The ladies who spent the First World War fighting... to get to the bar: Newspaper archives reveal outrage at 'army of women' who spent conflict down the pub Newspaper archives show growing concern over soldiers' wives who took over pubs during WWI It was thought the women took to drinking more as they had more freedom over household money There was sometimes no alcohol left for men leaving work in the pubs where women would pass time By Sam Greenhill While the Tommies were in the trenches fighting the Kaiser, the womenfolk of Britain were back home toiling to keep the country functioning. Well, most of them were. Others, it seems, spent the First World War down the pub, taking advantage of certain freedoms that came with the fact most of the nation's young men had been sent away to the front line. Moral outrage was sparked by an "army of women" filling Britain's public houses, leading to demands for Government action to keep them at home. 'The army of women crowding public-houses': The Manchester Evening News reports the hoards of women who took to drinking in pubs during WWI By trawling local newspaper archives, the family history website Genes Reunited found the problem cropping up all over the country, as indignation spread at the sight of women carousing in alehouses. Some were even compared to prostitutes as newspapers reported calls for "drastic" action. Men who stayed in Britain and worked long hours found pubs had even run out of supplies by the time the ladies had finished at the bar. One disgruntled worker wrote to the Liverpool Echo in February 1918 about the "army of women crowding the public houses." He complained: "The amount of liquor drunk by women on licensed premises is abnormal, and it is a fact that men returning from work at 9pm are often unable to obtain any refreshment." He suggested landlords should keep aside "a small surplus of supplies for their male customers who are "doing their bit" working late at night." Similar grievances were aired in Hull, while in Dundee there were calls for the Sheriff to take action to "lessen the evil." 'An excessive amount of drinking' was reported in Dundee, prompting the Sheriff to take action against the situation which 'demanded drastic treatment' Having control of money seems to have enabled women to socialise more. In 1914, the Aberdeen Journal reported: "Having more money than usual, there were only too many [people] ready to help them to spend it in the wrong way." In 1916, the matter was debated by Bootle Licensing Magistrates, one of whom, Captain Oversby, said: "The great increase in the number of women visiting public-houses during the past year has demanded drastic treatment." The licensing magistrates proposed refurbishing all public houses, to do away with "partitions, snugs and other obstacles likely to facilitate secret drinking." In 1915, the Manchester Evening News reported a member of the county magistrates, Mr Theophilus Simpson, had been shocked to count "26 women enter a licensed house in ten minutes, with 16 coming out who he had not seen enter." The United Free Church Presbytery found that the women 'were given to excess before', reports the Manchester Evening News, while a female writer tries to explain the 'toiling' of women in the working classes in another newspaper article He likened this behaviour to that of a prostitute, remarking: "Some people said women have a right to spend their money as they liked; they might as well say they had a right to sell themselves if they like." Rhoda Breakell, of Genes Reunited. said: 'Despite the negative press, women continued to enjoy themselves in the pubs. These were stressful times but the war also gave women more freedoms, because a lot of the men were away and they had greater control over the family finances. Our researchers found that all over Britain there were concerns about the amount of women drinking in pubs.