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Women and the Royal Navy

It is the Centenary of the Women’s Royal Naval Service this year, and in celebration there has been some exciting scholarship taking place – and some interesting events coming up – concerning women’s history and the Royal Navy. Dr Jo Stanley’s publication Women and the Royal Navy is released on 4th November, and “takes a new historiographical […]

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 On 2 December 2011 I interviewed Dorrie, a former member of the WRNS (Women's Royal Naval Service) on board HMS Warrior in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

Listening to Port Town People: the potential for oral history research

Oral History is now recognised as a valuable and credible method to engage with and learn about the past.[i] Oral historians indicate that oral history research requires a different set of interpretative practises as it is a source that necessitates historians to directly engage with subjectivity.[ii] The interview is a source created by a shared […]

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“We Were Proud of What We Did” – A Wren’s Reflections of Serving in a Port Town, 1939-1945

Analysis of Grace’s narrative reveals a number of striking features about her period of service in the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) at Lee-on-Solent. She felt part of a clearly identifiable group, her uniform distinguished her from the other services and civilians and she felt proud of her part in the war effort. Grace therefore […]

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