Coventry 28–9 see also bomb damage
air raid shelters 23, 27, 49–50, 51–2, 54, 58, 63, 67, 212, 222–3
alcoholic drinks 31, 33, 51, 73, 203
Americans, see soldiers, American; USA
anti-semitism 4, 134, 228, 253 see also Jews
atomic bomb 223, 231, 338–9, 385, 387, 393–4, 395, 412
atomic energy 261–2
Attlee, Clement 253, 394
B
Baker, Josephine 216
Barrow-in-Furness 3, 10–11, 141–2
iron and steel works 23–4, 30
shipyard 3, 39, 131, 223–4, 375 see also air raids
BBC 36–7, 121–2, 125, 126, 136, 306, 334, 355–6
billeting 40, 70, 90, 195–6,
black market 130, 142, 144, 145, 228, 237
blackout 5–6, 7, 10, 184, 310
bomb damage 32–3
in Barrow-in-Furness 23–4, 54–6, 58–9, 60, 62, 83, 88, 92, 96
British Restaurant 76, 86
bus travel 180, 193–4, 213–14, 215, 273
C
canteen, mobile 55–7, 70–71, 77
capital punishment 326–7
car travel 9, 168, 224–5, 333n, 418 see also petrol
cats 6–8 passim, 279–80, 293–4, 299, 339–40, 356–7, 366, 402–4, 421
Chamberlain, Neville 6, 68
Christmas 128, 132, 250, 252, 256–8, 293, 382, 383
Churchill, Winston 13, 14, 67, 68n, 69, 116–17, 144, 146, 166, 216, 308–9, 365–6
Coast Road (along Morecambe Bay) 158, 384
coats 21, 115–16
collecting (mainly money) 17–18, 33, 36, 57, 168–9, 171
Communists 116, 146, 316
‘conchies’ (conscientious objectors) 106–7, 108–9, 130–31, 135, 197–8
conscription, see women
Conservatives 146, 295–6, 363, 365
corsets 30, 367
country people 41–2, 66–7, 165, 180, 201, 202–3
countryside, descriptions of 143–4, 225, 345–6
farming in 71–2, 294
cow (a sick one) 303
Cripps, Sir Stafford 144, 146
D
deaths 47–8, 60–61, 148, 203, 251–2, 320, 372–3, 405
pets 252, 402–4, 414–17
wartime 19, 22, 35, 49n, 61, 109, 126–7, 128–9, 135, 192, 205, 334 see also suicides
demobilisation 231, 239, 253–4, 266, 272, 280–81
depression, post-partum 319–37
passim
dogs 232–3, 404, 414–21
dollies 31–2, 36, 81, 114–15, 124–5
E
eating out 129–30, 293–4, 397, 398
elections 347–8, 359, 363–6
Eliza, Aunt 16, 120, 167, 332
entertainment
cinema 244, 258, 264, 296–7, 339
Mrs Miniver 330
stage shows 330–31, 368–9, 372
whist drives 75–6
evacuees 5, 10, 15, 34–5, 45, 50–51, 63, 89–90, 214–15, 218–19
F
Finland 38
fire-watching 54
food 41, 85, 136, 143, 157, 200, 265, 276 see also queues, shortages
foretelling 5, 19, 22, 47, 110–11, 331–2, 358, 375
friends 6, 329
Mrs Higham 171–2, 278, 315, 393
Mrs Whittam 273–4, 306–7, 393
G
gambling 349, 356 see also horse races
gardening 200, 228–9, 230, 263
gender relations 72–3, 314–15
Germans 9–10, 14–15, 37, 46, 71, 109, 112, 156, 212–13, 216–17, 235–6; see also POWs
‘Gran’ (grandmother Rawlinson) 10, 18, 24, 45–6, 66–7, 87–8, 283, 348–9
Greece 29–30
gypsies 44, 157
H
hairdressing 87, 104–5, 266–7, 413–14
hens 39–40, 121
‘Herries’ novels 234, 242, 287
Hitler, Adolf 4, 5, 15, 30, 44, 330, 394
holidays 168, 170–71, 202–03, 260–61, 279, 281–2
Home Guard 45, 66
horse races 16, 227, 294, 315, 357
hospital supplies 4, 8, 10, 21, 60, 62, 116, 152–3, 235
housekeeping 41, 150, 213, 270, 311, 321
houses 37–8, 96, 111, 184, 211, 265–6, 318, 396
Hunt, Mrs, her tribulations 138–9, 151, 176, 183, 186, 187–8
I
invasion, talk of 37, 45, 85, 109, 149–50
Ireland 71, 134
Italians 6, 123–4
ITMA 125, 197
J
Japanese 12–13, 43, 122, 146, 414
jewellery 30, 74–5, 76, 82, 120–21, 346–7
Jews 6, 9, 14, 20 see also anti-semitism
K
Kendal 53, 242
Korea 375–6, 384–5, 387, 393–5
L
Labour 227–8, 253, 295–6, 348n, 364–5
Lake District 13, 15, 193, 256, 345–6, 420
recreation in 15, 225, 247–8, 281–2, 373–4, 387–8
serenity of 24, 25, 88, 185, 224, 259
Last, Arthur (son) 3, 6, 7, 11–12, 15–17, 19–21, 84–5, 122, 143, 157–60, 188–9, 234
and his family, 260, 266, 286–7, 396–9
Last, Cliff (son) ix, xi, 3, 5, 7, 18–20, 85, 136–8, 171, 217, 222, 245, 255, 264–5
in Australia 289, 304, 339, 359–62, 412–13
his friends 110–11, 178–9, 199, 256, 339–43 passim, 347
Last, Nella 159
as a homemaker 34, 59, 84, 88–9, 100, 104, 108, 123, 150, 180–81, 184, 190, 229, 389–90
childhood xi–xii, 20n, 26, 65, 87–8, 111, 276, 303–4, 348–9, 357–8, 363–4, 424
diaries ix–xii, 3, 195, 209, 221, 245, 423–6, 432–4
her father 51, 255, 276, 312–13
her ‘gayness’ 87, 132, 181–2, 185, 234, 308, 425; see also laughter her in-laws 242, 288, 294, 325–6, 328–9, 351, 352
her mother 12, 240, 288–9, 313
politics 69, 295–6, 344–5, 348, 363; see also Conservatives, Labour, Liberals
sadness 93–4, 117, 118–19, 132, 147, 185, 189, 263–4, 304, 334–5
satisfactions and contentment 40–41, 68, 126–7, 158, 190, 196, 219–21, 245–6, 306
see also ‘Gran’, Aunt Eliza, Aunt Sarah
Last, Will (husband) 3, 354–5, 380–81
anxieties 100, 105–6, 111, 124, 147, 150, 231–4 passim, 278–9, 338, 344, 350–4, 362–3, 380, 390–92, 403–4
attitudes 32, 53, 100, 200
irritating qualities 48, 88–9, 172–4, 268–9, 278–9 see also marriage, Nella’s
laughter 21, 40, 92, 181, 191, 192, 258, 274, 336, 355–6, 367, 378
laundry 267–8, 399
Liberals 296, 347–8, 363
living standards 3, 30–31, 75, 76, 78, 81–2, 90, 118, 241–2, 283, 312–13, 340–41
London, visits to 26, 275, 396–401
looting 82–3
M
marriage 82, 122, 280, 310, 311–12
intended 38, 74, 97, 113–14, 167, 248n, 377
Nella’s 244, 248–9, 284, 250, 271, 288–9, 350
reported 35–6, 238, 372–3, 385–7
unhappy 138–9, 151, 176, 313, 323
Mass-Observation ixn, x, 3, 435–7
morale, in wartime 8, 51, 65, 91–3, 106, 145
Morecambe 14, 16–17, 53, 130, 261, 293
mothers (and mothering) 14, 37, 85, 119, 205, 263–4, 286–7, 320–21, 377, 380
Mussolini, Benito 30
N
neighbourliness 211–12, 283–4
neighbours
Atkinsons 58, 106, 136–7, 170–71, 225–7, 244, 265, 316–17
Helms 323
Holmes 317–37 passim
Mrs Howson 164, 242, 277, 331, 370–31
Northern Ireland 85, 143, 221, 279
P
parrot 332
pawnbroke
r 30, 120–21
peace 209–10 see also post-war
petrol 9, 15, 16, 21, 72, 131–2, 168, 333n, 384, 387–8
pig-keeping 39, 311
Poles 53, 211, 292–3, 295, 305
police 99, 101, 103, 127, 178, 300
poor people 113, 117–18, 134–5, 211, 371, 394, 401
post-war
anticipations of 139–40, 142, 146, 148, 180, 210
austerity 239, 270, 289–91
letdown 210–12 passim, 220–24
passim, 233, 237–9, 243–5, 251–2, 269, 278, 286
suffering in Europe 237–8, 251
politics and society 215, 281, 286, 399–401
see also peace, WVS, young people
POWs (prisoners of war) 168, 210, 220, 284
German 212–13, 284–5, 292, 294–5, 300–301, 305, 307, 308
Priestley, J. B. 25, 67–8, 119, 344
Prince of Wales 4, 339n
Q
queues 64–5, 79, 122–3, 143, 147, 241, 290, 299–300, 369
R
racial attitudes 92, 135, 186, 188, 381–4
rationing 10, 27, 107–8, 143, 230, 267–8 see also shortages
refrigerator 312, 314
religion 18, 20, 42–3, 110, 162–3, 194–5, 250–51, 301–2, 413
Russia 30, 80, 105, 109, 213, 215, 315–16
S
sailors and seamen 109
conversations with 107
Sailors’ Home 10, 18, 29, 36, 127–8
Sarah, Aunt (in Spark Bridge) 5, 10, 16, 18, 28, 50, 63, 120, 143–4, 202, 413–14
savings 21, 57, 117, 126, 143, 162
seaside recreation 71, 158, 197, 346, 376–7, 384
Second Front 165, 166, 181, 189
sexual behaviour and attitudes 72–4, 76–7, 175, 191, 198–9, 302, 323, 372, 401–2, 424 see also Mrs Hunt
ships 11–12, 112, 374
aircraft carriers 11–14
sunk 112, 123, 343
shops 4, 8, 20–21, 29, 54–5, 81, 53, 64–5, 130, 148–9, 229, 293, 344, 411–12 see also queues, shortages
shortages
in wartime 31, 51, 79, 96, 106, 120, 125, 148–9
post-war 229–30, 270
snobbery 134, 147, 305
Social and Moral Welfare 198, 199, 301, 332–3
social change 142, 314, 343, 349, 359, 373, 374
social inequality 45–6, 91, 191, 309
soldiers 26, 80–81, 186–7, 210–11, 246–7, 273
American 210–12 passim, 230, 247
conversations with 91, 92, 95, 133, 139–40, 148, 158, 186–7, 197–8
spying, concern about 17, 99, 101–3, 127
squatters 285
Stalin, Josef 330, 394
suicides 126, 211, 242, 257, 321–2
supplies, abundance of 180, 217, 386n
T
tinkers 274–5
U
Ulverston 29, 66–7, 120, 201, 369–70
United States 32–3, 122, 231, 233, 253, 254–5, 261, 387
W
wages 77–8, 114, 430
Walpole, Hugh, see ‘Herries’ novels
war, destructiveness of 43–4, 48, 68–9, 109–10, 124, 156–7, 179, 204
war, fears of in 1950 338–9, 375–6, 381, 384–5, 389, 393–4
War, First World 6–7, 109–10, 277–8
War, Second World
little talked about 10, 14, 40, 65, 154, 204
outbreak 4–7, 237
predicted duration 8, 105, 106, 112, 132–3, 154
progress 10–11, 46, 109, 144–5, 164–5, 166, 176–7, 194; see also Second Front
prosperity during 31, 78
wastage 153, 155
weather, winter 1947 296–300
floods 388, 405–11
women
appearances 134, 149, 174–5, 232–3, 421
cattiness 33, 61, 82, 95, 153–4, 155, 305
conscription 46, 55, 78–9, 86–7, 96, 97, 113, 122, 144
working in wartime 37–8, 39, 96–7, 98, 161–2, 190–91, 197
Woolwich 26, 93, 240
WVS (Women’s Voluntary Services) 3, 4, 8, 10, 57, 94, 98, 151–2, 167
and the floods of 1953 405–11
post-war, 227–8, 239–40, 370, 377–9, 392–3
and Red Cross shop 168, 170, 171–4, 177–8, 179, 210, 220–21
squabbles 152–3, 160–61, 163
uniform 102, 115–16
work at its canteen 90–91, 95, 235, 246–7, 421–2
work at its Centre 8, 21, 25, 26, 55–6, 59–60, 61–2, 162
see also canteen, mobile; hospital supplies
Y
young people 38, 175, 226–7, 238, 247, 249–50, 252, 269, 270, 309, 349–50
1. Nella and Arthur, her elder son, at 9 Ilkley Road, 1940.
2. Cliff, Nella’s younger son, in wartime.
3. Barrow bombed, 1941.
4. Home from the Yard, 1950s.
5. Relaxing on the Coast Road, 1950s.
6. Jessie Holme with her daughter, Kathleen, late summer 1948.
7. George Holme and Kathleen, 1949. The Holmes feature prominently in Chapter 15.
8. The Poker Club at the Grammar School; see 30 January 1950.
9. Ilkey Road from the back, late 1940s. On the far left is one side of the Lasts’ house. The semi–detached houses belonged to the Atkinsons (left) and the Holmes (right).
10. Cliff, a sculptor in Australia in the 1950s.
11. Nella, Will and their dog, Garry, around 1953.
* This was written in response to Mass-Observation’s questionnaire – known as a ‘Directive’ (DR) – for February–March 1945. Details on M-O, the social research organisation established in 1937 for which Nella wrote, are provided below, pp. 435–37. Since 2006 the hyphen has been dropped from its name.
* In reply to a question from MO about names (DR, May 1946), Nella reported that her parents had wanted to call her Deirdre but the Canon objected to its Irish roots, so she was named Nellie, which she always hated (this is the name on her birth certificate). However, her mother called her Deirdre, ‘which got shortened to Dearie and which the boys as well have always called me’. The name Nella was once used in a school concert; she was delighted, and it stuck.
* Priestley spoke this week about the first anniversary of the outbreak of war, and of how ‘The true heroes and heroines of this war, whose courage, patience and good humour stand like a rock above the dark morass of treachery, cowardice and panic, are the ordinary British folk’: Postscripts (London: Heinemann, 1940), pp. 60–65.
* Fred Lord, Nella’s only sibling, was eleven years younger and a bachelor. He lived in London and was a photographer with the London, Midland and Scottish Railway.
* The devastation of Coventry is well recounted in Juliet Gardiner, The Blitz: The British under Attack (London: Harper Press, 2010), chapter 7. Unusually, the Government allowed details of this catastrophe to be published. In the words of Gardiner, the Ministry of Information ‘decided there was more morale-boosting potential in revealing the extent of the damage, thus giving the impression of the enemy as a brutal bully … and also that London was not the only city in the front line’ (p. 164). Chapter 4 of Gavin Mortimer, The Blitz: An Illustrated History (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2010), includes some excellent photographs of the damaged city.
* Her prediction was sound; German forces attacked Greece and occupied it in April 1941.
* Rest Centres were set up as temporary shelters for people who might be made homeless as a result of air raids (Barrow had as yet been hit by only a few bombs).
* Household pig-keeping, where it was feasible, was actively encouraged in wartime as a way of offsetting consumers’ demands for commercial meat production. Moreover, Denmark, a traditional supplier of bacon, was occupied by the enemy. Pigs could be and were fattened on all sorts of kitchen waste.
* Much of Nella’s writing about the bombing of Barrow and its immediate consequences up to 10 Ma
y has been published in Nella Last’s War (2006 edn), pp. 117–44. She understood that in the April raids ‘there are only 30 killed, although many in hospital’ (17 April). Officially, 79 civilians in Barrow were killed by German bombing in 1941, all or almost all of them in April–May; there were only four further deaths from raids in Barrow during the remaining four years of the war (National Archives, HO 198/245).
* J. B. Priestley’s famous radio talks started on 30 May 1940 and ended on 24 September that year. They were vastly popular (his popularity rivalled that of Churchill), although many Conservatives objected to his socialist leanings, and it was widely thought that his BBC appearances were terminated as a result of political pressure.
* It is likely that by the early 1940s, at the latest, Nella and Will had ceased to have sexual relations. (The Directive Responses for 1941, including hers, have not survived.)
* She had woken up in fear from a bad dream that she attributed to a ‘horror play’ that had been broadcast a few days earlier on the BBC.
* Nella’s conflicted views on race are revealed later, pp. 381–84.
* Nella had observed earlier in this entry that ‘he works harder now than he ever has done since a young man and has so much outside work in draughts’. Repairing damaged buildings was keeping men in the building trades exceptionally busy. Nella thought of both Will and herself as people of delicate health, probably with reason.
* A few weeks later, on 12 December, there was a follow-up to these canteen encounters with conscientious objectors. ‘I was taken aback by one big dirty soldier whose leather jerkin showed he was on labour duty. He said “Cup a tea, lady, and I ain’t a conchie”. I said “I beg your pardon” and he said with a jerk of his thumb “My mate said ‘If you want a smile and a joke with ’em at the counter, tell ’em you’re not a conchie in spite of being in the Labour Battalion. They never joke with conchies – just pass their tea and grub over and say thank you.’”! We must have shown it plainly.’
* These were staple lines from ITMA – It’s That Man Again – a comedy show starring Tommy Handley that was on its way to becoming one of the most popular and celebrated radio programmes of the 1940s.
* The Minister of Food was in fact a Unitarian. Anti-Semitism was rife in Britain at this time, and Nella occasionally gave voice to it herself.
The Diaries of Nella Last Page 51