Bedfordshire Archives Service Catalogue
  • Reference
    Z1205/007
  • Title
    Male clerical worker with London Brick Company b.17.05.1929 The Informant was a clerical worker with London Brick for 48 years. His father and grandfathers before him had worked in the brick works and seen the industry develop into a major concern over the years. Their experience covered the years from the end of the 19th century to the 1940s. The informant's family had lived locally (in Marston and Lower Shelton) for several generations, and he gives details of domestic life before and during the Second World War. Beginning with visits to his grandfathers at work in the 1930s, the informant describes work in the small brick works which proceeded London Brick, and his father's work as a Setter and Burner. He describes his own early working life in the offices at Stewartby, and gives details of safety procedures, medical care and compensation. The informant describes his childhood in the 1930's and early 1940's, his own and his family's education at local schools, their involvement with the Methodist Church, his play and the family's social life, gardening, cookery, and contacts with local trades people. He also describes his childhood experience of farm work.Side A 00 - 5mins)Family history. Paternal grandfather's work in brick fields. Relationship of brick work to farm work. Size of family. Farm work with cows. 5mins - 10mins)Location and types of homes. Grandfather's pay and employment conditions. Maternal grandfather's working life. 10mins - 15mins)Process of brick making in grandfather's day. Visits to grandfather at work. 15mins - 20mins)Maternal family. Brick works in Clapham. Grandmother's domestic life. Medical care, birth and laying out. 20mins - 25mins)Childbirth. Childhood visits to grandparents. Play. Influence of Methodism on family life. Allotments, pigs and poultry. 25mins)Sweets and local shops. Self-sufficiency. Methodism and politics. School in parents' and own time. Higher education. Education during World War Two. End of side A 00 - 5mins)Education in the War 5mins - 10mins)First job at Bedford Engineering Department. Wartime working. 10mins - 15mins)Father's work. Children's farm work during War. Local butchers. Work in the Safety Office at Stewartby. 15mins - 20mins)Safety on site. Tanks delivered to works. Friendly Societies. 20mins - 25mins)Industrial injury and compensation. Barrowing bricks around site. 25mins)Father's work as Setter and Burner. Transportation of bricks around the site. Kilns. Various different works in Vale. End of Side B Interview continued on SC007C2 SIDE A 00mins)Accident insurance after 2nd World War. 5mins)Union pressure for better wages, methods of production and working methods. Virtual "closed shop" membership of almost all London Brick Co. safety dept. work, regularly inspecting and testing chains, ropes and ladders. 10mins)Clerical work visits to other London Brick Co. sites. Head office at Stewartby after the war. LBC "railheads" around country, to deliver bricks locally from these depots. Ended in 1970s(?) 15mins)Occasional examples of accidents caused by brickwork company negligence. Conscription into army, aged 18 for 2years National Service. Initial training at Kempston Barracks, transfer to Service Corps, doing clerical work at Salisbury Plain. 20mins)Dislike of bullying of less able recruits in army. System of offering equivalent job for you, after National Service, at previous employer. Offered job at Ridgmont, which he took, rather than return to Stewartby. Costing transport. No calculators; all "head" work. Growth of fleet vehicles. Reduction in rail transport of bricks. 25mins)Large sales force of London Brick Co. compared with Marston Valley selling only through builders merchants. Up to 2000 employees by Marston Valley co. between Ridgmont and Marston Works(?). 300 lorries. 500 employees in transport department(?) Individual negotiation of pay at Marston Valley, compared with set rates of pay negotiated by Unions at London Brick Co. 30mins)Marston Valley Co. discouraged Union activity and membership. London Brick Co. welcomed Union membership & negotiation. End of Side A SIDE B 00mins)Post war influx of foreign workers-displaced persons of various nationalities-Yugoslavs, Poles. Leg-pulling by English work-mates. 50% women workers in offices. 5mins)Young female workers predominated and tended to leave once married. Some returned after bringing up young children. Wartime female transport workers-two women.. Most women in transport department keeping records (logs) of vehicles. 10mins)Women not offered chance of careers in brickworks. Boys got paid more for same work after initial period. Unions raised issue of inequality of pay over many years. 15mins)Happy years at brickworks. Lived in Upper Shelton, Marston. Coach transport to work provided by both brickwork companies but Marston Valley relied more on these to bring workers from Bletchley area, since no pool of local labour round Ridgmont. Horseshoe coaches subsidised by brickworks. Stewartby workers also used bicycles a lot. Marriage in 1962 to colleague. 20mins)Office romances. Working men's clubs at Marston and Brogborough. Inter-department cricket matches. Tennis & badminton clubs. Bowls matches between Marston Valley and Stewartby. 25mins)Cranfield village dances. RAF base males. Early retirement when 62. London Brick Co. take-over of Marston Valley Co. 3 year court case to resolve dispute. Marston Valley Co. workers boasted that their bricks were of better quality than London Brick ones. 30mins)New methods of working and accounting after take-over. 32mins)End of interview. Original Interview 120 mins
  • Date free text
    6 April 2001
  • Production date
    From: 1925 To: 2001
  • Reference
  • Level of description
    item
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