Join me in the 1900s: a social history of everyday life
About this website
This website is unique in being dedicated to what living in early-mid 20th Century Britain was like for ordinary people: what they experienced, why they did what they did and how they felt about it. Consequently, the website lets you into the mindset of ordinary people of the time, and is like an online or virtual museum of everyday life. It is based on the real-life memories of my mother and has hundreds of pages of firsthand experiences, recollections, pictures and information from numerous contributors. Its value is indicated by many messages of appreciation. The website is run by me, Dr Pat Cryer, and, as webmaster, I maintain responsibility for it. It is specifically not intended as a factual history; plenty of other sites serve that purpose, although some has been included as background. You can explore all the sources on the sources page and contact me via the contact page.
To explore the full site, use the above scrollable menu or search box. The following icons link to sample pages.
Why use this website
This website will be useful for family history, school homework, historical projects and as general interest. Although centred on the UK, it largely applies in various countries with a similar heritage, particularly Australia, Canada, Ireland and USA. Its special feature is that it tells you what life was really like by people who were there at the time.
Purpose of the website
The purpose of this website is to bring an understanding of ordinary people's lives in early to-mid 20th Century Britain to as wide an audience as possible. Pat Cryer, the webmaster, is dedicated to supporting this purpose and accordingly gives her time and expertise freely to it with no sponsors and no sales. The only financial support comes from advertisements, which help cover the cost of hosting the site.
About the webmaster
Pat Cryer is a retired academic with a BSc from the University of Exeter and a PhD from the University of Surrey. Before retiring from academia, she held visiting professorships at the University of Manchester and the University of Winchester, was the author of several books and travelled widely overseas advising and running workshops. In her retirement, her main hobby is this website. In this connection, she has interviewed numerous older people, visited numerous museums and re-enactments, recorded her own childhood observations, including those of the home front of wartime Britain, and welcomed numerous contributions from website visitors. She maintains and develops the website free of charge.
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Text and images are copyright
If you can add anything to this page or provide a photo, please contact me.
