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With labour in short supply during World War One, the factories in Lincoln had to enlist women to fill the gap left behind by the men going off to fight. They were known as munitionettes and were key in helping firms keep up with demand for aircraft, tanks, bombs and other war arms.

Photographs show them on the lines in all the big manufacturing companies in the city. Girls as young as 16 were thrust into heavy industry operating machines around the clock.

In 1915, the Women's War Register was set up mainly to provide women for work in the munitions factories.
Women registered at labour exchanges by the thousands.

David Lloyd George said ‘Without women, victory will tarry’.

When the armistice came they lost their jobs to the returning soldiers. It wouldn’t be until the outbreak of World War Two that we would we see such high levels of female employment again.

Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Image: Three munitionettes, courtesy of Irene Crosby