1920s: Dad's notebook told of plight of the poor

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Eighty years ago when countless families struggled to make ends meet, suffering from poor health and with insufficient food for their numerous children, their only hope was to qualify for help and support from local charities like the Derby Board of Guardians.

That meant a visit from the Poor Law officer, whose reputation, rather like that of the debt collector or bailiff, did not make him among the most popular of local characters.

Ernest Reader, of Warner Street, Derby, was one of those officers in the 1920s whose job was to assess people’s living conditions and recommend they receive aid.

He did his job so conscientiously and with such kindness and sympathy that he became the friend and confidante of many of those he visited. He was something of a forerunner of today’s social services and was meticulous in his attention to detail and appalled at some of the poverty and sickness he witnessed.

A notebook he kept at the time, which has only recently emerged, gives an insight into the terrible conditions many Derby families faced in the 1920s.

It lists the names and addresses of residents in the West End who made claims for help – some of whom older readers will recognise and remember.

His detailed notes show in nearly every case that there were numerous children in the tiny back-to-back houses, the menfolk rarely had jobs and many were desperately ill with consumption, cancer or as a result of accident. Those who did work were paid only a pittance.

They counted themselves lucky if they had a pension or belonged to a trade club and many took in lodgers to bring in a little additional cash.

But, with large families and no indoor facilities in many of the tiny houses, that must have been a great problem, too.

Ernest Reader’s book bears out the story told recently in Bygones by Harold Richardson of how West End families, in the early part of the last century, endured a life dominated by poverty and pawnshops.

Yet, despite having a highly respected job himself, when Ernest died in 1932, aged 49, his widow, Edith Reader (nee Rose) was left in almost identical circumstances to the people he had helped.

She received only a small widow’s pension which she had to supplement by taking several cleaning jobs, working long hours to keep their family of eight children fed and together.

Their daughter, Mavis Tivey of Chaddesden, said: “I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but it was so sad that my father did so much for others; yet, when he died, my mother suffered great poverty.

“She had to work all hours to keep the family together, yet she refused to ask for help. The lasting memory I have of my early childhood was of her always being so tired. She came home exhausted every night. Now we know how much my father did for others, it seems a pity she never benefited.”

Ernest’s private papers and books from 80 years ago only passed to Mavis quite recently, when she was given his locked box following a family bereavement.

It was then that she discovered the full extent of the contribution he had made.

“I hardly have a memory of him because I was only three when he died. So to discover, after all these years, what he did has been quite fantastic. He was obviously very kind and sympathetic to others.”

That was very evident from newspaper cuttings and information published following his death.

Councillors and local officials, who were highly regarded members of society in those days, attended his funeral, including the chairman of Derby Public Health Committee, the Sanitary Inspector and the Chief Clerk, union officials and numerous colleagues.

The box also contained letters of sympathy and a newspaper report paying tribute to his devotion to duty and his caring for people.

Among the information Ernest had noted on the home visits where he recommended help be paid, was the plight of an unemployed man, who had sons aged 20 and 16 who were out of work and receiving no labour pay, while four younger children, aged 13, 10, six and two, had had no meals on the day of his visit.

Another case Ernest reported on was a man who had been off work with consumption and had a wife and three children to support.

He wrote: “A very bad case, seems hopeless. He receives 7s 6d sick pay. Was working at Co-op as assistant in grocery. His rent is 10s 11½d. No other income and no means.”

The case of a 36-year-old widow, whose husband had died the week before his visit and who was struggling to care for her child, was also noted.

“Husband was off work 12 months previous to his death from cancer. Was not enough insurance to bury him with, only £12. Has no income and no means, rent 10s 6d,” he wrote.

In his later working years, Ernest became the local vaccination officer whose job it was to insist that children were immunized against the terrible diseases which were prevalent at the time, including tuberculosis and smallpox.

Mavis’s husband, John Tivey, never met his father-in-law, but he said: “He was obviously some man. It shows from the way he reported so meticulously on each family. He must have seen some terrible family situations. His notes in the book tell it all.”

Of his mother-in-law, he said: “She was a fantastic lady, so hardworking. I used to laugh because she always addressed me as ‘Mr Tivey’, never by my Christian name.”

Sadly, Mavis Tivey died, aged 76, a few days after giving this interview. Her husband and family of three daughters, two sons and eight grandchildren wished Bygones to go ahead with publication.

The Tiveys were one of the best known athletics families in Derby and, though Mavis never competed, she was the family’s reliable “backroom boy”.

She was a great supporter and proud of the endeavours of husband John, daughters Gillian and Christine and sons Philip and Mark, all of whom competed as athletes at a high level.

When his own competitive days were over, in addition to coaching athletes, John became a qualified sporting coach and helped with the training of Derbyshire county cricketers, Brian Clough’s young Derby County footballers, Derby Rugby Club, Chesterfield footballers and a Formula One racing driver.

In a tribute to his wife, he said: “Mavis was a wonderful mother and grandmother to our five children and eight grandchildren. But she always liked to be in the background. She was a great supporter and happy to be the backroom boy for everyone else, serving up the healthy food and keeping things ticking over.”