A 1950s Housewife E-Book

Sheila Hardy

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Seitenzahl: 174

Beschreibung

Being a housewife in the 1950s was quite a different experience to today. After the independence of the wartime years, women had to leave their jobs when they married and support their husband by creating a spotless home, delicious meals and an inviting bedroom. A 1950s Housewife collects heart-warming personal anecdotes from women who embarked on married life during this fascinating post-war period, providing a trip down memory lane for any wife or child of the 1950s. This book will prove an eye-opener for those who now wish they had listened when their mothers attempted to tell them stories of the 'old days', and will provide useful first-hand accounts for those with a love of all things kitsch and vintage. From ingenious cleaning tips, ration-book recipes and home decor inspiration, the homemaking methods of the fifties give an entertaining and poignant insight into the lives of 1950s women.

Leseprobe

Author’s Noteon Illustrations

All the photographs and items of personal memorabilia herein have been reproduced with the permission of their owners, all of whom have been thanked in the Acknowledgements. However, in respecting those who wished for anonymity, it was decided that only descriptive captions should appear on some illustrations.

Acknowledgements

The author owes a huge debt of gratitude to all those who, with great generosity, honesty and good humour, shared their memories and often their precious mementoes. So must go thanks to: Mesdames Angland, Billsberry, Bolton, Brittain, Coker, Hale, Hepburn, Jacobs, Lankester, Lawrence, Lemon, Perrins, Porter, Randall, Richardson, Slater, Smith, Stannard, Titshall, Watkins and Wheeler. Thank you too, to the Troll family of Cumbria, Pamela Henderson in Wiltshire and Patricia Yelland in Suffolk; valuable contributions also came from the members of the Grundisburgh Lunch Club and the 55 Alive group at the Chantry Library in Ipswich. Sincere thanks too, to the men who became involved in the search: Gordon Bolton and David Bray provided some very useful photographs; David Burnett gave information about the Suffolk chlorophyll industry while John Kirkland happily allowed the author to draw on his wide knowledge of the banking world as well as the magazine collection of his late wife, Monica. The author’s sister-in-law Ursula Hardy loaned her a very precious and most helpful copy of Woman’s Weekly, dating from 1959, while Rachel Field gave practical help and support. Gratitude must also go to the following representatives of the firms owning the copyright of some of the material used here: David Abbott of IPC Media, Colin Raistrick of Proctor & Gamble and Novia Imm of Hoover-Candy. Thank you, each and every one, but especially to the author’s loving and long-suffering husband, Michael, who unexpectedly found himself experiencing the life of a housewife during the writing of this book.

Contents

Title

Author’s Note on Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1      Going Out

2      Something New, Something Borrowed …

3      A Home of their Own

4      ’Twas on a Monday Morning …

5      In Her Shopping Basket She Has …

6      Leisure Time

7      Putting on the Style

8      Health and Beauty

9      The Status of Women

10    Let’s Talk About Sex

Sources

Copyright

Introduction

To someone who spends most of her time researching the lives of those who lived in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the idea that the second half of the twentieth could be classed as history came as a shock. How could the 1950s, a decade from my own life, possibly be looked at in a historical context? I was suddenly confronted with having to heed my own teaching. I had so often cautioned my audiences to beware of sweeping statements and stereotypical pictures of, for example, the Victorian Age, reminding them that Britain in 1837 was a very different place to the country in 1901. How often have I had to hold my peace when a class of children announced they had ‘done’ the Victorians when in fact all their learning had been focused on a mixed bag of facts about the last twenty years of the reign.

Having recovered from the suggestion that I was now considered part of history, I began to see the advantages of writing about aspects of life in the 1950s. Doing the required research would at least give me a valid reason to bore my grandchildren with stories of what life was like ‘when I was a girl’.

In an effort to be as accurate as possible, I enlisted the aid of others and together we set out down memory lane, trying hard not to fall into the trap of talking about the good old days on the one hand and exaggerating how hard life was on the other. We ended up amazed at the changes we have witnessed – not all of them for the better – and we lamented some of the things we had lost, but also gave thanks for the many benefits we have gained. It has done us good to examine our lives in relation to those of our parents’ and to look at where we fit into the social history of the twentieth century. I hope this book will be enjoyed by those who can say, ‘Oh yes, I remember that!’ as well as those who didn’t listen, but now wish they had, to the stories their mothers and grandmothers told them. And to the young who may one day be studying the history of Britain during the reign of Elizabeth II, I offer just a small insight into the lives of young women who became housewives in the 1950s.

The girls embarking on married life in the 1950s were products of the two or even three decades earlier. Their parents would have lived through the First World War, and it is likely that some of their fathers emerged from that with both physical and psychological injuries that would have affected their home life. The immediate post-war period of the 1920s is often depicted as a giddy, frivolous time – as it was for a certain class – but for the bulk of the population it was the era of great social unrest that, in the General Strike of 1926, highlighted the wide divide in the British class system. Of much greater impact was the period between 1929 and 1932, when the crash of the stock markets both here and in America had far-reaching economic effects, leading to what became known as the Depression. Unemployment was rife and home life for many was disrupted when fathers were forced to leave temporarily to seek work in other areas. This often left wives and mothers in desperate circumstances, scrimping to pay the rent to keep a roof over the heads of the family, as well as feed and clothe them all. Invariably, in an age when the only way out of a tight situation was to borrow money either by pawning items – father’s best suit and mother’s wedding ring being the most popular items – or from a loan company that charged high interest, it was not long before the family was forced to seek assistance from the Poor Law Board. Niggardly allowances were often handed out in such a manner that did nothing to help the recipients’ ‘feeling of self-worth’ – a phrase and a concept unheard of at the time.

The 1930s continued to be a time of turmoil with the Abdication Crisis of 1936. Following the death of King George V at the beginning of the year, the Prince of Wales was formally declared his successor, to be known as Edward VIII. The prince had been tremendously popular with the working classes. They felt he understood and sympathised with their plight far better than any politician; to use a phrase, again unheard of at that time, he had charisma, which manifested itself when, for example, he visited striking miners in South Wales or the unemployed in the north. But, although there were rumours, the people knew little of the seriousness of his friendship with the American divorcee, Mrs Wallis Simpson. We had to wait until the twenty-first century and the development of internet channels before the private lives of celebrities became common knowledge. In the 1930s the press and cinema newsreel pictures were discreet, so it came as a shock to a large part of the nation when it became known that the new king wanted to marry Mrs Simpson. It was a shock because it struck at the heart of everything the monarchy stood for. Royalty was expected to marry royalty – a suitable princess from one of the European countries could be found – or, if not, at least a young woman from amongst the English aristocracy. The Church did not recognise the remarriage of a divorcee while the previous partner was still living. Thus, as head of the Church of England, the king could not marry someone who had had not one, but two, previous marriages. At a time when the barriers of class still predominated, the expectation of the majority of the population was that those in authority should set an example and, for most people, even those who did not marry in church, the expectation was that once married they would stay with their partner through thick or thin. When it became necessary for Mrs Simpson to obtain a divorce from Mr Simpson, she discreetly took up residence for a short time in the quiet east coast seaside town of Felixstowe (it was out of season), in the hope that her divorce suit might pass unnoticed when it was heard in court in nearby Ipswich. It was rumoured amongst the locals, after the event, that all off-duty policemen were required to fill all the seats in the court, including those normally reserved for the press. True or not, it was certain that children of the town quickly learned to sing: Who’s this walking down our street? It’s Mrs Simpson’s bandy feet She’s been married twice before Now she’s knocking at Edward’s door. Not quite Facebook or Twitter but it spread just as quickly.

Who’s this walking down our street? It’s Mrs Simpson’s bandy feet.

Before his Coronation could take place, Edward abdicated (an act almost unknown in British history) and his place was taken by his brother Albert who reigned as George VI and was the father of Queen Elizabeth II. Having survived that storm, and with the country gradually settling down to slow economic growth, outside pressures came with the rise of fascism, particularly on the Continent, with the increased power of Hitler and the Nazi Party in Germany, Mussolini in Italy and Franco in Spain. Many idealistic British socialists got their first taste of modern warfare when they went off to fight in the Spanish Civil War of 1938. Then, just four months before the fourth decade of the twentieth century began, Britain declared war on Germany.

She’s been married twice before, now she’s knocking at Edward’s door.

Our 1950s bride was at that time coming towards the end of her school days. After six years at primary school, those whose parents could afford it sent their daughters either to a small school for young ladies (reputed to specialise in flower arranging and not much else) or to the fee-paying grammar schools for girls. These schools offered a proportion of free places each year to 11-year-olds who passed the Scholarship, an examination taken in two parts. The written papers were taken in the pupils’ primary school but the oral part, which was taken only by those who had passed the written exams, took place at the grammar school. It lasted for most of the day, the candidates attending lessons, having lunch and finally enduring an interview with the headmistress. It was rumoured that this weeded out those with poor manners, particularly at the table! Once accepted, the girls and their classmates would have enjoyed an academic education leading to the School Certificate, taken at 16. Those girls who were considered clever and aspired to enter one of the professions – mainly teaching at this time – stayed on to take the Higher School Certificate. The option, apart from nursing, for those who left at 16 seemed to be mainly in secretarial work, so often a year followed learning shorthand and typing to the required speeds at either a Pitman’s or private secretarial college.

A 1950s housewife baking. Mary Evans / Classic Stock / H. Armstrong Roberts

For the rest of the female population, in towns they progressed to central or municipal secondary schools at 11 where they had a watered down version of the grammar school curriculum, but one that was preparing them for work in shops and offices when they left school at 14. In country areas, pupils might stay at the same school for their whole school career and the curriculum there was heavily biased to the idea that the girls coming from an agricultural background would continue in it after marriage. At least by this time domestic service was no longer the main career path for girls. Those with skills such as dressmaking were in demand in factories, while those entirely unskilled could still find work that suited them.

But then it all changed. The declaration of war in September 1939 brought major upheaval on many fronts and hurtled our future 1950s bride along unforeseen paths. Those still at school might have found themselves evacuated with their schools to different parts of the country. City girls found themselves among unfamiliar rural landscapes. Families were broken up and new ties, some very long lasting, were forged with strangers from very different walks of life. Career plans for some might have to be put on hold, while for others the war brought opportunities of which they had never dreamed. For many there was the option to join one of the women’s branches of the army, navy or air force, bringing with it the opportunity to learn such skills as driving, mechanical engineering or plotting the movements of aircraft. Girls whose educational standard would previously have prevented them from becoming nurses, found that hospitals were happy to admit them as probationers, while older girls found themselves being ‘directed’ into war work in munitions factories, and into agriculture to replace those young male farm workers who had either enlisted or been called up for service. As more men were released to the services, so more young women began to do work that had once been the preserve of the male population. The female ‘clippie’, as the replacement of the male bus conductor became known, was one thing, but there were those who thought it a step too far when a ‘slip of a girl’ was seen at the wheel of a double-decker trolley bus.

Alongside the great change in a girl’s working life during the 1940s came the unexpected freedom of her social life. The pre-war girl would have met boys of her own age most probably from amongst her own social circle. The middle-class girl would have been a member of the tennis club and would have joined in all the other social functions that the club provided, while her less well-off friend would have relied on meeting a boyfriend either through work, a mutual friend or at the local dance hall. The parents of the pre-war girl would have probably known the family of any boy she met and would have been careful to vet their daughter’s friends. But everything was different now. Girls who would have lived at home until their marriage were now often living miles away from parental supervision and many were having the time of their lives. Young men in uniform were very attractive, and in their off-duty time looked for female companionship. So it was, that girls from the 1940s onwards found themselves future husbands from not only all over the United Kingdom but also from the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand as well as Europe – plain Miss Smith or Jones could have found herself becoming Mrs Unpronounceable.

So our 1950s brides entered the post-war period shaped by what had gone before. For the older ones, having had more freedom their horizons were much wider than those of their parents and their expectations of life were greater. The younger ones, in contrast, had been subjected to a much tighter discipline from home and school. It is said that theirs was the last generation to obey orders without question. Yet like the generations of women who had preceded them, they were about to take the biggest risk of their lives, that of committing themselves to becoming a wife and possibly a mother. We shall find out how some of them coped with this challenge.

1

Going Out

In the 1950s young men and women ‘went out’ together. Embarrassing uncles were likely to ask, in the sort of whisper that was audible to everyone else sitting round the Sunday tea table, if you were ‘courting’ yet. Auntie would look coy before saying she was sure it wouldn’t be long before you found yourself a nice young man. Like as not, your mother, as she poured tea into the best china cups that came out of the glass cabinet only when you had visitors, as well as at Christmas and for funerals, would assert firmly that there was plenty of time for that sort of nonsense! And the company would all nod in agreement as they worked their way through a salad with ham or even a precious tin of red salmon, followed by pineapple chunks accompanied by a dollop of thick cream from a tin or evaporated milk (both decanted, of course, into a small glass bowl or a jug).

But was there time? For a girl in the 1950s there was still great pressure to find herself a husband. It was expected, or at least accepted, that she would find a ‘nice’ young man, marry in her early 20s, have children and be a grandmother by her mid-40s. Any young woman who reached the age of 30 without being married or engaged was regarded as being ‘on the shelf’, soon to be labelled as one of life’s spinsters. And the mother who had been certain that there was plenty of time had to start finding excuses for her daughter’s lack of matrimonial prospects. Onlookers wondered what was wrong with her: why didn’t she catch a man like all her friends? The unattached female who could claim that she was far too busy pursuing a career was fortunate. That is, until her peers let her down by having a career and a husband!

So where did the 1950s girl find her man? In the early part of the decade single-sex secondary schools were the norm, certainly in towns. Traditionally, from the days of the introduction of compulsory education in 1870, the sexes had been taught in separate classes even if in the same building. There were also different playgrounds for each group to make sure there was no fraternising during school hours. Even the 1930s wave of new buildings for grammar and senior schools tended to be just for one sex, frequently situated on sites at a distance from each other. However, teenage boys and girls met as they made their way to and from school; the establishment might segregate the sexes but the local bus service didn’t, and many a romance began at the bus stop. Boys soon got to know which routes, whether on foot or bicycle, were followed by the object of their interest. Once a friendship had begun, it was not long before the pair was deemed to be ‘going out’.

The second most popular place for young people to meet was through attendance at church or chapel. During the 1940s most young children were sent to Sunday School as a matter of course and well-organised churches made sure that their ‘young adolescents’ did not drop their attendance by offering other activities during the week. A Bible class for example, a youth choir perhaps, or membership of the affiliated Scouts and Guides or the Nonconformist Boys’ and Girls’ Brigade. How many young men wearing that neat little cap at a jaunty angle had set a girl’s heart on fire as they marched to chapel through the streets on a Sunday morning, blowing a cornet or banging a drum? One had to admit that in the attraction stakes, the Boys’ Brigade uniform beat the Scouts’ hands down! So, romance often blossomed through the church and this, of course, was an advantage because the parents of the couple would already know each other, at least slightly, and the respective mothers could be content that their son or daughter was ‘going out’ with someone ‘nice and respectable’. Ah, ‘respectable’, how often we heard that word in the 1950s!