Fascinating read, Harry, thank you. Orwell’s observations really cut to the chase. The part about the ill-thought-through downsides of social housing was particularly interesting.
As in "The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists" by Robert Tressell, the deprivation Orwell describes is unimaginable. For some people even today, hardship is a reality. As a species we seem to make so little progress It fills one with despair. Thanks for highlighting this important issue.
Thanks Jules - my grandfather was a miner in the 1930s of which Orwell writes. Mines were privately owned then and miners paid by the tub of coal cut. In 1930 my grandfather who was a ‘face-worker’ or ‘hewer’ as the men who cut coal were called in the northeast brought home about one pound, ten shillings a week to support a family of four. My mother could recall that a treat every second Sunday for breakfast was to share a fried egg with her sister. My grandmother ‘took in washing’ - ie washed other people's clothes to help supplement the family’s income. Tough times.
Tough times indeed. I never forget the deprivation my ancestors faced. I had a great aunt who was treated so cruelly working in service that she killed herself. It was my grandfather's beloved sister. He was a miner too - in the Hafod colliery in North Wales. It was a reserved occupation during the second world war so the miners were not called up, but the work destroyed their health, breathing in all that black dust, day in, day out. Then he lost his wife in child birth when his first child, my mother, was 4. Just being working class then often meant daily misery. You wonder how people stood it. I never forget all of this when I see the Conservatives (and now Labour) neglecting the majority of the population and siphoning money to their mates. Sorry for the rant. I feel strongly about these things!
Fascinating read, Harry, thank you. Orwell’s observations really cut to the chase. The part about the ill-thought-through downsides of social housing was particularly interesting.
As in "The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists" by Robert Tressell, the deprivation Orwell describes is unimaginable. For some people even today, hardship is a reality. As a species we seem to make so little progress It fills one with despair. Thanks for highlighting this important issue.
Thanks Jules - my grandfather was a miner in the 1930s of which Orwell writes. Mines were privately owned then and miners paid by the tub of coal cut. In 1930 my grandfather who was a ‘face-worker’ or ‘hewer’ as the men who cut coal were called in the northeast brought home about one pound, ten shillings a week to support a family of four. My mother could recall that a treat every second Sunday for breakfast was to share a fried egg with her sister. My grandmother ‘took in washing’ - ie washed other people's clothes to help supplement the family’s income. Tough times.
Tough times indeed. I never forget the deprivation my ancestors faced. I had a great aunt who was treated so cruelly working in service that she killed herself. It was my grandfather's beloved sister. He was a miner too - in the Hafod colliery in North Wales. It was a reserved occupation during the second world war so the miners were not called up, but the work destroyed their health, breathing in all that black dust, day in, day out. Then he lost his wife in child birth when his first child, my mother, was 4. Just being working class then often meant daily misery. You wonder how people stood it. I never forget all of this when I see the Conservatives (and now Labour) neglecting the majority of the population and siphoning money to their mates. Sorry for the rant. I feel strongly about these things!
You and me both, Jules 👍