'Come into the Army, Maud': Women, Military Conscription, and the Markham Inquiry

During World War II, some 600,000 women were recruited into the three British women's auxiliary services: the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, and the Women's Royal Naval Service. These organizations performed a range of noncombatant functions in support of the army, Royal Air Force, and Royal Navy, both at home and overseas. In the early period of the war, these services depended on volunteers to fill the ranks. In 1941, however, the government decided to extend conscription to women and for the first time in British history they became subject to compulsory military service. This article traces the origins of that momentous decision and also surveys the work of the Markham committee of inquiry into servicewomen's welfare conditions and moral behavior that evolved out of the conscription question.