The Women of World War II Memorial

Photo credit - WWP team

The Women of World War II is the first national memorial in the UK to honor the nearly seven million women who contributed to the war effort during WW2. By 1943, nine out of 10 British women aged 20-30 joined the armed forces and the civilian services. About 640,000 women volunteered in various military divisions, such as the Women’s Royal Naval Service and the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force; others worked as mechanics, engineers, and fire engine drivers, while hundreds of thousands took the vacant places in factories and workshops. As the war ended, women were forced to leave their positions and return to their domestic roles.

The initiative for the memorial was raised in 1997 by Major David Mcnally Robertson; together with former gunners Mildred Veal and Edna Storr, they founded a charitable trust for the cause. Soon after, Princess Royal Ann, Dame Vera Margaret Lynn, and Betty Boothroyd, Baroness Boothroyd, became patrons of the fund. The Baroness even raised some of the funding on an episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? A sum of £1 million was contributed by various organizations, with over £300,000 raised by the public.
The monument was unveiled on July 9th, 2005, by Queen Elizabeth II as part of the 60th anniversary of the end of WW2. The dedication ceremony included a flyover of five military helicopters flown by all-female crews.

The 22 feet high, 16 feet long, and six feet wide bronze rectangle contains 17 sets of clothing, uniforms, and helmets hung around it, including police overall, a nursing cape, a welding mask, and uniforms worn by the Women’s Land Army. Those sets symbolize the hundreds of different jobs women undertook during the war. The gold lettering on the sides is a replica of the font used on wartime ration books.

Sculptor John Mills was inspired by a 1940s photograph of a cloakroom at a dance hall and designed the monument as a reminder that after the war, women were forced to hang up their uniforms to make a place for the men who came back.

The Monument to the Women of World War II stands at Whitehall St., which is famous for the many memorials and monuments. It is also close to other statues and historical places. Among them are the Fourth Plinth and Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square, the Edith Cavell Memorial at St. Martin’s Place, the Florence Nightingale Statue at Waterloo Place, Schomberg House where the 18th-century artist Maria Cosway lived, the memorial plaques of Nell Gwynne and Ada Lovelace in James’s Square, the Mother and Child statue in St James’s Square Garden, and St James’s Church. It is also only a few minutes walk from the Big Ben and Parliament Square, where Millicent Fawcett Statue stands.

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