Ellen Bulfield: a clippie’s war
Introduction
During the First World War, around 18,000 women took on roles in London’s transport companies, helping keep the city moving. Prominent among this contingent were women who worked for the London General Omnibus Company (LGOC), London’s largest bus company at the time.
Women conductors, known as ‘clippies’ after the ticket-clipping machine they used, were among the most visible roles in London. Ellen Bulfield was one of the very first female conductors to join the LGOC and was also the last to leave after the end of the war.
LGOC women conductors were to be between 21 and 35 years of age and had to be five feet tall, though women outside of these parameters were sometimes recruited. Their distinctive navy-blue uniform became a common sight in wartime London. Ellen Bulfield joined the LGOC in March 1916 and is shown in this photo with fellow recruits, sitting first on the right in the front row.
Ellen was one of 4,600 women to work for the LGOC during the First World War period. After joining she worked as a conductor mainly on the 41 bus route between Muswell Hill and Turnpike Lane in north London.
In over three and a half years of service, the Daily Sketch newspaper estimated Ellen had travelled over 70,000 miles while working as a conductor. She was presented with this certificate to mark her wartime service, which came to an end in November 1919. Ellen was the very last female wartime clippie to leave the LGOC.
This photo was taken to symbolise Ellen’s handover, as the last of the wartime women conductors, to a male colleague on his return from the armed forces. It was understandable for the LGOC, like many employers, to fulfil their promise to keep jobs open for returning servicemen, who had endured years of military service. Yet this was also at the cost of the developing careers of women like Ellen, who had so readily and actively performed vital roles.
Several of these items are on display in the London’s transport at war gallery in the Museum
