HIP Progress Task 1

1.Question How significant were the contributions of people of the

home front to the British War Effort during World War II
2. Brief paragraph outlining why this question was chosen and what will be
investigated to answer the question.
In the beginning of the HIP process, my interests were rooted in events of social
history and I also had an interest in World War II. After deliberation, I decided that
the focus on the british home front during WWII was what my question would be
based upon. Originally, my question was Synthesise the effects of rationing,
evacuation and propaganda on civilians living on the British Home Front during
World War II. After deliberation and discussions on the actual effectiveness of this
question in relation to the task, I decided to focus the project more so on the
contribution of people of the British Home Front during the Second World War.
Additionally, the research conducted through investigating this question is much
less dense, if I had decided to stay with my first proposed question, the
information presented would be repetitive. In order to fully investigate this
question, a variety of resources must be used. In particular, the contribution of
women to the British War Effort will be researched intensely as well as the
changes in British society as a result of the war. In order to answer the question
accurately, legitimate information will be used as well as specific historical
sources that will be analysed to further the investigation of the question.

4. Annotation of two sources

Source 1:
The secondary source of a newspaper article
published three years post World War II is useful for a
variety of reasons. Mainly, this is because the article
focuses on post war British Society. The image
portrayed is of an immigration ship containing
hundreds of Jamaicans arriving in Tilbury to a warm
London welcome. This immigration not only was an
important historical event for Britain, but the start of a
new life for the immigrants travelling to the
Motherland. This aspect of the article is useful for
investigating the societal changes in World War II as
this event can be further investigated as an example
of how immigration altered British society. Also, the
article demonstrates the obvious ongoing sexism post
war in Britain as described in the Wife Deserts warblinded husband where in which a woman is
criticised for divorcing her husband. This aspect of the
article is very important for investigating the changes
in society for women in particular eg. Rights,

expectations etc. The strengths of the source are in the fact that there are a
variety of elements of post war british society included ie: immigration, sexism
towards women, the economy and promotion of the (then) modern household
cleaning appliances eg. Hoovers. Weaknesses in the newspaper article would be
the lack of specifics and the size of the article. In terms of reliability, the source
uses accurate, historical images and the information is of an unbiased nature
proving its reliability.

Source 2:
http://www.striking-women.org/module/women-and-work/world-war-ii1939-1945

The source of a case study of British women in the WLA contains memoirs of
Grace Wallace who began serving the WLA at the age of 16. As the source is a
direct insight into a first-hand experience of being a part of the WLA, its nature is
descriptive and refers to the emotional side of experience. This source is
particularly useful for investigating the contribution of women to the British War
Effort as it is not of a vast length, yet important points can be noted from it
regarding the experience and reality of the WLA through ones own account. The
source is has strength in its succinct nature, the inclusion of poignant issues for
women in the WLA eg sexism, unfair treatment. The source is well written and
includes a realistic retelling of events. However, the source is has weaknesses as
no specific statistics or people are mentioned as well as the potential fact that
the source could be of a biased nature as it is a personal memoir. The reliability
of the source is reliable to a certain extent. The information gathered from the
source can be deemed as fairly accurate as research suggests the reality of
being in the WLA was similar to Wallaces memoir. In saying this however, the
source is based on memories therefore some details could potentially not be
accurate.