Ellen Donovan

Green-fingered granddaughter recounts fond memories from Nan's experience in the Women's Land Army

Ancestry^® has published a new and exclusive online collection of over 90,000 digitised Women’s Land Army cards from The National Archives. The UK, Women's Land Army Index Cards, 1939-1948 collection contains records of employment for those who served in the Women’s Land Army from 1939 to 1948.

The collection features Miss Gwendoline Florence Payne whose granddaughter, Ellen Donovan (32) from Brighton has discovered more about her Nan’s experience as a member of the Women’s Land Army during the Second World War.

Inspired by her Nan’s experiences, Ellen has a Women’s Land Army dedicated tattoo in memory of her Nan’s camaraderie and an allotment in Brighton, where she grows her own vegetables. Ellen comments: “My love for all things green and nature definitely has been inherited from Nanny Gwen.”

Ellen’s Nan, Miss Gwendoline Florence Payne, from Islington, London, was recruited at aged 21 as a farmworker in West Kent in 1941. Ellen continues “As a young girl who grew up in Islington, it’s amazing to think that Nan was recruited at only 21 to live and work on farms in the Kent countryside – she’d never seen that much greenery or some of the food and vegetables before, but she was playing such a vital part in supplying food for the country during the War. She had to get equipped and comfortable pretty quickly sitting on and working on a tractor during her time, there’s a fantastic photo we have of her in her dungarees on the tractor.

Gwendoline Florence Payne as part of the Women's Land Army

“Like many, my grandfather didn’t speak much about the War, but my Nan shared some information with myself and my cousin about her time as a Land Girl. She always recounted fond memories of Harry and Elsie – who ran the farm, her children (my mum, aunt and uncle) referred to them as Uncle and Auntie and visited the farm over the years.

Ellen Donovan's tattoo inspired by her Nan's Women's Land Army experience

“My Nan’s experiences as a Land Girl definitely formed who she was and stuck with her throughout her life, she had a passion for nurturing and growing plants and her own food and vegetables – which is where I get my love from too! I got a tattoo in 2014 as a tribute to her – I took Wartime recruitment images, one of Rosie the Riveter, a land girl advert and an image of the medal awarded to the land girls to my tattooist, who worked up an amazing design.

“Unfortunately, the medal my Nan was awarded for her service in the Women’s Land Army has been misplaced but it’s amazing to be able to find her Index Card on Ancestry^®.”

UK, Women’s Land Army Index Cards

1939-1948

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