{"product_id":"rare-ww1-british-war-victory-medal-female-recipient-awarded-to-worker-telegraphist-lottie-eleanor-stevens-queen-mary-s-army-auxilliary-corps-formerly-women-s-army-auxilliary-corps-brass-q-m-a-a-c-cap-badge-attached-re-signal-service","title":"Rare WW1 British War \u0026 Victory Medal (female recipient) – Awarded to Worker (TELEGRAPHIST) LOTTIE ELEANOR STEVENS Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps, formerly Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps + brass Q.M.A.A.C. cap badge – Attached RE Signal Service","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eStock Reference – MM-MED-0058\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-family: Aptos; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eRare WW1 British War \u0026amp; Victory Medal (female recipient) – Awarded to Worker (TELEGRAPHIST) LOTTIE ELEANOR STEVENS Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps, formerly Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps + brass Q.M.A.A.C. cap badge – Attached RE Signal Service\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eYou are looking at a rare British War Medal and Victory Medal pair awarded to female recipient, Worker (TELEGRAPHIST) 1595 LOTTIE ELEANOR STEVENS of the Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps, formerly of the Woman’s Army Auxiliary Corps. The medals come with the recipients Q.M.A.A.C. cap badge. \u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eThe medal is inscribed ‘1595 WKR. L.E.STEVENS. Q.M.A.A.C.’\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eThe Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (W.A.A.C.) were formed in 1917, following the Battle of the Somme (1916), with senior commanders realising there was a need to recruit female service personnel to handle some of the duties carried out by soldiers who could be released for front line duties....The all-female recruits were employed in various roles, such as catering, as clerks, drivers and telephone operators, in stores.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eQueen MARY became the patron of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps on the 9\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e of April 1918, at which point the corps was renamed the Queen MARY’S Army Auxiliary Corps.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eBetween January 1917 and November 1918, around 57,000 women enlisted into the W.A.A.C. \u0026amp; Q.M.A.A.C., and around 17,000 members served overseas, most in France, but with never more than 9,000 servicewomen deployed overseas at any one time, and towards the end of WW1 there were just over 40,000 still serving, with around 7,000 serving in France. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eOf the 57,000 members of the Q.M.A.A.C., it is believed that between 1,500 and 2,500 were employed as telephonists and telegraphists, but they were very different roles, telephonists involved in the operation of switchboards and the routing of telephones, and telegraphists operating more complex electronic equipment, transmitting data by Morse Code etc.....The exact numbers of telephonists compared to telegraphists is not known, but it is estimated that there were probably 3 x telephonists to every 1 x telegraphist, and previous research has suggested that there was in fact 400 to 600 actual telegraphists who served with the Q.M.A.A.C., although there is no definitive information to confirm this. \u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eMost of the Q.M.A.A.C. telegraphists were specifically recruited \/ headhunted to serve in the corps, and by agreement with their employer the General Post Office (GPO). They were selected for the telegraphy skills they possessed and the fact that they could be immediately deployed into an active overseas role without the need for formal training.\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eLOTTIE, with the service number 1595, was one of the early pioneering women who enlisted into the Q.M.A.A.C., and as a ‘TELEGRAPHIST’, based on the uncorroborated figures provided above, she was one of a relatively small number of female telegraphists who served with the Q.M.A.A.C. in France, making her WW1 medal pair a particularly rare set of medals.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eLOTTIE ELEANOR STEVENS, the daughter of JOHN and CLARA STEVENS. was born at Withycombe Raleigh, Exmouth in Devon on the 1\u003csup\u003est\u003c\/sup\u003e of January 1895.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eShe obtained her Civil Service Certificate (Civil Service Commission Examination) on the 20\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e of July 1911, when she was sixteen years old, and less than two weeks later, on the 31\u003csup\u003est\u003c\/sup\u003e of July, she entered the Post Office as a ‘Learner’ or probationer, completing her probationary service on the 1\u003csup\u003est\u003c\/sup\u003e of March 1913, and commencing in the permanent rank of ‘Sorting Clerk \u0026amp; Telegraphist’ on the 2\u003csup\u003end\u003c\/sup\u003e of March.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"tab-stops: 35.45pt;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eOn the 25\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e of June 1917, LOTTIE ELEANOR STEVENS of 19 George Street in Exmouth, a ‘telegraphist’ by profession, and an employee of the Post Office, enlisted into the ‘Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (W.A.A.C.)’ at London, and having been accepted into the Corps, she was immediately posted to Cardiff as a ‘telegraphist’.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eJust over one month later, on the 29\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e of July 1917, LOTTIE embarked onto a ship at Southampton, and she disembarked at Le Havre the following day, the 30\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e of July, at which point she was sent to Rouen, where she served in ‘Signal Unit APO2 BEF’, or more precisely, ‘Army Post Office 2’ at Rouen, whose communications work came under the control of the Royal Engineers Signal Service. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eHer service record shows a number of entries relating to her movements whilst in France, with many made, authorised or acknowledged by an officer in the Royal Engineers, or ‘R.Es’ as they appear in the record, that appears to confirm\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003eLOTTIE was under the direct control of the ‘Royal Engineers Signal Service’. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"pdq2pgselectionanchorcontainer\" style=\"line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 8.0pt 0cm;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; font-weight: normal;\"\u003eFrom contemporary newspaper reports, there were at least two enemy air attacks on Rouen in 1918, during the time LOTTIE was serving there, one on the 27\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e of May and the other on the 31\u003csup\u003est\u003c\/sup\u003e of July, but no evidence to suggest the signal unit in which she was employed or the location she and her colleagues were billeted was struck.....However, it is worth noting that overnight of the 29\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e-30\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e of May, just two days after the first aerial attack, Q.M.A.A.C. Camp No. 1 in Abbeville was attacked by German aircraft with the loss of 9 x members of the corps, with colleagues photographs showing members of the corps marching in the funeral procession.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"pdq2pgselectionanchorcontainer\" style=\"line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 8.0pt 0cm;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; font-weight: normal;\"\u003eTo members of the Q.M.A.A.C. serving in France, the loss of their comrades must have brought into sharp focus the world in which they were living and the dangers they faced.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"pdq2pgselectionanchorcontainer\" style=\"line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 8.0pt 0cm;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eLOTTIE was still serving in France when the war ended, and on the 21\u003csup\u003est\u003c\/sup\u003e of December 1918, LOTTIE was admitted to hospital and found to be suffering from keloid scars on her chest...She was discharged from hospital on the 8\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e of January 1919, and having been granted a period of leave, appears to have been employed in minor duties at the Connaught Club at the Marble Arch in London, also referred to as the ‘Marble Arch Dispersal Hostel’ that was used by the Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps’ as a dispersal and demobilisation centre for those members of the corps returning home from France.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"pdq2pgselectionanchorcontainer\" style=\"line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 8.0pt 0cm;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Aptos',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eShe was awarded the Silver War Badge.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eIn April 1919, a representative of the ‘Postmaster General to State’ wrote to the Army Council, providing that they had received a report to the effect that Miss ELEANOR STEVENS, who enrolled as a telegraphist in the QMAAC for service in France , was unfit for further foreign service and currently on minor duties at the Connaught Club. The letter went on to ask, that due to the shortage of women telegraphists in the Post Office, that Miss STEVENS, in fact all women telegraphists in the QMAAC who were deemed unfit for foreign service, should be returned to their normal duties in the post office, and they asked for LOTTIE to be discharged.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eShe was discharged on medical grounds\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003eon the 4\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e of April 1919, according to one record, although another suggests she was discharged on the 1\u003csup\u003est\u003c\/sup\u003e of June that same year, \u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003ebut on a medical authority dated the 3\u003csup\u003erd\u003c\/sup\u003e of April.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eIn 1919, LOTTIE married ARTHUR BLAKE, with the event registered at St Thomas in Devon in the September quarter of that year, St Thomas being the registration district in which Withycombe Raleigh appears, and where LOTTIE was born....She therefore married within a short period of her having been discharged from the Q.M.A.A.C. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eLOTTIE and ARTHUR had two children, ELEONAR B B BLAKE born 1921 and JOHN A B BLAKE born 1925, and in 1925, the family were living at 18 Militia Buildings in the Chester area.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eARTHUR BLAKE may have had some issues of a criminal nature in 1928, and it is not clear what happened to him after that, but he does not appear alongside his wife and daughter in the 1939 Register, when they were living in Bristol and both employed as S.C. \u0026amp; T staff within the General Post Office. It is likely LOTTIE was no longer with ARTHUR at the time, because she married TOM POWELL in 1942, with the event registered at Wallasey and in 1945 she was living at 16 St Lukes Place in Cheltenham.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eLOTTIE’S son JOHN ARTHUR BUCKLEY BLAKE served with the Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort’s Own) during WW2, as a rifleman, and he was killed on the 29\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e of March 1945 at the age of 19 years.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eTOM POWELL, of 62 St Nicholas Road in Wallasey, died on the 30\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e of May 1950, with the administration of his estate handled by his wife LOTTIE ELEANOR POWELL. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eLOTTIE ELEANOR BLAKE-POWELL, born 1\u003csup\u003est\u003c\/sup\u003e January 1895, died in 1986 at the age of 91 years, with her death registered at Exeter in the November of that year.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eSELLER NOTE – When acquired, these medals were attached to a card, with their ribbons glued to the card itself. The seller has removed them from the card and attempted to remove some of the original glue, but the ribbons, if original, are in the state you can see in the photographs provided. \u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eSELLER NOTE = Supporting documentation obtained and \/ or created during this research will be provided.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Maddox Medals \u0026 Militaria ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54696172683610,"sku":null,"price":350.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1013\/7180\/6042\/files\/IMG_4769.jpg?v=1788457929","url":"https:\/\/maddoxmedals.co.uk\/products\/rare-ww1-british-war-victory-medal-female-recipient-awarded-to-worker-telegraphist-lottie-eleanor-stevens-queen-mary-s-army-auxilliary-corps-formerly-women-s-army-auxilliary-corps-brass-q-m-a-a-c-cap-badge-attached-re-signal-service","provider":"Maddox Medals \u0026 Militaria ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}