Jacket, uniform jacket

Winter uniform of a bus conductress employed by the London General Omnibus Company. The uniform comprises a jacket, skirt, hat, gaiters, bag and ticket holder. The wartime employment of women was originally opposed by the Amalgamated Association of Tramway and Vehicle Workers. But, by 1916, a shortage of male workers led the LGOC to employ women for the first time. Within a year over 2,500 women were employed by the company, the majority as bus conductresses. Before the war many of these young women had been domestic servants. Working on the buses gave them a more visible and public role in wartime London as well as greater economic and social independence.