Resources Subheading
Hilda Neville Green
The story of Hilda Neville Green initially proved to be a bit of a mystery. Wolverhampton City Archives has a photograph of her, and the only information included with the image was that it was Captain Hilda Neville Green, the Adjutant of the Wolverhampton Women’s Volunteer Reserve.
The Women’s Volunteer Reserve (WVR) emerged from the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). It was founded as The Women’s Emergency Corps in 1914 by Evelina Haverfield and Decima Moore to contribute to the war effort. The Corps later evolved into the Women’s Volunteer Reserve. The WVR was mainly involved in domestic fund-raising activities and was primarily made up of middle-class women, largely because they had to pay for their own uniform.
The Wolverhampton branch was patronised by the Mayor and Mayoress, and the group were advertised as an: “opportunity for Women and Girls over 18 years of age to prepare themselves by Drill and other Training…and to render efficient service to the State in case of NATIONAL EMERGENCY.”
A public meeting was held on 29 April 1915 at the Girls’ High School in Tettenhall Road to inaugurate the group. According to the local newspaper, the Express and Star, at their first drill in May 1915, “several hundred ladies pirouetted into the Brickkiln-street Schoolyard.” There were so many there that there was hardly any room for the spectators, and “Some who did not intend becoming members of the Reserve shyly agreed to fall in at the behest of one or two recruiting ladies.” Although officially the age limit was 18 to 50, the Express and Star slyly acknowledges that this means there is no age limit, as “few women admit to being over fifty.” One of the first tasks of the local branch was the collection of “thousands of respirators to save our men at the front from the dastardly actions of the Germans.”
Other work that the WVR conducted included assisting the Streets Department of the Council in clearing the main thoroughfares of snow. In the winter of 1916, “they cheerfully braved the elements, and, energetically working, often in four or five inches of slush, attracted no small amount of attention, particularly from members of the ‘stronger’ sex, who, however, showed no great inclination to assist.”
The uniform worn by the women was a khaki tunic with four large pockets, with khaki blouses and green ties underneath. The skirts were meant to be “serviceable and sensible, and could be worn at any time.”
Hilda Green’s photograph was dated 1916. An appeal on social media revealed further information about her. She was born Hilda May Green in Highgate, Middlesex on 21 March 1892. Her father’s full name was George William Frederick Neville Green, so she clearly adopted one of her father’s names at some point to become Hilda Neville Green.
At Wolverhampton City Archives there is also an illuminated volume, written by Violet Clinton of the Wolverhampton School of Art, which lists the names of all the men and women who served as Special Constables from 1916 until 1919. Because of the numbers of police officers serving overseas with their regiments during the First World War, the Wolverhampton Chief Constable increasingly relied on Special Constables to make up the numbers, including bringing back older Constables from retirement. On 2 July 1917, the Chief Constable asked the Watch Committee “for power to employ women patrols on the streets, or to do any other duty such as visiting Public Parks, Theatres, and particularly work among their own sex and juveniles.”
The first name in the list of Special Police Women is that of a Hilda Hutchinson Smith. Hilda married a Kenneth Hutchinson Smith in 1918 on the Isle of Wight, so as well as serving with the Women’s Volunteer Reserve, she was also a Special Constable in Wolverhampton during the war.