Laura Mildred Greenwood was born on the 27th August 1895 on her parent’s farm in Morley St Peter, the fifth daughter (and sixth child at that time) of Matthew Bennett Greenwood and Rhoda Ann (nee Whiterod). The couple had four more children whilst they were living in Morley and the family played a prominent part in village life during their time there – including Matthew being appointed as a parish overseer and a Guardian for the Wicklewood Union. All ten children would survive to adulthood.
Whilst at the local school, Laura (aged nine) took a leading part in a fundraising concert – which was reported in the EDP, February 1905. She recited (from memory) a favourite narrative poem of Queen Victoria’s – Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight – although it was the more familiar nursery rhyme Lucy Locket and her Pocket for which she received an encore!
The Greenwood’s farming business continued to expand when they moved to Hill Farm, East Harling in 1908 and large sales at livestock markets, especially of sheep, lambs and fleeces appeared regularly in local newspapers. They also worked Lime Kiln Farm in the village.
Glimpses of local life which included the family (and reported in the EDP) reflect the social hierarchy of the Edwardian period and make fascinating reading. The Greenwoods were tenants of the Quidenham Estate and the Keppel family – the Earls of Albermarle – who lived in the grand mansion nearby.
The Keppels were at the heart of Royal circles and were frequently visited by Edward VII and his entourage who came to their shooting parties (which often included the Earl’s sister-in-law, Mrs Alice Keppel, who is now known to have been the king’s mistress for the last decade of his life).
In 1909, Matthew, Rhoda, and their older daughters (but not son!) – together with twenty other tenant families – were invited to the imposing Quidenham Hall by Lord and Lady Albermarle for a special ‘At Home’ celebration to greet their son, Lord Bury, and his bride on their return from honeymoon. The marriage, which had taken place in London that summer, had been a grand society affair and it isn’t hard to imagine the five Greenwood girls’ excitement when the invitation arrived.
Laura was 14, and she was clearly bright. After leaving Morley, she attended Diss Secondary School when it opened in 1909 – one of only 43 pupils. Most children during this period were educated in just one (elementary) school until the age of 12 when they left either to work on local farms or ‘in service’ (especially girls). Laura was fortunate that her parents had the means to support her through another three years of education – and she had the determination to do so.
At Diss school’s prizegiving ceremony for 1910 – an impressive affair with the eminent local author, Henry Rider Haggard as guest of honour – the headmaster (Mr J. A. Harrison) was keen to demonstrate how these new secondary schools were developing.
Diss was a mixed school – encouraging girls as well as boys into higher education; pupil numbers at the school had risen to 70 in its second year and hot meals were provided for all pupils – an innovation as many of students came from the surrounding rural area and therefore could not get home at lunchtime. Mr Harrison had much praise for his teachers who were highly skilled and committed to their pupils – many of whom had gained good examination results and were going into professions such as the Civil Service and the Post Office. He felt the future looked very bright indeed – not that he could have foreseen events that were to unfold in Europe only a few years into the future.
In 1910, Laura, at 15, was in her last year at school. She had been awarded the school English prize at the annual leaving ceremony – what would she do now?
Women were still viewed as second class citizens during the early years of the 20th century – regardless of social class – and were denied the parliamentary vote. They were expected to become full-time wives and mothers rather than earn their own living.
Laura came from a prosperous farming family, but did she have any more options than the poorer, working-class village girls who often left school at 13 and then went into domestic service before marrying?
On the 1911 census, a few months after leaving school, Laura was living at home with her parents at Hill Farm in East Harling. The Greenwood family played a very active part in village life. Her father was a member of the Parish Council, and he gave the annual prizes (sets of carvers) for the popular local bowls tournament (East Harling still has a fine bowling green and an active bowls club) and later, he gave substantial subscriptions to the British Red Cross Farmers Fund.
At the outbreak of the First World War, Laura was about to turn 19 and this, as for millions of women, gave her the opportunity to experience a different kind of life.
Presumably with financial support from her parents, Laura went to Underwood’s Commercial School in Norwich to learn shorthand typing and then, suitably qualified, found employment in the offices of Colman’s of Norwich. Colman’s at the time employed around 2,500 people at their Carrow Road works in the city. This was in early 1916 and Laura’s parents had only recently moved from Hill Farm in East Harling to The Ashes, Carleton Rode – and the country was also in the midst of the First World War.
Whilst working for Colman’s, Laura lodged in Avenue Road, Norwich. She was paid 30 shillings a week as a shorthand typist and general clerk – which was considerably better than a farm labourer’s weekly wage of between 15 and 20 shillings – but lower than her male counterpart. In fact, it wasn’t until the war years that Colman’s were forced to employ women in their offices, and by 1918 Laura was one of the fifty seven women and girls classed as clerical staff.
Colman’s were already known for their pioneering welfare schemes for employees and their families – and during the First World War, the company guaranteed the jobs of all men who volunteered, plus it paid their families a small weekly wage (in addition to their wages from the military); five shillings each week, plus an extra shilling per child. Over 900 men fought – and as a result, more women had to be employed by them than ever before.
For further reading see the excellent booklet, Colman’s Connections:The War Years 1914-1918 published by the Norwich Heritage Economic and Regeneration Trust in 2015.
Laura, during the two years that she was living and working in Norwich, and probably spending her weekends with her parents in Carleton Rode, couldn’t fail to have seen (and read about) the growing need to engage more unmarried women in supporting the war effort, both at home and abroad.
EASTERN DAILY PRESS, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4th, 1917
WOMEN’S ARMY AUXILIARY CORPS
TEN THOUSAND WOMEN WANTED
PROGRESS OF THE LOCAL RESPONSE
All such women as have not yet been drawn into some form of essential national service will do well to heed the appeal now being made on behalf of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. Sir Auckland Geddes, in his Nottingham speech, has put it on a basis of the utmost urgency. The patriotic motive will, of course, count for something in the spirit of every right-minded woman; but even where that may be absent the consideration will surely weigh that the corps offers chances of training and renumeration undreamed of in the aforetime days of peace.
It used to be complained that women were over-driven and shamefully exploited in a glutted labour market. And now, so long as the war shall last, and perhaps for some months longer, their labour value will be steadily appreciating. The time has come when the labour of men, whether at home or abroad, must be economised to the last ounce. The still unused reserve of female service appears to be the only remaining factor by which that can be done.
Certain categories of women who are employed in munition work and other forms of duty held to be indispensable, can only be released by express permission. It is believed, however, that there still remains a reservoir of capable woman labour not yet drawn into any kind of national service – women of the middle classes especially, who have not yet heard the country’s call, and women also of the lower working classes, at present employed in services that could he dispensed with. It is hoped from these sources to recruit as many as ten thousand within the next few months and to the bulk of them not later than Christmas.
The schedules of employment proffered are to be seen at the Labour Exchanges. it comes under the categories of clerks, cooks, waitresses, driver mechanics, storehouse women, telephone and postal servants, technicians working for the Flight services, and others far too numerous to mention. In the literature of the movement, to be had on application, there are abundant details of pay, uniform, board, lodging, and so forth. Of course, a choice is given as to whether a candidate shall serve at home only or abroad. In the former case she must not be less than eighteen; in the latter not less than twenty.
The prospect appears to us to be exhilarating in the extreme from the point of view of capable, healthy, adaptable women who have been complaining hitherto that society offers them no remunerative scope for their energies. We rejoice to know that so far, after about three weeks that is to say, the Norwich District has been responding excellently. We hear that the same thing is true of the exchanges at Lynn, Yarmouth, and Lowestoft. Of course, it will be understood that to make application is not necessarily to be appointed, and that, therefore, no woman should throw up her present employment in a fit of over-confidence.
The application form, when filled up, should be returned to the Employment Exchange, whence it will be forwarded to the proper quarter. In the meantime, the aspirant is advised to hold her hand. When any vacancy occurs in the corps for which her qualifications make her apparently suitable, she will he interviewed by a Selection Board and seen by a woman doctor. There is reason to believe that a Selection Board will shortly appear at Norwich.
A further report appeared in the EDP in late Nov 1917:
We learn that the recruiting of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps is going on very satisfactorily in the Norwich area.
The first sitting of a Selection Board, with the accompanying medical inspection, took place lately at the Employment Exchange; the deliberative body comprising two lady doctors and two Selection Board members, with four W.A.A.C. clerks. The doctors had the assistance of eight V.A.D. nurses belonging to this locality, whose attendance was arranged for by Mrs. Fox.
Some 70 candidates presented themselves, and a very high proportion were selected for service. About half of the members chosen will be allotted to duty overseas. Another Board will be held as soon as there is a sufficient list of applicants in hand. The appeal is still being made urgently for women eligible for this attractive branch of the service. There is, as we have already shown, a wide range of duties offering a wide choice of good employment, and a fascinating experience. For home service no one is eligible under 18. For foreign service a candidate must be two years older.
There were adverts in all the newspapers and campaigning rallies in the towns and cities – including these reports from Norwich.
Laura’s older brother, Herbert, having survived the Gallipoli campaign in 1915, was serving with the Machine Gun Corps in Egypt. Laura had been living an independent life; no doubt she wanted to do her bit.
Laura applied to join the Women’s Army Auxillary Corps (WAAC) in April, 1918. She volunteered her clerical skills as a shorthand typist and her aptitude for ‘figures’ – and for service at home or abroad.
The application forms required the names of several references, and these testimonials were subsequently received at the Labour Exchange. They were from the Rector of East Harling who had known her for many years, the Head Mistress of Diss Secondary School, the Manager of the Underwood’s Commercial School, and the office manager of J & J Colman’s ‘Manufacturers of Mustard and Starch’ (full title always given!)
Her references were exemplary, and she was enrolled on the 27th May – by which time the corps had received royal patronage and had been renamed the Queen Mary’s Army Auxillary Corps (QMAAC). Laura was issued with her uniform three days later and sent to the hostel, the Connaught Club, in London for training, and from where she would be deployed.
She was attached to the 3rd Battalion of the Irish Guards stationed at Warley in Essex where she was sent briefly but for the next year was mostly based in Holland Park in London. More than 57,000 women had served with the QMAAC when it disbanded in 1921 but for Laura her time ended earlier. In June 1919, her mother wrote to the corps asking for Laura’s release as she was ‘wanted at home’ to help nurse her very sick father (Matthew Bennett Greenwood died less than a month later).
So, what happened to Laura after her return to The Ashes?
We know that on the 1921 census, she and her older sister, Florence (born in 1886), had moved to North Norfolk and were living and working at the West Parade Hotel overlooking the sea in Cromer.
This was during the heyday of resorts like Cromer and the aerial photograph reproduced below shows the West Parade Hotel and Grand Hotel on the cliffs above the sea front. The Grand was destroyed by fire in the late 1960s and the West Parade became the Anglia Court hotel and was subsequently converted into residential accommodation, but you can still experience a stay in a similar establishment – the somewhat faded glamour of the Hotel de Paris.
In the 1920s, the country’s population was coming to terms with life after the Great War and adverts in the EDP give an insight into what entertainments were on offer for locals, day trippers, and holidaymakers who began to come in increasing numbers by train and charabanc: the newly remodelled pier with its pavilion and seaside attractions as well as the Royal Links Golf Club for wealthier visitors. The Royal Links hotel is now demolished but the hotel and the nearby Cromer Hall were reputedly one of the inspirations for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s story, ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ (drawing on the local legend of Black Shuck) after his stay there in 1901.
Florence was a manager at the West Parade Hotel and Laura was the hotel secretary and receptionist. Laura could well have been ‘front of house’ in the Hotel Bureau – we would probably call it Hotel Reception today – and of course she had all the clerical and administrative skills necessary to run a busy hotel.
The West Parade was next door to the Grand Hotel and residents could take advantage of the Grand’s ‘superior entertainments’. In July 1921, the hotel advertised its after-dinner dances, every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, under the guidance of ‘Miss Belle Harding of London and Paris’, who also gave private tuition to adults and children. Afternoon tea dances were also very popular and Miss Harding, who travelled to resorts around the country during the 1920s, would demonstrate ‘the very latest ballroom dances – the Tango, the new Quick Foxtrot, the Apache dance, the Lazy dance – and the Eccentric number’. Sounds marvellous! Dinner dances were 5 shillings, tea dances were 2/6 (two shillings and sixpence) and a shilling if you just wanted ‘tea only’.
Laura and Florence continued to live in Cromer during the 1920s and 30s, although they were also on the electoral rolls for The Ashes in Carleton Rode at the same time. They lived first on West Parade in the hotel, but in the 1930s moved to a house on Cliff Drive in the town where in 1936 they place the following advertisement:
WANTED, experienced GENERAL MAID, to undertake all duties for two ladies, uniform and good reference essential: wages £50 per annum to suitable person – Apply, Miss Greenwood, Woodland, Cliff Drive, Cromer.
Clearly, Laura and Florence had become women of independent means.
While Florence returned to Carleton Rode permanently in the next few years (she is recorded at The Ashes on the 1939 Register as a retired hotel manager), Laura moved to live with a family in nearby Cliff Avenue, Cromer, and continued to work as a hotel secretary.
We have very few clues as to what happened to her after this time. We know from a 1954 newspaper report that Laura was the ‘manageress’ of the St Edmund’s Hotel in Bury St Edmunds when she was called to give evidence about the accidental death of a hotel resident.
Laura became ill only two years after that and she died, aged just 61, in a nursing home in February 1957 (her official address was still the family home at The Ashes in Carleton Rode where her siblings Florence and Walter continued to farm). Although Laura was cremated, her ashes were interred in the grave of her parents, and she is recorded on their headstone in the village cemetery.
Walter’s descendants still farm at The Ashes and new information about the lives of Laura and her siblings may surface yet.
Postscript – we have just received a copy of a fascinating newspaper interview with the 85-year-old Florence Greenwood published in July 1971, containing more information about her life and that of the wider family. We will post a transcription of the article in due course.