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Mr Clifford H |
| Interview Number: 22 |
| Other Interview Material |
| Sex: |
| M |
| Year Of Birth: |
| 1904 |
| Place of Residence: |
| Colchester, Essex |
| Family: |
| 4 children, 2 brothers and a sister + one step-brother, 3rd in birth order. Grandmother also lived with them. Father had 11 in his family, all living to 80 or 90 years. Father was a very kind man, with a wonderful sense of humour so a happy childhood. |
| Marriage: |
| Housing: |
| Born in old wooden house in Gt Bentley, Essex, 2 up 2 down + 2 attics with very low ceilings. The well was 50 yards away and the stairs were just a ladder. Father kept a pig to pay annual rent of £10. On marriage moved in with mother in law in same village. |
| Education: |
| Local village school, left at 12 and half. Interested in geography and far away places. Father did not attend school but learned to read aged 70. Noted that radio had helped to educate people. |
| Parents' Work History: |
| Grandfather was a shepherd and horseman. Father started as a bricklayer, then farm labourer where learned to thatch corn stacks. Very good with animals Interesting material on sheep. Eventually went to Essex C.C repairing gulleys. Mother had been a nurse |
| Work History: |
| As a boy, used to herd sheep on village green, did a paper round and worked as a kitchen boy for local doctor. His first main job was a full time kitchen boy and gardener. He also worked as a stockman and farm labourer. Joined army in 1940 as a chauffeur and then continued as chauffeur /gardened. Wife did casual farm work as a girl. His uncle, a firebrand, organised the first branch of the Workers Union in the village which gradually gained strength and succeeded in raising wages. CH was not a TU member. |
| Final Occupation: |
| Farm labourer |
| Political Affiliation: |
| His father was Liberal one year, Conservative another and the house would be decorated with either blue or yellow ribbons. Normally he voted accordingly to whom he worked for - no serious ideas on politics - just election antics. |
| Religious Background: |
| C. of E. Sunday school and morning service then afternoon Sunday school and evening service with his mother and sang in the church choir. Father went to chapel. His wife was a Methodist, like all the gypsies in the area. |
| Occupational Class: |
| Semi-skilled Manual |
| Leisure Activities: |
| Father kept bees and had an allotment. CH took part in boxing matches, cross country runs, football and cricket on the green, where they were only allowed to play on the rough part. At the Gt Bentley cricket Club, irrespective of ability, working class players always batted low on the list. Sunday school treats to Walton on Naze and Brightlingsea and strawberry teas for the choir at the Vicarage. His sister played the organ at home, mainly hymns but could also play jazz. |
| Health / Childbirth: |
| CH believed mother died of malnutrition, diagnosed as anaemia. She had endless headaches, always using smelling salts. Swarms of flies from next door slaughter house was very unhealthy. Father cured of eczema, caused by sheep dip, by gypsy remedy. CH had no idea about childbirth. Local doctor was seen as friend of the poor - mother paid 2/6 month into doctor's club and 3d weekly towards hospital treatment. Wife died of TB. |
| Miscellaneous: |
| Extensive information on running of household and childrearing and class.. Father used to poach rabbits and pheasants but though threatened was never summoned. Aware of Saturday night fights due to drunkenness with police having difficulty in controlling the crowds. Police asked for assistance 'in the name of the King'. Poverty of families living in the brickfields whose children were thin and badly clothed and who never seemed to recover from this poverty, and had lost the will to change their life. CH compares church goers to the railways with 1st, 2nd and 3rd class passengers - farmers at the front, tradesmen in the middle and the working class always in pews at the back of the church. He was angry that he, a churchgoer, had to work on Good Friday while the farmer went to church. Villagers would keep chickens in coops on the Green , now forbidden and local tradesmen grazed their horses there which the village boys rode bareback. CH was very sensitive to class divisions. |
| Number of pages in Transcript: |
| 207 |
