The Hinterland in WWII

The Second World War had a massive impact on civilian lives, town or country. The Emergency Powers (Defence) Act, 1939, mean that all lives could be controlled by diktat by the government in London.

Whilst farming families in rural Ceredigion were self-sufficient to a certain extent, war brought a demand for Britain as a whole to be far more self-reliant for its food. Pre-war it had relied on its empire to provide; by the middle of 1940, imported food supplied had diminished by 85% because of U-boat activity in the Atlantic. Growing potatoes was seen as a national insurance against starvation. The countryside was perceived as depressed and run-down. County War Agricultural Executive Committees (Warags) were set up, giving local officials responsibility for controlling all aspects of farming and rural communities. The popularity of this policy was not helped by the appointment of men from Aberystwyth University as Warag officials. Perceived by locals as youngsters who knew nothing about farming, they were drafted in because the Aberystwyth University agriculture department had been closed for the duration of the war.

The Thomas family, Southgate, harvesting. Image from People's Collection Wales 

The officials were responsible for ensuring that Ceredigion’s 15,000 acre share of the Welsh180,000 ploughing quota was fulfilled. Those traditional upland ways were deemed insufficiently efficient in producing those staple foods that would stave off starvation. Farmers, who knew all too well, the limitations of their land, were taken to court if they failed to comply. Growing potatoes at high elevation and in damp conditions has never been a good idea. Aberystwyth’s hinterland seems to have avoided the invasion of Irish labour to drain areas that was the fate of parts of Montgomeryshire. There were 116 court cases in Ceredigion, where farmers were prosecuted for failure to follow the strict rules, reported in the Cambrian News between 1940 and 1944. The ultimate penalty was the requisitioning of land. The case of a single woman being dispossessed of her farm in Rhydlewis in 1942 is well-documented in the paper. Branded an eccentric for her defence, she labelled the Warag across Ceredigion as ‘a pack of Gestapo’. The situation escalated to the point when she threatened to shoot the new tenant and was restrained by the police. Ultimately she was allowed to keep her house; the farm remained confiscated. 

The same threat - comply or be ousted - hung over the heads of all farmers across the Aberystwyth hinterland and the protection of their property was the highest priority for Ceredigion folk living off the land. But compulsory cultivation orders were just one threat to rural lives in the detailed new legislation. Those trying to feed themselves by catching rabbits, as they had done for years, provided a steady stream into the courts of people accused of poaching. Perhaps they were and heightened vigilance was catching them out. All minor infringements across the newly regulated countryside provided lucrative business for lawyers as they prosecuted ‘offences against the realm’.

Whilst farming was technically a reserved occupation, more and more men were called up. Shortage of labour led to the ‘invasion’ of the Women’s Land Army, the WLA, or  the Land Girls as they were known. Unwelcome until they became assimilated, their hard work earned them respect and local people realised how genuinely helpful they were. There were over 200,000 deployed across Britain between June 1939 and November 1950. Employed to increase food production and with little or no previous agricultural experience, they did the ploughing, milked cows, caught rats and took on any other jobs that needed doing.

The land army women of Bow Street at the threshing machine.

There is little documentation about WLA work across the Aberystwyth area but Meinir Jones Davies’ photographs of the WLA at Bow Street, above, present an invaluable record. (see our blog of March 2021 for more on the Bow Street Land Army)

WLA official uniform was smart yet practical. There are great tales recorded by women who loved Aberystwyth and remained in the area. For Aberystwyth town, a lively crowd with purchasing power and filling those cinema seats certainly had its advantages.

 

Mary Bott, land girl, in her uniform. Photo from West Wales Veterans Archive

Prisoners of war provided another source of rural labour. There was a camp south of Henllan in the south of the county, and prisoners were billeted to local farms. By 1943 there were thirty-two POWS  in Ceredigion. PC Evans-Vaughan seems to have been kept busy, dashing around trying to ensure there was no fraternisation with locals and that POWs were in their billets by ten o’clock at night. There are stories of him getting one POW out of bed, who was refusing to eat or work, and reassuring a single elderly lady who had seen one of them taking a walk at 11.15 at night.

It was the Irish workers, and their enthusiasm for tipple, who presented more of a challenge for the Aliens Office at Aberystwyth police station. There were thirty Irish labourers billeted around Tal-y-bont in 1943. Most of them worked on the Reclamation Scheme in Ynys-las. The task of overseeing their movements and checking their leave certificates fell to PC Evans-Vaughan. He felt sorry for them. In January 1944, he wrote to the Aberystwyth Aliens Office showing pity and sympathy for those who were illiterate and unable to fill in a simple form. He explained why he had typed out the forms and the addresses. PC Evans-Vaughan, proactive and compassionate, clearly had a great impact in safeguarding the emotional welfare and safety of the people of Aberystwyth. It would be great if someone could provide us with a photograph and more information about that admirable man. 

Blog by Alison Elliott

Sources:

County Council War Emergency Committee
R J Moore-Colyer. ‘The County War Agricultural Executive Committees; The Welsh                         Experience.’ Welsh History Review, 22 (2005)
Report of Chief Constable to County Council, 25 March 1944