Women's Volunteer Reserve, Headquarters Battalion, London, 1917

Photograph by Pamona Limited, 60 Doughty Street, London, World War One, 1917.

Originally founded as the Women's Emergency Corps in 1914 by the Honourable Evelina Haverfield (1867-1920), the Women's Volunteer Reserve was established to provide support in raising funds for the war effort and providing services such as canteens and clubs for soldiers.

Haverfield was a militant and influential suffragette, so members of the organisation tended to be a mixture of feminists and, because of the need to pay for one's own uniform, wealthier members of society.

One of two group photographs of the Womens' Volunteer Reserve, 1917.