This question has been asked before, but the replies to it have been deleted it seems: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1q365r/did_any_of_the_women_involved_in_the_ww1_white/
And I am very interested in knowing whether any of these women, after the war was over and the public, I assume, got a much better insight into how dreadful conditions were on the fronts, later had any second thoughts on their involvement in the White Feather campaign.
On one hand, I imagine that times were different, and patriotism and the righteous cause of war were rampant. But on the other hand, WWI seemed to shock the world as people knew it with the sheer destruction and waste. So I would think that some at least would have a bad taste in the mouth. But what do I know. :)
Thank you very much for any answers!
^ I've given this answer previously, so I'll post what I did last time:
The so-called 'Order of the White Feather' was created in Britain in 1914 by a former admiral, and essentially involved handing out 'white feathers' to anyone, specifically men, not seen as supporting the war effort, ie not enlisting. Some British women's organizations handed out feathers, an act that symbolizes 'cowardice' on the part of the receiver and which predated WWI. However, they seem to have been a minority, [with Stephen Badsey indicating that most references to them he's seen from the time being in the context of complaints against their activities.] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziGow3CLalo) It would seem their activities were curtailed, and by 1915 Compulsion had been introduced under the Derby Plan, and eventually Conscription was introduced at the beginning of 1916. The appearance of the White Feather seems to have died out by 1916, which seems to suggest a correlation with Conscription being enacted.
It's also worth noting that the Sufragettes weren't the only ones handing out White Feathers; the weekly newsletter The Passing Show informed it's readers in May 1915 that, "civilians shouldn't go out 'without a plentiful supply of White Feathers...'" Even more so, it wasn't a guarantee that a man would be sent into the army; even if he was, he might be serving at home, working in the government, or be involved in 'vital war work', ie industry, for which about 500 000 men were sent back from the Western Front in 1915 to return to their jobs at home.
And I am very interested in knowing whether any of these women, after the war was over and the public, I assume, got a much better insight into how dreadful conditions were on the fronts, later had any second thoughts on their involvement in the White Feather campaign
Although I can't comment on any feelings of guilt, I will say that civilians were not as ignorant of the conditions at the Front as people generally assume. Writers like Philip Gibbs and John Buchan wrote stories set at the front, and cartoonists like Bruce Bairnsfather depicted the life of the Tommies, in ways that gave at the very least a rough idea of what life was like. Photographs in newspapers, films screened at home, the letters home of soldiers (that seem to have been remarkably frank about conditions there), and whatever information could be provided by soldiers on leave or recovering at home, allowed civilians in Britain to contemplate the conditions at the front, even if they never experienced the full horrors of combat. Organizations like the British Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau, allowed civilians to obtain a fairly detailed portrait of what life at the front was like. In the case of the Red Cross Bureau, unit reports, interviews with wounded soldiers, and whatever info could be scrounged from sources, was used to provide information to British and Commonwealth Families on where and how soldiers had died/gone missing. Often, descriptions were very graphic (bisected by a shell, decapitated by shell fragments, etc), but it was found that families appreciated this stark realism and the constant updates of information the Bureau provided, as it gave them the closure and solace, and above all the truth, that the 'dreaded telegram' never did.
In fact, this poem written in 1916 expresses the stereotypical view of a soldier returning home:
They give us sweets and picture books and cigarettes and things
And speaks to us respectful-like as though we all was Kings ...
And we talks a bit to please them when the ladies come to call,
But the things that we have seen and done, they 'aven't seen at all ...
The're things that don't bear thinking of and things you never tell;
It's a waste of breath to talk to folk who haven't been in 'Ell
Called 'Home Again,' it was written by a woman.
EDIT: Another interesting contrast between the standard narrative of 'insensitive civilians' and reality is these two quotes, one from war correspondent Philip Gibbs, the other from a British soldier in a letter to his father in 1914.
Because there was no code of words which would convey the picture of that wild agony of peoples, that smashing of all civilized lands, to men and women who still thought of war in terms of heroic pageantry. – Philip Gibbs, war correspondent
versus
Then a bombardment with enormous shells for a couple or more days, until trenches and men’s nerves are smashed to ribbons, and a surprise rush in the middle of the night. Then more digging. Each side is left therefore with row upon row of trenches behind them at short intervals, and a successful attack only means that the enemy are pushed back to their next line, not very far. -John Aiden Liddle, Argyll and Sunderland Volunteers, extract from a letter to his father, November 26, 1914
Moving on:
On one hand, I imagine that times were different, and patriotism and the righteous cause of war were rampant. But on the other hand, WWI seemed to shock the world as people knew it with the sheer destruction and waste.
Well, in all of August 1914, only 80 000 men in all of Britain volunteered for the Army. The great surge in recruiting took place in the first week of September, 1914, following the publishing of the Mons Telegram. This described the dire position of the BEF, currently involved in the Great Retreat following rear-guard actions at Mons and Le Cateau, and put out a stark appeal for more men. Over 100 000 enlisted, overwhelming the British Army's recruitment system (the Recruitment Office was actually created as a result!). They were not volunteering because of blind jingoism, but were motivated by the terrible situation of the British Army. They feared for their homes, and many for their families. It was a similar case with 'atrocity propaganda.' in reality, stories of maimed babies were confined to the gutter press. The real atrocities, verifiable massacres like at Liege, Aarschot, Dinant, and Leuven, remained the cause celebres for much of the war. Over 1 million men volunteered in 1914, and the Derby Plan netted c. 800 000 men in 1915, before Conscription was introduced in January 1916. Even then, the pre-war professionals/semi-professionals of the Regular and Territorial Forces, along with the Kitchener Volunteers, bore the brunt of the fighting from the beginning of the war until late August, 1916, when the Derby Men arrived, and Conscripts only entered the ranks late in 1916. The 'Contemptibles', the 'Terriers', and the 'Kitchener Men', continued to make up a large part of the army until the end of the war. Catriona Pennell has an excellent talk on the beginning of the war [here] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W0657Bwn_A)
Sources:
Side question: Were these the women in Downton Abbey targeting the young men of the house during the concert, and who Lord Grantham later kicked out?