Quote:
Originally Posted by steeljack
Will disagree with you on a couple of points , if people were living in such misery and explotation in the "bad old days" how do you explain the rise of the seaside resorts like Blackpool, Morcambe etc. in Lancashire and other similar resorts along the Yorksire coast , these weren't built just for the "Bosses" they were designed and built around the same time the building boom of terraced streets in the Mill towns for the skilled working masses.
Re. the "poverty" of the housing stock at the time , I'm thinking most of the Mill workers who were drawn to work in the cotton towns appreciated the chance to live in a terraced house with an outside lavatory (most probably a tippler type) much better than the one room mud hovels most of the migrating mill workers who came from in Scotland and Ireland ,and looking back took a damn sight more pride in them than they do today,
I'm thinking if you look back through various threads which mention the older Big Houses(Villas/Mansions) where the big bad nasty bosses lived you can see that in Accrington many were in areas adjacent and abutting terraced streets , which seems a bit more democratic to what we see today .
My own opinion is the "rot" started in the days after WW2 , British industry carried on using the same old crap machinery and methods as had been in use from the turn of the century , example ...Germany had to re-build its entire steel industry , what hadn't been bombed was shipped east as reparations to the Russians , so what did the enlightened British politicians do ... they sold the Germans brand new steel plants ,built in antiquated British plants , then wondered why the German industry was more efficient than the British, same thing happened with other industries, post-war politicians cut the throats of the British workers to "create" the social society we see the results of today.  |
Anyway Pops, the very real poverty than meant a vitamin deficient diet, and the resulting Rickets, may have been a blessing for you, and your siblings.
However, sadly, in the 'good old days' it wasn't possible for everyone to go onto the Music Hall stage, and make a good living, whilst performing as the Cutie Pie Clog Dancin' Cripples.
