1935 Silver Jubilee Celebrations
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of King George and Queen Mary’s reign, People over 65 years of age could apply to Sittingbourne and Milton Urban District Council for a voucher for 2/6d which would allow them to purchase goods from local shops. (2 shillings and sixpence, with 20 shillings to the pound, and 12d [old pence] to the shilling – was 12.5p in today’s money.)
Some facts from the 1930s
Average wages: in 1931 a widow’s pension was 10 shillings(50p) a week and the minimum wage for agricultural workers was £1/11s/3d (just over £1/55p). In October 1938, the average hourly wage for adult males was just under 1s 6d, nearly double the average hourly wage for women, which was 9d.
Housing: In 1930, the average house cost about £300.00 – three times the average wage.
Fashion: Making your own clothes was a popular and often a necessary pastime there were many patterns available both dressmaking and knitting Hats and gloves were worn summer and winter wool /leather in winter lace in summer. Men wore a trilby, or bowler hat and suit for best, Cap and overalls were for work or the garden anyone who had a garden would grow vegetables to supplement the housekeeping and perhaps a few flowers. Surplus fruit and vegetables would be laid down for the winter. Onions would be pickled, fruit bottled or made into jam. beans salted in large jars, potatoes and swedes were stored in large hessian sacks in the shed any waste went into the compost bin,
Food: People shopped in open markets or in specialist shops. There was the butcher, the baker, the fishmonger grocer. and the all important hardware shop, where you could buy just one screw if that’s all you needed. Goods were often delivered on bicycles or in light vans. Department stores, such as M&S, C&A and Woolworths, were well known but there were no supermarkets. Packaging was beginning to be used but most shops still sold Sugar, Biscuits, butter, cheese, bacon etcetera. loose, you could buy as little as you wanted ideal if you lived on your own or had a small income. The coalman called regularly both winter and summer this gave housewives an opportunity to build up their stock for winter.
Health: Before the national health scheme came into being in 1948 you had to pay to see a doctor at his surgery costing 2/6. A doctor’s visit to the house cost five shillings so a lot of people in Sittingbourne paid into a society each week. One was located at 65 Park Road. You would present your bill to them and your treatment would be paid for via your contributions.
1934
21 January – 10,000 people attend a British Union of Fascists rally in Birmingham, organised by Oswald Moseley.
Feb 6th – “Monopoly” board game goes on sale for the first time.
Apr 19th – Shirley Temple appears in her first movie, “Stand Up & Cheer”.
29 September – Stanley Matthews makes his debut for the England national football team, beginning a record 23-year international career.
1935
31 May – The driving test becomes compulsory.
3 September – Malcolm Campbell sets a new land speed record of 484.620 km per hour (301.129 mph) at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, driving the Campbell-Railton Blue Bird.
6 November – maiden flight of the Royal Air Force’s Hawker Hurricane fighter aircraft
14 November – In the General Election, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin is returned to office at the head of a National Government led by the Conservative Party with a large but reduced majority.
1936
20 January – King George V dies at Sandringham House, Norfolk, aged 70. His eldest son, The Prince Edward, Prince of Wales succeeds as King Edward VIII
11 April – Billy Butlin opens his first Butlins holiday camp Butlins Skegness in Skegness, Lincolnshire
4 October – Battle of Cable Street between Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists and anti-fascist demonstrators.
30 November – the Crystal Palace is destroyed in a fire.
11 December Parliament passes His Majesty’s Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 – Edward VIII abdicates leaving his brother Prince Albert, Duke of York, to become King.
1937
12 April – Frank Whittle ground-tests the worlds first jet engine designed to power an aircraft.
6 May – In the US, the German airship – the Hindenburg bursts into flame.
12 May – Coronation of George VI and Elizabeth at Westminster Abbey
28 May – Neville Chamberlain succeeds Stanley Baldwin as Prime Minister.
1 July – The 999 emergency telephone number is introduced.
6 August – In the Spanish Civil War, falangist artillery bombards Madrid.
21 Sept – JRR Tolkein’s The Hobbit is published.
Search request for 1935/37 pensioner
What to do now:
If you have followed the instructions above, your request has been sent to our volunteers by email. Please wait for a response which we expect to be able to give in a few days. If you have any questions please email the museum secretary.
