‘When I enlisted, my firm promised me my position when I returned. I was demobbed in October and… told there was no vacancy for me. There are two “flappers” engaged and one has been taken on since I have been home.’ “Disgusted ex-soldier,” writing to the Western Daily Press, January 1920 After the war some struggled to find work. By April 1919 there were 5,000 unemployed ex-servicemen in Bristol. Women often had to leave the jobs they had done during the war to make way for men. The Bristol Tramways company sacked all its female conductors on one day following violent protests by unemployed ex-soldiers.