Ladies Only: researching the Southern Railway 4-Sub

Myself and others on my team have been doing some research about the vehicles on display in the Great Hall here at York. One of the vehicles I’ve been looking at is the Southern Railway (SR) 4-sub, number S8143S. I must confess that I’ve developed quite a soft spot for this particular vehicle! Built in 1925, it ran on the largest electrified railway network of the period, transporting huge numbers of people in and out of London.


‘Electrification’, SR poster, 1925.


Two things about this vehicle really interest me. First, the posters that advertise SR suburban services are fantastic:


‘The Quickest Way Between Two Points’, SR poster, 1931.
You’ll be able to see this poster in our next Art Gallery exhibition: It’s Quicker by Rail (4 July-6 October 2013)


‘So Swiftly Home’, SR poster, 1932.


The other thing that intrigues me about this vehicle is the presence of a ladies only compartment.


The Ladies Only compartment on our SR 4-Sub


Ladies Only compartments were first introduced in 1874 by the Metropolitan Railway. It appears that the uptake for these compartments was quite low – the practice soon became to reserve a compartment on request, rather than all the time. So part of me wonders why the SR chose to maintain the service right into at least the 1920s, when this carriage was built.

One thing that Bob Gwynne, our Associate Curator of the vehicle collection, and I have been discussing is whether there is any connection to growing female employment after the First World War. Reading around the subject, it appears that the period immediately after the War saw a boom in female employment, particularly in clerical roles. By 1931 women accounted for 42% of the clerical workforce. This was also accompanied by a shift in attitude. Whereas clerical work had previously been seen as a suitable point for working class boys to enter a middle-class profession, by the 1930s it had been redefined as a well-paid, secure and most importantly respectable job for women prior to marriage.


SR poster advertising clerical jobs for women.


It’s probably not too much of a leap to assume that a sudden upsurge of single, young women travelling to work resulted in railway companies providing Ladies Only compartments. I don’t know how far we can stretch the link, but it has certainly made me look at the 4-sub carriage in a new light.

References

‘Poverty and Aspiration: Young Women’s Entry to Employment in Inter-war England’, Selina Todd; Twentieth Century British History, Vol. 15, No. 2 (2004), pp. 119-142.

http://turniprail.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/rise-and-fall-of-ladies-only-railway.html

Filed under: Rail vehicle collections

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Ruth

I seem to remember "ladies only" compartments on the old Southern Electric units on the Brighton line when I was young in the 1960s so they lasted well beyond the 1920s.

I suspect that they were only found in non-corridor coaches so that women had a compartment which they could use without fear of finding themselves alone with one or more undesireable male and no means of escape. Side corridor coaches at least allowed them to move to another compartment if this situation arose but in non corridor stock there was a real fear of being trapped with a potential molesterer or murderer.

The need for such compartments died out with the demise of non corridor trains.

In a similar vein it would be interesting to know when designated "smoking" compartments first appeared and when they were superseded by designated "non smoking" compartments.

Peter James

 

Re 'smoking/non-smoking' markings. Most railways banned smoking in carriages, but a clause in the 1868 Railway Regulation Act compelled railways to provide a at least one carriage for smokers unless specially exempted by the Board of Trade. Such smoking accommodation was usually marked for smokers.

However, in the 1923 Baedeker's Guide to London Railways the introduction of 'non-smoking' signs is commented upon, and during the 1920s this became the common practice. Ultimately London Transport and then the national network introduced 'No Smoking' both in trains and at stations.

(Information from "The Oxford Companion to British Railways History")

 

...So part of me wonders why the SR chose to maintain the service right into at least the 1920s, when this carriage was built......

....I seem to remember "ladies only" compartments on the old Southern Electric units on the Brighton line when I was young in the 1960s so they lasted well beyond the 1920s.....

I clearly recall, as a schoolboy, "Ladies Only" compartments marked on 4-SUB vehicles running services on the Shepperton branch in the mid-1970s......

 

I can clearly remember "Ladies Only" compartments on the Clacton local units in the 1970s.

 

And on the double deck units to Dartford

 

One of the Bluebell's Maunsell coaches has a ladies only compartment see http://paulsimpson.zenfolio.com/p404890863/h59f21204#h59f21204

 

With certain of my boisterous school friends, I used to enjoy riding in those compartments which were always curiously empty of ladies. We never got thrown out of them. Simple juvenile pleasures.

Roger

 

I remember reading a Railway Magazine news item in the mid 70s saying the last Ladies Only compartments were finally being phased out. Can't remenber where the last ones were but 4-Sub units were still around at that time.

 

I seem to recall that the 4-SUB units were replaced on the Shepperton branch services around 1978/9.

 

There were ladies only compartments on the Northern Heights Suburbans out of King's Cross/Moorgate/Broad Street in the 60's and possibly early 70's (I had never come across such things before and was told off for trying to get into one...!) - and I think, although I might not be remembering this correctly, that these were in Mk 1 suburban carriages.

Steve B