Photograph details

© Transport for London
Collection of London Transport Museum
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Portrait of First World War woman Underground station painter. She is wearing dust coat trousers and a bonnet, all of which are made of dark cotton material. She is leaning against a step ladder.

Photographed by British Official Photographs, 1915 - 1918

Image no: Ukn

Inventory no: 1998/84035

20th Century London caption: This smiling woman painter is wearing dustcoat, trousers and a bonnet to protect her clothes and hair. She is painting an Underground station during the First World War. During the war, 16,000 Underground group employees joined the armed forces. There were not enough men to keep the transport systems running, so from 1915 women replaced the conductors, clerks and maintenance staff who had left to fight. Transport jobs paid well, up to five times as much as domestic service, which was recorded as many women's former employment.

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