Description
Object description
British civilian couple in England and Wales 1920s-1950s. Husband: Political and trade union activities, London 1923-1951: employed as waiter, Euston Railway Hotel 1923-1934, then as rivetter, Handley Page Aircraft Constructors, London 1938-1945; member of North Kensington Constituency Labour Party 1938-1951. Wife: Upbringing in mining family involved in Ramsay Macdonald's election campaigns, Aberavon, Wales 1920s-1930s; employed at Euston Railway Hotel, London 1924-1938. Activities in General Election 1945
Content description
R1 Percy Rogers [husband]: family background, upbringing and education, Euston, London, 1909-1923: trade unionism of family; stories illustrating living conditions in Euston, 1909-1923. Recollections of attitudes and political activities as pageboy, then waiter, Euston Railway Hotel, ca 1923-1938: pay conditions; personal reactions to hotel customers; significance of workers' strike, Euston Railway Hotel, ca 1926; organising union for waiting staff, Hanway Street, 1926-1930; failure of union, 1930; system of payment for waiting staff; meeting future wife; reactions to Jarrow hunger marchers and blacklegging students on railways, Euston, 1926; impressions of Oswald Mosley, 1933. R2 Recollections of political attitudes and activities during employment as heavy rivetter, Handley Page Aircraft Constructors, London, 1938-1945: impact of war on work; attitudes towards Chamberlain, 1938; recruitment to Home Guard, Wormwood Scrubs, 1940; employment of wife, Sunbeam Talbot Ltd, Wormwood Scrubs, ca 1940; activities of Sheetmetalworkers Union, Handley Page, 1938-1945; reactions to nature and conditions of work; recruitment to North Kensington CLP, 1938; personal reactions to CP; question of political consciousness among colleagues, 1939-1945. Aspects of experiences in anti aircraft battery and on fire watch, North West London, ca 1940-1945: reactions to air attacks; R3 Continues: questions of class consciousness, social change and shelter life, North Kensington, ca 1940-1945. Question of political activities in General Election, 7/1945. Opinion of change in public political allegiences, GB, 1945-1951. R3 Continues with recollections of Lily Rogers: [wife]. Family background, Glamorganshire, 1907-1922: industrial action of father and other miners,Aberavon, ca 1920s; political activities of father as Vice Chairman, Aberavon Divisional LP, ca 1920s. Aspects of employment as still-room worker, Euston Railway Hotel, London, ca 1924-1938; background to move to London, 1924; R4 Lily Rogers continues: meeting husband; question of involvement in caterers' union. Recollections of election campaign for Macdonald, Aberavon, 1922-1924: celebrating election of Macdonald as Prime Minister, 1924; father's friendship with Macdonald; campaign for Macdonald as LP leader, Aberavon, 1922-1923. Comparison of popular political awareness in Glamorgan and London, 1920s-1930s. Reactions to General Election results, Trafalgar Square, London, 1945. Question of personal political activity, General Election, 1945. Aspects of settlement and employment of family and other Welsh immigrants, London, ca 1940s.