| Collection | Winstanley Oral History Collection |
| Description | Mrs. E. Clayton (nee Chantler) born 1893, interviewed in Folkstone. Her father was a baker and her mother did some dressmaking. Mrs Clayton's was in service from age, married in 1917. From a family of three girls, one died young.
WIN-038 Mrs Eleanor Claydon Summary
Reel 1, Side A (Track 1)
Describes when and where she was born. Describes her father’s family and their careers [2:37]. Describes her mother’s family and childhood. Story about her mother getting in trouble at school. Comments on society being elitist [5:58]. Describes her father’s career from before she was born to when he died [13:42]. Describes her immediate family members. Comments on her sister’s death [14:17]. Explains what her father’s job was working in a Mill [15:34]. Describes her first job in service at a boarding house in Hastings, and the terrible conditions experienced there. Explains being sent back home ill [21:29]. Describes her next job in service, and a story about getting in trouble for saying the mistress looked like Queen Mary [25:47]. Describes working in Service for Mr Webster the artist and meeting her next employers there. Explains the decision to go to Wales [27:36]. Describes working as a nurse in Wales and loving it. Story about her granddaughter visiting the place in Wales where she worked. Story about the flood in Wales while she was there. Describes the circumstances of the family she worked for and how the little girl’s mother had died. Describes the father taking the child back to Johannesburg [33:17]. Explains wishing to be a Lady’s maid. Describes taking up another parlourmaid’s job at Baker’s Cross. Describes the family situation at Baker’s Cross and how Master William died in the First World War. Explains how Mrs Harris took a liking to her [37:44]. Explains why Baker’s Cross was always called Bloody Cross. Explains the history of the family at Baker’s Cross and their business, Sharp and Winch. Explains how they liked to go shooting [43:08]. Describes what spring cleaning was like at Baker’s Cross. Comments on electricity and cold water [46:32]. Describes her duties as a Parlourmaid. Explains how she was always dressed perfectly tidily. Comments on not wearing plain bonnets or stiff cuffs, like the other servants [51:10]. Describes making ‘dead men’s shirts’ during the war. Explains the servants and family having to do their bit during the war at the V.A.D. Hospital. Explains being annoyed at having to do extra chores during the war, such as cooking. Story about cooking gooseberry jam [53:51]. Story about going back to visit Baker’s Cross with her daughter and meeting the girl who replaced her when she left [54:44]. Story about a man who came to fix an eelworm infestation when the family were grieving for Master William and getting in trouble for not taking him indoors. Explains how she nearly quit service over it [1:03:34]. Story about breaking the news of William’s death to the master. Comments of altering Master William’s clocks so he would be late [1:05:56]. Describes Catherine’s relationship with her father. Story about a coat he used to make her wear. Comments on the strange marriage Catherine made. Comments on this man nearly getting her fired [1:11:00]. Story about going to see Mrs Harris a year before she died [1:12:10]. Comments on Billy Winch being famous around Cranbrook and what he looked like. Story about taking his three dogs Thistle-Dodging. Comments on the pubs he owned. Comments on them being gentry and hiring a car. Comments on him being contrary and having frequent bad moods. Explains how he had a bowel illness [1:17:20]. Comments on how the upper-class families used to dress for dinner. Comments on Miss Catherine’s hair. Explains what dinner was like for the family she worked for. Describes how she used to set the table and serve during dinnertimes [1:24:22]. Story about eating carp when the lake froze over. Story about having to sew up curtains after someone stepped on them [1:26:50]. Comments on the family entertaining at home. Story about other maids not doing their jobs properly when it was her afternoon off [1:28:21]. Comments on the other staff at Baker’s Cross [1:29:56]. Explains the average working day for people in service [1:31:47]. Explains the perks of her father being a baker, and all the bread and cakes they used to get [1:32:59]. Comments on her husband’s family.
Reel 1, Side B (Track 2)
Explains how the lower classes felt about the upper classes. Comments on holidays [1:07]. Story about firework displays [2:24]. Explains how money was managed. Tells of how her and her husband managed their rent. Comments on wishing she had boys [4:20]. Comments on the upper class going on holiday. Remembers Master Willian who died in the First World War. Story about Master William and the peacocks. Comments on master William’s laundry and suits [7:02]. Describes the uniform in service and how she always wanted a fancier material. Story about the spring clean in service. Explains how they were never allowed in the governor’s chest of drawers and describes what it contained [10:28]. Story about recognising the dining table from Baker’s Cross [11:47]. Story about her father’s first present to her mother [13:04]. Story about breaking a jug in service. Comments of what bathrooms and toilets were like. Story about being made to pay for a broken bucket [16:27]. Comments on the conditions in service at St Leonard’s. Story about her mother coming to collect her belongings after she had been sent home from service ill. Explains she and her sister were not strong children. Story about her mothing accidentally kicking the cradle over [21:45]. Explains the interview process for jobs in service, and how she was recommended for another job in service by a family friend [23:54]. Describes what Liverpool and Wales were like, and how they used to take boat rides on the lakes of Penmanpool. Describes Liverpool in more detail [25:35]. Describes the bad conditions working in service at St Leonard’s, and what they had to eat. Describes all the food eaten as a child and what her mother used to cook for the family [32:22]. Describes her father’s working day. Story about how he used to feed his horse his cheese. Lists the prices of alcoholic beverages [35:44]. Describes first few years of married life. Story about counting the coal the coalman brought [37:45]. Comments on tinned milk and dried eggs. Explains having to wait for their dad for their evening meal [38:54]. Describes what food they had at school. Describes an average school day [41:57]. Story about being punished at school for not being able to lift the dumbbells. Comments on other punishments in school. Comments on teachers not having any qualifications [44:41]. Describes staying on teaching at school after being deemed not strong enough to work. Comments on helping her mother dressmaking. Comments on having an operation [45:53]. Comments on attitudes to schooling and wishing she was given more of a chance [47:00]. Explains how sheet music was published in the papers every week. Story about her uncle, a policeman, confiscating pirated music being sold on the streets [48:39]. Describes the amusements available. Story about a singer called Miss Pannett. Comments on Bowles, and cricket matches. Comments on King Edwards death [51:25]. Explains the entertainment they used to have. Explains how their family was musical and lots of members could sing. Explains how her father worked during Easter time. Comments on her father living to 89 and how they never used to rely on doctors for medical treatments [54:58]. Comments on the taboo of mothers telling their children where babies come from. Comments on what happened when girls got led astray [56:51]. Story about Lord and Lady Rothermere at the memorial service for their sons [57:35]. Comments on her mother and father’s relationship. Story about how her mother used to help her father with the horse after he got home [59:43]. Comments on her mother’s hard work dressmaking and cooking. Story about women being expected to cut the Barley in the fields and it being terribly hard work. Comments on going hopping and them believing it was very good for your health. Explains what they did with the money from the hop fields [1:02:47]. Describes buying coal and ‘brushings’. Comments on her mother using a saw [1:04:38]. Explains how her father would cook if her mother was ill. Comments on the bakery getting the rewards for her father’s hard work [1:05:53]. Explains what standard bread is and how they used to leave the chaff in it. Comments on the bread they used to eat from the bakery [1:07:38]. Explains the job of the under baker. Story about the awful smell when her father had been baking doughnuts Story about delivering the bread which went wrong to the orphanage [1:09:55]. Story about taking in two little boys from the orphanage. Describing the boys background. Story about the mother of the two boys coming for a visit [1:13:35]. Story about a little boy at the orphanage with no legs [1:15:38]. Comments on the parents of the two boys they took in. Comments on the orphanage only being for little children. Story about the two boys being given books by a German millionaire called Gunther [1:18:18]. Comments on the local gentry opening their grounds on special occasions. Story about the rector at St Peter’s church throwing sweets to children in a cow field. Comments on having to learn religious psalms [1:20:47]. Describes how rectors no longer call on people in their homes. Story about going back to church after her husband died [1:22:14]. Explains how her mother used to save her money. Story about her mother getting 6 shillings a week after breaking her thigh [1:23:33]. Explains how both her and her mother used to manage the money [1:25:48]. Story about her mother visiting the White City [1:26:41]. Explains how her sister was ill. Story about her sister going to live with her grandmother and them wanting to get a photograph of her before she died [1:29:04]. Explains the price of a doctor’s bill. Comments on her husband Bert’s family [1:30:04]. Explains the rent they paid. Explains her mother’s dressmaking business. Describes a letting business they ran during the war [1:32:07]. Explains how people used to buy things on tick, and how her mother disapproved [1:32:58]. Explains how people used to have to make their clothes and where her mother got the material for her business [1:34:57].
Reel 2, Side A (Track 3)
Describes her mother’s dressmaking business and where she used to get the material. Mentions Mr Collinhole’s shop. Story about her making the Bride’s and Bridemaid’s dresses for a wedding. Describes her mother’s working hours. Explains what collars were made of [3:56]. Describes what styles of clothing people wore and what her mother made. Comments on buttons. Describes what women wore. States that her grandmothers used to wear bonnets [7:39]. Explains how her mother would turn her father’s coats. Story about making her father a waistcoat [9:00]. Describes her and her sister’s Sunday clothes [10:00]. Explains what they used to light their homes in the dark [11:30]. Story about Mrs Ellis helping her mother with household chores while she was dressmaking. Comments on how they would iron their clothes. Comments on leaving a candle on for bedtime [12:20]. Story about picking up acorns for money. Describes running errands for her mother’s dressmaking business and earning pocket money to save. Describes what a bank book is [15:30]. Comments on her mother’s discipline methods. Comments on people’s attitudes to bring left-handed. Mentions Mrs. Hutchins who lives opposite [16:54]. Mentions how the first war changed dressmaking styles and materials. Comments on Doreen being in the F.A.N.Y.s [18:34]. Explains how everyone had rag mats and how they made them. Story about her husband’s childhood home having a rag mat they used to sweet the dirt under. Comments on Bert’s mother falling down the stairs and Bert’s brother being killed in France. Explains having linoleum flooring [20:18]. Comments on her father leaving flour around the house from baking. Story about re-using the flour sacks. Comments on eating cow from the big house and horse in the second world war [22:41]. Explains her hardship when she first got married living in London. Describes the police strike in 1919. Explains what she used the back money from that strike for. Story about a photograph hung on her wall [25:40]. Explains wearing shoes that pinched her feet. Describes never having a nit nurse. Describes what shoes she had as a child. Explains how her mother never made a dress to match her daughter’s. Describes some of her childhood dresses that she remembers [30:19]. Describes what a pattern book is and how to use one. Describes her mother’s talent [32:52]. Describes her garden at Sidley. Story about her aunt walking among the flowers so her dress would smell nice. Describes the items she wants to pass on to her children and grandchildren [34:50]. Explains some Romany plant-based cures she was told by friends. Explains that her grandparents used to use plants and cures for ailments. Story about Mrs. Quaiffe who collected things as cures. Describes some of the home medical remedies her parents used to use. Describes the difference between remedies of the past and drugs of the present for ailments [40:24]. Explains being happy until going into service and not having enough food [40:50]. Explains how news was spread word of mouth. Story about telling her husband’s mother she was pregnant. Talks about pregnancy being taboo to speak about. Describes what she remembers of her mother’s confinements and having a midwife to deliver her [44:03]. Describes her father’s daily life and their Sunday Routine. Comments on her mother’s dressmaking on a Sunday [46:24]. Describes her mother not having much of an education. Explains how her father’s business went bust. Comments on her parent’s temperaments [49:04]. Describes how the washing was done and what tools and products they had to use. Story about sending their clothes to a woman names Mrs Smith for ironing. Explains how the gentry used to get their washing done. Describes Valenciennes lace. Explains how they’d clean men’s jackets. Describes a neighbour, Mrs Ellis, helping her mother with their washing [1:01:10]. Explains that they were taught to sew in school [1:02:46]. Comments on nobody ever going sunbathing [1:03:18]. Explains what products and technology they used to do jobs around the house [1:05:56]. Describes having to clean the stairs as a child. Explains what a druggeting and a tapestry carpet is. Explains what they used to lay on the floors of houses instead of carpets. Comments on their piano being their main source of entertainment [1:10:13]. Explains what they learnt in school and not being given career advice. Describes what they learnt in school. Describes Mrs Humphrey, who she did not get along with. Story about staying in school after being deemed not strong enough to work and teaching the younger children, then going to help her mother with dressmaking. Comments on wanting to be a milliner [1:15:58]. Describes her mother being very self-efficient and explains how people didn’t tend to rely on others. Comments on people not seeing a doctor unless they absolutely had to. Explains her throat problem and her mother’s nasty accident. Describes what was prescribed for childbirth and explains that the doctor couldn’t usually do much for you anyway [1:21:06]. Describes her first throat operation performed at home on the kitchen table. Explains why they didn’t go to hospital and what led to a second operation years later. Explains how they paid for the doctor’s fees [1:25:35]. Comments on her family having a respectable household and a story about her mother being too proud to take charity in the form of tea leaves. Comments on the condescending attitude of the gentry towards the lower classes. Story about standing her own ground when being overworked during the first world war. Explains how picking acorns for money was seen as low class. Story about changing piano teachers to a blind man but feeling uncomfortable in his lessons. Explains how they used to get money for picking mushrooms [1:33:37]. Describes what they ate throughout the week [1:35:04].
Reel 2, Side B (Track 4)
Describes what meat they used to cook. Describes their father cooking people’s meat joints for Christmas and what they used to eat at Christmas time. Describes eating fat pork and where they used to get it from. Explains how the pork was procured in the slaughterhouse [6:17]. Explains how their father used to bring home rabbit for dinner and comments on eating Plover’s eggs. Describes eating suet puddings, and how different counties made them differently [10:28]. Explains that hot cocoa was drunk by lower classes. Describes what they used to drink and how they made their tea and coffee. Then explains what sauces they paired with what foods and how they were made. Describes what containers they cooked their food in [16:10]. Story about Dickie Nuttall having a mania for shooting. Describes what birds they used to put in pies. Describes the hard work her father had to do [21:14]. Describes where her father’s bakery rounds went. Story about meeting him on his rounds and asking for a ha’penny. Comments on him smoking. Explains that she and her mother never smoked [24:30]. Explains how the women used to be responsible for saving money and doing the accounts [25:40]. Explains that people used to cover their walls in pictures. Explains that a grocer would give their customers a calendar, tea and biscuits for Christmas. Explains her father’s business did the same [28:35]. Explains what foods used to come in tins. Story about finding mildew on the jam. Explains how much jam cost and how it was made. Explains how her mother would make jam from fruits in the garden [32:52]. Explains what alcoholic beverages her parents bought and when they would be drunk [34:20]. Story about her husband bringing a tomato home to his family when he was a child. Describes what sloes are and tells of seeing them for the first time [36:38]. Explains what alcohol working class people drank. Comments on her when her parents would go to the pub. Story about a friend of her parents, Mrs Humphreys, who owned a pub in Lyminge. Story about her parents recognising an old friend from Bexhill [41:44]. Explains the different places they lived and the gardens they had at each place, as well as where they used to get their fruit and vegetables from. Explains how her mother like to live on a main road for her dressmaking business [47:57].
Summary created by Emma Jeffree, volunteer, May 2026. |