MISS GERTRUDE SHAW When in the spring of 1915 the cry for “shells and more shells” was answered by an almost miraculous development of munition factories, it was hardly contemplated what an immense share women would be able to take in the production of the output. It soon became apparent, however, that the national reserve of labour lay with them. In their tens of thousands women answered the appeal; in many cases leaving their homes to settle in munition areas where population was already congested, or where housing accommodation was on the smallest scale. To maintain the efficiency of these new industrial workers, it was clear that steps must be taken to secure suitable provision for food and shelter. The problem, indeed, soon became acute in some centres, and wide experiments for the protection of the women workers were made. That the results have been so good is due to the exertion of certain individual women of forceful character and of organising genius, and of these Miss Gertrude Shaw is an outstanding figure. Trained from the outset of her life for the teaching profession, Miss Shaw rose to a headmistress-ship of a higher-grade girl’s school at Leeds, and proceeded in 1913 to fill the post of responsible mistress at the Women’s Institute, Woolwich. Besides her literary and scientific qualifications, Miss Shaw had specialised in several domestic subjects, including laundry and cookery; she had also obtained the Royal Sanitary Institute’s certificates as school nurse and health visitor. She was thus fully equipped for the task when the sudden war demand arose at Woolwich for the safeguarding of the health of women munition workers. The first necessity was the provision of adequate meals in the vicinity of the works. This demand was at once met by voluntary effort, and it was under the leadership of Lady Henry Grosvenor that Miss Shaw entered the service of the Y.M.C.A. as superior of canteens. She was thus “in at the birth” of the first canteen for girl munition workers at the Arsenal, and subsequently became responsible for the staff, catering, and equipment of four mess-rooms.