At the time this photograph was taken, Barbara Stafford would have been living through the effects of the Great Depression of 1929-32. A time when the United Kingdom was still far from having recovered from the effects of the First World War. There was an overall climate of unrest with unemployment rising to 70%.
Barbara will have experienced first hand the 1926 National Strike called by the Trades Union Congress in support of the miners, when approximately one million were locked out of their mines after a dispute with owners who wanted them to work longer hours for less pay. All this was compounded by the 1929 Wall Street Crash leading to the devaluation of the pound - thus creating even more unemployment and poverty which was endemic in the North East. Barbara will have read in newspapers about hunger marches, and in 1936 the North East's own Jarrow March took place. Perhaps it was all this that spurred Barbara on to leave home and train to be a Nanny.
I can only make a guess at the year, circa 1929 when this photograph was taken by an unknown "T D Arnold Sheffield", or where the Nanny Training Course took place, the only clue is that it was taken in or around the Sheffield area.
It is interesting that the uniforms are so like a nurses. The lady seated left in black is wearing a uniform like that of hospital matron, and the lady to her right, seated, is wearing a white coat with a nurses headdress. Everyone is very serious. Barbara is first left
 |
| A Qualified Nanny |
No comments:
Post a Comment