Sheena Patterson of Oxford Garden Design takes a look at how food crisis was averted

An army marches on its stomach” is one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s more famous quotations and throughout history shortage of food, has been used as an effective weapon of war.

The First World War was no exception – keeping the Tommies fed was a huge logistical operation, supported by agriculture at home.

Prior to the outbreak of war in 1914 at least 50 per cent of food was imported, but by 1915 Germany’s best chance of victory lay in starving the British Isles into surrender through a naval blockade.

The country had to become more self-sufficient in food. Every scrap of land available was used to support the war effort and gardening to maximum productivity became a war-time necessity as it became essential that for food be produced domestically.

Unsurprisingly, a wave of “allotmentitis” swept the country and model plots were set up in various places to teach people how to garden. Some incredibly unpromising land was cultivated, and even railway land was used. The park pansies and marigolds, so beloved by the Victorians, were cleared away for more practical potatoes and sprouts. Every inch of land in Oxford would have been used to support the war effort.

By January 1915 over 100,000 British men who had worked on the land had left and gone to war. As a result, farmers were finding it hard to carry out their seasonal work; this coupled with the successful German U-boat strategy led to a desperate shortage of food in Britain.

Some letters recently uncovered by Margaret Bonfiglioli in Oxford (Full of Hope and Fear, The Great War Letters of an Oxford Family, edited by Margaret Bonfiglioli and James Munson, OUP) give an insight into the plight of civilians at this time.

Her grandmother, Violet Slater, raised three boys in Park Town and in one letter to her husband writes about a shopping trip with her home help. “Edna and I went down last Saturday – I cycled down and got to the Maypole at ten to eight – already there were about 100 people. Edna, who walked, got much further back. We got a pound of margarine each and that, with suet, will last about a week. Outside, the street was almost full - Liptons on one side and Maypole on the other. Women carrying babies and a long line outside on the road of prams with small children – it was really pathetic as I expect, in the end, some would get nothing – they were eight abreast.”

To help solve the food crisis, the Women’s National Land Service Corps (WNLSC) was formed in 1916, at the instigation of the ninth Duke of Marlborough, followed by creation of the Women’s Land Army in 1917.

Their task was to maximise the output from the land to feed the nation. At Blenheim Palace, the ninth Duke ordered that 2,000 acres of green parkland were ploughed up for crops. However, some were reluctant to change and thought that women would not be able to do the physically-demanding work.

The Government’s Board of Agriculture tried to change men’s prejudices regarding women working on the land by organising practical demonstrations and competitions throughout the country, which showed that women could do a range of farm work competently.

A huge recruiting march and presentation to Princess Mary of the Women’s Land Army took place in central Oxford at this time (youtube.com/watch?v=rvSsPXyEvNs).

It began in St Giles with women entering the enrolment hut by the Martyrs’ Memorial.

The procession, including a steam tractor and lambs, proceeded down Cornmarket, through Carfax and into Broad Street.

Mr R E Prothero, Minister of Agriculture, led city and university officials to Trinity College gardens where Princess Mary presented awards to the Land Girls as women who worked on farms became known.

Ultimately the strategy of persuading farmers to accept women employees was successful, and by the end of 1917 there were over 260,000 women working as farm labourers.

Although the Women’s Land Army was disbanded in 1919 (to be re-created in 1939), there was no going back.

War work had a big role in female emancipation, women had proved they could take on any role a man had done, and had played an enormous part in winning the war. After Armistice, the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act of 1919 made it illegal to exclude women from jobs because of gender.

After the war most land was restored to former glories. Today, it is hard to imagine Port Meadow as an aerodrome, soldiers drilling in the University Parks, or potatoes growing in the stately grounds of Blenheim Palace.

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