Hi Fred
Your comment that 'privacy wasn't an issue' intrigued me because we take it for granted. It is a very modern phenomenon. In my child hood in the 1940s families of 14 or 15 children were common whether the parents were in mining or agriculture in occupation. If you went to visit friends and had to stay overnight children wer put to bed head to toe alternating across the bed. Gender didn't matter. Older children might squeeze in later at their bedtime. Parents would drag out a mattress onto the living-room floor and sleep there.
Poor Glasgow families could all be squeezed into a 'single-end' - a 1 roomed flat. A bigger flat would be a room and kitchen' The kitchen was the main living area with possibly a bed recess. Families living in this luxury might supplement their income by taking in a boarder. One of my relatives had a 3 roomed flat. They lived there with their 4 children, their uncle a single male border and a married couple!!!
We still haven't figured out where they all would sleep!
My Edinburgh grandmother was quite posh. Her flat had a bedroom and a front 'parlour'. Even the parlour had a 'box bed'. What looked like cupboard was actually a bed when you opened up the door. Nobody could afford to have claustrophobia in those days, Her kitchen also had a bed recess. This was the best place to sleep because you were in the same room as the old black grate where all the cooking was done.
You slept with your socks on because , not only was it cold, getting up onto cold linoleum was a chilling experience.
All in all there was no room for privacy, dignity and observance of personal space. It didn't exist.
P.S. Going out to the half-landing to the loo on a cold night justified having a china receptacle under the bed!
From an old stager
Russell
