January 1943 and it’s all about poultry

Saturday 22^nd June, I decide to spend the morning at the record office and then the afternoon trying to organise some of my notes and material.  

I want to follow up on the coroner’s inquest record and see if the event in question was reported in the East Anglian.   I spend the morning searching and can’t find anything.  

The overriding theme of January 1943 is about poultry and applications for poultry farms, there is also a story about egg rationing and how those with a chicken were told to destroy eggs over one per person. 

It is becoming clear to me that I need to organise the mass of paper that I have, it seems a lot but somehow I don’t think it will amount to very much.  So this is my next priority before going any further.  

West Suffolk Agricultural Committee Minutes and a pack to collect

I have had a couple of weeks break and feel that I have lost track slightly.  I have my project pack to pick up, it contains a copy of Nicola Tyrer’s book ‘They fought in the fields’ a USB with a number of files on it, including the Suffolk Review article and a pass to enable copying and printing.

My aim during this visit is to take a look at the West Suffolk Agricultural Committee Minutes and see if they hold any information. 

I systematically work through but am unable to find anything specific.   What is clear is the overarching power that the War Agricultural committees wielded over the regional Agricultural commitees – it isn’t said but you can feel it.

What is nice about the West Suffolk Agricultural minutes is that they are typed rather than handwritten, they could obviously afford a typewriter over in Bury! 

Once again I get used to the structure of the meetings, it is interesting to note that the W.I had a standing agenda item where they document how many demonstrations and talks they have given.  

After lunch it is back to the newspapers, being able to print out helps and I actually come across a photo, of note is that the man overseeing the girls is named but not the girls themselves!  A reflection of the time.   

Outside the WLA bits is a story reported Friday 10^th July 1942 about a butcher in Saxmundham being fined £30 for making up weight of orders with ‘wrong bones" in other words adding additional weight to an order by using bones from a different type of meat, the deputy meat inspector from Lowestoft had been called and found three joints which ‘had bones on them which had no relation to the joint’.  Why do I think this is the kind of thing that would happen today.

After finishing with the East Anglian for the day I ask the archivist on the help desk about an inquest record that says it can’t be viewed because it is in a closed file for 75 years.  We work out that we are just over the 75 years – so it is brought down for me.   Reading it brings a sad end to the day.

Rat’s tails

The following Saturday I head out to the record office again, this time checking I have water bottle, teabags and food before I leave.   

My intention during this visit is to look at the Rural District Council minutes for Gipping.   The volumes when they arrive are huge and also handwritten, initially the handwriting is difficult to read, then there is a change in staff and the handwriting changes becoming so much easier. 

I soon become used to the pattern of the minutes and structure of the meetings which on the whole follow are the same at each meeting, as a result scanning through gets faster.    

I get side tracked, this time by the destruction of rats.  A letter from East Suffolk Agricultural Committee dated 18^th January 1940 asks for co-operation from the committee in the destruction of rats, a campaign was set in motion and 2,102 rats destroyed.

Later in the year at the meeting on 27^th September East Suffolk Agricultural Committee stress the desirability of tails being submitted for payment rather than whole carcases.    It is a fascinating snapshot into the time. 

I find one snippet of information relating to the WLA.

After lunch it is back to the East Anglian.   This time I jump into 1943 – there was quite a bit going on at the time so make some notes.

There is also a brief report on someone making rabbit hutches that are never delivered and a rather disturbing story about the discovery of mummified baby remains wrapped in brown paper, tied up with string and found on top of a wardrobe in a house in Ipswich. 

Visit number one

I’m not really quite sure what to expect on my first visit, but on getting to the Record Office I bump into a friend and former colleague who is doing research into Garrett’s of Leiston.  She is here to take some photographs of material relevant to her research.

Not knowing where to start or how anything works she helpfully runs through using the catalogue with me.   I note down various references that could be useful.   I locate the article in Suffolk Review and make some notes.   There are lots of leads – farms and names that could be followed up.   I also note that the author interviewed various Land Girls, I wonder if these tapes still exist, or indeed are the women still alive.   

After a break I decide to take a look at the East Anglian Daily Times on Microfiche.    I seek some help setting up the machine, and once the screen is at the right size start to work through the paper.   

I start in the 1940s, it’s all very early stages of the war, very much about derelict land and shortage of labour.   I get very sidetracked by general news of the time, trolley-cars seem particularly hazardous with many accidents being reported.  

I leave having found little but with more leads and ideas. 

I note to myself that if I am going to stay any length of time (ie. The whole day) I need to bring food, water and teabags.

First steps

I am aware that I know practically nothing about the Second World War, the Home Front or the Women’s Land Army, this is all new territory for me.   What I do know has probably come from films or the odd documentary that I have watched.  So where to start?   

We have been told that there is free access online to a publication from the time called the Land Girl, it was written for and by the WLA, so I take a look at this, making notes as I go along.   Some names soon start to repeat so are worth following up, I make a note of them, and there is also the county employment returns showing how many women were employed.   I also note there are interesting articles about uniforms!

I also decide to see if any of the databases that I am lucky to have access through my day job throw anything up, firstly I search JSTOR for journal articles and then Bibliography of British and Irish History to get a feel for what has been published.    The JSTOR search brings back a useful article by Brian Short,  Short, B. (2007) ‘War in the Fields and Villages: The County War Agricultural Committees in England, 1939-45’,  Rural History. Vol 18 (2) pp. 217-244.   This gives me something to start with around the structure of War Ag Committees and also WLA representation on them.   It starts the process of feeding my brain, even if the topic is a bit on the dry side!

I also find a couple of useful references in the Bibliography of British and Irish History, both to articles in Suffolk Review, Wyer, H. (2008) ‘Suffolk Agriculture in the Second World War’ Suffolk Review 50 (Spring) pp.2-22.  And most excitingly Burrows, L. (2004) ‘The Women’s Land Army in East Anglia 1939-50’ Suffolk Review 43 (Autumn).   A quick check of record office holdings shows that they have the 2004 article, while we at UOS have the 2008 article.   My plan for my first visit to the  record office is to find the article and see if I can find out anything connected to the names I have found.

How did I get here?

Let’s start at the very beginning, I came to the project back in about March time when I met with the volunteer co-ordinator for SRO in Endeavour House in Ipswich, along with a friend I was interested in doing voluntary work, we were told about some of the opportunities that were available and later emailed details.   Two projects stood out, the Women’s Land Army in Suffolk and also the Heritage High Street project set in Aldeburgh.  I selected the WLA as the project was about to kick off.

A group meeting for volunteers on the project was held where we met Nicky and Vicky who are leading the project and were told a bit about the project, what it aims to achieve, and the timescales involved.   We also heard about the initial research that they had been doing looking at and photographing WLA service records held at Duxford, these cards hold very little information – name, home address, age, occupation on joining and reason for leaving, they don’t give any information about where the individual worked.

After the meeting we scatter out into the region tasked with finding out what we can.