Beryl Riley 1920s to 30s (part 1)

Miss Rose White and friend on the roof of Peter Jones store (1920s)

‘Demobbing’

During the First World War (1914-1918), as millions of military age joined the army, work opportunities for women grew. They staffed military hospitals in Britain and close to the front line in France. They drove army cars and did most of the clerical work in offices. Some were even sent from their homes in cities to work on farms in the country.

Little of this survived the war. By 1923, the year 14-year-old Beryl started work at John Lewis, the number of women in paid employment was lower than in 1913. As three million men were ‘demobbed’ (came home from the war), women were expected to go back to traditional forms of employment. That often meant domestic service or cleaning jobs like Beryl’s. It also meant accepting lower paid jobs than men. On average, women’s wages were 50 per cent lower.

Children’s hairdresser at Welwyn Store in 1939

In the 1920s and 1930s, local authorities even put limits on the employment of married women. Doctors, nurses and other female health workers were often dismissed as soon as they got married.

After 1918, elementary schools for boys and girls were free to the age of 14, when Beryl, like most working class girls, left school. Her schooldays were filled with the three ‘R’s (reading, writing and arithmetic), humanities and domestic science. Thousands of girls attended cookery centres, as well as maternity and infant welfare clinics. The general view was that girls should be well prepared for the challenges of motherhood.

Change in Women’s Fashion

But not everything was the same after World War I. Women’s role in the war, both in Britain and on the battlefields, convinced the wartime Parliament that women should vote. In June 1918 a bill granting some women the vote in elections became law.

Jones Bros ladies fashion (1914)

After the tragic events of the war, Britain’s younger generation was keen to make a fresh start in every possible way. Before the conflict, fashionable clothes were elaborate (fancy, complicated) and needed lots of care and attention to be worn properly. Women who had gained more independence and freedom during the war wanted clothes to match their new mood. Designers responded with shorter-skirted styles which were very daring at the time. Less wealthy middle class families could now buy fashionable styles, too, thanks to the mass manufacture of machine-made clothes.

The greatest change in female fashion came with the new, softer undergarments. It has often been said that getting rid of traditional, heavy corsets did more for women’s emancipation (freedom and equality) than getting the vote. Previously, corsets had been so rigid women went through silent agony. They were very long, and so tight at the waist it wasn’t unknown for ladies of the time to suffer broken bones.

The Swinging Twenties

The ideal silhouette (body shape) for fashionable women in the early 1920s was long and straight. The bust was flattened, the natural waist ignored, and the belt lowered to the hip. The 1920s brassiere flattened the bust in order to create the boyish figure that was so fashionable at the time.

John Lewis & Co ladies fashion (early 1920s)

Short, silk evening dresses were decorated with fancy glass beads and imitation pearls. Embroidery designs and hanging girdles were inspired by ancient Egypt. The discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922 had a big influence on fashion. Sport, dancing, the rise of the automobile, and American films also left their mark on fashionable clothes.

Loose-fitting trousers that some fashionable women wore in the 1920s were known as beach or lounging pyjamas. Women’s hair was ‘bobbed’ (cut very short) in a boyish style and brimless hats were worn.

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