Women on the frontline of the ambulance service – a history of saving lives

The untold stories of women who risked their lives to save others have been uncovered as London Ambulance Service marks International Women’s Day (8 March).

Newly discovered photographs and records held by the service show the extraordinary contribution of women over the last hundred years and beyond. They include Ann Armitage and Betty Leverton who served in the London Auxiliary Ambulance Service during World War II.

With German planes dropping hundreds of bombs on the densely populated East End and its docks, the pair were sent to help. Their ambulance was one of just three that was able to get through intense fires started by incendiary bombs.

In their wooden ambulance the pair made a daring dash through an oil spill on fire to reach women and children trapped in the devastation. So many people needed rescuing, the women made five journeys into danger to save them all. The King awarded them British Empire medals for their bravery.

Records show more than five thousand women volunteered for the London Auxiliary Ambulance Service during the war.

“By documenting all our archives we are beginning to learn the stories of many courageous women who took on frontline roles.

“They were working 24-hour shifts and would find themselves putting out fires, clearing debris and climbing unstable buildings to rescue the injured and recover the dead. When they weren’t saving lives, they were using newly-acquired skills to maintain and service the ambulances which also took a battering during the Blitz.”

Craig Henty, Head of the Historic Collection at London Ambulance Service.

Women in London were first recorded working on ambulances during World War One. Bloomsbury Station was then staffed entirely by women. It was a progressive move but attitudes of the day were resistant and after WWI, the government encouraged women to return to domesticity.

Women were also encouraged to step aside after WWII and make way for returning servicemen. Some women continued to work at the switchboard but by 1965 – when London Ambulance Service as we know it today was launched – just six per cent of the workforce were women.

Today more half the people working for London Ambulance Service are women. Last year, the service hit the headlines for naming Pauline Cranmer as the UK’s first female chief paramedic.

She vowed to blaze a trail for all those coming after her, admitting that when she joined the Service 30 years ago, “there was often an assumption that because you were a woman, you couldn’t be the paramedic.”

“I’m really glad that people like me have come through those times and gone on to thrive. I am really proud that many of the women of my generation of technicians and paramedics are now in leadership roles.”

Pauline Cranmer.

Now 43 per cent of the service’s senior managers are women and while there is a gender pay gap, it has been reduced to 4.7p and work is continuing to end the pay gap while offering more opportunities for flexible working.

However it wasn’t until the 1970s that the service appointed its first female Station Officer. This was such big news in 1976 that Mary Conway made the pages of the service’s internal magazine which reported: “She says she will not stand for insubordination just because she’s a woman.”

You can find out more about the London Ambulance Service Historic Collection here and you can also find out more about the #AccelerateAction campaign here.

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