Overview

The Great Western Railway struggled with what was called 'the women question' for many years. It had heartily agreed with The Railway Sheet and Official Gazette that 'the first aim of women's existence is marriage, that accomplished, the next is ordering her home'. Yet women were the cheapest form of labour, apart from young girls, presenting the company with a dilemma and the GWR finally succumbed to allowing women to work after heavy external pressures. Using over 100 pictures, Swindon author Rosa Matheson traces the development of this problematic relationship, from its beginnings in the 1870s when women were employed as sewers and netters at Swindon Works, through the changes wrought by the two world wars and the entry of women into railway offices - fiercely opposed by the company and by the unions and many men who resented sharing the lowly paid but prestigious title of 'clerk' with women. The book also uses many original documents and forms as well as written and oral testimonies providing first-hand insights into the women's experiences.

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9780752444192

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Dr Rosa Matheson is Swindon’s best-known railway author. A long-time enthusiast of Swindon Works, GWR and women’s railway history, she has a large collection of memorabilia, has written a number of books and articles, and is active in presenting talks to the community. She has previously written Death, Dynamite and Disaster: A Grisly Railway History, Terror in the Tunnels, The GWR Story, Apprenticeship and Training in GWR’s Swindon Works, TRIP: The Annual Holiday for GWR’s Swindon Works, and The Fair Sex: Women and the GWR for The History Press.

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