The Archive will be closed from Monday 16 December, re-opening on Monday 6 January 2025.
This exhibition explores the challenges faced by M&S during the Second World War, including the impact on employees, stores, fashion and food.
The 1930s was a period of huge expansion for M&S. Our product range had grown throughout the 1920s and we started selling clothing in 1926.
This meant that we needed larger stores. Between 1926 and 1939 165 new stores were built and old stores extended. At the start of the war there were 234 M&S stores.
By 1939 men could buy boiler suits, cyclist’s jerkins, crease resisting ties, work shirts, tennis shirts and calf slippers at M&S. The same year women could buy embroidered Hungarian blouses, beach pyjamas, sports skirts, directoire knickers and Indiana capes, as well as the everyday essentials.
At the 1939 Annual General Meeting it was reported that profits were up by 11% on 1938, but war was on the horizon.
An Air Raid Precautions (ARP) Officer, Ralph Salaman, had been appointed in March 1938. Staff had been trained in anti-gas precautions, as wardens or firefighters, and encouraged to join the Territorial Army with paid leave for training.
The outbreak of war on Sunday 3rd September 1939 is recorded in the diary of Mr Rogers, from Eltham store. It says: ‘War declared, sirens went’.
The impending war also affected our international suppliers. When Hitler came to power in 1933 M&S cut links with German manufacturers, for example large hosiery orders were transferred to the former Czechoslovakia. Following the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, those orders were again transferred, this time to France.
Due to the high numbers of male employees now deployed in the armed forces, chief ARP positions were often filled by women.
M&S ARP wardens were responsible for re-assembling staff after air-raids, and for the welfare of staff and customers during those raids. They would make sure people were well away from windows, skylights and doors that could shower shattered glass.
A blast-proof shelter was built at every M&S store, and tin helmets were purchased in bulk to protect all staff.
Head of ARP Ralph Salaman organised the ‘Chain Gang’, which was a group of retailers who agreed to share staff canteens and rest rooms if any of their properties were damaged by bombing. The group included M&S, Woolworths, British Home Stores, Boots and Lyons.
Early in 1941, a staff collection raised £5000 towards the cost of a Spitfire, which was named ‘The Marksman’.
It took part in action east of Dunkirk against nine German fighters. Sergeant Tommy Rigler, pilot of The Marksman, shot down three of the German planes but sustained damage to one wing.
The Marksman was shot down itself in 1942 over northern France and the pilot, John Sills, was killed.
By 1945, 1500 of the 2000 men employed by M&S were serving in the armed forces.
To keep in touch, the Forces Bulletin was sent to all serving colleagues. Starting in January 1944, it gave news on the business and of staff being injured, captured, killed or awarded medals.
In the final edition of June 1946, editor Frank Ross wrote,
‘The Bulletin has made many journeys to all parts of the world, to men serving on all battle fronts, and in many very remote places. It has travelled by air, land and sea, and has on occasions been dropped by parachute mail… Our only regret was that we could not despatch it to the POW camps.’
The Personnel department also wrote to employees stationed abroad and to those in POW camps, many sent letters and cards back. Some of these are held in the collection in an album of Christmas cards from 1944.
Service pay was subsidised by M&S, topping up armed forces rates of pay to match pre-war civilian salaries.
The Personnel department saw itself as a shock absorber for employees between military and civilian life. Where possible, staff were given roles in locations that they specifically requested on their return to help with rehabilitation.
A major challenge for M&S was a shortage of trained and skilled staff, because so many were serving with the armed forces or civilian defence services.
In September 1939 the business had 20,700 employees, by mid-1943 only 11,000. At the start of the war, there were 463 male trainee managers – four years later there were 17.
The answer was promotion of women. At a store managers’ meeting in May 1940, Head of Personnel Frank Ross, said ‘Already we have 50 potential manageresses and 120 girls have been nominated as potential assistant managers’.
Training was given in Staff Management, Stockroom, Office, and Store Management. Ross said ‘During this special training, female trainees should be treated by the manager as first man. She should line up with the other men and go through the mail, discuss with them the store policy and generally receive personal attention from the manager’, Paul Bookbinder, Marks & Spencer: The War Years, 1989.
Stores were divided into three classes based on takings, women were only permitted to manage stores taking up to £80,000.
Women replaced men, and younger girls replaced women.
A returning M&S employee remarked on the number of young staff. He said ‘The next thing which struck me was the high percentage of juveniles now employed in the store. To envisage a 15-year-old girl in charge of a counter was something foreign to my store experience; but I was favourably impressed.’ Forces Bulletin, Christmas 1945.
For many female M&S employees, as well as women across the country, the end of the war marked the end of an era. Those who had so ably replaced men during the war years were demoted to assistant managers, staff manageresses, cashiers, department manageresses and head floor-walkers.
Food rationing was introduced in January 1940. Customers could register at local shops including M&S, to collect their rations.
It was difficult to keep shelves full, so stores were allowed to buy stock locally, such as fruit and vegetables from nearby farmers.
Restaurant meals were not included in the rationing scheme so the popularity of M&S’s Café Bars grew as the war progressed. In 1935 there were three Café Bars, by 1942 there were 80.
Lena Park, manager of Kendal store, said that on Thursdays (the store’s half-day closing) she would ‘use my precious petrol to drive round the farms on the outskirts of the town and buy vegetables from the fields. By 8am the next morning, the… deliveries rolled up and business could commence.’ Paul Bookbinder, Marks & Spencer: The War Years, 1989.
Following the success of Café Bars, our Head of Staff Welfare Flora Solomon saw an opportunity to help even more people.
She said ‘One of the weapons of war surely was a good, hot, midday meal. Then why did we have to work at Marks & Spencer to qualify for it? Didn’t the entire home front deserve one?’ Flora Soloman and Barnet Litvinoff, Baku to Baker Street: The Memoirs of Flora Soloman, 1984.
She set up a canteen in a Kensington community centre, where anyone could get a hot lunch for 8d. Using her connections in government, Flora expanded the scheme across the country.
The canteens were initially called Communal Feeding Centres, however Winston Churchill thought this was ‘redolent of communism and the workhouse’, and renamed them British Restaurants. Bryce Evans, Feeding the People in Wartime Britain, 2022.
Flora also set up the M&S Training department to help employees learn new skills and develop team spirit. Flora later received an OBE for her part in evacuating Jewish children from Europe and establishing the British Restaurants.
Clothes rationing began in 1941, coupon values reflected the quantity of fabric used in each garment.
Customers began to choose clothing carefully. A dress used 11 coupons and a man’s shirt was eight coupons. Women’s shoes were five coupons and men’s were seven.
As well as using coupons, customers still had to pay for clothing. Wealthier shoppers could afford better quality clothes, whereas the less well-off had to use the same coupon value for a cheaper garment of lower quality. Regulations were needed to set a minimum standard for clothing.
Before the war, M&S textile technologists had developed quality-based specifications for basic clothing materials and manufacture. When the Board of Trade decided to implement minimum quality standards they called on M&S’ expertise and together developed the Utility Scheme.
The Utility specifications aimed to standardise textile production and reduce the number of people needed in production, so they could be released for war duties. The specifications also controlled prices and ensured standards would not drop below a certain quality, despite shortages.
Alongside the Utility Scheme, austerity measures were also brought in, restricting the amount of fabric used in garments.
Short socks for men were introduced, trimmings and pleats were limited, as were skirt lengths and turn-ups on men’s trousers. A maximum of five buttons and two pockets per garment was allowed. These restrictions applied to both Utility and non-Utility garments.
In response, we invested in our print design department, using bold design to elevate basic rayons, cottons and linens with bright, colourful prints.
In 1941 two price levels for dresses were introduced – 8s 11d and 15s, to replace a previously confusing pricing policy. The higher priced dresses sold better, as they were seen as being better quality. We reassured customers that they could bring purchases back the next day for a refund or exchange.
Austerity measures were relaxed towards the end of the 1940s, so many of the garments in the collection were made under the Utility Scheme but have more detail or use more fabric than would previously be allowed. The Utility Scheme came to an end in 1952.
Apart from restrictions and regulations, the war had a direct influence on the styles that customers were wearing.
The Dig for Victory campaign was used by M&S to promote women’s trousers, ‘With Spring approaching the Dig for Victory campaign is being revived and Marks & Spencer cash in with well-balanced slacks… In a work-conscious age [retailers should] stress the utility appeal wherever possible’, Drapers’ Record, Feb 1941.
In 1942 Harper’s Bazaar announced ‘fashion… is out of fashion’, Harper’s Bazaar, Summer 1942. Ostentatious clothes were considered wasteful and unpatriotic, clothing influenced by military uniform became fashionable.
At the start of the war the government and the fashion industry encouraged women to ‘look their best’ as a way of boosting morale. Retailers sold make-up in patriotic themed packaging, and a memo from the Ministry of Supply stated that make-up was as important to women as tobacco was to men.
In 1940 some Head Office departments moved out of London to avoid the risks of working in the capital.
The vacant 5th floor of our Baker Street Head Office building was occupied by the Special Operations Executive (SOE). A brick wall, routinely tested by security staff, separated the SOE from the rest of the building and SOE personnel had their own entrance. M&S employees were not allowed to talk to the 5th floor staff, only ‘good morning’ or ‘good day’ were permitted.
The SOE left Baker Street in 1946, its departure marked by a bonfire of documents on the roof, which got out of hand and the fire brigade was called.
Other M&S buildings were used in the war effort. Part of Bournemouth store was used as a Royal Navy pharmacy and Bradford store was used to store mill equipment, as the mills were used as prisoner of war camps. Kendal store lost a quarter of its sales floor to Ministry of Food sugar storage and half of the sales floor in Blackpool was used by the RAF accounts section.
Of our 234 stores, over 100 were damaged and 16 destroyed by enemy action.
M&S pioneered the protection of flat roofs from incendiary bombs – these bombs only weighed a kilo but would set a building alight instantly. Woolwich Arsenal tested our idea of putting paving slabs on the roof to protect the metal roof panels. Testing was successful and many store roofs were slabbed, stopping incendiary bombs entering the stores. Other retailers such as BHS and Woolworths followed suit.
Despite all precautions, lives were lost during air raids and the bombing of Lewisham store was particularly tragic.
At 9:42am on 28th July 1944, a V-1 bomb broke through clouds above Lewisham, but no alarm was raised. Sydney Spurling, Lewisham store manager, was reading the mail in his office. In the nearby General Office was Mrs Clarke, an invoice clerk who was pregnant. Also working that day was Alice May Thompson, aged 15, a sales assistant helping with a window display. These employees were killed along with two others when the bomb hit the store directly. A further 20 staff were injured. The total casualties of the Lewisham bomb were 56 dead and 299 injured.
When stores were damaged or destroyed temporary M&S stores were opened, where possible, so that customers could still collect their rations and staff could continue to work.
We would find locations as close to the original store site as possible. The Plymouth temporary store opened in the old Pannier Market within two weeks of the bombing on 22nd April 1941, helping with the recovery of the town.
Staff also established a communal kitchen for people left homeless by the bombing that continued to serve the town throughout the war. The naval dockyard was also destroyed and M&S staff from the Plymouth store arranged catering for the dockyard workers.
M&S built on advances made in textile technology during the war to create easy-care, easy-wear, garments in synthetic fabrics with the aim of ‘easing the housewife’s daily burden’ St Michael News, Christmas 1958.
M&S Chairman Simon Marks addressed shareholders in 1945 saying ‘All the material requirements of our civilization … are short in supply and heavy in demand. The nation is hungry for them … but above all at a price it can afford to pay. But if the needs of the people are to be satisfied in the necessary quantities, quickly and at reasonable prices, the methods and techniques learned in the war will have to be applied and even improved.’ Chairman’s speech, 1945.
Simon saw that class divisions had blurred, women were more independent and wanted clothes that were classless and affordable – impossible to achieve without synthetic fabrics.
He said ‘The public are demanding a higher standard of goods – better materials, better design, better finish. This is not a passing phenomenon due to rationing …. It is a permanent trend indicating a permanent elevation of public taste. We shall spare no effort to satisfy these developing needs and to widen the range of our goods to meet them.’ Chairman’s Speech, 1946.
