Gweneth Kate Moy Evans

Place of birth: Swansea

Service: Clerk, Sandycroft, NEF Queensferry, 1916 - 1918

Notes: Gweneth was appointed a clerk at the Labour Exchange attached to the National Explosives Factory, Queensferry, without having to sit the usual Civil Service examination. She had previously worked in the Labour Exchange in Neath. Gweneth was awarded the MBE in June 1918.rnrn

Reference: WaW0366

Edinburgh Gazette

Notice of Gweneth Moy Evans’s appointment as clerk. The Edinburgh Gazette, September 12, 1916.

Newspaper report

Report of Gweneth Moy Evans’s award of MBE. Amman Valley Chronicle 13th June 1918.

Edinburgh Gazette

Announcement of Gweneth Moy Evans’s award of MBE. The Edinburgh Gazette June 19th 1918.

Gladys May Snell

Place of birth: Cadoxton, Barry

Notes: Gladys Snell was arrested on 7th May 1919 for the infanticide of her illegitimate 21 month-old son Ieuan Ralph. He had been drowned. She was sent for trial from the magistrates’ court to the Assize Court in Swansea. The jury there could not agree, and she then appeared at the November Assizes, where Gladys, then 19, was found guilty of manslaughter rather than murder. She was sentenced to nine months imprisonment. A number of well-wishers across S Wales, including the Boy Scouts, contributed to a fund to pay for her defence. The full story appears on the front page of the Cambrian Daily News, 25th July 1919.

Reference: WaW0364

Newspaper report

Report of the arrest of Gladys May Snell for infanticide. Barry Dock News 9th May 1919.

Newspaper letter

Letter appealing for defence funds for Gladys Snell. Barry Dock News 16th May 1919.

Defence fund accounts

Donations to Gladys May Snell defence fund, Barry Dock News 27th June.

Newspaper report

Report of jury’s failure to agree a verdict. Cambria Daily Leader26th July 1919.

Newspaper report

Newspaper report of jury’s verdict of manslaughter. Barry Dock News 7th November 1919.

Elsie E Williams

Service: Munitions worker, Not known / anhysbys

Notes: Elsie Williams claimed that she was sexually assaulted on a train by a foreman at the same munitions factory, and became pregnant. The Court at Swansea agreed that he was the father of her child.

Reference: WaW0368

Newspaper report

Report proving paternity of Elsie Williams’s baby. Herald of Wales 22nd December 1917.

Ada May King

Place of birth: not known

Service: Railway Porter, TVR

Notes: Ada, a railway porter, possibly at Aberdare station, was sworn at and ‘struck on the chest’ by one Alfred Collins. He was attempting to avoid paying for a ticket (again).

Reference: WaW0372

Newspaper report

Report of the assault on Ada King. Aberdare Leader 5th May 1917.

Alys Bertie Perkins (née Sandbrook)

Place of birth: Swansea

Service: Commandant and committee woman, British Red Cross

Notes: Alys Bertie Perkins was Commandant and Secretary of Swansea Red Cross Society, and commandant in charge of recruitment across the whole county of Glamorgan. By early 1918 Swansea was reported to have the greatest number of Red Cross hospital beds in the whole of South Wales. She was awarded the OBE in January 1918, when she described by the Cambria Daily Leader as ‘the enthusiastic and popular Sketty Red Cross worker and organiser’.

Reference: WaW0369

Alys Bertie Perkins

Photograph of Alys Bertie Perkins OBE, part of the Women’s Work Collections of the Imperial War Museumrn

Newspaper advertisement

Advertisement for a Red Cross course of first aid and nursing. Cambria Daily Leader 22nd February 1916.

Edinburgh Gazette

Supplement to the Edinburgh Gazette, with Alys Bertie Perkins’s award of OBE January 9th 1918.

E M Jenkins

Place of birth: Ferndale

Service: Opthalmic optician

Notes: Miss E M Jenkins qualified as an ophthalmic optician in December 1914. This apparently entitled her to the freedom of the City of London.

Reference: WaW0371

Newspaper report

Report of Miss E M Jenkins’s qualification as an ophthalmic optician. Carmarthen Journal 1st January 1915.

Ethel Clara Basil Jayne

Place of birth: Llanelly

Service: Businesswoman, laundry owner, munitions welfare officer, government advisor

Death: 1940, St Albans, Cause not known

Notes: Ethel Jayne was born in 1874, daughter of the proprietor of the Brynmawr Coal and Iron Company Ltd. She trained in laundry work, and set up her own steam laundry company, Little Laundries Ltd, in Harrow in about 1906. At the outbreak of war she joined the Women’s Volunteer Reserve, and also worked organising canteens for the French Red Cross. In 1916 she was appointed chief welfare officer for the Armstrong Whitworth armaments company, becoming responsible for more than 20,000 women employed in the North of England and Glasgow. Her welfare innovations included steam laundries. In 1919 she gave evidence on welfare to the Parliamentary Committee on Women in Industry. She was among the first recipients of the OBE in August 1917. After her death her ashes were buried in the family grave in Llanelli.

Sources: https://doi.org/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.111297

Reference: WaW0370

Ethel Basil Jayne 1907

Ethel Basil Jayne driving to one of her early laundries in a pony and trap. This was her preferred mode of transport.

London Gazette

Miss Ethel Basil Jayne’s name in the first list of OBEs. London Gazette 24th August 1917.

Sarah Ann Harry (née Rees)

Place of birth: Clydach, Cwmtawe

Service: Signals Clerk, 1917-Tachwedd 1918 / 1917 - No

Death: 1964, Cause not known

Notes: Born in 1890, Sarah Rees had worked as a telegraphist in Swansea before joining the WAAC in 1917. She served in signals in France. While there she married her fiancé, Evan John Harry, who was serving in the Field Ambulance Corps. Before the war he was Headmaster of Ynystawe Council School. He walked into a café where she was with friends, and asked her to marry him on the spot. The wedding took place in a small church in Étaples. As a married women Sarah Harry then had to resign from the WAAC. Many thanks to Nia Richards.

Reference: WaW0376

Sarah Ann Harry

Sarah Ann Harry, WAAC signaller

Sarah Ann Harry

Sarah Ann Harry in full outdoor uniform.

WAAC signallers

WAAC signallers. Sarah Ann Harry is seated middle row, second from right.

Newspaper report

Report of Sarah Ann Harry’s marriage and return from France. Llais Llafur 23 November 1918.

Sarah Ann Rees

Place of birth: Newport

Service: Assistant Cook, WAAC, Ionawr - Mawrth 1918 / January

Notes: Ann Rees applied to the WAAC as a kitchen maid; her current employment was flour packer at Star Mills, Newport. Curiously, though her religion is given as C of E, her references are from Father Hickey, Priest of St Mary’s Church, Stow Hill, and Sister Agnes of St Joseph’s Convent, and she went to Holy Cross school. Apparently she joined the WAAC without her parents’ knowledge or consent early in 1918; following correspondence from her and her mother, Ann was given a compassionate discharge on 14th March 1918.

Reference: WaW0379

Letter

Letter from Sarah Ann Rees asking for discharge from the WAAC. National Archives.

Letter

Letter from Mrs Bridget Rees, Ann’s mother, explaining why she is needed at home [1]. National Archives.

Letter

Letter from Mrs Bridget Rees, Ann’s mother, explaining why she is needed at home [2]. National Archives.

Letter

Letter from Mrs Bridget Rees, Ann’s mother, explaining why she is needed at home [3]. National Archives.

Thurza Dunn

Place of birth: Newport

Service: Munitions worker and rugby player

Notes: Thurza Dunn was a worker at one of the munitions factories in Newport. She also played rugby for her factory team. These games were played to raise funds for the war effort. Thanks to Ann Davidson.

Reference: WaW0377

Thurza Dunn

Thurza Dunn and her team mates. Thurza is in the front row, second from the left. Thanks to Ann Davidson.

Newspaper report

Report of a charity rugby match held in Jenner Park, Barry, between two teams of munitions workers. Barry was raising funds for a submarine; their target of £10,000 was exceeded! Barry Dock News 15th March 1918.