What was the job of your grandmother?

I have an Aunt who had to quit school at the age of 10 to go to work. I believe that was in the 1920s. The story is that they dressed her in a black dress and put a hat on her to make her look older. She went to work for Sunshine Biscuits and worked there for 50+ more years.

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 paternal grandmother drove an ambulance during WW1. She married an injured soldier. After my father was born they separated and she worked as a ladies companion/chauffeur until she became ill. She died of TB aged 32
My maternal grandmother worked from home sewing (amongst other things) upholstery for the liners built on the Mersey. We still have her treadle sewing machine.

My paternal grandmother died when I was about 3or 4. She was always ill and I only saw her when she was in bed. I have no idea what job she ever had.
My maternal grandmother never worked. She married and had 5 children. My grandfather had a business that was his father’s before him.

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.

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.

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."

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. 🙂

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 😁

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 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 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 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 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 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 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.

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 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!

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 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!!!

One down the pit, and one ran the corner shop

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

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 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 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.