Women in Frame

Exploring the lives of the women of Ulster's past through photography.

Two older women share a laugh together in a black and white photograph.

Women’s experience is and always has been infinitely more diverse than the stereotypes would allow.

Myrtle Hill and Vivienne Pollock

Women of Ireland

Photography offers a unique insight into the lives of the women of Ulster's past.

The women photographed in our collection differ in class, age, and background. Some women are named; most are not. Some photographs record women engaged in roles and work, upheld and performed by women for generations, while others show pioneering women, employed in vocations and industries from which they had previously been excluded.

All are important in understanding the historical experiences of women in Ireland, and all are worth celebrating.

Agricultural Labour

In the early twentieth century, many Irish photographers were interested in recording old rural customs and creating idyllic picture postcards¹. Consequently, some of their work records women engaged in agricultural labour, including these two photographs taken by W.A Green and Robert Welch.

Women and man in a field of flax — Women in a field, overlooked by a man, spreading out flax to dry. W.A. Green, HOYFM.WAG.1015

Girls in a field breaking clods with spade — Girls "setting" seed potatoes, breaking clods with spade, Glenshesk, Co. Antrim. Robert Welch, BELUM.Y.W.01.56.25

Linen

Ulster is historically famed for its linen production. Since the middle of the eighteenth century, linen was the most popular textile manufactured in Ireland².

With the industrialisation of Belfast, many factories and mills channelled their efforts into producing linen, to such a degree the city nicknamed ‘Linenopolis’.

Linen production would have been nothing without women. Photographs from the collection show them involved at every level; spinning flax, sewing and weaving the material, and working in large and often unhygienic mills and factories in Belfast.

Ladies scutching flax outside — A woman scutching flax to the side of a house with another lady in the background spinning. W.A. Green, HOYFM.WAG.1017

Two girls embroidering linen outside thatched house — Two girls embroidering linen outside, County Down. Robert Welch, BELUM.Y.W.05.99.22

Woman in linen factory — Brookfield Linen Company Ltd. Mill. Interior, 1911. A.R. Hogg, BELUM.Y3255

House and Home

Many images in our collection record the diverse domestic experience of women, from different classes and backgrounds.

A woman stands outside a lovely two-storey home in a black and white photograph. — A woman and man stand outside their house. HOYFM.DUNDEE.414

A woman stands outside a small thatched cottage in a black and white photograph. — A lantern slide of a woman outside her house in Cushendall. BELUM.Y12200

Two women sit with three children looking very well to do in the early 1900s. — Miss McKinney, Tom & Elsie McKinney, with Mrs Eva Fitzpatrick Mullen and children from Dublin. HOYFM.DUNDEE.359

Clubs and Societies

Many clubs and societies in Britain and Ireland had an exclusively male membership in the early twentieth century. Our photography collections contain a number of photographs recording women actively engaging in, or as members of, social clubs and societies.

A group of people dressed in early 19th century fashion pose on a lawn for a photograph. — Belfast Naturalists' Field Club, Parkmore Excursion. A.R. Hogg, HOYFM.ARH.256

While nearly all are middle-class, these photographs represent one way in which women were challenging cultural prejudices.

Ulster Arts Club, 1913. A.R. Hogg, BELUM.Y1608

Middle class men and women posing for photograph on a lawn — Ulster Arts Club, 1913. A.R. Hogg, BELUM.Y1608

Nursing

Women have often taken the lead in medically assisting and nursing those in their families and communities. A number of photographs show women working professionally as nurses in the early twentieth century.

Nurse weighing babies — A nurse in the Royal Maternity Hospital, Belfast, weighing two babies. Belfast Telegraph collection, HOYFM.BT.484

In these images, women are demonstrating new technology being used in their line of work.

A nurse and a technician are checking sterilisation chambers, a new technology in the 1900s. — A nurse and technician in the sterilising plant at The Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, 1943. Belfast Telegraph collection, HOYFM.BT.499

A nurse stands over an electrically-heated cot. — Sister Fummigan in The City Hospital, Belfast, with an electrically heated cot, 1948. Belfast Telegraph collection, HOYFM.BT.464

A nurse assists a doctor in demonstrating an x-ray machine. — A nurse assists a doctor in The Mater Hospital, Belfast, demonstrating the use of an X-ray machine. Belfast Telegraph collection, HOYFM.BT.468

Education

Photographs from the collections reflect the active role women in Ulster played in educating children and adults. This sample of images show women engaging in teaching professions in a variety of times and contexts.

Teachers and pupils standing outside School — 100 year old Cloy Primary School. The teacher, Miss Hazel Hetherington, standing outside the school with most of the 34 pupils, 1956. Belfast Telegraph collection, HOYFM.BT.1246

A black and white photograph of an outdoor school. — Graymount hospital outdoor school, Belfast. W.A. Green, HOYFM.WAG.3303

Teacher in the foreground talking and gesturing to children — Ashton Street Playscheme in Belfast, 1976. Philip Woods, BELUM.W2015.118.2.11 © Philip Woods under Kodak Bursary Scheme.

The Postal Service

The employment of women in the UK postal service expanded massively during the First World War, with thousands of women occupying temporary positions previously reserved for male staff.

This employment was further extended in the Second World War, with the Post Office calling for women to volunteer as postwomen before the Christmas of 1940. While initially a temporary measure, due to their impressive performance, the decision was made to retain them for further work. By November 1941, around 100,000 women were employed by the Post Office in either permanent or temporary capacities³.

These photographs show women working for the Postal Service in Belfast during the Christmas Rush in 1941 and 1942.

Woman delivering post — A postwoman delivering the Christmas mail to a house in Belfast, 1942. Belfast Telegraph collection, HOYFM.BT.1065

Postmen and Postwomen — Postmen being assisted by postwomen during the wartime Christmas rush, 1942. Belfast Telegraph collection, HOYFM.BT.1066

Postwomen in the post sorting office — Women in the sorting office of Belfast G.P.O., during the Christmas rush, 1941. Belfast Telegraph collection, HOYFM.BT.1067

Wartime Industry

During the Second World War, Barn Mills in Carrickfergus was taken over by Littlewoods of Liverpool, for the manufacturing of parachutes, flying suits, and Mae West life jackets. The mill, which had a largely female workforce, became the world’s largest parachute factory with approx. 1,200 employees⁴.

These photographs from the Belfast Telegraph collection provide a fascinating record of women at work in the factory.

Women packing small parachutes into containers — Packing small parachutes into containers. Littlewoods factory, 1944. HOYFM.BT.1060

Female workers at sewing machines making parachutes. Littlewoods factory, 1943. HOYFM.BT.1183

Women manufacturing dummies for parachutes — Manufacture of dummies for parachutes. Barn Mill, 1944. HOYFM.BT.1048

Quote: Myrtle Hill and Vivienne Pollock, Women of Ireland. Image and experience c.1880-1920 (Belfast 1993), p. 1.

W.A. Maguire, A Century in Focus: Photography and photographers in the North of Ireland 1839-1939 (Belfast, pp, 86-118).
Emily Boyle, '“Linenopolis” The rise of the textile industry’ in J C Beckett et al (eds) Belfast, The making of the city (Dublin 1983), p. 41
www.postalmuseum.org/collections/women/
Mid & East Antrim Borough Council, ‘Carrickfergus across the centuries: A walk through the historic town and harbour’ November 2020. P. 87

Research and writing for this story were contributed by Lucy Wray.

two women walking beside a donkey at ulster folk museum

Event

Womenfolk

Celebrate the stories of women this International Women's Day at Ulster Folk Museum

A collage of three black and white photographs of older women in the early-mid 1900s.

Stories

Women of the Ulster Folk Museum

Senior Curator of History, Victoria Millar, explores the lives of some of the women who lived in the buildings of the Ulster Folk Museum.

Elevated view of Kingsmere Avenue, Cliftonville Gardens

In Pictures

From Castles to the Poor House

Houses and homes are captured within our photographic collections. Explore the many dwellings captured in Northern Ireland, from country cottages to castles.