ABSTRACT
The first world war opened out new opportunities and altered conditions for women, which brought in turn gradual acknowledgement of the right — and the need — for women to move from the private to the public sphere of activity. The role of women in caring for the sick is an ancient one and, until the great medical developments of the mid-twentieth century, most women of all social classes would expect to be involved with it in their domestic life. The army nursing services were small, although since 1910 they had been supplemented by the war office scheme for Voluntary Aid Detachments (VAD) to the sick and wounded. This offered one of the earliest routes to war service for girls from middle- and upper-class backgrounds; they had to be financially self-sufficient or supported by their families as they were, of course, unpaid.
