The incredible story behind a 1939 photo and a recruitment drive targeting Wolverhampton women
Wolverhampton women showed they were keen to serve when a big recruiting event was held as war clouds gathered in 1939.
This historic photo from our archives shows local commanders of the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the women's branch of the Army, drumming up interest in the centre of Wolverhampton from the back of a vehicle.
It was taken on Saturday, May 6, 1939, and was part of a wider recruiting drive which included a parade in West Park, and an anti-aircraft gun displayed in Queen Square.
One of those who signed up to the serve that day was Stan Cullis, at the time the Wolves captain, and later to become the club's legendary post-war manager. A picture carried the following Monday in the Express & Star of him joining up at Molineux does not say what unit he joined, but it would no doubt have been into the Territorials.
In the centre of the town (as it was then) a throng gathered around the ATS recruiters, Commandants M. Bond and Peggy Richmond. The ATS was a relatively new organisation, having been formed in 1938, and among the benefits, according to the poster, was a free uniform.
Another poster reads: "South (we think it says South, it's difficult to make out) Staffordshire Regiment Has A Vacancy For Every Fit Man In The District."
Reporting on the event, the Express & Star said: "The first day of Wolverhampton's Recruiting Week ended on Saturday evening with a grand muster of Territorials and members of the RAF at West Park following a series of recruiting marches in all parts of the town...
"Wolverhampton's two companies of women territorials, the 15th Staffordshires and the 4th Staffordshires, commanded respectively by Mrs Bond and Miss Richmond, received many congratulations on their smartness.
"Mrs Bond received several inquiries from women wishing to join. The 15th Staffordshires has its full quota of recruits – 24 – but some 25 more women are needed to bring up the numbers of the 4th company to the requisite 55."
ATS members served with distinction during the war in various roles, including in anti-aircraft units – although they were not allowed to fire the guns.
The ATS was disbanded in 1949 and members transferred to the new Women's Royal Army Corps.
