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T02 Mr Charles Hall
Life in Ramsbottom from 1902
Recorded Oct-87
Length 00:37:44
- Charles recounts life in Torytown, starting in 1902.
- His father, a sculptor, suffered health issues, leading to financial struggles.
- Charles attended Hazlehurst Council School, facing challenges due to vision problems.
- He began working in a cotton mill at age 12, earning minimal wages.
- The narrative includes experiences during WWI, including food scarcity and air raids.
- Post-war, he transitioned to insurance work and later served in Austria during the occupation.
- The speaker reflects on changes in local architecture and community life over the years.
detailed summary
🧭 Overview
The transcript is a first-person life story of a man born in the early 1900s in Ramsbottom, near Bury, England. He recounts his childhood, work life, and experiences through both World Wars, offering vivid social, economic, and cultural details of working-class life in Lancashire.
🏠 Early Life (1900s–1910s)
- The narrator was born and raised in Torytown, near Albert and Victoria Streets, Ramsbottom.
- His father was a stone sculptor who lost his job after developing lung disease, likely from stone dust exposure.
- The family temporarily moved to Lowridge Farm in Redisher Woods.
- Childhood home: Butler Street, facing open fields toward Holcombe Moor.
- Attended Hazlehurst Council School (opened 1904), where Miss Shawcross was head of the infants department and raised funds for school equipment.
- Suffered from partial blindness; glasses were rare and led to teasing.
- Medical care was private—no free healthcare or unemployment benefits existed then.
🏭 Working Life in the Cotton Mills
- Left school at age 12 to work half-time in a cotton mill, full-time by age 13.
- Earned 3 shillings weekly part-time, then 7 shillings full-time.
- Described grueling hours: 6 a.m.–5:30 p.m., ~60 hours weekly, including illegal overtime.
- Factory inspectors were seen as enemies, not protectors.
- Worked for Lawrence Steadham Brothers Mill later on.
- Transport: walked long distances; couldn’t afford trolleybuses (introduced 1913).
🏫 Education and Self-Improvement
- Attended Ramsbottom Technical College, later Bury for advanced classes.
- Studied textile trade subjects and later languages (German and Spanish).
- Won the Bury Chamber of Commerce prize for Modern Languages twice.
- Practiced German with a fitter from Saxony—often in local pubs.
⚙️ Social and Economic Conditions
- No baths or running hot water; families bathed in metal tubs by the hearth.
- Used early public transport and experienced the 1913–1931 trolleybus era.
- Experienced WWI Zeppelin raids (1916)—one fell nearby; his family sheltered without light or fire.
- Described Armistice Day (1918) celebrations, marred by his mother’s sudden illness.
- Later joined strikes for shorter working hours—successfully reduced the week from 55½ to 48 hours.
💼 Career Changes and the Interwar Years
- Left the cotton trade for insurance sales with Royal London Mutual.
- Told humorous stories from his door-to-door experience (e.g., fainting customer guarded by dog).
- Father’s last major job: carving a coat of arms on Bury fire station before dying in the 1930s.
- Married in 1938, moved to Bury.
🌍 World War II and Postwar Service
- When WWII began (1939), he joined the Postal Censorship Service in Liverpool, using his language skills.
- Worked mainly on German correspondence, later transferred to Manchester.
- Shared humorous censorship anecdotes.
- In 1945, volunteered for similar work in Austria—stationed in Klagenfurt, later Feldkirch, Graz, and Bruck an der Mur.
- Held temporary acting rank of Captain with the Civil Censorship Group.
- Described Austria’s postwar life, cultures, and tension with Yugoslavia (Tito’s border disputes).
- His wife joined him there in 1947 during an extremely cold winter (−54°F).
- Described leisure activities (skiing, hiking) and tragic incidents, like a British officer shot by a Yugoslav guard.
🏢 Later Career and Life
- Returned to England in 1950, worked as cashier for John Tin Line Ltd., major builders in Manchester (worked on Ringway Airport, schools, and churches).
- Fascinated by church architecture, comparing English and Austrian styles.
- Enjoyed rambling and railway excursions across the Dales and Ribble Valley.
🕰️ Reflections and Local Anecdotes
- Lamented loss of Ramsbottom’s historic architecture—churches, Nuttall Hall, Grants Tower.
- Criticized modern buildings as ugly.
- Shared humorous local stories, e.g.:
- His father’s gravestone restoration for the Watson family at Holcombe.
- Mistakenly calling a councilman “Mr. O’Billy.”
- The comical proposal by “George o’Billis” to “make all the uphills level and leave the downhills as they are.”
🧩 Themes
- Working-class perseverance under harsh industrial conditions.
- Impact of modernization—loss of craftsmanship and ornate architecture.
- Education and self-betterment despite poverty.
- Social humor and local identity of early 20th-century Lancashire.
- Transitions from Victorian to modern eras through one man’s lifetime.
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