The War Workers

by E.M. Delafield

The War Workers is a novel written by E. M. Delafield and published in 1918. The book is set during World War I and follows the lives of a group of women who work in a munitions factory. The main character is Diana Massingberd, a young woman from a wealthy family who decides to volunteer at the factory. Through her experiences, the book explores the challenges and opportunities that arise from women entering the workforce during the war. It also touches on themes of class, gender, and patriotism. The novel is known for its realistic portrayal of the lives of working-class women during the war and was praised for its sympathetic treatment of its characters. Overall, The War Workers provides a fascinating glimpse into a crucial period of social change in British history.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Classics, World War I, British Literature

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1918

About the author

Edmée Elizabeth Monica Dashwood, née de la Pasture (9 June 1890 – 2 December 1943), commonly known as E. M. Delafield, was a prolific English author who is best-known for her largely autobiographical Diary of a Provincial Lady, which took the form of a journal of the life of an upper-middle class Englishwoman living mostly in a Devon village of the 1930s, and its sequels in which the Provincial Lady buys a flat in London and travels to America. Other sequels of note are her experiences looking for war-work during the Phoney War in 1939, and her experiences as a tourist in the Soviet Union.

Daughter of the novelist Mrs. Henry De La Pasture.

Reviews

[Kirsty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I purchased a collection of E.M. Delafield's novel on my Kindle rather a long time ago, and found that I still had three novels outstanding. I chose to read The War-Workers first merely because it was the first title I had not read in the collection. What I found was a surprisingly complex and rather wonderful novel about a group of female workers on the British Home Front during the First World War. The characters are almost remarkably vivid, and Delafield comments throughout upon the class issue which pervades the novel. The War-Workers is an unfairly neglected and beautifully written page-turner, which feels just as urgent and important now as I imagine it did upon its publication.

[Sonia Gomes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought I would be in the trenches of the First World War, but this was surprisingly another type of ‘War’ far removed from the battle zone. It was the life of the war workers, a group of young ladies, who live in a Hostel.
These young ladies ran supply depots, met hundreds of soldiers on troop trains late at night giving them sandwiches, cake and steaming cups of tea, boosting their morale, ran canteens, worked in the ammunition and much more.
As we know, wars liberate women from their routine drudgery, they learn to cope, and mostly they become independent, away from the shackles of Society and Family. So it is not surprising that the Midlands Supply Depot is run by an extremely capable 29 year old Charmaine ‘ Char’ Vivian, the only daughter of Lady and Sir Percy Vivian. Char Vivian lives with her parents at their rural estate ‘Plessings’.
It is to be admired that Char, who has never done a stroke of work in her life organizes and manages the Midlands Supply Depot with great efficiency.
Oh yes, as pointed out she does return to her Estate Plessings every night and lives there in great comfort, with good food and most of all warmth on that cold winter.
Meanwhile across the street the ‘war girls’ live in a very overcrowded hostel, here they share rooms with hardly any hot water and pretty much unpalatable food.
It is here that the tremendous class divide is highlighted, the girls who work at various war related jobs are in awe of Char, because in 1915 which girl with a background like Char’s works so hard to do her bit for the War Effort?
Char has never had to consider the ‘feelings’ of the ‘girls’ and honestly which CEO of a modern day Company has great bonhomie with his workers? Are we really that naïve?
In this day and age, does the Queen know and consider every little cold the footman has or every sneeze an unfortunate maid might have?
It does not happen, it maybe callous but the rich and nobility do not have the time nor are they aware of the discomforts of the poor and the people who work in their homes.
Sadly for Char it is with her parents, particularly her Mother that the friction begins. Her Mother never thought Char would be able to run the Depot and takes every opportunity to run her down, to cut in every remark Char makes with a snide comment.
Lady Vivian too is an extremely capable woman as is proved when she runs her house as a convalescent home after Sir Percy dies of a stroke.
Was Lady Vivian a tad envious that Char had had the opportunity to be in charge and to run the Depot admirably? She herself did nothing but look after the needs of her husband as he was about 25 years her senior?
Lady Vivian insisted Char leave her job and ‘stay around’ when Sir Percy Vivian suffers a stroke, Char is not to do anything as Lady Vivian would do all the nursing. Smacks strange to me...
Then in their midst comes Grace Jones, ‘also a lady’ Grace becomes Miss Vivian’s under-secretary, although quite capable, Char Vivian stubbornly refuses to see her as being as capable as she is.
Here Char shows her weakness when she refuses to take into account that others too can be as capable...
But it is Lady Vivian’s behavior that makes me wonder, without knowing anything about Grace she makes her the confidante, shares a great deal with Grace to the extent of calling Grace to be her solace when Sir Percy dies, ostracizing Char completely, badgering her with her spiteful remarks.
Of course Char is irritated, we are all human and no one can be a saint enough to see one’s own Mother cozying up to a total stranger and keeping her Char, out of everything.
And Grace? The feud works marvelously well for her...She gets to be Lady Vivian’s confidante, becoming her Secretary at the convalescent home, she ‘falls in love with’ John Trevellyan, everything did go well for Grace...
Truth be told Char had never felt anything for John Trevellyan and what’s wrong with that?

It is terribly sad that nobody saw it fit to see the qualities in Char, her hard work, her desire to do something for England, her tremendous ability for organization, she was admirable...
And sadly all Char ever heard were things like
‘here are those who recognise the monster within Char Vivian.’
‘Grace Jones not the least of them.’
‘John Trevellyan, her mother’s cousin, is annoyed and dismayed by Char’s behavior, John is just one more thing Char takes for granted, and so she is a little uncomfortable when she sees him getting rather friendly with Grace.’
It has happened to all of us at one point or the other hasn’t I it, we have resented women poaching on guys we do not love but keep just in case nothing good pops up?

But it is Dr Prince, the old doctor who has known Char since childhood, who shocks me the most.
The patriarchal sod in the guise of being a good doctor and who runs the hospital rather shoddily gets bristling when Char sets some guidelines for the hospital, starts talking rather badly of her.
We have seen that too...
One Sunday when the girls are at their tea at the Hostel, old Dr. Prince gathers them around, much like a benevolent, tell-it-all Santa... Narrating to them Char’s ‘evil ways’ I would have thought that as a Doctor and an older man, the good Doctor would have had more decorum, more niceness, but no he rambles on and on...
Quoting things like
‘Char’s slavish obsession with her work has more to do with being seen to do it and the power and prestige it gives her than anything else.’
And to Char herself...
“I’ll tell you something else. It’s not the work you want to get back to, young lady, it’s the excitement, and the official position, and the right it gives you to interfere with people who knew how to run a hospital and everything connected with it some twenty years or so before you came into the world”

Poor Dr. Prince could only get at Char by mocking and bad mouthing her.

Pathetic ain’t you Doctor?

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first started reading this I thought I was in for a boring character study, but I was very wrong. This story picks-up really quickly, even though it doesn't really go anywhere. You are given a glimpse into the lives of a group of people for a series of time, leaving them after some events unfold, their lives changed but not drastically so. This short book was enjoyable to read and the characters are built in a way that you get sucked into their lives. I found myself rooting for certain people/relationships, which is something that is rare for me to do in a book. The scenes that take place in the hostel between the group of war workers, especially the domestic scene on their Sunday off was lovely and picturesque to read.

[Barbara Mader · Rating 3 out of 5]

free ebook from Project Gutenberg.

Set during World War I England, this story centers on a Lady Vivian, a 29-year-old woman who goes to great lengths to secure admiration for her, uh, selfless devotion to her war work managing a supply depot and other war service organizations in her region. Though projecting an image of herself as extremely efficient, her refusal to delegate and desire for control creates obstacles for others and a great deal of unnecessary work for herself and staff. Her staff of about three dozen women initially admire her greatly, but with the arrival of a well-bred young lady from Wales, the irritated expostulations of the neighborhood doctor, and a few heartless actions of her own, this view changes (except among her two most devoted allies). The other main character in the book is Lady Vivian's mother, concerned exclusively with her elderly husband, whose health is poor; the relationship between mother and daughter is tense and disappointing for both.

The book seems to me uneven, with some odd repetition at times and something lacking in the plausibility of some relationships.

But oh dear, I did enjoy the social satire. I know all too well people who go about doing their many oh-so-good, so-selfless deeds, insinuating themselves into any project they think should be under their jurisdiction, interfering, taking control, and expecting admiration (even from those they despise) as they list off their good works one by one for all to hear. Sometimes I am moved to feel sorry for them, but I admit I enjoyed, in this book, listening to a few characters who were moved to tell a few home truths to Lady Vivian. As in real life, however, they did not have much effect, except to increase her air of martyrdom.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

The War-Workers is an early novel from E M Delafield, published about twelve years before her most famous work The Diary of a Provincial Lady (which I re-read recently). This is one of the titles on the list of books for the LibraryThing Great war theme read – it was actually one of the books for March and April – I’ll be playing catch up for the rest of the year I think, and I am rather surprised at just how much I loved it.

This novel is not one which takes us to the trenches of the Western Front – plenty of the other books we are reading this year do take us there – this is a home front WW1 novel, with an army of a wholly different kind. The army in question is an army of women, the women who ran the supply depots, met hundreds of men off troop trains late at night supplying them with sandwiches, cake and steaming cups of tea, and ran canteens. Women war-workers who were indefatigable in their approach to their duty, and who put their own lives on hold, and kept going even when ill.

E M Delafield’s wonderful wit and eye for the ridiculousness in people is quite evident in this early novel. I did chuckle over the marvellously dreadful Mrs Willoughby – who talks incessantly to her spoilt little Pekinese Puff, and the equally dreadful Miss Delmege – whose stubborn devotion to Miss Vivian blinds her to Char’s obvious faults, and who declares anything she doesn’t like or agree with to be strange.

Delafield’s ‘The War-Workers’ is centred around a Midlands supply depot run by domineering 29 year old Charmaine Vivian, the only daughter of Lady and Sir Percy Vivian, who struggle to understand her total absorption in her work. It is to their wonderfully comfortable rural estate Plessings – that Char returns later and later each evening – after a day of organising and managing her slavishly devoted underlings. At home Miss Bruce, another blindly devoted woman – once Char’s governess, now her mother’s secretary – fusses happily around Char upon her return each day. Char is blissfully unaware of how the little comforts she takes for granted are managed for her by other people. Her beloved Brucey and her maid, make sure she is warm and comfortable, her room lit by a wonderful fire, good food and hot water available upon her late return. Her office is always lit by a good fire when she arrives at ten o’ clock each morning – yet Char gives no thought to how it might have got there.

At the over-crowded hostel across the street from Char Vivian’s busy little office – live the squabbling exhausted women who work for Char. They share rooms, manage with limited hot water, and small kettles in their rooms, working ridiculously long hours for a woman who is barely aware of them as human beings. For Miss Vivian keeps her workers firmly at arm’s length, never entering into personal or friendly conversation, or considering their small discomforts and illnesses, irritated should one want to take time off. Miss Vivian is proud to put work before everything else, and declares herself puzzled should anyone think to do anything else. These women workers are a wonderfully drawn bunch of characters, gossipy, fretful, snobbish and highly entertaining. Into their midst comes Grace Jones, “a lady” Grace becomes Miss Vivian’s under-secretary, although quite obviously enormously capable – Miss Vivian stubbornly refuses to see her as being as capable as she is. When Grace meets Lady Vivian, Char’s mother immediately takes to her – much to Char’s enormous irritation.
When Char’s father is taken ill, Char’s mother requests that she should stay at home more – as her father is becoming distressed by the constant late night comings and goings. Char is outraged by the suggestion that the office could possibly manage without her constant attention – and after only a few days off because she herself is suffering from flu – she returns to her office in high dudgeon – her mother has insisted she move into her worker’s hostel.
There are those who recognise the monster within Char Vivian, Grace Jones not the least of them. John Trevellyan, her mother’s cousin, is annoyed and dismayed by Char’s behaviour, John is just one more thing Char takes for granted, and so she is a little uncomfortable when she sees him getting rather friendly with Grace. Dr Prince, the doctor who has known Char since childhood, thinks Char’s slavish obsession with her work has more to do with being seen to do it and the power and prestige it gives her than anything else.

“I’ll tell you something else. It’s not the work you want to get back to, young lady, it’s the excitement, and the official position, and the right it gives you to interfere with people who knew how to run a hospital and everything connected with it some twenty years or so before you came into the world”

Char is finally forced to make some changes to her organisation, and Grace finds herself to be deeply appreciated by others whose good opinion she is glad to have. I really loved this book; I really should have had more faith in it.

[Austen to Zafón · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like E.M. Delafield. She wrote all the "Provincial Lady" books, which were largely auto-biographical accounts of her life as a wife and mother in a provincial village. I heard about this book, but couldn't find it at the library or in any used book store. I ended up buying a copy on ebay from Germany, a second edition signed by the author! I was excited. This story takes place during WWI, at a supply depot, where women young and old are doing their best to help out with the "war effort," under the command of a domineering, self-absorbed young bossy-pants who loves the vision of herself putting England first and everything else last. I wasn't sure I was going to like it at first, but as I got to know the many characters, I was charmed by the relationships and the way they talked, what they found shocking and how they teased one another. I was rooting for Bossy Pants to get her comeuppance and ultimately found the book satisfying. I am glad now that I have my own copy.

[Heather Cawte · Rating 4 out of 5]

More a character study than a novel, this second work of E M Delafield's nevertheless keeps the reader's interest.

Written in 1917 about a group of women undertaking administrative war work under the leadership of Charmian Vincent, the only child of the local landed gentry in a provincial town, the story unfolds by the development of the characters of her cast, rather than by events. She has a marvellous ability to very sharply delineate a character from one or two deeds or utterances.

The main story is the way in which the war workers of the title begin by idolising Charmian Vincent, and how they come to realise that she is less desrving of sainthood than they once thought. It is an excellent, slow burner of a book, which gives a fascinating glimpse into the lives of women in WWI.

[Gareth Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps a surprise that this is not better known. It is something of a rarity, a book set in the WW1, written in 1917 and focusing on women's war work. I suppose that it is more of a study in character and, as one of Delafield's earlier novels, lacks the sparkle and wot of her later work, it lacks the real punch that would make it better known. Nevertheless for fans of early 20th century fiction, this is a real joy. Very much of its time, relatively sharp and well written. A real joy to read.

[Bender · Rating 5 out of 5]

Et eligendi facere illo culpa animi pariatur. Accusantium autem ipsa itaque praesentium autem et fuga. Quam odit aliquid magni sint suscipit deserunt.

[Little Red Readinghood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book about the WW1 workers. Realistic, and full of recognizable types of people, some who I have worked with and one who was my boss.

[Carol J Pennington-York · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why?

Why didn't I stop reading after the first chapter? This book focused on a smug, egomaniac who seems to do nothing more than spin her wheels.

[Shelly Hobson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delafield wrote easy to read, amusing and witty ‘comedies of manners’, which present a light and frothy but superficial jollity whilst contriving to be biting, brutal and oddly menacing.

The War Worker, set in England during WWI, follows upper-class Charmian Vivian, as she manages a war office known colloquially as 'The Depot'. Charmian, floats about in a little bubble of self-importance, fulled by coffee and cigarettes, and is incapable of delegating the smallest of tasks. She epitomises the 'stiff upper lip' and tyrannises and bullies, meddles and overworks her band of quirky, funny and loyal women volunteers [well developed by Delafield] with an expert air of resigned and very superior martyrdom.

When a family crisis reveals the depths of her inflexibility and self-aggrandisement, Charmian slips [albeit glacially slowly] from her pedestal. After all, she is not — shock horror! - to be idolised and worshipped but pitied for confusing patriotic devotion to duty with selfishness, narcism and nastiness. There are some priceless clashes between her and several other characters who take great delight in ramming home a few truths.

It’s compulsive reading but like other examples within the genre possesses an unsatisfactory ending. It is not a nice, neatly wrapped package which pulls together the loose ends and provides closure. Instead, it is inconclusive and abrupt - which is far more realistic - if somewhat disappointing.

If you are unsure whether EM Delafield is for you - consider adding her to your TBR if you've enjoyed reading any of the following [or similar] authors - Oscar Wilde, Noel Coward, EM Forster, PG Wodehouse, Kazuo Ishiguro and Barbara Pym.

Similarly, consider her if you’ve ever watched a ‘Carry On’ film or enjoyed episodes of Frasier, Are you Being Served?, King of the Hill, Ugly Betty, Absolutely Fabulous, The Young Ones, or Curb Your Enthusiasm.

[Louise Culmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charmaine Vivian is in charge of supply depots and a lot of other things in an English town during WW1. Fanatically hard working and imperious, she exercises a fascination for the young women who work for her, who are mainly of a slightly lower social class than she is, and who look up to her as a model of dedication and hard work. They all adore her, except for Miss Collins, her efficient but irrepressible shorthand typist. Miss Vivian has a way of making her employees feel guilty if they show less than the total devotion to war work that she demands of them. Miss Vivian goes home every night to Plessings, the country home of her parents, where she has every comfort, while her employees are in the rather less comfortable hostel run by the kindly but not very efficient Mrs Bullivant. Then Grace Jones, a vicar’s daughter from Wales, arrives to work for Miss Vivian, and does not view her with the same uncritical admiration as the girls in the hostel.
This is quite an entertaining story with some good characters. Some of them are a bit over the top, especially Lady Vivian’s friend Mrs Willoughby, who is really a grotesque caricature. Grace, although the character we are meant to admire, was a bit too perfect for my taste, I found her a bit dull. I even felt a bit sorry for Char, since clearly even her own mother likes Grace better. I would have liked a bit more about the other girls in the hostel , their characters could have been more developed. The descriptions of the hostel life are the most entertaining part. However, this is the most enjoyable E.M Delafield I have read apart from the Provincial Lady books, and the one that has the most humour next to them.

[Sue Chant · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little dated but still quite good. It's a slight tale set and written in WW1, a picture of a privileged woman working for the first time in her life and being completely unable to understand the people around her. She's self-centred, controlling, thinks no-one else can do her work of running a Supply Depot for soldiers in a Midlands town, and so works excessively long hours even when ill and expects her staff to do the same.
She's patronising to everyone and has no empathy with her staff, ordering them around arbitrarily, demanding they do extra duty at short notice even after a full day's work, and snobbishly declaring that they are used to the poor conditions of the staff hostel because of their class.

The women working for her and living at the hostel develop a warm sense of camaraderie and, surprisingly to modern sensibilities, most of them start out adoring their authoritarian boss and thinking she's a martyr, though eventually they have a change of attitude when her selfishness belatedly becomes clear to them.

[Tommie Nicholas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another good book by Delafield. First off this was written in 1915 during WWI and is based on a group of women are working at the hospital in the day and in a canteen (serving fast food and beer or wine). The head of this operation is a woman with a very large sense of her own importance. She is the ultimate paper pusher and makes up as being a royal pain in the ass with her ideas and directions

[Thomas]

I typically enjoy books of this tribe, written decades or centuries ago. However, this one was very dated both in plot and writing style.