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Farms were in crisis during the war. There was nobody left to work the land and Britain was rapidly running out of food. Then Louisa Jebb had an idea.

Born at the Lyth, near Ellesmere, she had studied agriculture at Cambridge and realised something needed to be done to help. She had already recognised the role of smallholdings and written a definitive study on them. Now, she turned her attention to the labour force and set about establishing the Women’s National Land Service Corps, forerunner to World War Two’s Land Army.

At the same time Harper Adams Agricultural College was counting the financial cost of the loss of their students to the war effort and decided the way forward was to recruit women.

The result was electrifying. Women from wealthy backgrounds saw their chance to help the war effort and get out into the world…and learn to drive tractors.

Location: Harper Adams University, Edgmond TF10 8NB
Image: Women tractor drivers, courtesy of Julie Brook courtesy of Harper Adams University

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