[ Broadside ]. Join the Wrens and Free a Man for the Fleet.Ó

Women's Royal Naval Service.

Published by [London: Stationery Office, [n.d., ca. 1939-1944.]

About this Item

The WomenÕs Royal Naval Service, popularly known as the Wrens, was formed during World War I. It was disbanded in 1919, then revived in 1939 for World War II under the direction of Dame Vera Laughton Mathews. At its peak in 1944, there were 75,000 enlisted Wrens, who filled a wide variety of roles including transport plane pilots, weapons analysts, mechanics, engineers, and as staff at the Government Code and Cypher School, where both men and women worked to crack the German Enigma and Lorenz codes. The Wrens were one of several branches of women in the British armed forces, along with the WomenÕs Royal Air Force and the British WomenÕs Army Corps. Other nations had similar branches, including the WAVES and the WASPs, the womenÕs branches of the United States Navy and Air Force, respectively. The Wrens remained active until their incorporation into the Royal Navy in 1993. Broadside, 15 Ó x 23Ó. Richly color-printed with an illustration of a Wrens member saluting. Lettered in black, silver, and gold. Buff paper sheet. Creased, b400ut now stored flat. Pinpoint holes at corners (where poster was hung up). A very good, bright, and clean copy of a fragile and scarce recruiting poster for the Wrens, the womenÕs branch of the British Royal Navy. The publisher and location of the present item are uncertain, but similar recruitment posters were printed by the Stationery Office in London. OCLC records no copies.

Seller Inventory # 17320

Bibliographic Details

• Title: [ Broadside ]. Join the Wrens and Free a Man for the Fleet.Ó
• Publisher: [London: Stationery Office, [n.d., ca. 1939-1944.]