This is wonderful album is a candid record of women’s wartime service from 1939-1942, detailing the lives of a group of women working as drivers, despatch riders, mechanics, and Anti-Aircraft operators as part of the Auxiliary Territorial Service during the Second World War in the UK and France.

The photographs, mostly small format 3” x 2” black and white images, depict locations within the UK, although there is one sizeable group image depicting the ATS contingent of the British Expeditionary Force after their return (or evacuation, if your prefer) from France, where ATS personnel made up the bulk of the ambulance drivers, in the field first aid workers, and despatch riders before Dunkirk. This picture is interest as it is captioned with the names and ranks of the personnel depicted, and detailed record keeping for women service personnel during the war years is often lacking.

The units focused upon include the 5th London Motor Company, responsible for moving vehicles, material, and personnel the length and breadth of the country in a variety of vehicles ranging from 3 ton trucks, to motorcycles for despatch riders. Also mentioned is the 61st Anti-Aircraft Coy (part of the group colloquially known as “The Ack-Ack Girls”, or the “Co-Ed Gun Girls” if you were a visiting US Serviceman) stationed in Llandaff; Company HQ, which is captioned as Sloe House in Halstead (also known as Sloe House Farm, this was the HQ of the SAS in the later years of the war); Stisted Hall, another commandeered stately home set aside for War Department use, and a number of photos taken in Cardiff with 9th A.A. Coy.

The same core group of women appear in the majority of the photos, clearly close comrades, and also evidently part of a group who were billeted (sometimes in stately homes with tennis courts, sometimes in tents) to a number of different service groups as specialist personnel. The importance of the album is in part due to the extensive labelling and clearly captioned photos. This is invaluable information particularly when dealing with an area of wartime service that was exclusively performed, often with great distinction, by women.

The ATS was a significant and oft-overlooked part of the British war effort, and was in the background of many of the most celebrated aspects of WWII, from the retreat during Dunkirk, to the Battle of Britain, and the work done by ATS and FANY women for the Special Operations Executive, Odette “Carve Her Name With Pride” Sansom.

Oblong Quarto. 36pp. 97 mounted images, mostly with captions, + 9 loose photos in wallet to rear, with details written on the reverse of images.