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Land Girls and Lumber Jills

Uncover the story of the Scottish Women’s Land Army and Timber Corps at the National War Museum.

How did Scotland manage during the Second World War with so many men fighting overseas?

This new exhibition tells the important story of the Women’s Land Army (WLA) and Women’s Timber Corps (WTC) in Scotland: the Land Girls and Lumber Jills who played a vital role in feeding the nation and providing timber.

What was daily life like? Who was home sick? What was on the menu? What was the work like?

Find out what life was like as a Land Girl or a Lumber Jill in Scotland and how their work helped win the Second World War.

Who were the Land Girls and Lumber Jills?

The WLA and WTC were formed in 1917 to help meet growing demands for home production during the long struggle of World War I, and remained active during both World Wars.
Women of the Land Army, or ‘Land Girls’ as they became known, took on all types of agricultural work. From sowing to harvesting, calving to shearing, this was hard physical work that until the war had largely been undertaken by men. The Women’s Timber Corps too was vital, as these ‘Lumber Jills’ supplied the wood used for manufacturing, energy production and much more.

Things to see

This exhibition gives you the opportunity to step into the shoes of a Land Girl or LumberJill and find out where and how they lived. See the recruitment posters that called the women to the fields and find out what it was like to conform to a strict regime, through uniforms on display. Experience the wide range of work the women did by seeing tools of their trades, and discover what it was like to be part of the war effort.

The objects on show will be brought to life by personal testimonies, audio recordings and wonderful period film footage. You’ll also discover the stories of four women in an extraordinary period of their lives, three from the Land Army and one a Lumber Jill. 

The final section of the exhibition features various women’s land armies amongst the allied countries and looks at the long-awaited recognition for the women who fought in the fields and forests of Scotland.