Hello
I recently dug up a fascinating book Useful Toil edited by John Burnett - I think it's out of print but available here and there.
A rarity, it has edited versions of autobiographies of ordinary working people, some in diary form, some in narrative form about their everyday lives. Some of the excerpts are short, some long and quite detailed. An introductory section for each autobiography gives a bit of family history of the individual and some context to the writings.
I thought I might list them here should it help anyone is their researches, but if not it's a great piece of social history and an interesting read.
Anonymous Navvy - b. abt 1820
Tom Mullins - Farm Labourer, b. 1863 nr Macclesfield bur. 1950s Rushton Spencer
Lucy Luck - Straw Plait Worker, b. 1848 Tring, Hertfordshire
John Ward (O'Neil) - Weaver, b. Carlisle 1810, worked in Clitheroe, d. 1876.
William Luby - Sweet Boiler, b. Hulme nr. Manchester 1883
Thomas Jordan - Coal Miner, b Birtley, Durham 1892
B. L. Coombes - Coal Miner, b. c1894 Herefordshire, worked in South Wales
Winifred Griffiths - Shop Assistant, b. 1895 Overton nr Basingstoke, Hampshire
Rosina Whyatt - Munitions Factory Worker, b. 1888 Somerset
William Tayler - Footman, b. Grafton Oxfordshire 1807 worked in Oxon and London
William Lanceley - House Steward, b. 1854 worked at the Curragh and elsewhere
Gabriel Tschumi - Chef, b. nr Lausanne Switzerland 1882 worked in the London Royal Households
John Robinson - Butler
Edward Humphries - Page Boy, b. Totnes Devon 1889
Lilian Westall - House Maid, b. Mortlake 1893, father a cricket bat maker
Lavinia Swainbank - House Maid, b. Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1906 daughter of a Blacksmith Striker
Winifred Foley - General Maid, b. 1914 Brierley, Forest of Dean, Father a Miner
Jean Rennie - Scullery Maid, Kitchen Maid and Cook Housekeeper, b. 1906 Greenock Scotland, daughter of a Clydesdale rivetter, worked in Argylleshire, Ripon, Kelso, Surrey, London
Charles Newnham - Carpenter and Builder, b. Rochester Kent 1799, father a Freeman, worked in London esp on Millbank Penitentiary
Emanuel Lovekin - Mining Butty, b. Tunstall Staffs 1820, father a furnaceman.
An Old Potter (Anonymous) - Potter, b. Tunstall, Potteries 1832
Thomas Wood - Engineer, b. Bingley Yorkshire 1822, son of a handloom weaver
Henry Broadhurst - Stonemason, b. Littlemore nr Oxford 1840, son of a stonemason
George Sturt - Wheelright, owned wheelright shop Farnham Surrey 1880s-1920.
Paul Evett - Compositor, b. St Peters Jersey 1886, son of a battery sargeant major in the Royal Artillery. Moved to Dukinfield Cheshire.
Arthur Gill - Gold Beater and Ticket Writer, b. Claro Place Leeds 1887, father a boot/shoe repairer
T.R. Dennis - Cabinet Maker, b. Preston Lancs 1910
Cheers
Biker
