On 17/12/2020 23:28, Scribbles wrote:


I wonder where that electricity (about 1.5 units/day) would have been
used in 1952? My guess is that it would mainly be for lighting and
radio, with a little for ironing, perhaps. I would have expected heating
by coal or perhaps a gas fire, and cooking by gas. Hot water by an
"Ascot" instant gas heater perhaps?



May I be allowed to muscle in here, territory I have strayed into by accident while seeking something else entirely?
I should start by saying that I was Terry's wife (for reasons that defy logical explanation, I detest the term "widow") and was the person who found those bills in a box of Terry's old papers so I can supply a little background in answer to the above.

When Terry & I met in 1972, he, his mother and brother were still living at the same address as on those bills - a privately rented, 3 bedroomed terrace house with no bathroom and only an outdoor WC. The monthly rent was some derisory amount - less than £5, from memory - and it was, presumably, the reason MiL was willing to live in Dickensian conditions for so long. Her sons and other relations tried many times to convince her to apply for a council house but she always refused and would tolerate no argument on the subject.

In 1972, each room plus the hall and landing had a ceiling light; the kitchen/scullery also had a working gas light, the first one I had ever seen. The outside loo had no light; after dark, you took a torch. Not long before our marriage, Terry & I fitted a 5 foot twin tube fluorescent light in the kitchen which revealed corners probably never clearly seen before.

In the 50s and 60s hot water for baths and clothes washing was supplied from a gas-powered "copper" type boiler but, later, laundry was dealt with at the launderette. Bathing in the old galvanised bath simply ceased to happen at some point and strip-washing at the kitchen sink with hot water from a kettle was the norm.

Cooking was all done on an ancient gas stove whose twin I have since encountered in museums. There was a 'Kitchener' coal fired range in the main living room and, while Terry remembered it in use during his very early childhood, by the time I came on the scene, a gas fire had been fitted in the hearth. There was a gas fire fitted, also, in the other downstairs room which had been turned into a bedroom for ailing MiL. Upstairs bedrooms were unheated although there was a fireplace in each room. There was a coin slot gas meter in the cupboard under the stairs; originally, I believe it took pennies (d) and sixpences (6d) but at decimalisation it was converted to take (I think) 10p coins.

In 1972, the house was certainly not awash with electrical gadgets and there would have been even fewer in 1952. Each room had only one mains socket originally supplied although Terry and/or his brother had later added a couple more along with the inevitable 2- and 3-way extension cubes. The place was a mishmash of round and square sockets: 5 amp, 15 amp and 13 amp - plus adaptors.

In the 50s, there would definitely have been radio - MiL's large pre-war valve set in its glossy wooden cabinet. I'm ashamed to say I can't now remember the marque but it still produced an impressive sound in the 70s. There was a standard lamp, and an iron (NOT plugged into the overhead light socket!) and, I suspect, little else.

In the 60s, more electrically powered stuff was acquired: a cylinder vacuum cleaner, a TV set, bedside lamps, a hand-held food blender/coffee grinder, a soldering iron apiece for Terry and his brother, an autochange record player, a mains powered wall clock (constructed by Terry). The kitchen acquired a gas powered fridge - the only one I have ever encountered. It was small but exceedingly efficient.

And that's it, as far as I recall. I came along in the 70s with accoutrements like a hair dryer, heated rollers and a fan heater for the bedroom and was mostly terrified to use them for fear of overloading the creaking system entirely and starting a fire or blacking out the whole street.

Chronically ill, MiL died early in 1973; her health undoubtedly worsened by her living conditions. Terry and I found a place of our own not long afterwards and Terry experienced for the first time the joy of indoor plumbing and constant hot water on tap.

You could almost have been describing the terraced house in London I
lived in during the 50s! We rented only the second floor, but other than
that it seems very similar. I reckon many properties at the time were
like that; post-war times were not easy and there wasn't a lot of spare
money around. I think there was still some rationing in 1952.

One difference I am sure of is that the meters took only shillings -
there's nothing like scrabbling to find one when the lights went out
suddenly!

We also had a gas fridge. Wonderful things; totally reliable as they had
no moving parts. I think you can still buy them today. I guess the
nearest equivalent would be fridges for caravans running off gas. I
wonder if the modern ones are as reliable?

We did have the "luxury" of an instant gas heater over the kitchen sink.

Our first TV appeared just before ITV started. I think it was a 14"
Murphy. It used maybe 90W, so would have been a significant contributor
to electricity consumption as it would have been on a few hours a day.
No doubt more shillings were required for the meter! The radio was a
MW/VHF Bush. It was very reliable, and so, I think was the TV. I can,
however, remember visiting the local "electronics" shop on rare
occasions to have valves tested, but whether or not they were for the TV
or radio I can't remember.

I moved out around 1968; my parents left in 1972. The house is still
there according to Google Street View.

--

Jeff