WOMEN who had vital roles in the First World War are remembered in a one-woman show by Bradford actress and historian Irene Lofthouse.

In Words, Women & War: Forgotten Female Voices of the Great War, which went down a storm at the recent Ilkley Literature Festival, Irene portrays four Yorkshirewomen who each made different contributions.

“I started researching the four women back in 2016, with support from Colin Neville, Lucy London, Jacey Bedford, local studies’ libraries and archives at Leeds University,” says Irene. “I did two pilot shows asking for comments, which fed into the show’s development, and I polished it with the brilliant direction of Yvette Huddleston.”

The four women are Bradford-born Alberta Vickridge who was a VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse), a poet, a friend of Agatha Christie and JB Priestley and a publisher of poetry and prose magazines; Leeds-based Dorothy Una Ratcliffe, the city’s youngest mayoress in 1913, who was a socialite, Leeds PALS fundraiser, poet, Yorkshire dialect and Romany lore expert; Betty Stevenson from Harrogate who fought to be allowed to become a YMCA volunteer driver of wounded soldiers in France; and York woman Flora Sandes who went from being a volunteer nurse to a frontline soldier with the Serbian army, rising up through the ranks.

“As a historian, I believe it’s vital to share stories to understand and recognise how people came out of their ‘comfort zones’, took risks and instigated social change for themselves and others, sometimes without realising,” says Irene.

“The women in this show were from the middle class, but the impact of being at war, in Flora’s case literally, or the experience of nursing the wounded had a big impact on the way they continued to view the world.”

Now in its third year of touring, Words, Women and War has been performed at literature and arts festivals across Yorkshire, and Irene is often asked how she creates the voices of the different women. “It can be hard when there are no recordings,” she said. “I did discover that the late (local historian) Ian Dewhirst knew Dorothy Una Ratcliffe, so I performed a little speech of hers to Ian to find out if I was anywhere near her accent. ‘Oh aye, you’ve got her to a T,’ he said. I was chuffed with that.”

Irene’s interest in bringing hidden histories and secret stories -particularly of women - back into the spotlight, has resulted in her performing as 12 different women so far this year, including Anne Lister and Louise Whitfield Carnegie, wife of philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.

This latest show, which is suitable for audiences aged 14-plus, will be followed by an audience Q&A.

* Words, Women & War: Forgotten Female Voices of the Great War is at Silsden Town Hall on Saturday, November 9.

Doors are open 6.30pm. For tickets go to ticketsource.co.uk/friendsofsilsdentownhall, silsdentownhall.org.uk or enquiries@silsdentownhall.org.uk. Tickets are also available at Twiggs Newsagent in Silsden.

Emma Clayton