Work
I began work at Kells near Whitehaven for Robinson Brothers, of Denaby Main, Yorkshire. They were building a hundred or so council houses. One of the brothers, Earnest Robinson was a keen bowling enthusiast, and Dad being secretary of the local Bowling Club they became friendly and I was given a job. There were few jobs of any kind in West Cumberland about that time and I suppose I was lucky to get it.
The first day or so I was picked up by Mr Robinson and taken to work in his car, but we didn't get there until 8:30 and so I had to have a cycle. I was given an old frame of Dad's, a swift 28" frame, and had wheels put on it and fixed up. I believe it was about 20 years old when I had it, and I remember a year or so later how Dad carried on when the neck of the frame snapped. I rode it a long time like that, dangerous as it was.
The journey to work at Kells was I suppose about four miles and one got a terrific hill both journeys. The one in the morning was much too steep to ride so it meant about half a mile walk. The roads then were very rough, no tar, and I can't ever remember the hill part ever being repaired. I worked with Robinson’s until the contract was completed about a year and a half. During that time I must have had dozens of punctures in the old cycle and I was heartily sick of it.
I was sent with the carpenters after a few days, and have been with them ever since. Why I don't know, I can't say I have ever had a great deal of interest in the trade. In the first place it was the wrong place to learn it, and secondly before I had been in it three years I had to earn enough to keep myself, whether I was learning anything or not.
After Robinson’s I went a mile further on and worked J. Leslie & Sons builders on more hours. I had started at Robinson’s at 9/11d per week and got as high as 15/- when I left. I started at Leslie’s at £1, and for that I had to work like a trojan.
There were tools to buy and a carpenter's needs are a lot. I had 2/- a week pocket money and they were bought out of that. Dad ought to have bought me a few to start with, but I suppose he was out of work and my money helped to keep the house. Moll had left home after Mother died, quite worn out nursing her, and Ruth who was a nurse had given up her job and was looking after Dad and I.
I learned quite a lot at Leslie’s under the foreman carpenter George Floyd. I worked mostly with the chargehand and fellow called William Sharp. He was not very long out of his apprenticeship and we were cutting roofs and fixing them. I learned most of the straightforward roofing there with Sharp.
I had a spell on first fixing with a carpenter called Lowe, and learned to lay floors and fix angle beads and a straight flight of stairs. The men didn't have time to teach an apprentice, they were expected to do a certain amount each day, and there were plenty of carpenters unemployed if they didn't. Men (and good men too) were coming round each day and offering to work for much less than the recognised rate. West Cumberland was in a sad state most of my time there, and it must be one of the richest parts of the country in mineral wealth. (Coal as well as iron ore is brought up from the same shaft at Stirling Pit).
Eventually the Leslie’s contract came to an end and I was unemployed for the first time. I was to be unemployed for three months. I lived then at Mrs Whitehead's as I have said, and we were all unemployed in this house. We had to sign on for work two or three times each week at Egremont, about three miles from home. I had 9/- per week "dole" and Mrs Whitehead had 10/-.
We cycled miles most days looking for a job, but there were no jobs of any kind. We would all have taken anything or gone anywhere for work. I was becoming desperate, and my clothes were becoming worn out after years of not having them replaced. One pair of shoes and one suit. Sad times.
Then I had a letter from my late foreman G. Lloyd. He had managed to get the carpentry contract on seventy-eight houses in Carlisle. The site was at Botcherby. He offered me 1/3d per hour and 49 hours per week. This was a fortune and I was off to meet him and fix it up. Here on this job I learned to make a staircase and more or less how to do everything else on a normal house. I actually fixed all the stairs on that site other than the first five flights.
He and I lodged together and paid 30/- each per week for the five nights. The food after Mrs Whiteheads was marvellous. The widow with whom we lived had one son, but they were religious folks and that rather spoilt things. We had to be indoors by ten.
We left there and found a lodging quite close to the job at a farm house. I paid 35/- per week there, but it was a great improvement. They killed or had killed for them their own lamb and beef and pigs. They had a fine big herd of cows and so butter and milk and cream were "ad lib". We had a room to ourselves and were looked after like real human beings. Quite the best lodge I ever had.
During the time I was unemployed I had owed Mrs Whitehead 15/- for each week I lived there. So that it took some time to get squared up. I had to have a good kit of tools as I was now supposed to produce as much as a journey man. The rate was 1/5d per hour. So I had to buy something each week. I had to have a new suit when Ruth was married and I owed for that four pounds. I really thought Dad or Ruth had paid for that and it was some months after I was presented with the bill.
As you can imagine at that age I wanted to go out, but it was some time before I was able to say I didn't owe any money. I've never owed any since!
My landlord's name was Clark of Holme Farm. They were a young couple with a small daughter a few months old. I used to get up in the mornings at about five, and help or in fact bottle all the milk ready to be taken out by horse and milk float.
For this I was allowed the landlord's motor cycle to go to St Bees for the weekend. It was a Norton, a big one and would do 80mph. I never went quite as fast as that on it but only because I could never get it past 75. Why I didn't kill myself on it I don't know, but I never had an accident at all. Of course there was very little traffic in those days. And when I first went to St Bees on it I was quite somebody.
I remember taking Dad to a place called Frizington on it, one Sunday. He was scared stiff and kept shouting "Not so fast not so fast, God damn Jack thou'll kill us both". I don't believe we were going any faster than about 30mph at any time and I had a job to get it into top gear. He only went on it the once.