Women and War Work

by Helen Miller Moyes

It is not only actions—corrupt thoughts are the most evil of all—and to help to give our boys the greatest possession, moral courage, founded on knowledge, is our finest gift.

There were temptations to think less cleanly, to hear things said without protest and to say them later. There were drinking temptations and one used to wonder with a sick heart, what mothers would feel if they could see these young boys of theirs sometimes, so pathetically young and so foolish. There was also in these great camps of men—let us realize that quite clearly—great good for the boys and the men—good that far outweighs the evil. All the good of discipline, all they gained by their coming together for a great cause, all they gained in that great comradeship and service for each other, and in their self-sacrifice for their country and the world. The wonder and beauty of what it is, and means some of our own men have told us—among them one who died, Donald Hankey, and has left us a rich treasure in his works. And we all know it in our own men—that abiding spirit that is the vision without which the people perish.

But there are and were evils to fight and men and women to help. The huts and canteens and guesthouses are great agencies for good—as well as for comfort. Loneliness, and nowhere to go, and no one to talk to, are conditions that make for mischief.

Then there were the girls at the outbreak of the war, excited by all that was happening, not yet busy as they nearly all are now, feeling that the greatest thing was to know the soldiers and talk and walk with them, and flocking around camps and barracks, being foolish and risking worse.

The National Union of Women Workers decided to take action about this and drew up a scheme which they submitted to the Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Edward Henry, K.C.V.O. This scheme was for women of experience and knowledge of girls to patrol in the camps and barrack areas, and talk to girls who were behaving foolishly, and try to influence them for good. It was felt and it turned out to be quite accurate that the mere presence of these women would make girls and men behave better. Sir Edward Henry approved of the idea and arranged that each Patrol should have a card signed by him to be carried while on duty, authorizing the Patrols to seek and get the assistance of the Police, if necessary, and the Patrols wore an armlet with badge and number.

Their work in London proved so successful that the Home Office recommended the adoption of the scheme in provincial centres, where the Chief Constables authorized them and later the War Office asked for more Patrols in some of the camp areas and spoke very highly of their work.

A woman Patrol is generally a woman who is busy in her own home or profession all day, but who gives some hours one or two evenings a week to this work.

They have done the work faithfully and well, and have exceeded in their success all anticipations. There are about 3,000 Patrols in the Kingdom; of these eighty-five are engaged in special work in London and paid by the Commissioner of Police. Two are engaged in work at Woolwich Arsenal. Two are Park Keepers appointed by the Board of Works and are working in Kensington Gardens, and their names were submitted to the King before appointment. They have the power of arrest.

A subsidy has been granted to the Women's Patrol Committee for the training of Women Patrols of £400 a year. In many big towns admirable work has been done.

In Edinburgh the Patrol Committee was asked by H.M. Office of Works to help the men park keepers in keeping order in the King's Park.