Agricultural History Review, Volume 57 Part 2 (2009), p. 287

Using both words and images the author explores the development of the Women’s Land Army in Bedfordshire in the Second World War. The text is based on personal memoirs collected through interviews and is illustrated with over 160 photographs. Antrobus’s detailed account constitutes an informative insight into the topic which, until relatively recently, has received scant attention by historians. Drawing on a wide variety of primary sources and recent interviews by the author, this book provides an interesting and pertinent illustration of the wartime activities of the Bedfordshire WLA.

It explores in detail the way in which the state-directed food production campaign was undertaken at local level by the Bedfordshire War Agricultural Executive Committee and how it impinged upon the WLA. Individual chapters are devoted to issues such as recruitment and training, the variety of accommodation available for the girls, as well as parades and other major events. It should be commended for the concerted attempt it makes to differentiate between the experiences of the members of the WLA who lived on private farms and those who resided in hostels. The text also contains a diverse array of the recollections of individual girls during this period. The extensive collection of photographs provides a vivid insight into everyday life on the farm in addition to the many portrait photographs of the individual girls.

Although the book deals with the Bedfordshire WLA, it cannot strictly be regarded as a conventional academic book with a sharply focused central, all-embracing story to tell or view to argue. Instead, as the text constitutes an extensive collection of diverse memoirs, its merits should not be judged primarily, or even exclusively, by those ascribed to the more conventional historical study.

This detailed encyclopaedic account of the role of the Bedfordshire WLA constitutes an invaluable resource for local historians. It provides a comprehensive list of all the recorded members of the WLA, as well as résumés of the many detailed interviews the author undertook with members of this crucially important organization. The strengths of the book are provided by the meticulous way in which the author has tracked down details of the membership. A comprehensive alphabetical list of nearly 3500 maiden names will provide an invaluable source for family historians investigating land girls who worked in Bedfordshire between 1939 and 1950. In addition the author very astutely provides a website to enable revisions to be inserted. The time line in the book is also particularly useful in clarifying the chronological changes which took place during this period.

There are a number of relatively minor points of criticism; in particular, it would have merited contextualization of the work of the WLA in Bedfordshire compared with other regions. As Bedfordshire was a county distinguished by its market gardening activities as opposed to simply agriculture, these differences would have merited more detailed consideration. There is also a tendency to accept at face value contemporary accounts of the wartime achievements of the food production campaign which have, until recently, dominated our understanding. Incorporating, or at least acknowledging, the revisionist critiques which have recently emerged would have enhanced the level of analysis. In a similar way the overall contribution of the WLA to the wartime transformation of Bedfordshire farming deserves more detailed evaluation. Nevertheless these weaknesses do not fundamentally undermine the value and relevance of this book.

This account will have considerable appeal not only to former land girls and their families in the locality, but also to a much wider audience.