Women of Thanet rally round the Flag

With the anniversary of the start of the Great War of 1914-1918 only three years away Ramsgate author and historian Laura Probert has published a book about how the women in Thanet coped when their menfolk were away fighting in Flanders.

Laura Probert published her first book Women of Kent rally to the Cause three years ago which was about women’s suffrage activity in East Kent. For her second book Women of Thanet rally round the Flag which follows on chronologically from the first Laura has again scoured the local newspapers of the time to discover what life was like in Thanet during a very difficult period. Thanet suffered severely in the First World War from aerial bombardment from both Zeppelins and early aeroplanes because of its strategic position on the direct route between the German airfields based near the Belgian coast and London. Ramsgate’s fishing fleet was moved to other ports such as Brixham and Great Yarmouth and most of the younger men left to join the navy or fight on the Western Front. Life for Thanet’s women who were left to fend for themselves would never be the same again. Many went out to work for the first time, others organised charities collecting money and goods for refugees and soldiers. Many young women joined the war effort and worked as VAD nurses, drivers or munitions workers.

Laura Probert is a member of the Western Front Association and wanted to write a book in praise of her grandmother’s generation, many of whom were widowed at a very young age and never re-married. Laura’s grandmother lived in Thanet after the First World War and her father attended the old St George’s Central School in Church Road in Ramsgate. Her grandfather who served in the South Wales Borderers died of shrapnel wounds in October 1918 near St Quentin in Picardy.

Women of Thanet rally round the Flag (ISBN 978-0-9558674-1-5) costs £8 (£9.50 including p and p) available from Millicent Press on 01843 599229 or e-mail millicent.press28@gmail.com