For this month’s theme of Remembrance , we are going to delve deeper into the collections of the National Army Museum, led by three trainee archivists in the process of qualifying in the profession.

Our names are Daisy, Lucy and Chelsea, and we are trainee archivists at the National Army Museum. Between us, we are undertaking the Archives and Records Management course at the University of Dundee, and the Level 7 Archivist and Records Manager Apprenticeship, to become qualified archivists.

As new professionals, we are bringing together snapshots of unique items from our archives as part of our blog post centred on this month’s theme of Remembrance.

The Templer Study Centre is the research centre for the National Army Museum in Chelsea, London, where access can be provided (Tuesday to Friday) to a rich source of personal archives, photograph and library collections telling the story of the British Army.

Among the archives are some interesting collections relating to the experiences of women in the Army and, in this blog post, we hope to show you some of our favourites.

About the Auxiliary Territorial Service

The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) was established in 1938 and was later granted full military status in April 1941. Women undertook vital roles during the Second World War and, whilst they were banned from combat roles, some worked in dangerous situations both at home and abroad.

Audrey Hayward’s correspondence

The papers of Audrey Hayward, which the National Army Museum (NAM) recently acquired, detail her experience of joining the ATS through a series of letters written to her parents.

She began her training at No. 17 ATS Training Centre at High Leigh Hall, Cheshire, ‘the best training camp in the country’, in 1943.

Extracts from her letters detail her thoughts and feelings during her time serving. Audrey Hayward writes of receiving her vaccinations, ‘by the way, I have just come back from my inoculations. I feel alright but my arms are going stiff. We had to make our beds early before we did get too stiff to do it’, and her first time in uniform, ‘now came the most interesting part, we went for our kit. My hat looks quite smart when I wear it slightly tilted’.

Her letters highlight the camaraderie and relationships these women built with one another. When her friends were sent to their postings, she wrote, ‘it made us realise that we will have to say ‘good-bye’ to each other when we leave here, and it made us feel quite miserable’.

Chief Commander Audrey Chitty OBE

The papers of Audrey Chitty tell the story of her extraordinary military career. Having moved to Britain from New Zealand, she joined the ATS before the outbreak of war in 1938. After a period as Assistant Director of the ATS Eastern Command HQ, Chitty was sent to the Middle East with the aim of starting an ATS branch there. Her journals, written in the years after her service, reflect her excitement of the unknowns ahead, as well as the sheer dangers of her mission.

In one journal, she recounts a harrowing air attack on her ship bound for England in 1940, where she only narrowly escaped death. The ship soon caught aflame, and the entire vessel had to evacuate before it went down.

She was to repeat these perilous journeys throughout the War, as she undertook her duties spanning England and across the Middle East and India. In recognition of her work, Audrey was awarded an OBE in 1943.

A tragic incident

In the summer of 1942, an ATS billet attached to the Anti-Aircraft Brigade HQ at Yarmouth suffered a horrific attack during an air raid, in which 32 women serving in the ATS were tragically killed.

Violet Martha Long, posted to the staff of the Brigade HQ, recalls the horrific aftermath of the attack in a short memoir she wrote in 1982.

‘One morning, a heavy attack with machine guns and bombs was made on our position. I emerged from the Mess and was horrified to find the ATS billet had received a direct hit… Together with the ARP and other members of Brigade HQ we set about the terrible task of seeing whether we could rescue anyone from the ruins.’

Sadly, none of the women who were in the billet survived the attack. Long also describes the courage of those outside who did survive.

‘I was Duty Officer that night and we again had a severe high level raid. These survivors had been on duty many hours, and although tired, shocked and frightened carried out their duties with the utmost bravery.’

A Book of Remembrance

We conclude this post by looking at the ATS Book of Remembrance, a poignant reminder of the dangers of service, whether at home or abroad, for anyone serving. It lists the servicewomen who were killed by enemy action or died on active service from 1939-1945.

Remembrance is an inherent theme throughout the archive collections of the National Army Museum. Through showcasing these archives, we reflect on all soldiers who are serving, have served and who have lost their lives during service, whose stories we collect and preserve through our Archive.

We hope that you have found these small snapshots from our archives thought-provoking and encourage anyone interested in finding out more to visit us at the Templer Study Centre.

Further information

Written by Daisy, Chelsea and Lucy at the Templer Study Centre, National Army Museum.

Edited by Isabel Lauterjung, Blog Coordinator for Explore Your Archive.

Find out more about the NAM and the TSC here: https://www.nam.ac.uk/collections/templer-study-centre