THE WRNS IN WARTIME

Welcome

'The WRNS in Wartime, The Women's Royal Naval Service 1917-45' charts the history of the Women's Royal Naval Service between its creation in 1917, its disbanding in the interwar year and its recreation at the start of the Second World War. 

On this page you will find stories shared from 21 original oral histories and archival sources that initially started life as part of Hannah Roberts' PhD in War Studies from King's College London (2016).

2017: Bloomsbury

Purchase here

Read Professor Juliette Pattinson's review of 'The WRNS in Wartime' in the International Journal of Maritime History here

Oral history
Read more about the Wrens and family members who contributed stories towards the book

In the coming months of 2024 these stories will be added to 

Overview

The Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) was created in 1917, re-formed in 1938 and maintained after 1945. This book determines for the first time the reasons for the expansion and contraction of the service and the impact key individuals had on it and in turn the influence it had on its members. Hannah Roberts offers new insights into a previously little studied British military institution, which celebrates its centenary in 2017. She shows how political and military decision-making within the fluctuating national security situation, coupled with a growing cultural acceptability of women taking on military roles, allowed for the growth of the service in World War II into realms never expected of women. Although it shared a similar pattern in its formation to the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) and had a similar ethos to its Air Force counterpart, the WAAF, the WRNS took on a wider-ranging role in the war, in part due to the latitude afforded to the service because of its uniquely independent origins. From 1941 onward the WRNS spread internationally and subverted the combat taboo by adopting semi-combatant roles. Using twenty-one new oral histories and a multitude of archived personal documents, this book demonstrates the pivotal importance of the Women's Royal Naval Service in both the world wars.

© Copyright Hannah Roberts 2024, © Copyright Hannah Roberts 2017 'The WRNS in Wartime', Bloomsbury

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