senior seminar paper

Keep Calm and Carry On Smith 1

Brandy Smith

HIST 495

Dr. Mason

Senior Seminar Paper

April 29, 2016

Keep Calm and Carry On

Following World War Two, all citizens of London were in for a huge shock and

adjustment as the city and its inhabitants were forever changed architecturally and

psychologically by bombing it endured. The East End of London was particularly hard hit by the

extensive bombing and its inhabitants were among the poorest people in the city. As their men

returned home from battlefields and others came home in a wooden box, they continued living in

temporary housing that replaced their bombed homes, their kitchens continued to survive on

meager rations, they attempted to mentally adjust to a new time of peace, lost their independence

and equality in the workplace and had loads of babies; the women of the East End had a unique

and especially challenging post war period. This is a discussion of how WW2’s impact on the

women of London affected them for years beyond VE day through the lens of the poor East End.

I will explore what this experience was like for these strong women who pulled through a

harrowing war experience and endless bombing simply to arrive into a time of peace that brought

its own set of hardship and challenges. A true testament to the “strong stuff” British women are

made of, it is astonishing to research the strength and dignity in which they pushed on through

this difficult time in history and arrived on the other side battered but just as strong as ever.

History may be written primarily by men about men but women are the backbone behind it all.

This post-war period was a turning point in London women’s history as it was a time where


women’s role began to make a slow change toward the modern, independent woman. They truly

embody the British spirit to “Keep Calm and Carry On” as the popular WW2 slogan and banner

so famously states.

I. Bombing

Bombing was one of the toughest challenges faced by the women of London during the

war years. The German goal was to bomb the morale right out of the British people. Events such

as the Blitz, forty consecutive nights of continuous bombing, did a good job toward defeating

morale but they were never successful1. The people of London gritted their teeth and endured the

endless bombs, the loss of housing and the decimation. After the war ended and peacetime

reigned, bombs should no longer have been a concern on the everyday mind of an East End

woman. However, unexploded or undetonated bombs had lodged themselves into different areas

of the city and were occasionally found and detonated or just randomly detonated and caused

further damage2. Even after the Nazi’s were defeated, they continued to injure and kill London

civilians with their bombs for years. As an East End woman, one can imagine the stress this

would cause to your everyday life. It would be a constant concern wherever you walked,

wherever your children played and wherever you lived. When a bomb was found, often the

whole area was evacuated and you were ripped away from your home until the bombs was

properly disposed of3. The bombs may no longer be falling from the sky but they were still

causing extreme mental anguish to the strong women of London with the dangerous possibilities

the unexploded bombs posed.

1 Ziegler, Philip. London at War. Toronto: Knopf Canada, 1995.2ibd3 ibd


Unexploded bombs have continued to be a problem through modern years. Just about a

year ago, an one thousand pound unexploded bomb was found in London intact4. On August 11,

2015 another unexploded bomb was safely defused in a basement in East London5. Just last year,

two unexploded bombs were discovered in the city. This is not as rare of an occurrence as one

might think; the London Fire Brigade said seven unexploded bombs were discovered between

2009 and 2014, as well as five undetonated hand grenades6. Though those numbers may not

seem high, it is astonishing to think that seventy years after the last bombs were dropped this

many are still hiding away in the bowels of the city.

II. Lack of Housing

Another big issue faced by the women of London was the extreme lack of proper housing.

The bombs of World War Two had leveled much of the housing in London, particularly in the

poor East End. This resulted to people living in condemned buildings barely fit for habitation and

temporary housing. It was not uncommon for a family of 6 to be crammed into a 1 bedroom flat

in a rickety old building that was condemned for bulldozing before the war even began7. This

also led to the rise of the small, prefabricated temporary homes that people flocked to. Meant to

only last a few years, some of these pre-fabs are still standing and people are still happily living

within despite the estimation that they were a temporary form of housing.

London was always a cramped city, particularly in the poorer areas. When bombs took down

homes and apartment buildings, there was not ample replacement housing for the displaced

4 Medina, Miguel. "Huge Unexploded WWII Bomb Found in London." Huge Unexploded WWII Bomb Found in London. March 24, 2015. Accessed April 28, 2016. http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/huge-unexploded-wwii-bomb-found-in-london/ar-BBiDMI7.5 Smith-Spark, Laura. "Experts Defuse Unexploded World War II Bomb in London." CNN. August 11, 2015. Accessed April 28, 2016. http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/11/europe/uk-london-unexploded-bomb/index.html.6 Medina, Miguel. "Huge Unexploded WWII Bomb Found in London." Huge Unexploded WWII Bomb Found in London. March 24, 2015. Accessed April 28, 2016. http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/huge-unexploded-wwii-bomb-found-in-london/ar-BBiDMI7.7 Salisbury, Harriet. The War on Our Doorstep: London's East End and How the Blitz Changed It Forever. London: Ebury, 2012.


persons. Alternative housing became unique locations such as the tube stations8. Some people

literally lived within tube stations after the houses were bombed out. Also used as replacement

housing were condemned buildings. These were buildings considered to be unfit for habitation

before the war and slotted for demolition. When houses became scarce, some of these were still

standing and people moved into them. By the end of the war many families were living in

condemned buildings. When the city moved to follow through with the original plans for

demolition, the people had nowhere to go. Thus, many of these buildings set to be demolished

back in the 1930’s did not get torn down until the 1960’s due to the need for housing in the poor

districts of London9. This was a regular occurrence particularly in London’s East End.

The people living in these temporary rehousing locations were promised proper housing as

soon as the war ended. The war came to an end in 1945 and people were still in temporary

housing. Temporary housing often had a family of eight living in a two bedroom flat. They were

usually cramped, dirty, old and not up to code. These people were repeatedly promised rehoming

and proper housing by the government yet they rarely followed through. Many people were not

rehomed until the 1950-1960’s. The rehoming effort was a huge undertaking that was hard for

the highly decimated city government to deal with.

The flipside of the lack of housing and the destruction of London that the bombing causes

was the first major rehabilitation of the city since the great fire of 1666. This was the first

instance where people realized that they could change the city. Before this it had just been

accepted that the city was how it was. When the city was bombed and reconstruction was

needed, people decided that it was a time to make some modern changes and adjustments. An

engineer named Patrick Abercrombie led this effort largely through creative engineering and

8 Salisbury, Harriet. The War on Our Doorstep: London's East End and How the Blitz Changed It Forever. London: Ebury, 2012.9 Ziegler, Philip. London at War. Toronto: Knopf Canada, 1995.


radical changes in the typical forms of housing. He championed modernizing the city and

making new suburban neighborhoods for people to move to. He contributed largely to the

modernization of the city that helped shape it into the city we see today.

III. Rationing

One of the toughest things encountered by the women of London during the war was

making do with the extreme rations. When the war ended, the rationing did not do to the

effect of the war. Britain has been stretched to her limits and resources were still scarce and

hard to come by through the fighting had stopped10. Those who were already stretched very

thin had no relief besides the end of bombing. Women in the very poor East End had it

especially tough. They did not have much money and rationing further limited their options

for meals. With full families and more babies all the time, an East End woman in post-world

war two London had a challenging and seemingly impossible job with trying to keep

everyone fed and satisfied due to rationing as well as their limited funds. Creativity with

recipes and menus was the key.

Rationing had a distinct effect on the diet of the people of London. The rationing of

certain foodstuffs continued well into the 1950’s. Creativity with recipes was integral to the

average housewife’s chores in order to keep her family happily fed. The Ministry of Food

had a huge effort to put out ration recipe books and information to help the mothers and

wives. There was also a big campaign with vitamins to help supplement the diet11. In the

1950’s, there was a fad through the National Health Service where Rosehip Syrup was

widely distributed as a cure all health miracle supplement12. The effects of it are widely

10 Ziegler, Philip. London at War. Toronto: Knopf Canada, 1995.11 Salisbury, Harriet. The War on Our Doorstep: London's East End and How the Blitz Changed It Forever. London: Ebury, 2012.12 Waller, Maureen. London 1945. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2005.


debated but the super sweet syrup was extremely popular and widely distributed in this time

by health professionals.

Even the clothing and fashion of this time was heavily influenced by rationing. Clothing

had to be bought on a point system. Points were distributed in coupons to the citizens and

using this, you could purchase new clothing13. This made for very little fashion and mostly

functionality and durability. Utility wear was the name of the off rack, readymade clothing

that was cheap and easily purchased with coupons14. While not stylish, Utility wear was

functional, durable and became the wardrobe of the time whether the people liked it or not.

Mending and reusing clothing was also a huge part of the post-war years. If you could not

buy new, you made something old work. This was widespread throughout England. Even

Queen Elizabeth II bought her wedding dress material with rationed clothing coupons15.

Women from all around the country sent coupons to the then princess to help her get her

dream wedding dress. Not even the royal family was exempt from rationed clothing.

The lasting impact of rationing cannot be overlooked. When in London, I spoke with the

senior historian, Terry Charman, at the Imperial War museum. Though he was born in 1949,

after the end of the war, he remembers purchasing clothes with ration coupons and eating

rationed foods. He distinctly remembered the day his mother burned her ration book because

rationing had finally ended after nine long years. For him to remember something like this so

distinctly shows how strong of an impact rationing had on the people. Even the supposed

British love for “queuing” or forming a polite line and waiting your turn can be traced to the

lines for rationed foods. This was a huge part of not only the war effort but also post-war life

and it has left a lasting impact on the people of London.

13 Ziegler, Philip. London at War. Toronto: Knopf Canada, 1995.14 ibd15 ibd


IV. Lack of Men

World War Two contributed to a scarcity of young men throughout the world. Between

21 and 25 million men died in the war effort worldwide16. This loss was felt especially hard

in some of the poorer parts of London as women moved forward as widows, children became

fatherless, mothers moved on without their sons. The losses were felt by industry as well

because there was not the workforce they had once had. Women were left to find a way to

support themselves as widows or single mothers17. Men were unable to return to their jobs

and often the women who had worked for them throughout the war stayed on in their

positions. It was a very different world after the war as women became more independent

and socially stratified.

Following World War Two, women’s rights began to increase. They had worked their

way into men’s positions throughout the war and had earned respect18. When Queen

Elizabeth II ascended the throne in 1952, her young, vibrant beauty gave a face to a new

generation of women. This was the time when women began to wear trousers on a regular

basis19. Women began to filter into the larger job market more and more. No longer did a

women have to go from her parents’ house to her husband’s house; she could get a job and

support herself. Women were getting into more and more skilled and respected positions as

well. The job force was still dominated by men but women were pushing their way in with

the muscles they acquired in the war effort of the Second World War.

The young midwife Jennifer Worth is a great example of a young woman in Post- World

War Two London20. She was a trained and experienced nurse and midwife and at twenty-

16 Ziegler, Philip. London at War. Toronto: Knopf Canada, 1995.17 Salisbury, Harriet. The War on Our Doorstep: London's East End and How the Blitz Changed It Forever. London: Ebury, 2012.18 Waller, Maureen. London 1945. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2005.19 Worth, Jennifer. Call the Midwife. Edited by Terri Coates. London: Penguin Books, 2002.20 Worth, Jennifer. Call the Midwife. Edited by Terri Coates. London: Penguin Books, 2002.


two, she left home to work in the poor East End as a midwife with the nuns at Nonnatus

House as a National Health Service worker. She was not alone, many young women trained

as nurses and midwives and worked for the National Health Service when they were young.

For several years she worked and supported herself as a single woman in Poplar, London. 21

She did not have a husband, she made her own money and she had a highly skilled and

highly respected position. Worth later married and started a family of her own but not until

after she had stretched her legs as a single woman and taken care of herself for a time.22

Many women fit into this mold; eventually they would marry and have children but they

enjoyed their younger years as independent, career women who made their own way through

the world.

Poorer women and single or unwed mothers had less options to support their families.

Many fell into the world’s oldest profession as a last ditch effort to save themselves or their

children from starvation23. Prostitution was a bustling business, especially in poorer areas of

town such as the East End. Worth talks about the poor parts of town she often had to ride her

bicycle through and how she could see the soiled women peering down at her from dirty

windows above pubs. She even had an experience with one young Irish women who fell into

the trade as a part of a clever ruse and was only fifteen years old when Worth found her alone

and pregnant and gave her the help she needed24.

V. Loss of Independence and purpose

During World War Two, women stepped into men’s roles to keep the war effort moving.

They worked in factories, patrolled the streets, cracked German codes and kept London going.

When the men returned home post-war, they returned to their jobs and roles. The women who 21 ibd22 ibd23 Ziegler, Philip. London at War. Toronto: Knopf Canada, 1995.24 Worth, Jennifer. Call the Midwife. Edited by Terri Coates. London: Penguin Books, 2002.


had learned independence and purpose during the war were often thrust back into lives of

marriage, housewifery, motherhood and menial jobs. For some women, this war a welcome

change back to normalcy. For others, this was an outrage as they felt they had earned their roles

and wished to keep that independence and purpose.

Women had spent the WW2 years working in factories, fighting off bombs, helping the war

department and any number of war related jobs that may have been previously occupied by men

if they were not off at war. After the men returned, women were expected to return to the home

or their “feminine” jobs. Many women had found great purpose and enjoyment in their work and

did not wish to quit. Women also chaffed at the loss of independence and equality the war had

given them in the wartime workplace. They had worked jobs normally reserved to men and been

quite successful at them. They had also been a part of the war effort. A secret group of code

breakers worked out of the facility at Bletchley Park outside on London. It was here that the

German Enigma machine code was cracked and it is estimated that the work of the people at

Bletchley Park shortened the war by up to four years25. Though it was not all women, Bletchley

did have a number of intelligent and stand out women who worked right alongside of the men

cracking codes and helping to do their part to end the war. It was important work such as this and

others that left some women searching for something more in the post war years26.

VI. PTSD

World War Two left an entire generation with vestiges of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

There were the soldiers, the civilians bombed, victims of racial genocide, widows; it was an

entire generation of people deeply affected emotionally by the world wide conflict27. The

civilians of London lived through years of war, rationing and bombing. There is no way that they 25 Waller, Maureen. London 1945. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2005.26 Waller, Maureen. London 1945. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2005.27 Ackroyd, Peter. London: The Biography. New York: Nan A. Talese, 2000.


were not left with an emotional burden and light PTSD symptoms. I believe women especially

would have been left with an emotional burden after spending years worrying about bombs

falling every day, worrying about how they would feed their families, worrying about their

husbands and brothers off fighting28. It would be very hard to get past that mindset and return to

normality.

Men returning from war nearly always struggle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In the

post- World War Two years, PTSD was not well understood or recognized. They called it shell

shock and had no treatment or any kind of relief. The soldiers came home from the war and

many immediately married their sweethearts and began jobs and families in an effort to return to

normalcy. Many men were successful but many were not. There are stories of men who came

home and could not perform their jobs due to anxiousness and overreactions. These are common

signs we now recognize to be associated with PTSD but then they did not understand or attribute

it to that. These men were living with often young wives who did not understand what their

husbands are going through. It was a hard time to be a veteran because the experience they went

through was not well understood at home and the men themselves were not very well

understood. We have made great strides in the care and understanding of PTSD victims and

people returning from wars.

Between the women and children who had lived through extensive bombing and destruction

on the Homefront and the men who served in the gore of the frontlines, London was full of

people recovering from harrowing experiences. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was not

understood or recognized at this point but with the knowledge we have now, it had to have been

an undiagnosed epidemic in the population of London in this post- war reconstruction period.

Without the understanding of the disorder at the time, it is nearly impossible to track specific

28 Ziegler, Philip. London at War. Toronto: Knopf Canada, 1995.


cases of PTSD in these people at this time but given the circumstances it had to have been

affecting a huge portion of the population both civilian, woman and solider. One cannot live

through years with such mental, emotional and physical anguish without having some lasting

effects and emotional manifestation. This is a part of history I wish could be explored further. I

wish we could go back and diagnose people and treat them accurately for the PTSD symptoms. It

is curious to think of what a possible difference in could have made in the lives of the citizens

and soldiers of the Second World War.

VII. Exploding population

Similar to the baby boom experienced in the United States, London saw an extreme jump in

babies born during the post war years. A combination of peace after years of war, men returning

home from war, implementation of national health care and getting married as well as a lack of

birth control availability contributed to this baby boom. Particularly in poor areas of London,

such as the East End, babies were born constantly29. These women did not have contraceptives

available, they married young and had many babies. Jennifer Worth’s popular memoir, Call the

Midwife, chronicles her days as a midwife in Post-World War Two Poplar (East End of London

borough) delivering what seemed like endless babies to the poor but unbelievably strong women

who lived there30.

In East End London during the 1950’s, most women married young to local boys who

worked on the docks. They would usually move to a small flat in the poor area and live on a little

bit of money and a whole lot of love. Babies usually came quickly and a plenty. Thankfully the

National Health Service had regional midwives providing these women with better prenatal care

then they had ever received and safe, home deliveries. The biggest part missing from this

29 Ackroyd, Peter. London: The Biography. New York: Nan A. Talese, 2000.30 Worth, Jennifer. Call the Midwife. Edited by Terri Coates. London: Penguin Books, 2002.


women’s health care was contraceptive. Contraceptives were unavailable through the National

Health Service, the main source of health care throughout the poorer regions of the city such as

the East End, and were a bit of a mystery to most people31. The lack of contraceptives led to

women having baby after baby after baby. Sometimes the family had more children than they

could financially support. These situations are described by Worth in her memoir as some of the

saddest she ever witnessed. Worth believed that contraceptive information should have be part of

her job as a midwife to distribute. She felt that women should be able to limit the number of

children they had on limited resources in a safe and healthy way if they so choose32.

To assert the point that contraceptive information should have been spread, Worth tells the

story of one desperate mother who became pregnant with her seventh child when she could

barely feed and house the six she already had. She resorted to an illegal street abortion to get rid

of the child she did not believe she could care for. This resulted in her coming down with a

severe case of sepsis from the dirty tools of the untrained, street midwife and lying in a coma for

three weeks before making a miraculous recovery. The illegal abortion nearly killed her but she

felt that was her only option to help from having a baby she could not feed and care for33. This is

just one story but it was the problem faced by many poor East End mothers. Contraceptive

information and items were not widely distributed until the 1960’s in the poorer districts of

London. Had the National Health Service made a more concentrated effort to inform the poorer

recipients of the National Health Service of contraceptive options, it may have saved the lives of

many mothers and babies from other tactics to not have children they could no care for.

On May 8th, 1945 Winston Churchill said to the British people:

31 ibd32 ibd33 Worth, Jennifer. Call the Midwife. Edited by Terri Coates. London: Penguin Books, 2002.


“I say that in the long years to come not only will the people of this island but of the

world, wherever the bird of freedom chirps in human hearts, look back to what we've

done and they will say "do not despair, do not yield to violence and tyranny, march

straightforward and die if need be-unconquered." Now we have emerged from one deadly

struggle-a terrible foe has been cast on the ground and awaits our judgment and our

mercy.”

And they were unconquered indeed. Through years of unimaginable hardship, the British people

rose strong and true and never defeated. Particularly in poor areas of London, such as the East

End, you see people draw incredible strength to come through the war and continue to overcome

hardship through the post war period. Women particularly had an interesting time following the

war as they lost some of the independence and jobs gained during the war but kept moving

forward toward better things and more independence. There was a huge explosion in the

population as men came home from war, married their young sweethearts and began families. It

was a time of change and forward movement. Times were hard but they were getting better.

They came through times of rationing, bombing, hard jobs and mental agony to win a victory in

one of the worst conflicts our world has ever seen. Following the war the continued on with their

heads held high in a constant effort to “keep calm and carry on”.


Bibliography

Ackroyd, Peter. London: The Biography. New York: Nan A. Talese, 2000.

Medina, Miguel. "Huge Unexploded WWII Bomb Found in London." Huge Unexploded WWII

Bomb Found in London. March 24, 2015. Accessed April 28, 2016.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/huge-unexploded-wwii-bomb-found-in-

london/ar-BBiDMI7.

Salisbury, Harriet. The War on Our Doorstep: London's East End and How the Blitz Changed It

Forever. London: Ebury, 2012.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/huge-unexploded-wwii-bomb-found-in-


Smith-Spark, Laura. "Experts Defuse Unexploded World War II Bomb in London." CNN.

August 11, 2015. Accessed April 28, 2016.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/11/europe/uk- london-unexploded-bomb/index.html.

Waller, Maureen. London 1945. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2005.

Worth, Jennifer. Call the Midwife. Edited by Terri Coates. London: Penguin Books, 2002.

Ziegler, Philip. London at War. Toronto: Knopf Canada, 1995.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/11/europe/uk-

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