Seen and Not Heard

Drawing on the first-hand accounts of those who grew up during the first half of the twentieth century, G.K. Nelson has constructed a vivid picture of what childhood was like then. The individual accounts, told in the contributors' own words reveal the different styles of life in England during the period. This was a time when most children started work while still at school, often helping in the fields before they had their tea, and were frequently employed full-time by the age of fourteen. Many had to journey a few miles to school on foot, and their leisure was filled with simple pleasures and games of their own making. Here are tales of village school and Sunday School and of the harshness of childhood at a time when common ailments could mean damage for life; of joyful occasions such as May Day and harvest when the whole village would join in; and of the closeness of family life. In urban districts, too, children's lives were a world away from the experience of today, and their accounts are also included in this book. Illustrated with black and white contemporary photographs and complemented by the commentary of the author, Seen and Not Heard enables the reader to gain an insight into what a child's life was truly like during the first half of the twentieth century.