Pawnbrokers in early 1900s London

Based on childhood recollections of shops in Edmonton, north London in Edwardian times.

Pawnbrokers shops were quite common when I was a child in the early 1900s. They could be recognized from some distance away because there were always three balls hanging outside, usually of a gold colour.

The idea was that anyone in need of ready cash would take something or things that they owned to the pawnbroker who would loan them a certain amount of money using the loaned items as security. The amount of the loan was based on what the pawnbroker thought he could sell the things for, plus some sort of commission for himself. The goods could be redeemed at the end of a certain time if the loan was repaid. If it couldn't be repaid, the goods reverted to the pawnbroker who sold them. Pawnbrokers did a good trade because people were much poorer in my childhood in the early 1900s.

Our pawn shop in Edmonton was run by two brothers by the name of Evans. One window was given over to jewellery and the other to men's clothing. I recall seeing women standing outside with bundles of clothes and bedding waiting for the shop to open on a Monday morning. Then they would redeem these bundles at the end of the week when or if their husbands brought home enough wages. It was a vicious circle in that, once started, it had to continue.

The jewellery was mostly second hand and had been pawned more than once. Now that I am an adult, I have thought about it a lot and have wondered what stories of sadness there were behind the jewellery that couldn't be redeemed.