Cousin Kathleen

By 1911, Kathleen had left school and was a civil service student.[xix] Very few women were employed by the civil service prior to the first world war. The exception was the Post Office, where, in 1911, twenty percent of Post Office employees were female. It is almost certain that this is the capacity in which Kathleen worked, as she was know to be working for the Post Office by 1921. In 1869, the inland telegraph service had become absorbed into the Post Office. Existing female employees of the former telegraph companies were taken on and by default, were now the first female civil servants. Women were later also employed to deal with telegrams. Women were employed by the Savings Bank division from 1875. The employment was restricted to single women and widows. Although Kathleen was described as a civil service student, women were not allowed to take the examination allowing them to reach the first class rank until the 1920s, so she would have been among the first to do so.[xx]

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“Prior to the war the Post Office woman clerk formed the highest Civil Service grade open to women by competitive examination. In grade, it was analogous to that of the male second division clerk. However not only did the women’s entrance examination differ but also women’s job scope. The male clerk was recruited for use throughout the civil service; the woman clerk, with limited exceptions, was recruited only for Post Office work. Within the Post Office, the woman clerk usually performed her duties in a self-contained division under female supervision, segregated both from male co-workers and the public. Her promotion ladder reached no further than her own grade’s supervision.”[xxi]

Unlike men, female postal workers only worked day shifts. The vast majority of women were undertaking clerical works.

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Volume 6 of the 1911, edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica has this to say about the civil service of the day.

“The scale of salary for 2nd division clerks begins at £70 a year, increasing by £5 to £100; then £100 a year, increasing by £7, 10s. to £190; and then £190 a year, increasing by £10 to £250. The highest is £300 to £500. Advancement in the 2nd division to the higher ranks depends on merit, not seniority. The ordinary annual holiday of the 2nd division clerks is 14 working days for the first five years, and 21 working days afterwards. They can be allowed sick leave for six months on full pay and six months on half-pay. The subjects of their examination are: (1) handwriting and orthography, including copying MS.; (2) arithmetic; (3) English composition; (4) précis, including indexing and digest of returns; (5) book-keeping and shorthand writing; (6) geography and English history; (7) Latin; (8) French; (9) German; (10) elementary mathematics; (11) inorganic chemistry with elements of physics. Not more than four of the subjects (4) to (11) can be taken. The candidate must be between the ages of 17 and 20. A certain number of the places in the 2nd division were reserved for the candidates from the boy clerks appointed under the old system. The competition is severe, only about one out of every ten candidates being successful. Candidates are allowed a choice of departments subject to the exigencies of the services.”[xxii]

Kathleen was only fifteen in 1911, so was presumably studying in order to take these examinations when she was old enough. 1911 was also the year that the National Insurance Act was passed.  Workers and employers paid contributions in, so that workers earning under £160 a year could receive sickness and unemployment benefits. Only the employee was covered, not their family.

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In 1913, the Medical Officer of Health for Croydon reported that there was a diptheria epidemic in Upper Norwood. Diptheria was particularly prevalent amongst children and it seems unlikely that Kathleen by then aged twenty, would have been directly affected. The following year, Kathleen and her family had to adjust to life on the Home Front during the first world war. Zeppelins and twin-engined bombers flew over London and the summer of 1917, saw two major air raids on the capital. Unlike the second world war, there were no air raid shelters and the underground stations became a refuge. In 1918, Kathleen’s cousin, William Emberson, was killed on the Somme.[xxiii] William, like Kathleen, worked for the post office, having been appointed as a temporary assistant postman in 1910, at the age of seventeen.[xxiv] 1918 also saw the marriage of two of Kathleen’s cousins; May Bula Hart married William Dear[xxv] and Ella Mary Woolgar married William Bird.[xxvi]

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By 1921, Kathleen, still living at 230 Whitehorse Lane with her parents, was recorded as being an employee of the Postmaster General, working at Forest Hill. Her father was a carpenter, employed by R J Burton, a builder and timber merchant in Upper Norwood.[xxvii] On the 24th of May 1924, Kathleen’s father died of uraemia and prostatic hypertrophy, a benign enlarged prostate, at Croydon General Hospital.[xxviii]

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The Post Office records show that, on the 8th of September 1938 , Kathleen was appointed to the Savings Bank Department as a clerical assistant, first class.[xxix] As war broke out, Kathleen was recorded as living alone at 230 Whitehorse Lane. She was an assistant supervisor for London Postal Region, attached to the Catford office.[xxx] Her mother, Fannie, was staying at the Horse and Groom, in Witney, Oxfordshire, presumably to visit family members.[xxxi] Perhaps she wanted to escape the perceived dangers of the London suburbs, or maybe she was just on a short visit.

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Meanwhile, for those, like Kathleen, who remained in the area where air raids were anticipated, Anderson shelters were being issued to those with gardens, barrage balloons flew over London and the tops of pillar boxes were painted yellow with gas detecting paint. People were expected to carry gas masks, although many had abandoned this by early 1940. In the evenings, Kathleen might keep abreast of the news by listening to the Home Service, the only radio station available in early part of war. Hourly news bulletins were interspersed by recitals from Sandy Macpherson on the organ. Kathleen may have experienced the common difficulty of finding blackout material for her windows and the drawing pins with which to fix it. Going out after dark was hazardous and accidents were common. Double summertime, introduced in 1941, helped for the journey home from work but made travelling in in the morning more dangerous.  

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January 1940 had brought travelling difficulties of a different kind, with severe snow. This was followed by an unusually hot summer. By early 1940, the radio and social events were getting back to normal but rationing was coming in. On the 16th of August 1940, an attack on nearby Croydon Aerodrome heralded a period of continuous air raids. The siren sounded 381 times between then and the end of 1940.[xxxii] In April 1941, Crystal Palace North Tower was deliberately blown up, so that it wouldn’t provide a guide for Luftwaffe bombers. The south tower was taken down by demolition workers.

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On the 22nd of March 1943, Kathleen’s mother died at home, of stomach cancer and myocarditis.[xxxiii] Kathleen herself died on the 17th of January 1969 at 230 Whitehorse Lane.[xxxiv] Probate was granted in the May and her estate was valued at £626.[xxxv]

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