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Showing posts from April, 2017

Women's Royal Naval Service WRNS #history

Following on from an earlier post ,  I've been looking on YouTube for some material on the history of the WRNS. This film clip is from 1918  and shows an inspection of the WRNS by Commander Sir R. William Buleley, Bart,. C.B., R.N.R. The film is remarkably clear and you can see the uniforms really well. Sir William barely looks at the WRNS as he walks past but they don't seem to care. The WRNS was founded in 1917  and by 1919 there were 7,000  Wrens including Cooks and Stewards, Despatch Riders, Sail Makers and those in Intelligence. Tellingly, their motto was ‘Never at Sea’. At the start of WW2, 3,000 women were recruited for the WRNS into the same roles as before and also in new roles such as Radio Operators, Meteorologists, Bomb Range Markers together with sea-going  Cypher Officers, Coders and Boat’s Crew Wrens. By 1944 there were 74,000 WRNS Officers and ratings. This time their motto was ‘Free a Man for the Fleet’. This is another nice clip.  It shows