In March 1939, Florence Violet McKenzie set up the Women's Emergency Signalling Corps (WESC) as wireless telegraphy organisation for female volunteers. McKenzie established the WESC because of the threat of war, and her belief that training women in wireless telegraphy, morse code, and related skills meant they could free up men for military service. By August 1940, there was a waiting list of 600 women for the small school, and WESC-trained telegraphists were teaching men from the armed forces and merchant navy.