Until summer 2025, there is a new visitor route at the National Maritime Museum while we carry out essential improvements to the Museum's roof. Most galleries will still be open as normal, and special exhibitions are currently free for all visitors. However, the Great Map and AHOY! will be closed for the duration of the works. Find out more.
Essential Information
Location
National Maritime Museum
27 Aug 2015
Hello Caird Library Blog followers. My name is Sonia and I am the Library Assistant who, from now on, will be looking after the Caird Library blog. I joined the Caird Library and Archive team in 2010 and, when not on duty in the Reading Room, I assist with cataloguing new acquisitions for the library and answering written enquiries. Since the beginning of the centenary commemorations for the First World War I have become interested in the role of women during the conflict and in this month’s blog I look at women’s uniforms.
When in November 1917 the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) was established, members of the service wore civilian clothing, despite the intention of the Royal Navy to have women members dressed in a ‘distinctive uniform’. Women’s uniforms made their first appearance in February 1918. ‘WRNS outfit consisted of ankle-length, dressing-gown style which was buttoned up at the front to a miniature sailor collar. The uniform was worn with heavy boots and the pudding-basin style hat’ (Harris, C. (2001). Women at war in uniform 1939-1945, page 6 – Library ID: PBF2946).
Women's and war: Wrens uniform - Object ID UNI1008.1
If you would like to know more about women's uniform, volumes on the topic are available to be consulted in the Caird Library. Items can be searched for via the online Library catalogue using ‘women and uniform’ as search terms.
Additionally, archive material on women's uniforms is available as part of the Dauntless collection (Ref. DAU).
Lastly, images of WRNS uniforms can be seen via the Museum’s Collections online .
Sonia (Library Assistant)
