warden, H M Factories, before/cyn 1916 - 1918

Death: 1958, Cause not known

Memorial: Ewenny Priory, Ewenny, Vale of Glamorgan

Notes: Beatrice was the twin sister of Edith Turbervill [qv]. As a young woman she kept to her original surname of Picton-Warlow; her father changed the name when he inherited Ewenny Priory in 1891. Before the war she was a keen promoter of temperance, and was the Chair of the Cardiff branch of the British Women’s Temperance Association. In 1916 she was appointed head of one of the new munitions workers’ hostels in Woolwich. A year later she moved to Coventry as Warden of the Housing Colony for Women Munitions Workers, a large undertaking with a staff of 200, and some very unruly young workers. The ‘wild Irish-Welsh inmates … flung food and china and table furnishings at the waitresses, at each other, and through the windows’. However the Welsh Miss Picton Turbervill and her colleague the Irish Miss MacNaughton sorted the establishment out. At the end of the war she was on a lecture tour in the united states, speaking about Welfare Work in Britain. For many years after the war she was involved with Dr Barnardos.

Sources: Monthly Labor Review Volume 7 Issue 6 [US]

Reference: WaW0443

Newspaper report

Report of the AGM of the Cardiff branch of the British Women’s Temperance Association, Beatrice Picton Warlow in the chair. Evening Express 18th January 1901.

Monthly Labor Review

A report of the work of Beatrice Picton Turbervill (and her colleague Miss MacNaughton) appeared in the American journal the Monthly Labor Review.

Memorial

Memorial to Beatrice Picton Turbervill, Ewenny Priory.

Janet Gulliver

Place of birth: Swansea

Service: Teacher, Volunteer police woman, Swansea Women’s Patrols, February / Chwefror 1916-1917

Notes: Janet Gulliver, a mathematics teacher educated at Somerville College, Oxford, joined the Womens Patrol in Swansea early in 1916. Possibly she is the same Janet Gulliver who hurt her leg falling off a wall in May 1917

Sources: https://blogs.some.ox.ac.uk/thegreatwar/2016/02/03/february-1916-women-patrols-moral-guardians-and-prototype-police/

Reference: WaW0447

Janet Gulliver

Photograph of Janet Gulliver as a student at Somerville College, Oxford.

Newspaper report

Report of Janet Gulliver injuring her leg. Cambria Daily Leader 28th May 1917.

Sergeant [later Inspector] Guthrie

Service: Police Officer , Ministry of Munitions Women’s Police Service

Notes: Sergeant Guthrie began work at Pembrey in April 1917, having been a police officer for some time. According to Gabrielle West [qv] ‘Sergeant Guthrie is making this place uninhabitable, She is a most peculiar person: hair close-cropped like a man, thickset figure with no waist like a man, large feet like a man, and a sort of tenor voice like a man. The first two days, the girls wouldn’t be searched by her; they said she was a man detective, not a policewomen at all … Anyway, she is a great trial and very unbalanced.’

Sources: ed Avalon Richards Menus Munitions and Keeping the Peace: The Home Front Diaries of Gabrielle West 1914 -1917. Pen & Sword 2016.

Reference: WaW0444

Ministry of Munitions Women’s Police Service

Women police officers at a munitions factory (not Pembrey), Sergeant Guthrie may be back row, second from right.

Muriel Richards

Service: Police constable, formerly nurse, Ministry of Munitions Women’s Police Service

Notes: Muriel Richards, together with Violet Williams [qv], was part of a ‘sting’ operation on 28th December 1918 to expose two bogus fortune tellers in Tanerdy, Abergwili. The first woman, Eleanor Rees, told Muriel that she would marry a ‘fair young man’, and that there would be opposition from her family. She paid 6d for the session. The second woman, whom the two police constables visited later the same morning was Mary Evans. She told Muriel that she would very soon meet ‘a very dark man’; they would marry and have eight children. Mrs Evans charged 1/-. The two fortune tellers were each found guilty and fined 5/-.

Reference: WaW0445

Newspaper report

Part of the court report of the trial of two fortune tellers; Muriel Richards was one of two police witnesses. Carmarthen Journal 10th January 1919.

Catherine Jane (Kit) Evans (Grainger)

Place of birth: Llanasa, Flintshire

Service: Agricultural worker, Womens Land Army

Death: 1969, Cause not known

Notes: Catherine, born 1896, was one of 10 children – 6 sisters and 3 brothers. At 15, in 1911, she was working at the Afon Goch Inn, Trelogan. In 1917 she joined the WLA, and seems to have been posted to the Machynlleth area. There she met and married Pte G V Grainger of the South Lancashire Regiment in 1918. Thanks to Sue Hickman.

Reference: WaW0448

Photograph

Photograph of Catherine Evans in WLA uniform with four of her sisters, left to right Harriet, Rebecca, Sarah and Miriam

Photograph

Photograph of Catherine and her future husband George Grainger.

Gladys May Evans

Place of birth: Margam/Port Talbot ?

Service: Gardener, Womens Land Army

Death: 1952, Cause not known

Notes: Gladys, born 1898, worked in the gardens of St Fagan’s Castle. The castle itself was a war hospital, and the gardens supplied the kitchens. There are several photographs of Gladys; perhaps they were for publicity purposes.

Reference: WaW0449

Gladys May Evans

Gladys May Evans in WLA uniform, possibly taken in St Fagans Castle. The badge represents ‘two months approved service’.

Gladys May Evans

A slightly less formal portrait of Gladys.

Gladys May Evans

Gladys wearing a WLA armband.

Gladys May Evans

Gladys in wet weather gear.

Gretta Davies

Place of birth: Sully, Glamorgan

Service: Dairy worker

Notes: By the 1911 census Gretta, then aged 13, lived with her family on a farm in Llanspyddid near Brecon. Following a dairying course held in Brecon in early summer 1917, she was awarded a scholarship to the Dairy School at University College Aberystwyth. However Gretta seems to have taken a post of instructress at the new Gwynfe, Carmarthenshire, cooperative cheesemaking school in July 1919.

Reference: WaW0453

Newspaper report

Gretta and her family and neighbours perform in a comic sketch at a concert in Libanus. Brecon Radnor Express 18th April 1918.

Newspaper report

Report of Gretta’s results on the Brecon dairying school. Brecon Radnor Express 24th January 1918

Newspaper report

Report of Gretta’s scholarship to study for a diploma in Dairying. Brecon County Times 30th January 1919.

Newspaper report

Report of Gretta’s appointment as instructress in cheesemaking. Carmarthen Journal 18th July 1919.

Caroline Pearse Tremain

Place of birth: not known

Service: Lecturer, College warden, University College Aberystwyth, 1914 - 1919+

Notes: Caroline Pearse Tremain was warden of Alexandra Hall, the women’s hall of residence at University College Aberystwyth, throughout the War years. She trained at the Cambridge Training College for Women under Elizabeth Phillips Hughes [qv], receiving a diploma with distinction. After some years teaching, Caroline took a BA in English at Aberystwyth, graduating in 1898. She was appointed Assistant Lecturer in Education at Aberystwyth in 1899, and became warden of Alexandra Hall in 1914. At the Hall she promoted many fund-raising events, from lectures to exhibitions, and encouraged the girls to do war-work with the VAD or other organisations, and in raising money (nearly £200 was raised for War Loan Certificates in 1918, and ‘some enterprising students undertook stone-picking and weeding’ to raise funds for War Weapons Week. She also was a major organiser for the Summer Schools arranged at the College each year.

Reference: WaW0450

Alexandra Hall, University College Aberystwyth.

Caroline Pearse Tremain was Warden here throughout WWI.

Newspaper report

Report of Caroline’s appointment to the Department of Education. Cambrian News 2nd June 1899.

Newspaper report

Report of Caroline Pearse Tremain’s opening address at a sale in aid of the YWCA. Cambrian News 6th November 1914.

Newspaper report

Lecture on Combating Venereal Disease at Alexandra Hall. Caroline Pearse Tremain presided and over 400 women attended. Cambrian News 12 December 1919.