Doing The Laundry 1940's England

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I agree. The narrator, with an accent worthy of the upper classes, wouldn't be caught dead doing her own laundry. But I'll bet the working class women who watched this instructional film enjoyed the subliminal message at work.

;-)
 
I think such women were doing their own washing in the '40s but probably not in the '30s. One of the reasons that labour saving devices became popular was because middle class households could no longer find or afford "char" ladies. In the war such women had jobs in factories or on farms, so were not available.
Interesting film anyway! I have seen one or two of those drying cabinets but that tumble dryer in the block of flats is an impressive beast!
 
Before WW II both my grandmothers had maids for the laundry. I remember them telling about it. Don't know how they did it after the war.

Before my mother bought her first automatic washer, she used a laundry service for larger items. Once a week sheets etc. were picked up by the laundryman. I guess a maid had become too expensive and the laundry service was a good alternative.
 
Laundry Service For Flatwork

Until easy care fabrics came along and or standards were lowered in regards to the only proper finish for linens was ironing, yes it was often easier and better to send things out to a commercial laundry.

Large *steam* or otherwise laundry services had the advantages of huge mangles that could make easy work of large flatwork items such as sheets and table linen, and even better often could do so without ironing in creases.

In many northern European areas there was also the option of an ironing or cold mangling service. These could be part of a laundry or a small shop that was sometimes located in a person's home.

Either way one brought freshly laundered flatwork that would be "ironed" or mangled, folded then returned.

 
Am Wondering Why They Saddled That Poor Housewife

With that flat plate press instead of an ironer?

A press is probably easier to do clothing upon, but anything besides small flatwork (twin sheets, pillow slips, napkins, etc...) quickly becomes a major bother IMHO. The things have too small a working surface to get things done.
 
Diaper Service

I know diaper service was readily available in the early, um, 70's, cos my mom used it. I was surprised that one of my neighbors sends out her laundry to this day.
 
Diaper Services Were Big

Right though the 1970's or so in many area's of the USA, especially during the post war baby boom of the 1950's and 1960's.

What killed them was what killed cloth diapers in general, the introduction and widespread acceptance of Pampers and other disposables.

Diaper services are making a come back though as many mothers/families with newborns are moving away from Pampers type diapers for various reasons. Many diaper services also do adult sizes as well.
 
Diaper services????

Wow, this is new to me!
I do not really know what to think...well it sounds really weird to me...
I mean a service specialized in diapers washing? Ok.... I could understand that in certain situations a family would have enjoyed having laundry sent out, and have diapers washed by others, like if you've 3 babies at once and you lived in a small apt with no dryer no space to wash and hang clothes ( personally I would never do that for my baby, i mean to use common diapers and washed by , stangers absolutely NOT!)....I cannot really think of people making a business of it, I mean this large and spreaded out...
I think of an era where washers were pretty much present in every home, so i cannot really think why so many people should have sent the diapers out to wash when they could have done it easily and quickly at home, well these service should have been cost effective, able to cover the cost of purchase of diapers cloth etc at least..... But cannot help but think indeed why they also had to wash them...could not they just rent diapers and let the washing to the mother?
We're also speaking of an era when mothers and women generally were housewives and cared of the household, kids as their primar job....

As far as I know where I live these services were not common.....nor are of course now that disposables are mostly used since decades of course, even in the past everyone washed their own diapers and this even when washers were not common in every household...nor I think they would have relied in these services...
Really, I am astonished by this.... I find it almost absurd..LOL
[this post was last edited: 2/25/2014-18:22]
 
Diaper Services

Came about during mainly the period starting with WWII then on through the post war baby boom years. Some managed to hold on into the 1960's but really once disposables took hold it really killed off the natural market.

First and foremost, babies and not potty trained infants go through *LOTS* of diapers. Well during WWII many women began working outside the home so they didn't have time for the daily chore of laundering loads of diapers. Then remember washing machines both semi and fully automatic were not something every home had. So women had to deal with diapers on top of their family wash the same way, either by hand (if done at home), hire a laundress or whatever. Diapers were a pain to launder because if done well meant hours of soaking, boiling and so forth, which we know many mothers (the more slovenly sorts) didn't bother about.

Commercial laundries had long existed for family laundry and during the 1940's many homes still used such services, therefore it was not a huge leap to see persons getting into the diaper service game.

A commercial laundry doing diapers had access to modern laundry equipment, hotter water, and so forth than most homes at the time. It also allowed mothers to get the whole stinky business of dirty diapers out of their homes.

In areas where homes had their own laundry equipment and stay at home moms, a diaper service was more a luxury than necessity. Even with just a wringer washer or twin tub you can plow through a load of diapers quickly. Homes with automatic dryers solved the second bother of doing diapers at home; that stuff of sitcom/film jokes of homes with babies having wet diapers hung up to dry all over the place.

Of course those who hang around here probably are well aware of laundering diapers at home if nothing for those old adverts for Ivory Snow!

 
Yes of course during WWII womens were busy working in factories, and I can fully understand that in certain cases it would have been "sensible", ie Lack of a washing machine in an household and or impossibility to do this because of space or others reasons...
Of course in the 40s there were family laundry services, wealthy families in lack of a washer either hired a launderess to hand wash items and or relied in these services, so in some cases giving laundry out was a sensible practice, .but as you mentioned as long as you had a wringer washer and enough space to do this, noneless all the equpment needed, it should not have meant that much of job for an housewive, infact that's what happened during the years...would have been shameful to give laundry out if you had a washer and all the "equipments"...
Later with automatic washers and dryers absolutely even more,
Even true that at the same time did born disposables...so washable diapers died progressively during the years..

I could so understand diaper services raising in the 40s and 50s for certain families, but then not in 60s and 70s when most of families did have a washer... Some would still have used these services but probably not the most...
Since I could read above they were also common in the 70s that made me perplexed about how they could keep their business still going well abd still be common, and so how a family even having possibility to do otherwise would prefer this, so when they could do that at home... Such a shame...
Luxury.... I can't really think of it as a luxury...
For how I see things I do not see much of luxurious in this, it surely would have prevented mommies a little further work, but should not have meant that much of a saving of work if a washer was present and that's a thing that I cannot figure out how people would prefer this if they had possibility to do this at home, and this instead of having common diapers shared among thousands babies and laundered by strangers, even more if such thing costed more than having laundered at home.. So the game was not worth the candle. So it comes automatic to wonder who would have paid also more for this like if it was better. From my point of view it is not luxurious or better actually, rather pretty disreputable and not a sign of wealthy living at all...so rather a thing for those who were not lucky enough having this possibility to wash at home, it would have had more sense if so IMO, otherwise would have been kinda dishonorable...
I think it's matter of points of view....
But least now has a little more sense...
Thank you.
[this post was last edited: 2/26/2014-06:10]
 
If And Or When You Ever Have Babies And Decide

To cloth diaper you'll understand the beauty of a diaper service.

Nothing generates laundry like babies, now adding to that anywhere from 10, 15, or more diapers *Per Day* and *Per Child* (many mothers often had more than one child at home still in diapers), that have to be laundered, dried and folded. Shan't bore you with the details but childbirth isn't a walk in the park and adding to the exhaustion is the housework which must be done including that generated by a baby/children.

Diaper services were big in urban and metropolitan areas where housewives either didn't always have a washing machine (much less dryer), or were well off enough to afford a service to take the whole smelly job out of the house.

Cloth diapering starts with "flushing" any solids and urine out of the diaper after changing. Most did this by dunking the thing in the toilet. Diaper was then placed into a "diaper pail" (a hamper for soiled diapers) until it was time for washing. As you can imagine used diapers sitting in a closed container can and often did start to give off a whiff. Unless one was really caught up on housekeeping and diaper laundry the whole place could take on that scent.

Once enough diapers were ready for washing they had to first soak to avoid setting any stains by placing them at once in hot water. Some mothers would fill their diaper pails with water and perhaps a bit of Borax so diapers could soak while waiting to fill up the pail. Then came washing.

Until the advent of modern detergents all mother's had was what they did for normal family laundry; soap. Even after detergents came out they were often harsh and left diapers scratchy and rough (hence all those Ivory Snow adverts).

Diapers would have to be washed once or twice in hot water, rinsed, then boiled, and rinsed again. If a home had a fully automatic washing machine many baby nurses and others advised mothers that boiling diapers was no longer required. But that didn't stop some old school moms or more likely grandmamma or other older (and wiser it is assumed) from giving their advice.

After the orgy of laundry was done came drying time. Again if the household was lucky enough to have an automatic dryer then that was that. Diapers came out of the tumble dryer soft and ready for folding. If not then as any housewife without a dryer did, the mom had to hang the diapers up to dry. If the day was nice things could go outside (if there was a clothesline). Otherwise lines were strung up indoors and you hoped for the best. Unlike family laundry baby's things cannot wait and that included especially diapers. As with linens the more one had of diapers the longer wash days could be put off. But unlike linens as one stated previously soiled diapers give off a whiff if they are allowed to sit too long.

When dry the final step began, folding. Given the amounts of diapers required mothers (and often fathers) or anyone else able to help could be stuck folding the things for some time. I remember when hospitals still used cloth diapers. When they came back up from the laundry in many places they were unfolded. So every available nurse or nursing assistant pitched in to get the job done.

After all this was done there was the certainty that one had to do it again the next day.

Commercial diaper services had access to hotter water, better detergents and so forth to produce a result most home laundries simply couldn't match. Better still this was done without the effort of being stuck in the house washing. There is also an art to getting diapers not only clean but removing all traces of urine, it's by products and chemical residue. Any mother who cloth diapers can tell if the things are *right* by how they smell when wet. If the things give off an ammonia whiff, something is wrong. If baby gets diaper rash, again the usual culprit is the diaper.

Some mothers then and today only use diaper services for the first few weeks after birth. This allows them to get some rest before taking over themselves. If there was an illness in the house again the diaper service took some of the work load off.

As for using diapers that have been used by *thousands* of other babies, well yes you could look at things that way. But when you are in hospital the linens and towels you use and or used upon you have also been used on "thousands" of other patients. Again a good diaper service like any other commercial laundry had equipment that was streets ahead of domestic appliances. Things like steam heated washing machines that could reach and hold water temperatures at >160F.

The other great thing about diaper services is that the household did not have to make the investment by buying cloth diapers.

In my day as it was for decades before a common shower gift for a mother to be would be cloth diapers. These could be purchased anywhere in those days, or run up from a bolt of "diaper cloth" sold by the yard. However most mothers quickly found out they never had enough diapers. Due to the harsh and frequent laundering the things often didn't last very long. Also in the days before modern enzyme detergents certain stains never shifted. For those and other reasons no small number of cloth diapers ended up being used as rags. With a diaper service you get an allotment of diapers as ordered. If those in current circulation aren't fit to be sent out, you'll get new ones.

Finally a word about the "help". Not every domestic was thrilled about having a baby in the house. Being women and likely with children of their own they knew the work involved. This is why in many *better* homes a nurse would be engaged to take care of baby which may or may not include dealing with laundry.

http://books.google.com/books?id=8N...HaqYD4Cg&ved=0CGwQ6AEwCTgK#v=onepage&q&f=true
launderess++2-26-2014-06-12-37.jpg
 
Diaper Service

Gotta say, Laundress, you do present a convincing case. And even back then $2.25 for 120 diapers per week seems like good value to me and they probably would have been softer and more absorbent than if they were dried on a line. Not that I have had any experience, nor am I likely to, with changing babies diapers.
 
diaper and laundry service.

The town I spent most of my teenage years in had a laundry and diaper service up until the early to mid 1980's. My best friends grandmother worked there from the 1940s right up until they shut down in the 80s, and tons of their vintage linens and such still had those little ink stamps from when his grandma worked at the laundry, the ones they try to hide in a hem or something to identify what belongs to who.

Also most older people in the town had vintage washer and dryers in immaculate condition, due to only ever being used for a few delicates and things for most of their lives, only being pressed into actual use after the laundry service shut down.

The next town over from where I live now had a steam laundry service through the 1970s.

For people who could afford them, laundry services were a blessing and were used right up till the end. Keep in mind, most of the customers were of the generation when all things, even sheets were ironed. And the generation of laundry day on Monday and ironing day on Tuesday.

Or for a few dollars, they got back Monday and Tuesday, and everything came back spotless clean, pressed as well or better than they would have done themselves.

And yes, diaper services were a blessing. I cloth diapered both my kids, using a wringer washer for most of it. When I got a portable automatic washer it was easier, but still an endless nasty thankless task. Diapers had to be washed daily, which meant soaking overnight, washing at least twice, sometimes 3 times, multiple rinses, all in scalding hot water, and then dried, no matter what the weather.

And before you ask why I put myself through it, my first son would break out if you used disposable diapers, and even with all the work, cloth diapers were more affordable. Even if I had been lucky enough to have a local diaper service, and paid them, it still would have been cheaper.

Besides, something in me cringes at the thought of landfills full of never to decompose diapers
 
Posh voices

Getting back to the origin of the thread, the "posh" voice would have been absolutely standard for its day, and probably would not have been considered at all unusual as, for the most part, "received pronunciation", was all that was heard in radio, television (fledgling) and cinema news reels of the time. Localised accents would have been confined for the most part to comedy programmes or interviewees.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Received_Pronunciation
 
'Twas On The Monday Morning"

was actually the title of this film which was produced by the Electrical Association for Women - whose main purpose was to educate women in the uses of electricity around the home, very important in post WW2 Britain where servants were in short supply. Added to that, during WW2 very many women were actively engaged in war work and there was a whole generation of women who would have missed out on a great many aspects of domestic training, although I know it was taught in schools (girls schools!) in the 1920s, if not earlier.

Finally, there is a certain irony (ooops, another pun there) about the flat bed iron, as the Hotpoint washer had an optional extra rotary iron (what North Americans might call a mangle, although that's not our meaning of the word) which ran off the wringer drive.

Some more information about the Electrical Association for Women on the link

http://www.engineering-timelines.com/who/haslett_c/haslettCaroline4.asp
 
Thank you, wasn't really necessary all the explanations about diapers that I fully know myself already...but sure someone else will find 'em instructive.
I will be young, but I am a good listener and I like to talk with elderly about how things were in old days, here is where I learn things rather than "paper" , I came to talk of it often and know all the stuff and procedure for diaper laundering etc..have also friends who decided to use cloth diapers now, and sure I know that having a baby isn't "a walk in the park"...

Gotta say that there're some points in your explanation that I really do not think to be meaningful other tha authentic... And with which I do not agree and that I knew differently.
But i suppose we can call them points of view? for all the rest I can just say :"yes of course" but they're nothing of new and concepts that I already took in consideration in my own reasoning...

After all your lines that I appreciate, I can so say that they didn't change my opinion a little bit, because of reasons I told you..
I am willing to to say again :
While I can see the good in this for certain cases I cannot help but think that in others cases indeed it is kinda bad/ unfortunate, so not talking of all situations but just some, and considering that looks
like they were very common I think they surely did more than just certain situations, you made an example of an illness in the family, that of course is a case where you would likely rely in this service, like maybe in the first weeks after birth, or in an household that had not the proper equpment to stand this,, so of course i repeat that in certain situations it was and still is a sensible practice to do and would have meant a great help, but their commonness just looks it was too widespread to be used just in certain cases, you mention high populated areas, that also would play a role for sure, then we come to talk of it as you said of it being considered "luxury" that I cannot really consider so and get... Would have been luxurious to hire someone i can supervise that gets the job done in my house...and so .this also if you're that kind of prideless mother that even if having all the things and time necessary to do that herself is then still unwilling to take care of her childrens and family alone giving stuff out this way (and that includes diapers)...
If you can do that yourself because you have possibility to (that includes equipment, time, space etc) and if you ebentually also have money to pay someone to do that for you at home i do not see why use a diaper service, ,otherwise if you miss such possibilities then becomes need... My thought is that generally a wealthy family really didn't need.
Points of view....

I just find weird a service on purpose just for it though, especially what seems a service that was so large and common so supposedly used by many people, and so able to justify what looks a massive presence of these "diaper service" characters in the past....
, Seen and considered it all, I cannot help but repeat my thought, so that it would have meant a great thing to be offered and enjoyed in particular situations, not in others where I see just a dishonorable practice...

And still amazes me how they could have been so common....

[this post was last edited: 2/26/2014-11:30]
 
Have A Posser (dolly) wash tub, wash board, and two wringers

And am here to tell you the novelty soon wears off! *LOL* Would simply sit down and weep if one was faced with a wash day like that for the rest of one's life.

Commercial/steam laundries had been around in the UK since just after the industrial revolution, and really came into their own as equipment improved and women began spending more time outside the home, but one thing often caused wash to return to a housewife's domain. Worries about infection and hygiene. You never knew who was processing your washing or what it was being mixed with, so to safeguard one's family's health it was thought best to keep one's dirty washing at home.

One of the main problems with doing washing in many parts of the UK is climate. That clip is wise to mention an electric drying cabinet otherwise given the damp shores of England it often could take ages for things to dry, especially indoors during certain times of the year. Then there is the rain....

One solution would be to place a clothes horse in front of a fire. Other still was to use a laundry maiden to raise drying towards the ceiling. This got the stuff out of the way but if in the kitchen meant having to dodge drips as the washing dried. Happily many homes had an AGA type range that provided heat in the room. Or the drying room itself would have a small range/stove to provide same. Thing is if using the kitchen for drying one had to take care what sorts of foods were prepared until the washing was taken down. Kippers certainly were not on! *LOL*
 
Since all it *boiled* down to how it was like laundering linens and whites in the past for those not lucky enough to own a washing machine here a nice advertising of sunil detergent, of course before detergents there were soaps... Boiling was common practice in hand laundering, as we know the three variants to wash clothes.... Boiling decreased the meachanical job you otherwise had to do by hand,even if still not a nice thing to do in august though! LOL
Here shows typical german households, that were equpped with laundry rooms and pote for laundry boiling....
Of course not posh either...but posh would have been having a launderess at service in the household or owning a washing machine...



post was last edited: 2/27/2014-03:44]
 

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