NeilEvans Posted 10 May , 2009 Share Posted 10 May , 2009 I'm currently researching the tragic death of Annie Ruff, of Edgmond, Shropshire. She died in 1918 during child birth. Her death certificate states she was a cook in the WAAC. The question is did she die in service? Would her pregnancy have resulted in her discharge from the QMAAC? Neil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 10 May , 2009 Share Posted 10 May , 2009 Maybe you want to rephrase the last part Neil. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce Posted 10 May , 2009 Share Posted 10 May , 2009 Hehehehe Skip...you smutty minded young man! Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilEvans Posted 10 May , 2009 Author Share Posted 10 May , 2009 Done. Took me a while! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 10 May , 2009 Share Posted 10 May , 2009 Sorry Neil, was going to pm you but couldn't resist it. Cheers Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilEvans Posted 10 May , 2009 Author Share Posted 10 May , 2009 Changed the title too. Mike, i'm a virtuous man. I didnt realise what you were looking at! Neil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobL Posted 10 May , 2009 Share Posted 10 May , 2009 When the QMAAC was the WAAC, newspapers spread rumours that lots of WAAC's were getting pregnant after contact with soldiers, so a senior member of the WAAC conducted an investigation. It turned out that only 21 had become pregnant and therefore sent home, between March 1918 and February 1918, out of 6000 WAAC's on service in France. As for whether she'd have been discharged, I don't know, but I presume so Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest KevinEndon Posted 11 May , 2009 Share Posted 11 May , 2009 She died during childbirth, could this be enough to get her CWGC commemoration. If she hadn't served she may not have became pregnant, so indirectly it was because of war service that she died as it was during the war she fell pregnant. A tricky one to get commemorated but would it be possible. Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 11 May , 2009 Share Posted 11 May , 2009 It certainly was a cause for discharge in WW2 (we have an old family friend who was the cause of his mother getting out of the WRAF - it wasn't just moral indignation as she was married). One assumes that things would be even tighter in WW1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolly Posted 11 May , 2009 Share Posted 11 May , 2009 It was a cause for discharge right up until the early 1990s. Mrs Woolly (who was serving at the time) gave birth to our daughter in 1994, and she was one of the first who was allowed to 'soldier on'. It took a court case to get the system changed. Woolly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue Light Posted 11 May , 2009 Share Posted 11 May , 2009 She died during childbirth, could this be enough to get her CWGC commemoration. If she hadn't served she may not have became pregnant, so indirectly it was because of war service that she died as it was during the war she fell pregnant. A tricky one to get commemorated but would it be possible. I almost thought for a moment you might be serious there Kevin Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitty VAD Posted 14 July , 2009 Share Posted 14 July , 2009 According to Regs a WAAC/QMAAC would have to leave service at three months gestation. A lot of girls concealed their pregnancies and there was an element of denial/ general lack of information by some young women. K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
green_acorn Posted 15 July , 2009 Share Posted 15 July , 2009 And didn't the rule apply equally to women in the Civil Service as it was a community thing, you couldn't have married women in the services, ergo you couldn't have unmarried mothers-to-be. I understand similar rules applied to servicewomen and female public servants in Australia until the 1960's (for the PS) and later for servicewomen. Cheers, Hendo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobL Posted 31 July , 2009 Share Posted 31 July , 2009 you couldn't have married women in the services, Yes you could - but you could only serve abroad if you were in a different theatre to your husband. In the WAAC/QMAAC anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mushin Posted 16 November , 2009 Share Posted 16 November , 2009 My Grand Mother became pregnant in the QMAAC after serving in France. I am still tracking to find where she met Grand Father. Yes, if your husband served in a different theatre of war you could serve if married. My Grand mother's medal file reads " Struck off Strength, obs."..I do not have her service record as only 7,000 records survived the London bombings in 194-41 0f 50,000 records. QMAAC's did all types of work and they were raised to release men for fighting roles. If anyone has a diary or photograph of a SARAH James, rank worker,i in the QMAAC on service in France I would be very grateful if they could post. It was the service of these women that helped persuade the British Government to grant women in UK the vote in 1928. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NigelS Posted 16 November , 2009 Share Posted 16 November , 2009 It certainly was a cause for discharge in WW2 (we have an old family friend who was the cause of his mother getting out of the WRAF - it wasn't just moral indignation as she was married). One assumes that things would be even tighter in WW1 Not unexpectedly, just as tight in WWI. I'd always known that my maternal grandmother had been a typist with the RAF towards the end of WWI at the RAF Central Pay Office in Woking, but had always assumed that this was in a civilian role until, while going through some old family papers recently, I discovered a copy of her discharge certificate showing that she had actually served with the WRAF. The cause of her discharge politely given as 'unfitness for service' was in fact because she (also respectably married) was about three months pregnant with my Aunt who was born in January '20. having found that she'd served with the WRAF I downloaded her AIR80 record from TNA and was dissappointed to find, that although her file contained her enrolment papers (suitably amended to reflect her change of surname on marriage), even though I do already have an original, it did not include a copy of the discharge certificate or a record of it, or any other details of her service - seems odd that the official record is incomplete, but suppose I shouldn't be that surprised, what else does a typist do other than type that's worthy of recording! NigelS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelBully Posted 23 November , 2009 Share Posted 23 November , 2009 I remember reading- can't remember the exact source but will keep looking- that there was a concern during the Great War that VAD nurses might start to get intimate with service men , and that this attraction was known as 'Khaki Fever'. I don't know if this was reflected by nurses getting pregnant or more of what we would now call a 'moral panic'. In Vera Brittain's novel 'Honourable Estate' from 1936 , the lead female character, a VAD nurse serving in France in the Great War, does get inimate with her American soldier boyfriend ( who is engaged to a girl back home ) , even though that there was no prospect of them marrying. Though a novel, Vera's fictional writing was often based on characters that she had met in real life, and she was also a VAD nurse from 1915-1918 . It would be interesting to know the extent that conventional morality was being challenged by the upheaval of the Great War. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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