Some members of the Women’s Auxiliary Services in Warren Gardens, Lisburn, 1941 (ILC&LM Collection). Maureen Crothers is third from right, wearing her WVS uniform. The full list of names from left to right are: Miss Scott, Dr May Quinn (WVS), R. Gibson (Air Raid Precuations), unknown member of the Red Cross, H. Houghton, Mrs Brown (Red Cross), Mrs Deans (WVS), John D. Barbour (Lisburn Urban District Council), Maureen Crothers (WVS), Mrs Isobel King (WVS), and Mrs G. Gillespie (WVS).
During the Second World War, many women volunteered in auxiliary services on the home front, including the Red Cross and St. John’s Ambulance Brigade. One of the most popular organisations was the Women’s Voluntary Service or WVS. It was established in Northern Ireland in 1941, and membership peaked at around 24,000. Their duties included allocating clothes to evacuees, distributing Red Cross parcels, canteen services, home help, salvage, and transport.
In September 1944, a team of 20 members from Northern Ireland went to London to relieve the city’s WVS. They had been strained by the damage caused by German flying bombs, launched by the Nazis in the aftermath of D-Day.
Lisburn’s WVS District Organiser was Maureen Louisa Crothers. After the war, Maureen took an active part in local charitable work and was the organist in Legacurry Presbyterian Church. She married the Rev. David McKinney of Dundrod in 1963. Following in the footsteps of her mother, Alderman Sarah Crothers, Maureen was an active member of the local council and was elected Mayor of Lisburn from 1983-5.
Maureen’s WVS uniform is part of the museum’s collection and can be viewed at our exhibition, D-Day 1944: Wartime Lisburn and the Battle for Normandy (ends Autumn 2024). We also have other items on display highlighting the vital role played by women both at home and at the front.