Army Pay Office Shrewsbury

[Madmeg]

Hi Hive,

Wondering if anyone knows much about the Pay Office in Shrewsbury.

I remember reading somewhere (!) that the good old War Office was reluctant to employ women and its first begrudged slaveys (who from memory were upper crust volunteers of the "right sort") were taken on in the London Pay Office.

Now my great aunt Mildred Sarah Simmonds told me that she and her older sister Dorothy Alma (and later on younger brother Joseph William Gilbert subject of a previous thread) all worked at the Army Pay Office in Shrewsbury. 

So when would this have opened up to female employees? (not of the "right sort" but definitely working class types). I don't have dates, just an impression that this would have been during the war. Both my great aunts subsequently went on to Asylum nursing so I'm guessing this was a nice local job for a pair of teenagers before they went off and got trained at the age of about 19-20ish. They were born b1897 and 1898. 

[Keith_history_buff]

I'm sure that I have seen on the forum a photo at the end of the war of the Shrewsbury Infantry Record Office employees taken outside their place of work.

Here's the thread

 

[Madmeg]

Hmm interesting, thanks Keith,I did a quick forum search and didn't find anything so your link much appreciated.

Only had a quick browse of the thread so far- but the first thing that jumped out was the lady on the front row far right (as we look at it) who is the absolute dead spit of aunt Mildred as she looked in later life! But she would only have been very early 20's then and that lady does look a bit older.... hmm.

I have previously been in touch with the Shrewsbury RO and they do have a large photo of the Pay Office staff which I have not yet got round to paying for a copy of yet- apparently it has about 300 unnamed people in it! 

The photos from that thread are interesting- the lady above is the only possible "hit" for me in them. 

I would still be interested in finding out some history about the office itself- I wish I could remember where I found the information about women only reluctantly being allowed office work with the war office. I remember that it was the usual case of some well connected lady making a pain in the rear of herself until they grudgingly took on volunteers- but that was in London only with no mention of Shrewsbury so I'm interested in when they took on their female workers there.

[Bordercollie]

The RAPC Association website has this article on the employment of women in Army Pay Offices generally in World War 1.  Nothing specific about Shrewsbury but it describes the move from volunteers in the early days of the war through the first female temporary civil servants in January 1915 to a total of over 28,000 women employed in the Army Pay Department by January 1919.

https://rapc-association.org.uk/pay-services-history/ww1/here-come-the-girls.html

[Madmeg]

Thanks,

I found an article saved to my other computer but it is about the London office.