| Collection | Winstanley Oral History Collection |
| Description | Mrs. A. J. Jeffrey, born 1888, interviewed in Tenterden. Her father did all sorts of labour jobs, his job was service. (not a good interview, content wise repetative).
Track 1: [35:29:00] [Session one: 19th July 1976] A J Jeffery, born December 1887. Describes the place she was born and who used to live there. States where Ellen Terry bought a house. States their date of birth. Explains that the money wasn’t much and they were a large family. [04:56] Describes going hop picking and how it was done. [06:37] Describes Small Hythe. [07:00] Story about Springheel Jack and Seamer’s Gill. [07: 53] Describes the family’s three wheeled pram. [08:34] Describes what shopping was like, and which shops used to deliver by horse and cart. [09:28] Describes leaving school to work in service. Describes the landscape with fruit trees. [10:47] Story about Miss Ward coming to the school on a bus. [11:27] Story about the vicarage and the vicars. Mentions voting for their minister. Explains that the vicar used to visit the school. [13:10] Describes the school and how many children there were. Explains how she and her brother walked to school and describes the area of Tenterden. Explains that people could leave school whenever they liked. Story about collecting the fathers wages from town. [16:52] Describes sports played at Tenterden cricket ground. [18:02] Story about Mr Williams riding a bike down a hill. [1939] Describes Grove Cottages and the surrounding area. [20:58] Describes a charity which gave poor children clothes and a deaf woman who made the clothes. [23:32] Describe mother and father’s occupation. Story about a four wheeled carriage they took to get coal. States going into service at age 12. [25:25] Describes the father growing their own vegetables and buying potatoes. Explains the animals the family kept along with the pigs they killed at Christmas time. [27:40] Describes a brewery that used to stand in Small Hythe. [29:04] Story about her husband bringing a dog to walk her home because of Seamer’s Gill. [29:55] Describes how large families fit in small cottages. [30:56] Describes Lewis & Hylands Post Office. Story about an old woman digging up bricks. [31:59] Explains her father helping to build the railway, among other jobs. [33:25] Describes using pocket money to buy sweets. Story about her brother buying her father tobacco. Explains her father going hop picking with them. Describes never having Parishory leave.
Summary created by Emma Jeffree, volunteer, 2025. |
| Related Place | Small Hythe, Tenterden, Kent |