May 1918

A Ewhurst recruit for the Women’s Land Army

The idea of women working on the land had been mooted in 1916 and after a meeting in the Reading Room, several Ewhurst women had signed up to work on local farms, but it is not known who they were or what work they undertook. There was opposition to the idea of women doing men’s work, not least because of the fact that they wore trousers. But by 1917 the situation was desperate and the Board of Agriculture set up a Women’s Branch and appealed for young women to join the Women’s Land Army. 18 year old Florence Hooker, of The Village, Ewhurst, enrolled in May 1918 and was sent to work on a farm in Somerset.