Humanities Research Centre
Rachel Feldberg, History
Bringing the Rowntree Leisure Time Interviews to Life
‘Bringing the Rowntree Leisure Interviews to Life’ is a collaborative project funded by a Jane Moody Scholarship which enabled York History PhD student Rachel Feldberg to work with The Rowntree Society and the Borthwick Institute for Archives and History. It was inspired by real-life interviews with ordinary people in post-war Britain, which formed the raw material for Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree’s study of English Life and Leisure (1951).
The book - which is available to read for free on the Internet Archive - is a rich document for understanding the social history of mid twentieth-century Britain and Rachel developed nine short monologues spotlighting a selection of interviewees from across the social spectrum.
Over the Summer of 2021 the monologues were performed by professional actors from the North of England and filmed on location across York and at Embsay Steam Railway in the Yorkshire Dales by a crew of students and former students from the University’s School of Arts and Creative Technology.
Watch the Monologues
Behind Seebohm Rowntree’s study of English Life and Leisure
A short introductory film which uses evocative archive clips to explore the background to Seebohm Rowntree’s study of English Life and Leisure.
The girl from the ministry
A young woman is in search of change.
By the 1920s, the British media reported on fears for ‘surplus women’ whose marriage prospects had been adversely affected by the loss of over 700,000 young men in World War One. Women’s economic fortunes were typically tied to their marital
status. Unmarried women therefore needed independent income via employment or family wealth to avoid poverty. Many employers in the late 1940s still operated a ‘marriage bar’ and sacked women when they got married.
The retired colonial civil servant
In August 1947, India gained independence from the British Empire after nearly 200 years of colonial rule. On withdrawal, the British government created two separate sovereign states: India and Pakistan. As a former Colonial Civil Servant laments the loss of his privilege and power, Professor Sanjoy Bhattacharya describes the devastating effects of the partition of India and Pakistan on his own family.
The spinster with a secret
An older woman shares her unexpected secrets of a happy life. In the mid-nineteenth century, a moral concern about increasing numbers of unmarried women emerged. Many people at the time put this down to the statistical imbalance between male and female populations in Britain. However, the social and economic constraints imposed on married women led some to choose a single life instead.
The policeman
A policeman confides his frustrations with the job and his political beliefs.
In 1942, there were around 60,000 serving police officers in Britain. Wages increased with length of service and through promotion. However, in the post-war period, police salaries did not keep up with the cost of living, leading to a recruitment crisis.
The factory worker’s night out
For many women in the late 1940s, making ends meet was a constant struggle.
By 1947, the British government was facing a labour shortage in certain industries and launched a campaign to invite women back into jobs outside the home. Publicity emphasised the advantages of earning more money and the social benefits of working in a factory. But balancing old and new expectations presented women with significant challenges and women received unequal pay for the same work as their male counterparts. For more information on women and work in the post-war period, visit the Striking Women website.
A distinctive moment in England’s past
English Life and Leisure captures a distinctive moment in the country’s past.
The years following the end of the Second World War witnessed unprecedented changes in Britain. A new Labour government represented hope and recovery and the government invested significantly in public services and the welfare state, including the creation of the National Health Service.
But the country also faced major financial and social difficulties. Women who had played an active part in the war effort were expected to return to the home to resume their traditional unpaid roles as wives and mothers and internationally, Britain saw its colonial power waning.
English Life and Leisure captured people’s changing relationships to work and leisure as social expectations and experiences shifted.
Young poet
A young man explores his creative powers and his sexuality.
In 1940s Britain, despite many people co-habiting, sex outside marriage was frowned on - unmarried women were under pressure to give their babies up for adoption and it wouldn't be until the 1960s that women had access to the contraceptive pill. Same-sex relationships between men were illegal. Growing opposition led to the Wolfenden Report in 1957, which concluded that “homosexual behaviour between consenting adults in private should no longer be a criminal offence”. The report's recommendations laid the groundwork for the Sexual Offences Act in 1967, which partially legalised private same-sex acts in England and Wales between men over the age of 21.
For more information on LGBTQ histories in the UK, visit the British Library LGBTQ Timeline.
London typist in a bedsit
The post-war period was a difficult time for women, like this typist living in a London bedsit.
Women continued to process their transformational wartime experiences, and the options available to them through paid employment even as marriage remained the dominant expectation.
The British Red Cross carried out extensive services at home and abroad during the war, providing medical relief for the sick and wounded, prisoners of war, and civilians. For more information on women and work in the late 1940s, visit Britain at Work 1945-1995.
https://youtu.be/zKP9CGzt_gs
Bus inspector
A bus inspector and devoted family man nearing retirement reflects on his life. The newly elected post-war Labour government worked to nationalise public transport in Britain. Demand for buses was high, but the transport sector faced a recruitment crisis. The post-war employment boom provided plenty of job opportunities, and long anti-social hours in public transport made the job an unattractive prospect for many.
The reading man
In 1948, as the English Life and Leisure project was in full swing, the Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury docks on the River Thames. Seebohm Rowntree’s study didn’t identify any interviewees of colour, but there was an important Black and Asian presence in England both before and after WWII. A Reading Man is based on the true stories of some of those people from the Caribbean who made their lives in Yorkshire from the mid-twentieth century onwards, imagining what they might have said. For more information on Windrush visit ‘Sounds of the Rush’, an oral history archive held by the Black Cultural Archives.
A distinctive moment in England’s past English Life and Leisure captures a distinctive moment in the country’s past. The years following the end of the Second World War witnessed unprecedented changes in Britain. A new Labour government represented hope and recovery and the government invested significantly in public services and the welfare state, including the creation of the National Health Service. But the country also faced major financial and social difficulties. Women who had played an active part in the war effort were expected to return to the home to resume their traditional unpaid roles as wives and mothers and internationally, Britain saw its colonial power waning. English Life and Leisure captured people’s changing relationships to work and leisure as social expectations and experiences shifted.
The team behind the project
| Name | About | |
|---|---|---|
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Rachel Feldberg - Writer and Director | Rachel spent years working in the theatre as a writer and director before coming back to academic study in 2019. Her scripts are frequently rooted in archival research |
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Laura England - Actor | Laura grew up in Otley before studying drama in Guildford and has a passion for the 1940s. |
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Jack Rentsch-Evans - Actor | Jack graduated from the University of York’s Theatre degree in 2021. |
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Allison Saxton - Actor | Allison is originally from Bradford and has spent twenty years working in film and theatre. |
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Joe Williams - Actor | Joe is an actor and writer based in Leeds where his parents were part of the Windrush generation. |
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Nik Wood Jones | Nik is a Mancunian, is known for his portrayals of the walker and writer, Alfred Wainwright- and Captain Hook. |
| Johannes Ruckstuhl - Crew (Sound) | Johannes is a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the School of Arts and Creative Technology at the University of York. | |
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Zsófia Benedek - Crew (Director of Photography) | Zsófia is an International Student from Hungary in her third year at the School of Arts and Creative Technology. |
| Joe Pike - Crew (Editor) | Joe Pike has just finished a degree in Film and Television Production in the School of Arts and Creative Technology. | |
| Hazel Lawrence - Crew (Production Manager and Interview Editor) | Hazel spent two years working with academics on short films for St John‘s College, University of Cambridge . She is currently Events and Community Coordinator at York’s Graduate Student Association. |