Royal Voluntary Service

The Royal Voluntary Service (known as the Women's Voluntary Services (WVS) from 1938 to 1966; Women's Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS) from 1966 to 2004 and WRVS from 2004 to 2013) is a voluntary organisation concerned with helping people in need throughout England, Scotland and Wales. It was founded in 1938 by Stella Isaacs, Marchioness of Reading, as a British women's organisation to recruit women into the Air Raid Precautions (ARP) services to help in the event of War.

On 16 May 1938, the British government set out the objectives of the Women's Voluntary Service for Civil Defence:

It was seen "as the enrolment of women for Air Raid Precaution Services of Local Authorities, to help to bring home to every household what air attack may mean, and to make known to every household [in the country] what it can do to protect itself and the community."

In the words of Home Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare, "as regards their civil defence functions, the Minister regards the Women's Voluntary Service as occupying ... much the same relationship as that of the women's auxiliary services for the armed forces of the Crown."

Immediately after its formation, Queen Mary assumed the role of patron while Queen Elizabeth began serving as its president in December 1938.

The WVS/WRVS was a voluntary organisation, and it was Lady Reading's vision that there would be no ranks. It was perhaps the only organisation where you could find a Duchess and a charlady working side by side. While many members of the WVS mucked in on pretty much all tasks, an organisation without any hierarchy would not have worked so, while there were no ranks, there were titles. Women were recruited for specific tasks, whether that was to drive ambulances, join in a knitting work party, or to collect National Savings. Inevitably those women who signed up for one thing often ended up being co-opted for other work, especially if they showed aptitude.

The WVS was split into 12 Regions (using the same boundaries as the Civil Defence Corps) which started with 1 in the NE of England and moved clockwise down the country and back up. Scotland was Region 11 and London Region 12. Each Region had a Regional Administrator who was paid for by the Home Office. Under this each county had a County Organiser and 'staff' and below that were the Centres. During and after the Second World War there were almost 2,000 WVS centres around Great Britain (and in Northern Ireland during the Second World War), each at the sharp end of providing help to their communities. Each was prominently positioned within a town or village and was run by a Centre Organiser appointed by Headquarters in London. Each Centre Organiser had a team of members who were responsible for different aspect of WVS work e.g. evacuation, Training, Food or Clothing. Under their direction were the 'ordinary' members.

While Centre Organisers had ultimate control over the work they did in their areas, they were tightly scrutinised by the County and Regional offices and Headquarters. Each Centre had to file a monthly Narrative Report in quadruplicate which allowed both the sharing of good practice and ideas, but also allowed those in charge to keep tabs on their members. These Narrative reports which were produced from 1938-1992 are inscribed on the UK Memory of the World Register, part of UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme and are considered one of the most important documents for social and women's history produced in the 20th century. In addition headquarters issued substantial numbers of circular notices each year informing Organisers of new projects and re-enforcing the rules and regulations.