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Women's Memorial finds its place in Whitehall

Published Wednesday 29th June 2005

Rt Hon Baroness Boothroyd looks on as the Women in World War II Memorial arrives in Whitehall, London, 28 June 2005 [Picture: Ian Nelson]

A time capsule is hoisted inside the WWII memorial. The capsule, the contents of which remain unknown, will be opened in 2205 [Picture: Ian Nelson]

The final piece is added to the Memorial. [Picture: Ian Nelson]

A new memorial was positioned in the middle of Whitehall, London, just metres away from the Cenotaph, on 28 June 2005.

The memorial commemorates the enormous contribution Britain's women made to the war effort, both in the Armed Forces and on the Home Front. In that respect, it is unique among war memorials.

The Memorial is more than a tribute to those who lost their lives during the War. It celebrates all those who willingly gave up six years of their lives in service to their country - the women who built bridges and ships; made munitions and aircraft; worked 18 hours a day on the land; worked as code breakers and agents behind enemy lines and women who risked their lives as air raid wardens and fire watchers.

The Memorial is cast in bronze, 22 ft high, 16 ft long and 6 ft wide. It depicts 17 representations of the uniforms and working clothes women wore during the war hanging side by side around a bare plinth. John W Mills, the sculptor, said:

"My design sprung from my own memories of the War and my mother's work in munitions, particularly the story of women being told at the end of the war to hang up their uniforms and overalls and go home - the job was done".

Alongside the service uniforms worn by the women in the ATS (the Army's Auxiliary Territorial Service), the RAF's Waafs and the Royal Navy's Wrens) can be seen a welder's helmet, the overalls worn by the Women's Land Army and canteen ladies, a police woman's overcoat and a wartime scarf, hat and bag. The headwear shown includes a driver's service cap, a munitions worker's 'snood' that held hair in place, a Wren officer's tricorn and a nursing cape in the shape of an angel.

HM the Queen will unveil the Memorial on 9 July 2005, in a ceremony which will be attended by seven women who won wartime George Medals. Women veterans are coming in large numbers and all the main veterans’ organisations will be represented. The ceremony will be presided over by the Rt Hon Baroness Boothroyd OM, former Speaker of the House of Commons and Patron of the Memorial Fund.

Baroness Boothroyd, who watched as the Memorial was being assembled in Whitehall, said:

"One veteran's son wrote to me to say that although his mother had driven a makeshift ambulance in the Blitz and served in the Fire Service during the rocket attacks, she had received no thanks, which he thought was wrong. On 9 July, we shall put that right - for her and the millions of women like her."

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