What was the job of your grandmother?

My maternal grandmother was an army wife moving around, but brought up 5 children after grandad died, working at anything that she could to keep them fed and clothed.

My paternal grandmother had six children to bring up with no washing machine, no garden to let them out to play, no fridge - that was enough work

My maternal grandmother ran a B and B in Lancashire. She played the piano to entertain her guests. She loved walking and passed that interest on to me until she died when I was about 11.

My maternal grandmother was widowed when my mum was nine yrs old and her brother two yrs old. To support them my mum was kept off school to look after her brother whilst my grandmother went went to work in Plymouth dockyard painting warships (it was 1940). Sitting on a gantry suspended off the side of a warship in drydock, I have a romantic image of her dressed in overalls with a top knotted scarf covering her hair, knowing nan there would have been a cigarette in the corner of her mouth as well......... The reality would have been very different.
Because of the significant disruption of the war (in Plymouth) the family managed to generally avoid the attentions of the school truant officer. When her brother was three yrs old he was able to start nursery and my mum was able to go back to school.
My grandmother continued working at the dockyard until her retirement, latterly in one of the staff canteens.

I have no idea what my paternal grandmother did for work but piecing together what I know I've long suspected she stayed at home to help her own mother keep house and look after her younger siblings. Then, when her mother died in childbirth with her youngest sibling she would have had very little choice but to carry on doing the same. They weren't that badly off for a working class family (her father owned two fishing trawlers and they owned their own house and had a car and a camera c.1920) so I expect her potential wages were not needed in the household. She was the eldest and she had 11 younger brothers and the twelfth and youngest sibling was a sister.
There were twenty years between the sisters so I expect grandmother brought her up like she was her own daughter when their mother died.
Two of her brothers died in WW1, she didn't meet her husband until she was thirty yrs old and she was forty yrs old when she had my dad, her first and only child, in 1930. Supposedly she was so ashamed she was pregnant for the first time at such an advanced age that she tried to keep it quiet. Her sister (who was on the cusp of marriage herself) guessed what was up and rallied the family to provide for the baby. She even persuaded her Victorian sister to abandon the idea of giving the baby the 'old fashioned' name of Albert in favour of the more 'modern' name of Derek......!

Spec1alk

My maternal grandma worked in Horrock’ s cotton mill before marriage. Once her 4 children were grown up she worked in a biscuit factory. Prior to retirement she took a job as ‘ petty officer’! She worked in the local toilets!!!

Horrocks's cotton rings a bell.
Were dresses made from Horrocks's cotton with their label?

My paternal grandmother spent most of her life raising ten children in a two up two down, while nursing her bedridden husband who had lost a leg. He died when my father was still at school so I never knew him. My father was the youngest child so she always seemed very old to me. When I knew her she had two daughters living with her and looking after her. I never saw her leave the house, except for a stay in hospital.

I think my maternal grandmother had some sort of office job before she was married, but she didn't work afterwards. My grandfather worked for a fashion company and had a company Car! Very posh for the 50s. They only had one child and my grandmother had a daily woman (Think Mrs Maggs in Mrs Dale's Diary) she didn't seem to have any interests so I've no idea what she did with her time. She was always very smartly dressed but rarely went out anywhere.

My maternal grandmother was a mender in a textile mill, as was her mother before her and my own mother too.
My own first 'proper (ie., full-time) job was also in a textile mill, but in the offices, though that mill, like all the others around it were soon to close for ever.

My maternal grandmother and one of my aunts were skilled dressmakers. My primary school teacher who knew them both used to marvel at how useless I was at sewing given my family members’ skills.

My maternal gran worked in a butter factory. I don't know about my paternal grandmother, but her mother was a domestic housemaid.

One down the pit, and one ran the corner shop

My maternal grandma worked in Horrock’ s cotton mill before marriage. Once her 4 children were grown up she worked in a biscuit factory. Prior to retirement she took a job as ‘ petty officer’! She worked in the local toilets!!!

My paternal grandma married at 13 ( when clearing her house we found the marriage cert with the wrong DoB) . Appears she lied in order to marry grandpa before he went off to serve his country in WW1!!
She earned as a cleaner in a local school until she was 80.

My maternal grandmother died when my mother was 9. She was a housewife.
My paternal grandmother was institutionalised in an Asylum / workhouse as she was an 18 year old Irish girl off the boat who married my paternal grandfather aged 45 and an alcoholic… my father remembers her dragging him to various houses of relatives to beg for money as hubby had drunk it all away!
So the only Grandparent I ever had, but ever knew was my mum’s father who was a sea captain. He died when I was 2 or less. I have no memory of him, just old photos.
So ….NO GRANDPARENTS REALLY!

Maternal grandmother left school at 12 to work in a factory (not sure what kind of factory, but probably connected to the rag trade in East London.) She had a terrible accident in her early teens when her hair was caught in the machinery and ripped out by the roots, and suffered from anxiety all her life after that.

Paternal grandmother had a very interesting life, 2 marriages, 9 children - 7 surviving but one was never known about until very late in my Dad's life when most of his siblings had died. She worked at whatever she could to make ends meet, taking in washing, cleaning in office in the city and in her teens as a cook in a private residence. She also spent a couple of years in her late teens in the workhouse.

My maternal grandma never went out to work, but provided lodgings for the curate. She worked very hard at home though, walking daily to the shops, blackleading her range, scrubbing floors, beating carpets and curtains and washing in a copper. She used to get up at 5.30 to set the fire.

My paternal grandmother lost her mother when she was 10, and was put into domestic service at 13. She didn't work out of the house after marriage, but still worked really hard all her life.

My Grandmother was originally a maid to a vicar at the vicarage. She came to Wales to take up the position from England. While a maid she met my Grandfather, married and had 7 children including my father. My maternal Grandmother was a seamstress.

My maternal grandmother did not work outside the home. My grandfather had his own painting business. They raised 6 children. Somehow my grandmother found the time to can fruits and vegetables, make clothes for the girls, cook and bake from scratch, do laundry with a wringer washer and hang it out to dry, then iron it, and supervise the kids. My grandparents didn't have a car until late in life but my grandmother learned to drive at 60 years old. I thought that took a lot of courage.
I don't remember much about my paternal grandmother who died when I was 3 years old. She also didn't have an outside the home job.

My maternal grandmother was a governess/nanny to an English family who lived in India just before the first world war. She came back and I think lived in Surrey until she married. Her own parents had run a pub and died of TB when she was small, and she and her sister were brought up by an aunt who sounded pretty awful.

My maternal grandmother worked in service from leaving school until she married.She often said that she wished she'd stayed in service as it was a lot easier than bringing up a large family ( 7 children of her own, widowed at 35, then an additional 6 stepchildren from a second marriage). Her second husband never told her he had children, then presented her with all 6 of them on their wedding day! When she was first widowed, she cleaned offices in the early morning, worked in a cafe during the day and in a temperance bar in the evening, all to keep the family together. The family main meal was often "tinker's broth" - sandwich crusts brought home from the cafe well salted and peppered, then stirred to a mush with boiling water.
My maternal grandmother was trained as an ironer, then set up her own laundry while bringing up 6 children and a grandchild as her own.

My paternal grandmother was a wife and a mother of 4, my grandfather was a farmer so she was doing plenty of unpaid work! When he was called up during the war she ran the farm single handedly. My maternal grandmother owned a restaurant/dining rooms in London, called the Blue Cockatoo. Before that she was a dressmaker.

My maternal gran had 7 children but always worked in factories as her husband was disabled! My paternal gran never worked ! She always had a husband to support her!!

My maternal grandmother was a nanny to three children in a large house in London, she was sat on a park bench nearby and my grandfather walked by and thats how they met!
My paternal grandmother and grandfather owned a sweetshop in Ilford Essex, I have fond memories of little bags of sweets when we visited 😁

Pinkwriter

True, I am writing about my family.
But don´t worry, I would never share anyone else´s story without asking first.
Thanks to everyone that posted their stories... these are fantastic.

This is what I should be doing, writing up the family histories for future generations.
It's all in files, waiting. 🙂

The previous post was in response to Allira´s post, who wrote: "I'm assuming Pinkwriter is researching for a book.

Do let us know, if so, and when it is published! It would be interesting to know if any of our grandmothers' stories featured.

The interesting thing is that some posters' grandmothers were about the same age as some of our mothers.

So many girls went into 'service' at a young age that it's fascinating to hear about those who did other work."

My maternal grandmother was a housewife and mother to three daughters. I don't know what age she left school but I'm certain she never worked outside the home. My paternal grandmother married and had three sons. She also didn't work outside the home but sometimes did the books for the family business.

True, I am writing about my family.
But don´t worry, I would never share anyone else´s story without asking first.
Thanks to everyone that posted their stories... these are fantastic.