This lithograph is one from a series of 12 showing women doing war work. The Underground Electric Railways Co. of London Ltd commissioned the series from Archibald Hartrick. He illustrated a range of work, formerly reserved for men, which women undertook during the First World War (1914-1918). Many of the jobs involved running or maintaining trains, buses and lorries. Prints like this one set out to encourage and inspire women to volunteer for these jobs.

Hartick's image includes topical references to the war situation. You can see an advertisement on the side of the bus platform urging the public to 'Buy War Bonds'. Inset below is a scene on the battlefields of France, with a wounded soldier being stretchered into a Red Cross casualty station. It acts as a graphic reminder of why women were so urgently needed to take the place of men on the home front.