The Women’s Emergency Corps

We are delighted to welcome Dr Naomi Paxton, one of Britain’s leading historians of the women’s suffrage movement and its relationship with the First World War. Dr Paxton is a performer, broadcaster and researcher whose work explores how suffragists and suffragettes adapted their campaigning during wartime. She has curated exhibitions for Parliament and the National Theatre, presents for BBC Radio 3, and is the author of the acclaimed Stage Rights! The Actresses’ Franchise League, Activism and Politics 1908–1958. Her research has helped reshape our understanding of women’s contribution to the war effort. 

The Talk

When war broke out in August 1914, thousands of politically active women quickly redirected their energy into supporting the nation. One of the earliest and most remarkable organisations was the Women’s Emergency Corps, established by experienced suffrage campaigners before many official government schemes even existed.

This illustrated talk explores how these women organised nursing, transport, welfare, employment, food distribution and training at extraordinary speed, while continuing to pursue the wider goal of women’s equality. Far from bringing the suffrage movement to an end, the war opened new opportunities for women to demonstrate leadership, initiative and organisational skill.

The presentation challenges several long-held myths about women’s role during the Great War and reveals how organisations such as the Women’s Emergency Corps helped lay the foundations for wider social and political change.

🎟️ Visitors welcome- you don't have to be a WFA member to attend.

🍺 Bar available