IWM Film website upgrade: self-selection and authorised download of HD clips. More info
We use cookies on this website.
By continuing to use this site without changing your cookie settings,
you agree that you are happy to accept our privacy policy
and for us to access our cookies on your device.
Summary: A recruiting film for the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps in Britain, 1918.
Description: The film uses actuality material backed by some acting. It begins with a WAAC recruiting march and inspection, before going on to show a girl noticing the advertisement placard for Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps (the official 1918 title of the WAAC) in Trafalgar Square. She picks up a leaflet from (Mrs Jackson at) the Ministry of Labour recruiting office. After joining she is given a uniform and along with other WAACs learns drill and physical training (in Hyde Park). At their camp (at Aldershot) the WAACs form up for roll-call each morning before setting off for work. The administrator (Miss Clay?) hands out tasks for each of them. Some, as cooks, peel potatoes, set tables and serve food to the soldiers. Others work as clerks. The forewoman, with her dog, poses for the camera. There is a pay parade. The girls, at their hut, wash and brush their hair. Parcels arrive. The girls, with much camera-consciousness , tend the vegetable garden. In the sick bay a nurse attends to those WAACs who are ill. The tennis courts are shown. The girls demonstrate folk dancing. They tend gardens outside their huts. One of the girls, in a comic routine, imitates Charlie Chaplin. Other girls sit in their huts, sewing or writing letters. A march by a recruiting band of soldiers leads WAACs through a town centre (Folkestone). The film ends with posters showing the need for more recruits, and irises out with a WAAC holding a Union Jack.
Production Details: Ministry of Information (Production sponsor)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: British Army, Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (regiment/service)
Keywords: recruitment, British military: recruiting march (object name)
recruitment, British military: Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (object name)
buildings, British - institutional: Ministry of Labour (object name)
training, British military (object name)
operations, British military - routine (object name)
society, British military - sustenance (object name)
animals, mammals: dog (object name)
society, British military - hygiene (object name)
medical, British military - hospital (object name)
agriculture, British - arable (object name)
society, British military - domestic (object name)
communications, British military - postal (object name)
recreation, British military - dance (object name)
society, British - ethnic: folk dancing (object name)
31/3(41) (event)
GB, England (geography)
GB, England & London, WC <Trafalgar Square> (geography)
GB, England & London, SW <Ministry of Labour and National Service> (geography)
(concept)
camera (concept)
Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W
Sound format: Silent
Soundtrack language: None
Title language: None
Subtitle language: English
Technical Details: Format: 35mm
Number of items/reels/tapes: 1
Footage: 688 ft; Running time: 8 mins
HD Media:Yes
Notes: Title: this is taken from the shotsheet
Summary: identifications given in brackets in the summary are based on notes on a copy of a shotlist made by Lady Priscilla Norman, a Trustee of the IWM, following a screening in 1923. (Original in Department of Documents; photocopy in FVA.) The P 2 version has the same material with flashframes rather than captions.
