A village event
The Henfield museum stand
A 1920s beaded dress
A lady was very interested in this sparkling example of a beaded dress.
I was telling her what I knew about it.
'It came from Bourne and Hollingsworth in London.There is a woven shop label sewn into the waist. They were a department store that was known for the quality of their goods and for the quality of the care they gave their staff. The store sadly closed in 1983, but had been on Oxford Street since 1902, having been started by Mr WW Bourne and Mr HE Hollingstorth as a drapers in 1894' I managed before I ran out of steam. And facts.
'Oh I knew Bourne and Hollingsworth' she said.' I lived in their hostel.'
Did you work for them I asked?
(Expecting the answer yes)
No, she said, I just lived in the hostel.
I was intrigued, as I had not been aware that shop hostels permitted non staff to reside there.
And so shortly after this meeting, I had a long and very interesting talk to this lady.
The kind of conversation that supplies you with fabulous detail.
The kind of conversation that gives you insights that are only available when you talk to someone who was there.
I already knew that there had been staff accommodation for approx 600 female Bourne and Hollingsworth workers in Warwickshire House hostel on Gower Street in Bloomsbury in London.
Unmarried female staff were expected to live in the hostel while employed by the business.
A long time before my interviewee spent time in Gower Street, shop hostels generally had been strict, regimented boarding establishments. A women's paper from 1895 chronicles that some shops had dormitory arrangement for the 'girls'. This could be six to eight beds in a room, with two people assigned to each bed. Some shops did have individual beds for their female staff. There might be a sitting room as well for the girls use.
Male staff were lodged elsewhere, as it was not seemly to have male and female staff sharing facilities.
Breakfast was from 0730 to 0830 and was bread and butter. Some places allowed a ten minute lunch break at 1100 for bread and cheese.
There were societies in the hostels you could join, if you could afford it. A drama group or a music society perhaps.
Any engagements announced between male and female staff lead to instant dismissal. There was always the fear that experienced staff might marry and set up rival establishments and take their customers with them.
And if you felt an evening away from the place was a good idea, you had to get permission if you wanted to stay out until midnight. 22.30 was the usual time to be in. If you were granted a late pass, the door porter would take a note of your details and put them in a book.
To be late back was frowned upon. You might be locked out or fined or dismissed.
Bourne and Hollingsworth were clearly at the good end of the hostel scale. After Gower Street was renovated n the 1920s, facilities at the inhabitants disposal included a ballroom and swimming pool.
During WWII the building became an ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service) hostel for the members of the women's branch of the British army.
The building, now known as Bonham-Carter house, is these days used by UCLH (University College Hospital ) staff.
So lets fast forward 65 years from 1895 to Swinging London in the 1960s when my lady lived there.How much had changed?
For girls moving away from home for the first time in the 1960s renting a flat in London was expensive (plus ça change). So when Miss X left home to work in London in the early 1960s, what was she to do?
Well if you had a reference from your local vicar or perhaps your old headmistress to attest to your good character and upstanding family background, you might get in to a place like the B & H hostel at 52 Gower Street, WC1.
And indeed she did. So her place secured, off she went.
I asked 'What do you remember about the building and your time there?'
And here is what I found out.
The building was (and is) sandwiched between RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art ) on one side and the Hospital for Tropical Medicine on the other and had impressive grey stone steps up to the door.
There were lots of corridors.
Her contemporaries were young single girls in their teens and twenties. No one she got to know worked for B&H. A friend of hers worked for the Coal Board, whilst she herself worked for a large food company.
Rooms were twin bed affairs, with a wardrobe and a chest of drawers. All mod cons, as each room had a wash hand basin, but bathrooms and toilets were communal, each floor having a set of each.
There were no showers.
Monday was bed linen changing day. Each girl stripped her bed before leaving for work and then made up their bed in the evening after work with the clean linen provided.
People attended to their personal laundry at the weekends.
There was a canteen in house and Miss X enjoyed her midday meal there during the week. A small breakfast and possibly a poached egg for tea made up a days meals.
There was a room in the basement where everyone had a locker and could use the hot plates and utensils provided to cater for themselves.
Modern touches included a TV room...with a black and white TV.
The most popular night of the week for TV was Thursday, when everyone would rush back from late night shopping in time to watch Top Of The Pops .
The art deco styled swimming pool from the 1920s refit was still there in the basement at this time, but she never used it.
The reception area had a small shop where you could purchase toothpaste and other toiletries. All of which came from B&H.
There was always a nurse on duty.
Male visitors could proceed no further than reception, but female guests could stay in your room if your room mate was absent, upon payment of a small fee.
Still sounding very much like the 1895 rules, a late pass was needed to be out after 2230. The front door was locked at 2230 and if late, you had to be let in. This would mean a carpeting from the powers that be.
When we are young, time takes on a different ebb and flow and so what seemed a long adventure lasted for just over two years before Miss X and three friends managed to get a flat together.
So there we are. A way of life from roughly 55 years ago that had parallels with a way of life from 65 years before that. One that has now vanished as completely as black and white TVs, Top of the Pops and teenagers observing a 2230 curfew.
Thanks again Miss X.
I really enjoyed hearing your story.
