What was the job of your grandmother?

Maternal grandmother ran a sub post office in a rural village and paternal grandmother was an actress and at various times had a hairdresser and a jewellery shop. Both grandfather's were long gone before I was born.... I've no idea what they did, I'm away to ask my older sister!

My maternal grandmother wasn’t expected to work as her family were quite wealthy, but she ran away to London to see Dame Nelly Melba perform. On her return her father agreed she could be a governess for a family friend. She met my grandfather shortly afterwards.

That was my maternal grandmother. I'm not sure that my paternal grandmother 'worked' (outside the home). She may have taken in laundry. She definitely took in lodgers. She was the second wife of my paternal grandfather, a widow) and he had 6 children by his first wife, then 2 including my father as the last) with his second wife. My paternal grandfather died while my dad was small but I don't remember him saying his mother ever worked. He had 3 spinster sisters; a housekeeper, a seamstress and a shop worker. MY paternal grandfather and his first wife were in service - he was a chauffeur (horse and trap) and then hansom cab driver - this was in 18th C - and she was a housemaid).

My Grandmother worked in an arsenal munitions factory making bombs during the war, they were known as the canaries due to their hair turning yellow with the substances they were using.
She had a very hard life as she was a widow with three young children and had to go out early to catch two buses to work
She was a wonderful woman and grandmother, she never moaned about anything and she was more of a mother to me than her daughter was, I still miss her twenty five years after she has gone.

My grandmother, born 1893, was a PE teacher in Glasgow. She volunteered as a VAD during WWI and then married in 1919 (lucky her to have a fiancé who came home from the trenches).

My grandfather was part of the British forces interfering in the Soviet Union during 1919-20, and my grandmother lived in Istanbul during that time. In 1924 they went to Burma, where my grandfather became a professor at Rangoon University. They returned to the UK in 1934 when Granddad's war injuries made the Burmese climate intolerable, and settled in Somerset.

During WWII Granny started volunteering with the Citizens' Advise Bureaux, and I remember her still doing it in the 1960s.

My grandmother, as well as having 13 children was a cleaner (she used to carry the baby around in a Welsh Shawl as she cleaned posh people's houses) then, later, a barmaid. My grandfather died fairly young so she had to earn to keep the family going, although the oldest children contributed once they were old enough. Three of her children died in infancy including the last who was a twin and died at the age of 2. Her eldest daughter was pregnant at the same time as her last pregnancy.

Kittylester, where in Lancashire? My grandma worked at Porrits mill, at Bamford, just outside Rochdale.

My maternal Nan was a housemaid at the mill house where her Mum worked as cook. Nan started working, as far as I remember, at 10 or 11 years old. She told me tales of scrubbing floors and polishing the staircase. She also told me a tale of being sent, the morning after a very stormy night, with a basket of provisions for the old couple who lived on the cliff. She was about 12 or 13. She walked and walked but couldn't find the house even though she had been there many times. Nan returned home to say she couldn't find the house. One of the male servants was sent and sadly reported that the house had disappeared when the cliff collapsed, taking the occupants with it.
My paternal Nan was a teacher. She died when I was 5 so I don't recall her telling me anything about her job.

My maternal grandmother was a farm labourer’s wife and as well as her household duties she worked around the farm as well, as her father was the tenant farmer. My paternal grandmother was in service before she married my grandfather who worked on the L.N.E.R as a worker on the lines. They lived in the crossing keepers cottage and my grandmother, who was less than 5 feet tall, opened and shut the gates during the day while he was at work.

Etoile2701

My grandmother never worked outside the home. In fact she had a live in maid and a cook. How times change!

I noticed that several families had a 'live-in maid' listed on the census, even just ordinary people in business, eg DH's grandparents, who owned two or three small grocery stores.

My maternal grandmother didn't work, even before her marriage.
FluffyJumper When researching family history I noticed that several young girls in their teens had left school and their occupation was listed as 'Home Duties'.

This is a most interesting question... thank you for asking. Silverlining, I had no idea that women were obliged to leave the civil service when they married right up until the 60's, as I was horrified to learn that my maternal grandmother had to leave her job when she married. I too then became interested in Women's Rights. She left home as soon as she could, as the eldest child with alcoholic parents. She went into service at a "very lowly level," is what I was told.
My paternal grandmother raised her 4 sons, and waited on her husband hand and foot as far as I can work out. She grew fruit and vegetables in the large garden, and raised chickens... the eggs of which my grandfather would give away, with great largesse!!!! Perhaps it was the way of the world at that time, but when she died, early 1950's, my grandfather, who I loved dearly, married his housekeeper.

I only knew my maternal grandmother. She left school at 13 and worked as a jewel box liner in the Birmingham jewellery quarter, ( not the fancy place it is now!). I don’t know whether she worked after children, she might have had to as she was widowed very young. She was certainly working in later life and must have retired at 65 because I can remember that.

My maternal grandmother was in service when she was in her teens, in a big house in the village where she lived. I understand she had to lock her bedroom door at night as the master of the house had a ‘bit of a reputation’. She was a housewife when she married.

My paternal grandmother was the ‘daughter who stayed at home to look after younger siblings’ When she married she became a farmer’s wife, never had a night away as there was no one else to look after the farm. A hard life

My maternal grandmother didn't work, even before her marriage. She spent her days looking after her husband, two children and her father, who lived with them.
My paternal grandmother had a hard life. Her family had come to England from the Isle of Man. Her father and brothers worked in the shipyards on the R Tyne and later in Hartlepool. She had to leave school at 10 to work to help support the family. Once married, she had 11 children, my Dad being the eldest. Two younger siblings died of Diphtheria. Nanna worked as a launderess in a large hospital for years, as Granda was frequently laid off work.

My maternal grandmother was a scavenger in a cotton mill as a child picking up the cotton then she tied the broken yarn together then when she left school fully she became a carder . It was a hard life that broke her really . She always seemed very very old to me - she died 60

My paternal grandmother was a doctor in India. She looked after the maharajah s family.

My grandmother never worked outside the home. In fact she had a live in maid and a cook. How times change!

my grandmother was a mother and looked after the home. saying that she was very inventive did woodwork lots of sewing plus during the war raised chickens and pigs including the nasty bit then things like the feathers made into mattress' or pillows by hand. amazing what people in those days did especially as they had very little to help them. think having proper seasons helped; they knew autumn was time to gather apples which were stored over winter in a cool place, making preserves etc plus getting ready for Xmas; spring was a major house clean etc

My maternal grandmother was an original Lisa Doolittle. She sold violets outside the Law Courts in London. She had 10 children, 8 boys and then twin girls when she was 42. 2 boys did not survive childhood but the remaining 6 all went to war and survived. She worked for herself as a florist.

My Dad was born in the Work house . Later his mum worked in pipe factory where my mum worked too. She asked her to write to her son. During the war mum was sent to a munitions factory she hated it. When she got weekend leave my Dad said, they don’t send married ladies, so they got married by special licence.

My paternal nan put it around the factory that she was pregnant. When her 16stone mum found out she picked up a carving knife and chased my 7stone nan around the streets.

I know my paternal Grandmother worked for Marks & Spencer in her younger years but after that we don't know. She had a bit of a checkered history. My Maternal Grandmother was a seamstress. I know she worked in a factory when she was younger, making lingerie and frilly nighties. She made all of the families Bridal Gowns and Bridesmaids dresses. I can remember her making my little cousins page boy outfit in white satin with an apricot coloured neck tie. He was only about 3 years old and he was very disappointed when he realised that carrying/holding the brides train did not mean he carried a toy train 😂. My wedding dress and bridesmaids dresses were the last ones she made, in 1982. I have all of her sewing machine attachments but unfortunately they do not fit my machine. I must have inherited her sewing gene as I do make a lot of my own clothes. At the moment I am just finishing 100 metres of bunting, all different fabrics and many individually hand painted and decorated with leaves, flowers and a bit of sparkle. The next thing the veil for my future Daughter in laws wedding to my son in September this year.

My grandmother had to leave school to support her mother and four other children. Being the eldest she was found a place at a Roman Catholic convent as a maid of all work.
Commonly known as a skivvy.
It was hard, long hours and away from home. What little money she earned went to her mother.
She learnt cooking and sewing there and she stayed there until she met and married Granddad.
More hard work was to come but that's another story

My paternal grandmother was in service from 14 until she married, and then a full-time homemaker and mother of 7 sons.
Maternal grandmother was taken out of school at 12 to go to work in a munitions factory, filling shells for the First World War. I know she went back to munitions in the Second war, when she was in her 30s.
She used to say the worst thing was not being allowed to go to the toilet until her lunch break.

Hi, my grandmother was a gloveress. She worked in a glove factory which is now a hotel in our city. At some point,she also took in laundry at home.

My maternal grandmother worked in the City all her working life as an accounts clerk. She could add up a row of figures with lightening speed!

My paternal grandmother was abandoned by her husband when her two children were small. I think she took in washing to try to keep the family together. She had an absolutely terrible life as, of course, there were no benefits in those days (1930s Britain).

They both died relatively young (no wonder).