By Fiona Hurley
 
Singled Out: How Two Million Women Survived Without Men after the First World War by Virginia Nicholson
 
The single woman of today might wonder where all the good men have gone. For British women who came of age in the years following World War One, the answer was obvious and tragic: too many good men had died on the battlefield, the so-called “lost generation.” Some women lost sweethearts to the conflict while others never had the chance to meet a partner. A generation of women had been raised to think of marriage and motherhood as their true calling, but now marriage and motherhood were to be forever denied to them.
 
In Singled Out, Virginia Nicholson tells the story of this generation. In many ways, their lives were a struggle. Some suffered from loneliness and mourned the husbands and children that they would never have. They had no respectable outlet for their sex drives. Their career options were limited, and many of the jobs open to them were badly paid. Society expressed its opinion cruelly, calling them “surplus women” and stereotyping them as frumpy, man-hating spinsters.
 
However, Nicholson’s book shows how many triumphed over adversity and lead fulfilling lives. Single women of the era enjoyed freedoms that their married sisters did not. They broke into new careers that had been previously closed to women: stock broking, engineering, archaeology, aviation, politics. Unmarried school teachers taught a new generation the value of education and self-sufficiency. Single women learned new dances like the Charleston, where they could kick up their heels without a partner. They travelled and had adventures. They enjoyed long-lasting friendships. A few found love in lesbian relationships.
 
And many, of course, found joy in aunthood. As author Elizabeth Gouge wrote in her autobiography: “For the childless woman there is no lack of children in the world to love, even if they are not her own.” The “maiden aunts” provided love and support for the younger members of the family. They were confidAunts, role models, and bringers of fun. They were the Savvy Aunties of their day.
 
Savvy Aunties of the post-World War One era
 
Winifred Holtby, novelist and journalist who wrote “I was born to be a spinster, and by God I’m going to spin!” Winifred had a close friendship with Vera Brittain, and these two writers supported each other both personally and professionally. After Vera married Gordon Catlin, Winifred became auntie-by-choice to their two children. When she saw her newborn nephew, John Edward, she declared that “his head’s just like a pussy willow!” Sadly, Winifred died at the age of 37; the children were heartbroken.
 
Caroline Haslett, engineer who wrote “I see in this new world a great opportunity for women to free themselves from the shackles of the past.” Caroline worked in a boiler factory during the war; she later became the first secretary of the Women’s Engineering Society and the first director of the Electrical Association for Women. Her niece described her as “a woman who loved life and made the most of what she had to offer to anyone she came in contact with.”
 
Richmal Crompton, writer who described herself as “the last surviving example of the Victorian professional aunt.” Richmal was plagued by poor health; polio lost her the use of her right leg, and breast cancer led to a mastectomy in her thirties. But this never spoiled her sense of fun or her willingness to join in games with her many nieces and nephews. This sense of fun was also obvious in her Just William books for children.
 
Gertrude Maclean, businesswoman whose nieces and nephews described her as “a rock and a sport.” Gertrude’s seven siblings were scattered around the British Empire, and their children were cared for by Auntie Gertrude when they came to England for school. In 1921, she used this experience to set up Universal Aunts, which provided a variety of services: escorting children from railway stations to schools, furnishing houses, and shopping for everything “from a hair-pin to a Moth aeroplane.” Gertrude was surely the original “auntrepreneur.”
 
Further Reading
 
Virginia Nicholson’s website
 
The friendship between Winifred Holtby and Vera Brittain
 
The history of Universal Aunts

Published: January 30, 2013