Energy And Life In The 1950s
ENERGY AND LIFE IN THE 1950s.
At the time of the coronation, 1953, I was living in Germany, and I remember that there were some things in short supply. Milk was mainly powdered or condensed in a tin. We had one jug with about 1 pint of milk per week. Once per week, the milkman came in his horse-drawn cart up our road and we went with a jug and he put a ladle or 2 into it from a milk churn. When we returned to the UK in 1954, the milkman also had a horse-drawn cart, which was eventually replaced in the mid-50s by an open backed electric milk float. Sometimes it had difficulty getting up our steep hill and would need to be towed. He did come every day except Sunday.
Initially when my family returned to the UK, we lived with my grandfather in Hove. I used to sit in the window and watch the lamplighter come along the road and light the gas street lamps. He rode a bike and carried a long pole to reach the lights. The nurses walked from the local hospital to the nurses’ home opposite his house wearing their white lace edged caps, flared dresses, black stockings and red caps. Car ownership was uncommon, so the roads were quite quiet.
We did have electricity and town gas. North Sea gas came in the late 60s. The cooker was gas. The dining room and living room had open coal fires, which had to be cleaned, laid and lit every day. Getting a good fire was an art and required bellows and newspaper to draw a current of air. Care had to be taken that the sparks did not cause a fire in the hearth rug or catch clothing. Most houses had open fires and so smoky chimneys were the norm. The chimneys had to be swept regularly, about once per year, or there was a risk of soot falls or smoke filling the room. That was a dusty job. We were lucky that we did have central heating with radiators, which were quite bulky compared to modern ones and not very efficient. My best friend did not have central heating; there were only fires in the dining and living room. Bedding was several thick woollen blankets and a feather eiderdown. Pyjamas were winceyette or brush cotton. Windows were single glazed and draughty and in winter one woke to ice lacing the panes: jack frost. Frozen pipes in houses were common. We used to have a paraffin heater in our bathroom, which did not have any other heating. We would leave the trap door into the attic open to prevent the water in the cold-water tank and the associated pipes from freezing. Wearing thick woollen jumpers, woolly vest and layers were the norm. Young children wore long woollen socks in winter. Uniform was a woollen tunic over a shirt for girls and short woollen trousers for boys with blazers. They were dry cleaned if you were lucky once per term. I remember getting the bottom of my skirt wet in cold rain or snow and having chilblains on the insides of my thighs. Tights only became common in the mid to late 60s and initially were quite expensive compared to stockings.
Even then new houses were often not built with bathrooms or inside toilets. Water was used with care. The heating of water was restricted due to small tanks, often heated by electric immersion heaters. Once drained the tank took a long time to reheat. Baths were generally once or twice per week, limited to 4 inches and family members taking it in turn to use it. The last one had a very soapy bath. Hair washing was once per week in the bath and dried in front of the fire to keep warm.
The combination of smoke from houses, trains and industries plus cars and other vehicles led to smog, which was the combination of fog and particles. Exhausts were smellier and contained lead. Catalytic converter exhausts were a thing of the future. There was a dense sort of yellow fog, which made vision and breathing difficult. We lived less than 20 miles from the centre of London in a rural area, but I remember how it smelt. I do not remember the Great Smog of 1952 as I was too young and lived abroad then, but I do remember the Big Smog of 1962 and walking in front of my mother’s car so she knew where the curb was and we could get home.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/6/newsid_3251000/3251001.stm)
We were lucky that we had an electric refrigerator, which was not common. A lot of my friends did not until late in the 50s. We did have a larder ( a small room/ walk in cupboard off the kitchen with vents to the outside), which had a marble shelf to keep things cool. People who did not have a fridge would put things like milk in a bucket or bowl of water and cover it with a cloth and the latent heat of vaporisation helped to keep things cool. We were also able to make ice cream and ice in the small ice box of the fridge, which was about the size of a shoe box. Commercial ice cream was made with colouring and whale blubber and was not as good as that made from fruit and cream. Frozen foods were not commercially available. We also had a cage in the shade outside the kitchen known as a meat cage, which could keep meat protected from flies and animals.
Again, we were lucky to have an electric washing machine. It was a single top loading one which had a wash and a spin cycle, which had to be switched on and off. The water was added via a hose on the tap and a hose emptied it into the sink. You loaded it up with water and added the detergent and clothes and then turned it on to gyrate and wash. To save hot water the clothes were taken out, put through a mangle to remove the water, and then a second load of clothes were washed. The soapy water was then removed, new water added to rinse and the mangle was used again to remove water. Very dirty clothes and my baby twin brothers’ terry nappies were boiled. We had a purpose made boiler powered by gas, but some people had to do this using a large pan on their cooker. Disposable nappies would not be available in the UK for nearly 30 years and even then, were expensive and not very good. Drying was done on a washing line or by being hung on a Dutch dryer (rods attached to a frame and pulley that can be pulled up to the ceiling) or in front of the coal fire. Clothes materials were not easy care like today. Most things needed to be ironed. Cotton shirts and dresses were also starched to make them stiff and crisp.
When we went on holiday to Pembrokeshire, we stayed in a cottage on a farm. It was essentially 2 up and 2 down with a lean-to added on the back, which was a scullery with the only sink used to wash everything – people, food, dishes and clothes. One downstairs room had an open fire and the other had an open range with an oven and hob heated by logs. On Sunday we went to church, having left the joint to cook, and it depended which way the wind blew whether it was under or over cooked when we got home. There was a small gas hob too fortunately.
Trains were mainly steam engines. My cousin loved to stand on the pedestrian bridge, when the train went under which was a very smoky business. There were some diesel trains. The London tube was run by electricity. Buses were diesel. Some areas had electric trams. More areas had trolleys, which looked like buses but had spring loaded poles drawing electricity from overhead wires similar to modern electric trains.
When we moved to our house in 1954, we inherited with the house a small television which was black and white with about a 9 inch screen. Children’s hour was limited to things like the Wooden Tops, Bill and Ben, Andy Pandy and on Sunday the serial of a classic book. Grandpa had a phone that had to be wound up to get the operator to answer and arrange the connection and when we moved, we did have a phone which had a hand hearing piece that hung from an upright holder which you spoke into. You had to tap the bell and ask the operator to connect you to the doctor or a number. International calls were expensive and had to be booked. Many people did not have phones so there were lots of phone boxes. You either dialled the number or asked the operator to connect you after you inserted 4 old pennies. Once connected you pressed button A. If there was no reply you pressed button B and got your money back. Telegrams could be sent by going to the post office or talking to the operator so messages could be sent fast or overnight. They were charged by the word and expensive. Writing letters was the main form of communication and used for organising parties and visits to friends and families. One had to allow enough time to get the replies and respond before organising final visits.
Jane Fenton-May