Collections research volunteer Sue Roberts explores the prominent roles of women in Cornish farming and how they are evidenced in the museum’s collection.

The majority of photographs held at the Museum of Cornish Life showing farming activities reveal men, but who provides their support and performed critical skilled tasks on the farm, from farm business administration, supplying ‘croust’, washing their clothes, feeding the animals, making the butter and cream, and taking produce to market?  The womenfolk of course – mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, aunts, friends, and in wartime the Land Army girls, who milked cows, planted potatoes and seeds and drove tractors or horses for ploughing and harvested their efforts at the end of the season. We have artefacts telling the story of local women as well as the Women’s Land Army workers. The Dairy section in the Meat Market shows the varied equipment used throughout the years by women as well as men.

Taking a closer look at our farming collections, from certificates, badges, memories and newspaper cuttings, as well as photographs showing women working in the daffodil season, or showing livestock at Helston Fatstock Show and Royal Cornwall Show, as well as oral histories talking about their lives in farming, women are prominent throughout the Cornish farming year.

Women’s Land Army

We have evidence with artefacts and commentary, from two young Land Army girls who worked in Cornwall, one of whom, Micky Bowman, came from Yorkshire. She tells of how she needed to look up the location of Penzance on a map as she and her family had no idea where it was. She sounded a cheerful person who wanted to ‘do her bit’ any way she could and ended up being the driver of other Land Army colleagues from Ponsandane Hostel near Penzance. Bessie Teague was a local girl, born in Hayle in 1922. She worked locally until 1949 on her posting and married a local boy. She earned certificates for Proficiency in Milking and Dairy work. We also have her wedding dress and veil when she became Mrs Bessie Smith.  An article written for the Western Morning News about her was published in 1998. Many of the women and girls stayed on after the war to help farmers get their farming lives back on track and some married into Cornish farming families.

The Women’s Institute

The Women’s Institute was also very involved in farming throughout the wars up to the mid-20^th century, including activities which used the existing skills of country women and were a lifeline to those who spent their days, and sometimes nights too, working to feed their families and keep up morale. Once again that working together spirit and finding support among other like-minded women helped. Their membership badge quotes ‘For Home and Country’, and they organised and were prominent during the war years on the ‘Home Front’, also publishing some recipe books to help with rationing. In the Garras W. I. Scrapbook compiled for their Jubilee in 1965 there were a few interesting insights into the state of Cornish farming, such as “most farms are mixed, dairy and arable and beef production, and about 50-100 acres in size. The Agricultural Wages Act of 1948 specified weekly rates of pay to be Men: (45hrs), 15-20 and over 93-202 shillings; while women over the same age range were paid between 83 and 151 shillings.” Another quote was regarding harvesting in wet weather: “July 1965 with the very wet weather farmers have great difficulty in saving the hay harvest;” and August 1965: “Farmers have started the second half of the month to save the corn harvest, using combines in most cases.”  This is an age-old problem and all hands including the women, would have been roped in to help gather as much as possible and then to continue to dry it out before storing for winter.

Girl Guides on farms

The Girl Guide movement was also encouraged to give help in feeding the nation in this way and up until the 1960s and 1970s had Interest badges to work for, covering many aspects of farming life, such as: Beekeeper, Dairymaid, Farmer, Poultry Farmer and Rabbit Keeper. The Dairymaid syllabus covered all aspects from how the equipment worked, every aspect of the process from feeding, hygiene, treating the milk, and have written records of their work. For the Farming badge covered drilling or planting, harvesting, hay making and silage as well as working in the milking parlour. Also looking after animals, having some knowledge of at least two breeds, and knowing about the different types of farming in their district and the types of machinery used – quite in depth for young girls, though if from farming families they would have known much already. Poultry Farmer and Rabbit Keeper covered similar depth of knowledge, and of course evidence would be needed to show their knowledge of good husbandry. Today at Royal Cornwall Show, Cornwall’s Girl Guides and Rangers provide the event’s Messenger Service which helps communication between exhibitors and organisers, including the competitions.

Keeping Cornish farming going

For the farm, life went on, with the added difficulty of finding workers when their employees left to fight overseas. Although farming was an exempted occupation, many men wanted to contribute directly to the war effort, and left many farmers struggling. The Women’s Land Army filled that need, though many farms were reluctant to have them at first. Miss Dee, the local representative for the Board of Trade during the First World War, said she had met many women disheartened as their help was not being used in the Cornish scheme for the instruction of war work including milking and dairying. One quote from the book ‘Digging for Memories’ told a different story: “The main thing I remember from the Land Army during the Second World War was the way it gave me a whole new outlook on life.”

My mother was one of those hardy breeds of women and had many tales to tell of her time on the farm, especially important for me as the village she worked in was where she met my dad. Many of the ladies who came to Cornwall married local lads and stayed even though, in some cases, this life in Cornwall was quite different to their experiences before. Most took to the hard work and early rising, with the long hours spent doing heavy jobs.  The camaraderie and fun to be had when they were not working seemed to make up for the tough life they led.

We have recorded stories of women who grew up on farms and married into farming families, telling us about the shared memories of farm vehicles at harvest being worked around The Lizard and of the women helping by making croust for the workers at whatever farm they were at.  There were many farms in this area and so a never-ending task throughout the seasons. Farming is a vocation, a way of life, and anyone who enters into this life needs to be strong and passionate. In the days before the war, there was little machinery and only horses to pull what there was, women supported their menfolk in so many ways, as we have seen.  Today lives may be a little easier, thanks to machinery, but other problems arise and early starts combined with long days, still continue to make the task hard work. It is essential that folk both male and female, are willing to work the land, and we salute all of them continuing to celebrate the hard work of all, but especially women, in the artefacts and collections we display and enjoy in the Museum of Cornish Life.

Further reading

Digging for Memories, The Hypatia Trust (2000).

Documents and articles in our reference collection

Garras W.I. Scrapbook, Garras W.I. (1965).

Girl Guide Handbook, Girl Guiding UK (1968).