1930s Christmas kitchen

Still undergoing renovation (awaiting a cast iron range of the correct style and date that fits), but it's now just about possible to get the general idea...

Living-kitchen in 1930s lower middle-class house, decorated in (exuberant!) contemporaneous  style:

1930s Christmas cake

Here's the end result of the cake made (using 1930s recipe as posted) in November, decorated with 1920s - 40s decorations ('snow babies' & bisque elves - in much need of renovation!) - although I didn't stir it well enough, it tasted great!:

Ada Chesterton: Women of the Underworld

When trying to read the inscription inside the cover of my first edition of Ada Chesterton's 'Women of the Underworld' tonight, I was somewhat surprised (especially as I've had this since October, or possibly before, and paid less than £20 inc. p&p) - seems it's been signed by the author:

Rather pleased about this!

I shall soon be writing something on what this book can tell us about domestic contexts during the 1920s...

Beautifully illustrated Edwardian - WWI Children's Christmas book

Edwardian - WWI Children's Christmas book has fabulous illustrations (colour and line drawings - unfortunately water-marked), by Ruth Cobb, Joyce Cobb, HGC Marsh Lambert, EA Overnell, R James Williams, Hussall (?), and Jacobs

Derbyshire Mummers plays and Guisers, 1920 & 1901

Mummers plays have a long tradition in Derbyshire, some continuing
into the modern era.

There's a reference to a Derbyshire Christmas Mummer's play, Christmas Eve, 1920, in the Nottinghamshire Guardian:
http://www.folkplay.info/Notts/Td00212.htm


The Journal of the Derbyshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, Jan.1907, Vol.29, pp.31-32 describes Derbyshire mummers plays (with photos of Castleton Guisers, 1901: http://www.folkplay.info/Texts/90sk18sa2.jpg) And article on 'The Old Tup', which would be sung by Guisers:
http://www.folkplay.info/Texts/90sk18sa.htm


The Old Tup [Derbys. Ram]
As I was going to Derby
upon a market day,
I met the finest Tupsie
that ever was fed on hay.

Say laylum, laylum, Pityful laylum lay.
The man that stuck the tupsie
Was up to the knees in blood;
The man that held the basin
Was washed away in the flood.
Say laylum, etc.

And all the women in Derby
Came begging for his ears,
To make them leather aprons
To last for forty years.
Say laylum, etc.

And all the men in Derby
Came begging for his eyes,
To kick about in Derby,
And take them by surprise.
Say laylum, etc.

Elkes 1930s Christmas elves biscuit tin

Delightful tin with Christmas illustrations, for biscuits:

Sides of the tin (repeated on facing side, without text):

Label reads 'Elkes Assorted Biscuits This tin containsan  assortment of bisuits consisting of  many  of those illustrated above. Elkes Biscuits Ltd. Uttoxeter and Cardiff' (the company was formed in 1924, with a factory in Cardiff by 1937):

Edwardian Children's Christmas book to follow...


HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

1920s artificial Christmas tree, and spruce decorated in 30s style

This tree is likely to date to the 1920s (though may date into the 30s), and is made of dyed goose-feathers. It has tin candle holders, and is placed in a dyed wooden block:

The decorations area mixture of 1920s-50s (20s ones are quite hard to get hold of now, and are pretty expensive!). The tinsel is modern, but of the thinner type, for a more contemporaneous appearance. As can be seen, the (modern ) candles have at some point suffered heat damage!

This spruce tree is decorated using 1930s-50s decorations, to achieve a 30s - 40s style:

1930s Christmas biscuit tin to follow...

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Early 20th century (and a little later!) Christmas decorations

These Christmas lights look quite early - with fabric-covered cord, bakelte lamp-holders, and ceiling light socket fitting:

However, the label ('Japan Electric Lamp Man. Assoc') suggests that they date to after 1957 (see: www.jelma.or.jp/99english/jelma_english.pdf)

 The box decoration is also more comparable with post-war styles:

The following paper 'lanterns' may date to WWII, considering the limited use of colour (although the first has more than four colours):

 This Christmas decoration has close parallels in photographs dating to WWII (e.g. see Brown, Mike 2004 Christmas on the Home Front, Sutton):

This Christmas tree fairy is probably post-war, perhaps late 1950s -1960s:

 
 This fairy may date to the later 30s, but is more probably of post-war date:

Finally, this paper decoration may date to any time between the 30s and 60s, although the metal tags, and the 1/2 pencilled on the rear, suggest a relatively late date:

1920s Goose-feather Christmas tree (with some early decorations), and spruce tree decorated in 1930s style to follow...

Happy Christmas!

Ada Chesterton homeless in 1920s London: the end of the journey

I'm about to finish a draft of a short article discussing journalist Ada Chesterton's descriptions of her experiences of homelessness in 1920s London, as they appear within 'In Darkest London'. So I'll post her final words in this 1926 book, which describe her emotions after returning from her self-imposed fortnight on the streets, in February 1925:

"I went back to my own home raw with fatigue and with an added perspective of sorrow; but with a wider and deeper comprehension of the infinite loving kindness of the human heart. The outcasts never failed me. When I was spiritually hungry, my hands were filled to overflowing with those small deeds of kindness which flower to perfection in the darkness and bleakest soil. I had passed through a door little, of ever, used by the well-fed. I had experienced actual physical privations which women of the middle class may weep over, but cannot comprehend. I had touched the bottom of destitution; I had had no place wherein to lay my head. Never again can I look out on life with the same eyes; never again can I forget that all night long women are wandering to and fro upon the pavement, or trying to sleep in an alien bed.
And yet what I have seen has not made me hopeless, rather do I glory in the knowledge that starvation of body, or starvation of mind, cannot and does not, sear the soul of the outcast. And for this reason, and because I have had shown to me the beauty of giving, I cannot rest until I awaken the same desire to give among those women who, like myself, have always known the security, the peace, the contentment of a home.
And it will take much to convince me that among the twenty million women in this country, there cannot be found enough to join with me in easing the burden of our sisters, and removing the stigma that, in this city of almost countless dwellings, there remains a sorrowful multitude who, neither in home nor in bed, have permanent lodging."


It would only be fitting at this point to mention the Cecil Houses charity - founded by Ada Chesterton after her experiences - which continues to support homeless people:
http://www.ccht.org.uk/CC_Website_New/Fundraising.html

And to provide a reminder of 'Crisis at Christmas' - supporting homeless people in London this winter:
http://www.crisis.org.uk/pages/christmas.html

1932 Christmas Radio Times

Christmas Edition of the Radio Times, 1932:

Slide show of the contents:

Empire advertising: national identity in the kitchen at Christmas

I've previously come across some interesting packaging & advertising (will dig out further links) released by the Empire Marketing Board that encourages the 1920s & 30s house-wife to purchase cooking ingredients from sources within the Empire. I'm considering the effects of such propaganda upon identities, but have much work to do yet on this topic.

For now, the National Archives have a rather nice (Christmas-focused) slide show that includes some of this advertising:

"The time for wrapping up warmly and preparing for Christmas is now upon us.
Colourful images from our vaults show that past traditions remain. Have you made your Christmas pudding yet? Our Empire Marketing Board recipe, originally printed as a poster might give you some tips. Goods from past Empire countries were promoted in Great Britain to embed global economic unity using posters and other campaigns."

Christmas run-up in the 1930s house: cooking

Using recipies from the early 1930s volume of 'Everything within', and 1930s issues of 'Good Housekeeping', for the first time in 4 years I've had another go at Christmas cooking (the only time of year that I do really cook).

I've made the mincemeat (from 'Everything within') before, and it was quite tasty:

1/2 lb of apples (weighed after paring and coring)
1/2 lb stoned raisins
1/2 lb currants
1/2 lb shredded suet
1/2 lb brown sugar
1 small lemon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. mixed spice
1/2 lb tsp. grated nutmeg
1/4 pnt. cooking sherry.

"Remove pips from lemon, put it with the raisins and apples throught the mincer, turn into a bowl with the other ingrediants,  and wine, and mix well."

This makes around 1 lb of mincemeat - this is a large (1.5 L) Kilner jar:

 - o -

As I like a good-old Dickensian 'speckled cannon-ball' pudding, I've slightly adapted the 1936 recipe from GH, using muslin rather than a pudding basin - which (due to the size of the pudding - despite my enormous 'Judge' saucepans) had to be boiled and not steamed (the recipe states that either is OK). If using a cloth instead of a basin, ensure it's thick / doubled, tie with cotton string (not 'hairy' string, as here!), and suspend in the water (using a wooden spoon), to ensure the pudding doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan and burn through the cloth (as well as burn the pudding!):

1 lb beef suet
1/4 lb flour
1/4 lb brown sugar
5 eggs
3/4 lb breadcrumbs
1 1/4  lb mixed peel
3/4 lb currants
3/4 lb sultanas
1/2 lb raisins
1/2 lb chopped apple
1 oz mixed spice
zest & juice of 1 lemon and 1 orange
1/4 lb chopped almonds
1/4 gill (1 gill = 1/4 pnt.) milk
1 gill rum
1 gill sherry
1/2 tsp. salt

"Mix well beef suet, flour, sugar, salt, fruit, almonds, spices, breadcrumbs, and chopped apple. Then add the eggs, ale, sherry, rum and milk. Mix thoroughly, put into buttered basins, and steam or boil for from 6 to 8 hours. When required re-boil and serve.
   Do not turn the pudding out until it is ready to send to table. If possible serve it on a previously heated plated or silver dish. Sprinkle the pudding with castor sugar, place on the table and pour rum or brandy over it, allowing some to run round the dish. Light the match, and baste the pudding with burning spirit."

This makes a large amount - enough for two large or three medium sized puddings.

- o -

I don't have a great deal of faith regarding the success of cake, as I messed up with the ingredients (thinking that I had sufficient measures, but I must have converted from imperial to metric incorrectly). So I had to modify the 'Everything within' recipe that follows:

1/2 lb flour
1/2 lb butter
1/2 lb brown sugar
1/2 lb currants
1/2 lb stoned raisins
1/4 lb mixed candied peel
1/4 lb glace cherries (cut up)
2oz chopped almonds
4 eggs
1/2 tsp. carbonate of soda
1 tsp. vinegar
A little milk if necessary
 
"Cream butter and sugar together, gradually mix in the flour and prepared fruits and soda; beat in the whisked eggs, a spoonful at a time, continue beating a few minutes ; lastly, add the vinegar and mix it in very thoroughly. Turn the mixture into a tin well lined with buttered papers, and set in a larger one, which place in a thick tin on a bed of salt or sand. Bake the cake in a moderate oven 3 1/2 to 4 hours, protecting the top with buttered papers."

This was my cake, baked at 125 degrees c. for less than 3 hours - a rather sad sight, and possibly inedible!:

As my oven (a modern electric - although I do have a 1930s electric - which may actually have been more reliable!) has two settings: off and incinerate, the cake is rather singed around the edges (despite liberal greaseproof covering):

- o -

I've also recently acquired some rather charming bisque elves to decorate the cake come Christmas (they'll accompany my 'snow babies' and Father Christmas' figures):

Children's homes in Birmingham - HLF funded project

Interesting project on children's homes in Birmingham:
http://birminghamchildrenslives.wordpress.com/2011/11/22/birmimgham-childrens-homes-project/

and: http://www.connectinghistories.org.uk/childrenshomes.asp

Geffrye museum: Christmas past

Geffrye Museum will be decorating 11 rooms in period Xmas decorations:
http://www.timeout.com/london/museums-attractions/event/240468/christmas-past

Including a 1930s room:

http://www.timeout.com/london/museums-attractions/event/242512/art-deco-decorations

Photos of exhibitions:
http://www.geffrye-museum.org.uk/whatson/special/gallery-2011/default.aspx?id=56002&page=1

Ada Chesterton on workhouses and gender in the 1920s

Workhouses for heroes: Ada Chesterton on gender imbalance and social care in the 1920s

Ada Chesterton muses on the imbalance of workhouse provision in 1920s London: ‘The accommodation offered to women by the Metropolitan Board of Guardians is extremely limited. In the whole of London – North, South, East and West – there is but one casual ward where the destitute female can find a bed. The reasons for this limitation are interesting. Since the war, women’s casual wards have been handed over to the other sex.

Paddington was a last female trench ; now this has gone, and only Southwark remains. It follows, therefore, that to get a bed you must often – indeed, most frequentlytraverse the length and breadth of London. For how shall it profit the outcasts at Highgate to know that on the other side of Lambeth Bridge a cubicle awaits them?

This male invasion of casual wards, intended for women, is an outcome of the fear of the authorities that an ex-service man should be discovered bedless and starving in the streets. This would arouse a very general indignation, and a steady fire of middle class, far more than the Socialist or Communist groups, that authority always fears. Were a man, who had fought in his country’s cause, found on the Embankment in the last stage of exhaustion, letters to the Press would rain down from all parts, the whole question of unemployment would be raised, and the old taunt of ingratitude flung in the teeth of the particular Cabinet responsible at the time.

There have been very few cases reported of ex-soldiers and sailors driven to the last gasp of endurance ; and in order to prevent, so far as possible, such a contingency, the women’s wards of the workhouses have been taken from them. I want to make it perfectly plain that I, for one, would not take any beds from the men who fought for England. But why should the women, wives, mothers, sisters, sweethearts, of those same heroes be flung to the street in order to save the authorities from well-merited attack? The plea, that an old soldier must not starve, does not and cannot justify the callous indifference shown to a woman homeless and hungry.

There is no question of charity involved in the matter of the casual ward. The workhouse is kept up out of the rates, and every citizen, male and female, has the right to claim the shelter thus provided. [more about caring & govt. Responsibilities]...This is not the only penalty exacted from my sex. The men in the casual ward have hot tea every morning ; the women have the dregs of their teapots and hour later. This, at least, was the state of things at Southwark Workhouse where I spent a night in the casual ward. Following my revelation of this cruel custom in a Sunday newspaper, the Boar of Guardians gave instructions that Southwark should be provided with a gas stove whereon an urn could sit, in which the tea could be kept hot.

As well as the superior accommodation of male public lodging houses, and the unfair division of the casual wards, the authorities rightly afford opportunity for an out-of-work, or a destitute man to to make good. The master of every workhouse is instructed particularly to note those male casuals who have been in the Army or the Navy ; those with any trace of education ; those who have average abilities. These men when they leave the ward are given an order of admission to a hostel in Holborn, where they stay, free of charge, for a week. The conditions of life there are quite human ; they have good food, decent beds, rooms for recreation and free tobacco...During the week's stay all efforts are made to find him a job, and he is allowed to come and go in his search for employment without let or
hindrance...But why, because an outcast is a woman, should she be debarred from opportunity to make a living ? ...it does not matter what happens to the woman derelict ; the policy seems to be that the sooner she dies of starvation and exposure the better for society.

There is no need, human or economic, to salve her. She is of no account. But save the man ! Use the casual wards. Inspect the lodging houses. Throw open the kindly doors of comfortably equipped hostel, and the Govt shall escape the castigation they merit. Apart from the Salvation Army, and one or two other bodies, the woman outcast in the London streets to-day is a derelict as the woman of Hood's great lines... ’

Workhouse Life: Ada Chesterton's experiences in 1925

In Darkest London (1926) describes the experiences of Ada Chesterton (journalist on the Sunday Express) in Southwark 'casual ward' (workhouse):

On asking a policeman where she might find the nearest casual ward, he informed her that there was only workhouse for women in London, located in Great Guilford Street, Southwark.   

Workhouse by night: 

Admission: possessions, privacy and cleanliness

On first calling at the (men only) workhouse near Lambeth Walk, Ada spoke to the porter on her arrival, who gave her an order of admittance to Southwark, and a red counter bearing the figure ONE, which entitled her to a ticket on the tram. She asked the porter what would be expected of her at the workhouse, who in trying to reassure her told her they'd take away her money until the morning, and reminding her that she'd not be admitted if she had above a shilling. The tram conductor was polite and kindly to her when she gave him the token, although a woman next to her seemed to shrink away at mention of the Casual Ward. Due to the height of the walls, Ada found it difficult to detect the entrance in the dark. 

The admission process included a number of questions: name, place of birth, place of schooling, age, hair and eye colour, and height. After being questioned by the porter, Ada was then sent upstairs to be seen to by female attendants, who asked the same questions, and explained the process. She was told that she was unable to keep her own nightdress - one would be supplied ('a striped garment, fastening at the back, with long enveloping sleeves') - or to take anything on to the ward (and that any private paperwork would be 'sealed in a packet...We have no desire to pry...'). 

On entering the workhouse, clothes are removed, and an attendant oversees the inmate's bath. In the case of Ada, she said with surprise 'Why you're quite clean...It's such a relief...to find someone who isn't dirty. By-the-bye, is your head all right ?", after which she was inspected. Then 'You've no idea what some of them are like, you know. We have women here who are fairly alive". Ada responded by "They can't help it really, can they ?...It's difficult to find the money for a wash, let alone a bath."

   "But it's unfair to the others, all the same...and the worst of it is some of them won't let you touch their heads." Ada describes how heads are shaved and 'excavations [are] conducted under the scalp - for lice burrow deep.' Ada notes the effects of lice upon health. "Leave your clothes on the floor outside the door...they'll be inspected, and, if necessary-baked".

   'This was a polite way of telling me that should my garments prove to be insectivorous they would be dealt with. There is always a hot chamber working in the House. Sometimes the clothes suffer as well as the insects, and the unfortunate casual gets back a singed skirt, or an encindered petticoat.' 

The 'cell'

Ada 'was given a mattress, a pillow, and a pair of blankets, and told to take them into my " cell "' and muses if  the term was perhaps employed as 'it is so exact a replica of the prison variety that even the official sense of humour would boggle at another name' suggesting that 'cubicle might be tried ; it would not have so ominous a suggestion.' She was then 'left in the darkness very much alone...in the terrible isolation of my cell, my soul ached for the company of the women with their unspeakable bundles...'

   'High up in the wall was a tiny, round window, like a port-hole, far beyond my power to reach. [more in privacy section]...The mattress was not too hard, the blankets soft and warm, but the pillow was as stiff as a log of wood. It is as though the Guardians feel the casual must not have comfort everywhere.' (134) 'The " cell ", slightly funnel-shape, is like a coffin, as it suddenly occurred to me. I felt myself entombed in an instant, cut off for ever from the light of day. 

Workhouse by day: 

'We were aroused the next morning about half-past five. The cell door was open. I found my clothes outside the door and put them on in the dim light... When we were all dressed we folded up our blankets and carried them to the end of the corridor from whence they were dispatched to be fumigated. Outside each door the number is painted in bold figures-a discovery which somehow made me feel more than ever like a convict.’ 

Food 

Ada was informed by a regular resident of regulations that ensured residents should be fed before being put to work.

'We were then shepherded into the day room, a mournful place with bare boards, whitewashed walls and a long trestles table. There was no fire in the grate. Large tin mugs full of what was supposed to be tea [which Ada describes as 'loathsomely luke-warm...I could have cried at this uncalled-for rebuff. I was prepared for weak or unsweetened, but not cold tea.'] were placed on the table together with slices of bread spread with a particularly distasteful brand of " marge. " ...I tried to munch a piece of bread, but the marge was more than I could stomach...The hour for leaving... is somewhere between about half -past seven.' 

'I left before the midday meal, which consists of potatoes, bread, and a little cheese. The evening meal is skilly. The casuals have no tea, except in the morning.'

Work and punishment

Work was an obligation of the workhouse, and ensured effective incarceration of residents. Ada was told "You can't go until to-morrow morning...unless the superintendent gives you permission. According to law, you've got to give a day's work for your lodging." Another resident described the consequences of (apparent) refusal to work. This woman had argued with the 'Master', who had both tried to put a fellow inmate to do his personal washing (which was against the regulations), threatening her with gaol if she refused to comply. She was ultimately given 14 days imprisonment for non-compliance, as the Master didn't admit that it was his own washing that the inmate (on advice from a regular resident) refused to do. This other resident was subsequently asked by the Master to work on an empty stomach, which was also against the regulations; she was then given a piece of cheese. Before she left, she was given "a cup of cold gruel, though something hot in the way of tea is the right of ev'ryone...He wouldn't give me any, so I took the gruel an hides it in the garden...". She then asked to speak to a member of the committee, who reprimanded the Master and gave the woman a sixpence. But she told Ada that she could never return to that workhouse. 

On instruction from the superintendent at Southwark, Ada went to another inmate (who in the absence of tools, was shovelling ashes from the grate with her hands), to find what work she should undertake, and was told "There's nothing particular you can do...just look busy, that's what matters." It was apparent when looking around that all of the domestic jobs had been done, and she found she had to re-do these jobs. 

Oakum picking - which she asserts 'of all tasks is most cruel. It tears the finger nails and soils the soul ; it has no value, social or economic' (although acknowledging its use as hospital swabs) - is seen by Ada as part of the system deliberately designed to deter people from claiming a night's lodging to which, as members of a community heavily rated, they are entitled.' She goes on to say 'The same system compels the compulsory detention of any casual until the morning of the second day. There could be no ethical objection to a woman doing two or three hours' useful work. This, however, is not the object, which is to undermine all feelings of self-respect, and implant in the mind the belief that poverty is a crime which must be heavily punished. Not by any active or deliberate cruelty, but by the imposition of futile yet degrading denials. This denial of liberty, this abnegation of freedom, is so insistent that only in the last resource will a London outcast go into the House.'  

Incarceration

Describing feelings of claustrophobia Ada notes 'I wanted to scream...I knew that of I tried the handle of the door it would not open. No handle was there. I could not escape from my funnel-shaped coffin...[unable to sleep, later] I crept out and went to the door. And it was even as I had thought.

   Some months ago there was a case in the police court, where it was alleged an inmate was " locked " in her cell. The superintendent stated upon oath that this was not so. " There are...no keys. " 

'I know better example of the letter of the truth - and the violation of the spirit. There are no keys, but, as I have said, when the casual is duly in bed, the handle of the door is withdrawn.

    The official explanation of this device would appear quite reasonable. It is said that if people could open their cells, they would visit each other all night. One or two convivial spirits might, perhaps, drift into the corridor, but for the most part the casual is so dog-tired that any such spirit of enterprise is knocked out. But even were every casual to emerge, an attendant on night duty could shoo them back with a warning that if they came out again they would be shut in. It is as I have said, the Guardians do not desire to extend hospitality too often. Therefore they inflict slight penalties upon the body and the soul, which, in the aggregate, make up a sum sufficiently imposing to make a night in the ward a thing most strenuously to be avoided...'

Ada, on (untruthfully) telling the superintendent that she has an offer of work awaiting her, and therefore asking for release, is told (as this is her first time on a casual ward) that she may go, although "...if you come back here within a month you will have to stay [effectively imprisoned] for three days." 

Fear of institutional life

Ada notes ‘…the thing that survives longest and most fiercely among the destitute is a passionate fear of restriction, the horror of detention within four walls, under a strange roof. For this reason before they will ask for a night’s lodging at the Poor Law Guardians they will push endurance to an inhuman limit.’

After a night in Southwark Workhouse, she relates 'I was beginning to wish to get out. The walls seemed to be closing in on me. I got a little panic-stricken. Supposing this machine with which I had placed myself in contact should held me against my will ? Suppose they said that I must stay. Guardians have such plenary powers to use against the poor. I saw myself sentenced to remain permanently in an institution, I remembered with quick alarm the " tests " by which they measure your intelligence. They might easily find me mentally deficient !

   I went to the attendant and asked if I could go. It was then that the jaws of the trap began to close. Ada was 'beginning to have a wholesome fear of the State ; I did not want to be thrust back into that awful cell. The thought of another night in that funnel-shaped coffin appalled me.'

On leaving, Ada was accompanied by the 'feeling as if I had escaped from the grave. I reeled almost with the sense of liberty...I understand then why it is that humanity dreads what is know as organised relief. I contrasted the ghastly regulations of the Workhouse with the warm, unfettered welcome of the Salvation Army, and I knew that if I found myself again in such a plight rather than go to the casual ward I would spend the whole night walking the streets.

   And if I felt this in an institution characterised by the humanity of the officials, how intolerable must be the bitterness of a House ruled by in sentient force ?

   There is, I understand, a Union of Poor Law Officials, who, apart from their work of obtaining decent wages and conditions for the members, are steadily striving to alter the regulations governing casuals. In this they are helped by individual guardians. But on the whole Boards have developed little consciousness since the days of Bumble. They have no souls to save nor bodies to be kicked and, while in London, at any rate, superintendents, male and female, have lost that sense of brutal superiority condemned by Dickens, their superiors have remained untouched. In the process of economic evolution, the soul of Bumble has ascended to a higher social plane.'

Change

Ada states that 'Following on the publication in a Sunday newspaper of my article dealing with the Casual Ward, a revision of the rules has taken place. Oakum picking has been abolished for both male and female casuals, and the latter are now permitted to spend two or three hours daily in washing and mending their clothes and attending to their persons...[along] with the provisions of hot tea at breakfast...I rejoice to think that on this morning on which I write the women at Great Guilford Street have their tea hot ; a small thing-but to them a great feat to have accomplished.' She went on to found the Cecil Homes.

More to come on Ada Chesterton's comments on gendered access to workhouses and welfare...

For more information on the history of the workhouse, see the excellent web site of Peter Higginbotham: www.workhouses.org.uk

Hallowen folklore, as told in early 1930s 'Everything Within'

Some ‘Halloween spells’ from an early 1930s volume of ‘Newnes Everything Within’

“To eat an apple on All Hallow’s Eve, seated alone before a mirror, by the light of a candle, is a very old spell, by means of which a girl seeks to see her future husband.

      The sweetheart, if she is to marry, comes behind her back and looks into the glass over her shoulder. She must go on eating until the apple is all consumed, and on no account turn her head until after the shade has faded away and she has blown out the candle.

To throw the spool. This requires courage. A girl opens the door or gate leading into the garden, and while keeping the end of the thread inher own hand, she must throw the spool into the garden, winding the end of the thread around he wedding finger until she sees her spectral lover with the bobbin in his hand. No words are to pass between them. No one must know about this spell being tried either before or after it has been accomplished.

“What will my man be like ? “ Go to the wood-pile  on 31^st October and pull out the first stick that comes handy. If it is smooth, he will be young. If straight and even, he will be kind and gentle ; if knotty, he will be cantankerous. But if it is bent and withered, he will be a bad-tempered old man.

To answer any question. Run a new silk thread through a gold ring and hold it ove a tumbler of water. Ask one question that can be answered by a direct “ Yes “ or “ No “. Hold the ends of the thread steadily as you ask, then notice how many times the ring strikes against the glass. If once, the answer is “ No “. If twice, “ Doubtful “. If three times, the answer is “ Yes “.”