60th Anniversary of Women's Royal Army Corps

Prior to the existence of the Women's Royal Army Corps (WRAC), women supported the Army either as military nurses or by taking on certain behind-the-line military duties during the two world wars as part of the Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps and Auxiliary Territorial Service.

By the end of the Second World War it was acknowledged that women would be a valuable asset to a peacetime army and, in February 1949, the Royal Assent was given for the formation of the Women's Royal Army Corps, where women in the Army became subject to all sections of the Army Act. 

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother became the Corps Commandant-in-Chief.

The WRAC existed until 1992 when women were fully integrated within their respective Corps.

Today, the Army employs over 7,000 trained women, representing 7.7 per cent of the total British Army. Within this, over 10 per cent are officers, with a female to male officer ratio of 1 in 10. Over 70 per cent of jobs within the Army are open to women (the exception is close combat), spanning 140 trade groups and over 1,000 different job types, from pilots to chefs and mechanics to musicians. Female brigadiers and colonels are filling posts across the intelligence, medical, dental, legal, educational, administrative, logistic and communications fields.

Lieutenant Colonel Eilean Cunningham of the Army's Recruiting Group National Headquarters said:

"From the very first nurses and members of the AAC [Army Auxiliary Corps], ATS [Auxiliary Territorial Service] and WRAC to the over 7,000 women in the British Army today, the contributions and achievements of women in the Army over the years have been phenomenal. The positive change, adaptation and rapid progression that I have personally experienced in the last 30 years has been remarkable.

"Today there is real choice, real variety, and real appointments. On the 60th Anniversary of the WRAC, we pay tribute to all Army women, past, present, and future, where we look forward to women breaking new boundaries and continuing to fulfil their potential with a career in the British Army."

In the last 60 years women in the Army have achieved high accolades for their gallantry and sporting achievements. From the first Signaller to Erica Bridge, the first commander of the prestigious King's Troop, women in the Army have been awarded 66 medals for gallantry including the renowned Military Cross.

Lieutenant Colonel Tony Blanch, Commander Regional Recruitment for Wessex, said the Army had come a long way over the past 60 years:

"The Women's Royal Army Corps used to exclusively represent women in the Army but now nearly 70 per cent of trades are open to women and, apart from close combat, women are not only welcome but able to conduct just about any job in the Army.

"They are able to do anything that men can do, apart from close combat. There is some controversy about women being on the front line - but where do you draw the front line?

"They are taking part in operations on a daily basis in Afghanistan and Iraq. They are exposed to very dangerous situations all the time. In the Royal Artillery there are women who go forward into close observation posts to bring fire down on the enemy. If that's not the front line, what is?"

A history of women in the Army

Women's early involvement in the Army was largely as nurses, with the impact of Florence Nightingale and nursing contribution during the Crimean War recognised by the setting up of Nursing Services. There are instances of women's involvement in combat, but this was either as women travelling with their husbands, or in some instances pretending to be men in order to fight with the Army.

Until the twentieth century, women were excluded from war in Western cultures because they were thought to lack strength and aggression and because social attitudes required them to take on a caring and nurturing role.

The world wars brought great numbers of women to serve their country with the Army. They were recruited in a non-nursing capacity for the first time during the First World War when the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps was established in 1917. This was to enable more men to be sent to the front line by allowing women to take over some of the non-combatant tasks that soldiers were performing. In April 1918 it was renamed Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps.

Although in uniform and working under the War Office, the Corps was essentially a civilian formation. It disbanded in 1921, by which time 57,000 women had served with the unit, at home and in France.

The Auxiliary Territorial Service was formed in 1938 in response to the beginning of the Second World War. More than a quarter of a million members, one of the most famous being the then Princess Elizabeth, who was commissioned in March 1945, served during the war.

They served in most of the overseas theatres of operation as well as in the defence of the United Kingdom, particularly in Anti Aircraft Command. They also served as drivers, orderlies, storewomen and cooks. 72 were killed in action and 313 were wounded.

In 1949 the Royal Assent was given for the formation of the Women's Royal Army Corps.

WRAC members played a full part in operations, including Malaya from 1948 to 1960; Kenya in 1954; the EOKA campaign in Cyprus from 1955 to 1959; the Singapore riots in 1957; Aden from 1961 to 1968; the coup d'etat in Ghana; and the invasion of Cyprus in 1974.

WRAC members were deployed to Northern Ireland during the troubles from 1969 to assist the civilian police in maintaining order. One was awarded a Military Medal "for outstanding devotion to duty".
After the Falkland Islands conflict in 1982 a permanent garrison was re-established. The first draft of 20 WRAC servicewomen arrived in Port Stanley in 1983.

In the early days, it was assumed that when a member of the WRAC married, she would leave the Service. Now married women with children can continue to serve and reach the highest ranks.

A particularly sensitive aspect of equality with male soldiers was the use of weapons. It was agreed that the WRAC should be recognised as a combatant corps, although deployed in 'non-belligerent' roles. Arms training was introduced for the WRAC in July 1988 and recruits were taught how to handle and fire sub-machine guns. They did not go on to trade qualifications until passing weapons training tests with at least a mark of 70 per cent. Senior Officer Cadets had already been trained to use pistols since 1981.

During the Gulf War in 1990-1, members of the WRAC were employed as members of the Staff of Commanders or as individuals with their units. They worked as Staff Officers, Assistant Adjutants, clerks, chefs, communications operators, drivers, intelligence analysts, medical assistants, military police women, and postal and courier operators. Over 200 members of the Corps served in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

This attachment of women to regular Corps, as well as increasing recognition in society of women's equal role to men, led to the Army Board's decision that women were permanently to be integrated into the Regular Army and, in October 1990, those WRAC officers permanently employed with other Corps were actually transferred to these Corps. The servicewomen also employed by them followed one year later.

In December 1990 the Army Board announced the formation of the Adjutant General's Corps. This Corps formed on 6 April 1992 through the amalgamation of the Royal Army Pay Corps, Royal Army Educational Corps, Royal Military Police, Staff Clerks and the remainder of the WRAC.