Stella Reading (1894-1971), remarkable founder of the Women’s Voluntary Services, has today (4 July) been commemorated with an English Heritage Blue Plaque. Royal Voluntary Service Ambassador and Keeping Up Appearances actress, Dame Patricia Routledge, launched the celebration at 41 Tothill Street in Westminster – an imposing six-storey red brick building and the former headquarters (1938-1966) of the WVS during the Second World War.

It was from a single room in this building that Stella Reading mobilised “the army that Hitler forgot” in 1938. The Women’s Voluntary Services – or “the ladies in green”, a reference to their moss-coloured uniforms – tirelessly volunteered to help the war effort, from looking after child evacuees and collecting aluminium for aircraft, to making thousands of cups of that very British remedy, tea, from static and mobile canteens.

Dame Patricia Routledge, Royal Voluntary Service Ambassador, said: “The women of the WVS made great sacrifices for this country, but the breadth of their contribution has been hidden from view until now. We hope that in making their stories available to everybody, that the value of their contribution will gain the recognition it deserves. It will be an honour to see the remarkable Stella Reading commemorated by English Heritage with a blue plaque at the organisation’s original headquarters. A pioneer of the Women’s Voluntary Services, she was tireless in her efforts during the Second World War and it’s wonderful to see both her legacy and that of the WVS founding building recognised.”

Anna Eavis, Curatorial Director at English Heritage said: “Stella Reading's energy, tenacity and compassion brought together an army of a million volunteers in the service of those who needed them most and established a model that continues to thrive. We recognise her considerable achievements with a blue plaque at her original WVS headquarters. The London Blue Plaques scheme prides itself on linking extraordinary people to the places where they actually lived and worked, so I am delighted that we can commemorate a building so important to Stella Reading and the Women’s Voluntary Services.”

To coincide with the awarding of the blue plaque, the Royal Voluntary Service, previously known as the Women’s Voluntary Services (WVS), are today making over 30,000 pages of previously unseen diaries from the Second World War available online for free. Written from more than 1,300 different cities, towns and villages across Great Britain at a time when one in ten women in Britain was a member of the WVS, they tell the extraordinary stories of ordinary women.

From Constantinople (now Istanbul) where she was born to her travels in India, Stella Reading’s admirable efforts as chairman and founder of the Women’s Voluntary Services began at 41 Tothill Street where she assembled a national voluntary service to assist on civil defence tasks with the key training needed to respond to air attacks. Often working up to eighteen hours a day, she was a strong-willed woman with a commanding presence and a dry sense of humour, telling Good Housekeeping in November 1940 that ‘women have the most difficult of all jobs – running men, who think they run things, and are happy in the thought. No woman should disturb this male happiness.’ Often visiting regional branches across the country to recruit new members, by the end of the war the WVS had a million members and this momentum continued, directing the volunteer effort to helping the sick, imprisoned and elderly; 'Meals on Wheels' and 'Home Help' visits were among the innovations introduced with great success.

Today, 41 Tothill Street – a building that dates from the early twentieth century – survives as a hotel and restaurant but retains the glazed ‘shop’ front that would have been the public ground floor area of the WVS, used for recruiting the valued members.

The English Heritage London Blue Plaques scheme is generously supported by David Pearl and members of the public.