The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), known as Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps (QMAAC) from 9 April 1918, was the women's

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was formally introduced March 1, 1800, when Napoleon ordered Gener ...

of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

during and immediately after the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. It was established in February 1917 and disbanded on 27 September 1921.

History

Propaganda Posters of the First World War Q68242

The corps was formed following a January 1917

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

recommendation that women should be employed in non-combatant roles in the British Army in France. While recruiting began in March 1917, the corps was only formally instituted on 7 July 1917 by Lieutenant-General Sir Nevil Macready, the adjutant-general, who appointed Dr Mona Chalmers Watson the first chief controller. More than 57,000 women served between January 1917 and November 1918. The corps was established to free up men from administrative tasks for service at the front. It was divided into four sections including cookery, mechanical and clerical.Kerry, Philip. ''Forewoman Violet Ross, Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps''. Orders & Medals Research Society Journal, Vol 51, No 4, December 2012, pp 247-248. Nursing services were administered separately, although an auxiliary corps of the

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) was a specialist corps in the British Army which provided medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. On 15 November 2024, the corps was amalgamated with the Royal Army De ...

was set up to provide medical services for the QMAAC. On 31 March 1917, women in the WAAC were first sent to the

theatre of war In warfare, a theater or theatre is an area in which important military events occur or are in progress. A theater can include the entirety of the airspace, land, and sea area that is—or that may potentially become—involved in war operations ...

in France, at that stage just fourteen cooks and waitresses.

Helen Gwynne-Vaughan Dame Helen Charlotte Isabella Gwynne-Vaughan, (née Fraser; 21 January 1879 – 26 August 1967) was a prominent English botanist and mycologist. During the First World War, she served in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps and then as Commandant ...

was the chief controller overseas, and Florence Leach was the controller of the cooks. In 1918, women doctors (attached to the QMAAC) were first posted to France. One such was Dr Phoebe Chapple, who was awarded the

Military Medal The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the British Armed Forces, armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, below commissioned o ...

for tending the wounded regardless of her own safety during an air raid on an WAAC camp near

Abbeville Abbeville (; ; ) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is the of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital of Ponthieu. Geography Location A ...

in May 1918. In all, five military medals were awarded to members of the QMAAC, all for brave conduct during air raids or shelling in rear areas. Seventeen women were also deployed as "

Hush WAACs The Hush WAACs were a group of seventeen British women who worked on the front line as codebreakers in France during World War One. After the war, two would go on to work on diplomatic codebreaking for MI1b. Although women were already working as ...

" with the military intelligence codebreaking team in France. A total of 17,000 members of the corps served overseas, although never more than 9,000 at one time. In April 1918, nearly 10,000 members employed on

Royal Flying Corps The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...

air stations, both at home and in France, transferred to the

Women's Royal Air Force The Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF) was the women's branch of the Royal Air Force. It existed in two separate incarnations: the Women's Royal Air Force from 1918 to 1920 and the Women's Royal Air Force from 1949 to 1994. On 1 February 1949, the ...

on the formation of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

. Demobilisation commenced after the Armistice in November 1918, and the corps was disbanded on 27 September 1921. The last surviving QMAAC veteran was

Ivy Campany Ivy Lillian Campany (23 September 1901 – 19 December 2008) was, at the age of 107, the penultimate World War I female military veteran of any country. The last was Florence Green (1901–2012), who was not identified as a veteran of the conf ...

, who died in 2008.

Ranks and rank insignia

Instead of standard military ranks, a specific grading system was authorised by Army Council Instruction No. 1069, 1917. All insignia was worn on epaulettes except that for forewoman and assistant forewoman, which was worn on the right upper arm.

List of controllers

;Chief controllers * Dr Mona Chalmers Watson (February 1917 to 1918) *

Hilda Horniblow Emilie Hilda Dalton, (née Horniblow; 1886–1950) was an English army officer and teacher. She served as chief controller of Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps. Biography Emilie Hilda Horniblow was born on 24 June 1886 in Charlbury, Oxfordshire ...

(Chief Controller in France in 1917, and in England from July 1918 succeeding Mrs Long. * Dame Florence Leach (1918 to 1920) (from 1917 Controller-in-Chief) ;Controllers *

; Controller, later Commandant of the

Records

Most of the service records were destroyed in a German air raid in September 1940. Those which did have suffered fire and water and mould damage.

The National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

digitised these to prevent further damage and they can be searched and viewed online.Women's (later Queen Mary's) Army Auxiliary Corps (1917–1920) – DocumentsOnline research guide
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References

External links