1930s

Images of a Decade

Edward, Prince of Wales, is welcomed by a crowd of adoring women as he goes on an informal walkabout in Derbyshire in 1932.

Motorists in the 1930s were given a graphic reminder of the perils facing them on the roads.

Workers at Qualcast lawnmower works in Victory Road, Sinfin, Derby, pour molten iron into moulding boxes.

The Blue Peter public house in Alvaston, Derby, was one of three art deco pubs in the city.

The Wall Street crash of 1929 when millions of dollars were wiped off US share values heralded the start of a worldwide depression which lasted well into the 1930s.

Unemployment was rife and thousands of people lost their fortunes during the economic slump as prices fell, businesses collapsed and international trade declined sharply.

The misery and poverty caused by the financial crisis sparked the Jarrow March of 1936 when 200 men from the North East of England, which had been particularly hard hit, walked from Jarrow to lobby Parliament for support. On their 280-mile journey the marchers passed through Chesterfield.

Other notable events included the shock decision by Edward VIII in 1936 to abdicate so that he could marry an American divorcee. But it was not all doom and gloom. The early 1930s saw the introduction of talking pictures, or “talkies” as they were known, which provided much needed light relief, and there was great excitement when the Gaumont Palace opened in Derby in 1934.

We also had a Wimbledon hero in Bunny Austin, a former Repton School pupil, who reached the Men’s Singles Final in 1938. Storm clouds, however, were gathering over Europe and the decade ended with war being declared when Hitler invaded Poland.

Your Pictures of the 30s

Sisters Trix Smith and Evelyn Aspdin skate on the Mundy paddling pool in Derby in the 1930s.

Carnival night at Ashbourne Road skating rink in Derby in around 1938.

Harold Richardson's school photograph in 1931.

Billy Pritchard, the Fighting Postman, in his day job.

Click on the link below to listen to Bernice Hall's recollection of the poverty of the 1930s in and around South Derbyshire and what life was like growing up in the area at the time.

East Midlands Oral History Archive

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