'The Outward and Visible Sign of Her Patriotism': Women, Uniforms, and National Service During the First World War

Grayzel, Susan R.

doi:10.1093/tcbh/8.2.145

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…There is no doubt that the 'wearing of khaki' in the First World War became an unambiguous emblem of patriotism but this not only represented images of (masculine) heroism but also a strong commitment to the national cause and the fulfilment of civic duties. 161 Outside wartime this relationship did not exist and there is little evidence to suggest that the wider public interpreted the legion's colourful uniforms as a sign of its patriotism, probably explaining why newspaper coverage preferred to focus on its 'cowboy' image.…”

Section: Kipling's Admiring Verses Frommentioning

confidence: 99%

‘The eyes of an empire’: the Legion of Frontiersmen, 1904-14*

Humphries

2011

Historical Research

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The Legion of Frontiersmen, founded in 1904 by a quixotic writer and adventurer, Roger Pocock, attempted to create a paramilitary force that would serve the empire both as an irregular scouting force in time of war and as an intelligence network through its 'frontier' connections. Although the organization's global membership reached 10,000 by the beginning of the First World War the legion's requests for official recognition were consistently rebuffed and the picturesque nature of its uniforms often caused public mockery. Nevertheless, a study of these 'super patriots' provides new perspectives on several important cultural and political themes in Britain and the empire in the early twentieth century, including the significance of the 'frontier' in imperial discourse. It also questions several assumptions about the supposed 'militarization' of Edwardian society.

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Section: Kipling's Admiring Verses Frommentioning

confidence: 99%

‘The eyes of an empire’: the Legion of Frontiersmen, 1904-14*

Humphries

2011

Historical Research

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“…14 Women's uniforms clearly expressed a symbolic claim to full citizenship. 15 Uniformed war service provided women with a moral claim to suffrage that was recognized through much of the Western world after the war. 16 Organized women's suffrage movements were crucial, but not enough.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cutting a New Pattern: Uniforms and Women's Mobilization for War 1854–1919

Hacker

Vining

2010

Textile History

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“…As an extension of this argument, Susan Grayzel points out the symbolic importance of the khaki colour worn by women in military services (and indeed by Sinclair and her fellow corps-member Elsie Knocker, who vibrantly documents her experience of wearing the uniform) as "the wearing of khaki was linked to heroism, patriotic participation in the war, and military avenues for male national service." 34 In writing about these women, Sandra Gilbert describes the "delight" and the "glamourously dramatic rather than a gloomily dangerous counterpoint to adventure." 35 May Sinclair has, at several times by later critics, been called "greedy" for her desire for military action.…”

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confidence: 99%

‘The lure of war’: reconsidering the motivations of nurses to volunteer in the First World War

Bonnerjee¹

2019

Women's History Review

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This article argues that the motivations for British women to volunteer for the First World War was more nuanced and complicated than the formulaic binaries of patriotism versus pacifism. It reads the war-time memoirs of two women in military medical care, May Sinclair's A Journal of Impressions in Belgium and Olive Dent's A Volunteer Nurse on the Western Front to demonstrate how understanding of gender roles and nationalist affiliations rendered complexity to the reasons why certain women volunteered for war-work. These two women volunteered very early in the war and published their life-writing during the war (1915 and 1917 respectively). Consequently, they did not have the advantage of hindsight, and their writings were very much the product of the immediate pressures of the war environment. By reading the memoirs of these women and unpacking their overt motives to volunteer, this article reveals the nuances in the reasons women volunteered to engage in military medical work during the First World War. Bio: Samraghni Bonnerjee is a Research Associate in the AHRC-funded project 'Literature, Psychoanalysis and the Death Penalty 1900-1950', at the University of Sheffield. Formerly, she was a Vice-Chancellor's Scholar at the University of Sheffield, where she read for a PhD in English Literature. Her peer-reviewed journal articles have been published (or are forthcoming) in Australian Journal of Politics and History, Studies in Travel Writing, and Endeavour; and her book chapters have been published in edited collections by Palgrave Macmillan and University of North Georgia Press.She is a Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA).

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'The Outward and Visible Sign of Her Patriotism': Women, Uniforms, and National Service During the First World War

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

‘The eyes of an empire’: the Legion of Frontiersmen, 1904-14*

‘The eyes of an empire’: the Legion of Frontiersmen, 1904-14*

Cutting a New Pattern: Uniforms and Women's Mobilization for War 1854–1919

‘The lure of war’: reconsidering the motivations of nurses to volunteer in the First World War

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