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Women’s Patriotic Association
The following section is based upon
Gale Warren, “The Patriotic Association of the Women of Newfoundland: 1914–1918,”
Newfoundland Quarterly 92.1 (Summer 1998).
On August 31, 1914, Lady Margaret Davidson, wife of the governor, called upon “the women of Newfoundland to assist in aiding the British Empire in the present crisis by providing the
necessities needed by our soldiers at the front” (Daily News 1 Sept. 1914: 5). Seven hundred
women attended the first meeting. Those in attendance passed a resolution to form a “Patriotic
Association of the Women of Newfoundland” with the object of helping the men of
Newfoundland in the defence of the British Empire.
Making supplies, ca. 1915.
Women’s Patriotic Association, St. John Ambulance Division,
making supplies at Mrs. Browning’s.
Courtesy of the Centre for Newfoundland Studies Archives (Mary Southcott Collection 190),
Queen Elizabeth II Library, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland.
(19 Kb)
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The next step in the organization of the Women’s Patriotic Association (WPA) was an
island-wide appeal. Lady Davidson sent letters to magistrates and justices
of the peace throughout the island asking them to hold meetings with the prominent women in each community
with a view to establishing WPA branches outside St. John’s. In the outports, as was often the case in St. John’s,
the WPA was formed around existing women’s denominational groups or the ladies’ auxiliaries of
fraternal organizations.
Branch membership in the WPA extended beyond the local elite. By the end of 1914, the WPA’s
island-wide membership had reached 15,000. Over the course of the war these women,
scattered throughout the colony in 218 local branches, were responsible for raising over
$500,000 in support of the war effort.
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Contribution of ten dollars, ca. 1916.
Courtesy of the Bartlett family.
(23 Kb)
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In addition to their monetary efforts Newfoundland women knitted scarves, socks, helmets and
waistcoats for the men overseas. On May 27, 1915, the women of the WPA sent the first
consignment of 40 cases and barrels filled with warm clothes and comforts to the troops. Between 1914
and 1916, the women produced 62,685 pairs of socks, 8,984 pairs of cuffs (mittens with a trigger finger),
and 22,422 mufflers. The WPA also aided the Red Cross and nursing services by preparing medical materials
for the war.
Surgical dressings, n.d.
The caption on the photo reads: “Surgical dressings sterilized and
ready for 1,000 cases.”
Courtesy of the Centre for Newfoundland Studies Archives (Mary Southcott Collection 190),
Queen Elizabeth II Library, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland.
(25 Kb)
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The WPA also established a “Visiting Committee” which kept in touch with the parents or
relatives of the Newfoundland volunteers and Naval reservists. In the St. John’s area alone,
between 1914 and 1919, the committee made 11,270 visits.
The WPA established a Belgian refugee fund and the Alliance Française Fund.
The next page contains an excerpt from a book co-written by Tryphena Duley and her daughter
Margaret Duley during the Great War called
A Pair of Grey
Socks. Margaret, who went on to become one of Newfoundland’s best-known authors, wrote the poem of
the same name in honour of the work of the women of Newfoundland.
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