Commercial laundries in the early 20th century

QFollowing discussion at the online Family Tree 1921 Census Conference, January 2022, the question was raised about commercial laundries in the early 20th century. We asked Adèle Emm to share her trade history expertise and insights.

AWith 83% female employees, laundry-work came in at number 11 in the top women’s occupations of 1921. It was amongst the few occupations where women could be promoted to forewoman or manageress and where women could still work after marriage. Jobs were advertised on the front page of local newspapers and, like textile mills, family members often worked for the same employer.

STEAM LAUNDRIES

From the late 19th century, modern laundries advertised themselves as ‘steam laundries’ and were a far cry from desperate widows slaving in a washhouse for neighbours’ pennies. Centred in large conurbations, university towns, cities and transitory areas like ports, steam laundries employed large numbers of people operating mechanised up-to-date equipment washing laundry for local families short of time and facilities, plus larger concerns; schools, colleges, hotels, pubs, lodging houses and factories. Highly organised, they catered for the one-bag-wash to industrial amounts of bedding, tablecloths, napkins, delicate blouses, shirts and dresses etc.

CASE STUDY: THE EMPLOYER & LAUNDRY EMPLOYEES

An early resident of my South Manchester road, Samuel Henry Brittain, owned and managed Monarch Laundry, Stockport Road, Levenshulme. Findmypast’s 1921 Census advanced search suggests others employed at the same organisation and one employee helpfully added ‘Lloyd Road’ thus precisely pinpointing Monarch. Since demolished (a Macdonalds and KFC are on-site today) scroll to the bottom of www.levyboy.com/stockport_ road_the_shops.htm to find a 1959 photo. Imagine Brittain’s delight in 1917 when biscuit manufacturer Mcvitie & Price built their new factory opposite his laundry. More custom?

Brittain’s home and business life was markedly different to his employees. Both he and his wife had degrees (Queen’s, Belfast). They employed a live-in servant in their 7-roomed house and their son was educated privately at Wrekin College. On census day 1921, Brittain’s wife and father were holidaying in up-market Harrogate.

HOURS, WAGES & SKILLS REQUIRED

His employees were from a lower social class; large families occupied two-up two-down terraced houses; a widow and spinster might share two rooms.

From 1919, laundry employees worked a 48-hour week and, to entice women back into laundry work and avoid the ‘sweated labour’ connotation, the Board of Trade set minimum wages. A girl under 15 earned 11 shillings for her 48-hour week. Although wages fluctuated in the economic uncertainty of the 1920s, women over 21 earned a minimum of 28 shillings. They were paid for overtime.

Men, as always, (the Equal Pay Act is as recent as 1970) were paid at least a third more. The majority worked as van drivers or carmen collecting and delivering laundry. They required a certain level of numeracy (for taking money and returning the correct change), tact (to deal with complaints) and literacy (clean laundry must be dropped at the correct address.)

Washing was generally collected by van on Monday or Tuesday and returned to owners towards the end of the week. Alternatively, customers could drop laundry at a collection point (eg high street agent) where clothing was marked, inspected for stains, sorted and priced for the correct laundry process. Owners collected from here or had it delivered at extra charge to their home.

THE RANGE OF LAUNDRY SERVICES

There were several services. The cheapest, a bag-wash, was stuffed willy nilly into a specific sized laundry bag and washed all together. A 1920s customer paid around 6 pence (6d) per bag. For a semi-finished service, articles were separated, washed accordingly, machine ironed or folded for 2 shillings to 2/6 per dozen or 4d a lb or 3d a lb, plus ½d per article. Fully-finished was men’s shirts, women’s blouses, dresses etc where each item was assigned a separate price. The laundry treated spots and blemishes, made repairs, bleached, starched and ironed as required. Until fashion changed, hard, changeable men’s shirt collars were a huge part of any laundry operation and ancestors might be enumerated as collar curlers or pressers.

Undertaken by men, the laundries’ most physical task was operating huge, cylindrical washing machines; a cycle generally took an hour. Imagine the weight of unloaded dripping-wet blankets, sheets, table cloths and overalls from the machine.

The beginning of each week was the most labour intensive. Before washing, sorters and packers – generally women – checked articles, marked each item, sorted clothes for correct washing; colours, fabric (different procedures for eg wool, linen, silk, cotton, collars) and reported prior damage so the laundry wasn’t blamed. These women were the most respected in a laundry and called ‘Miss’ plus surname rather than just first name. At the end of the week, she packed clean laundry ensuring the correct pair of drawers, dress or sheets went to the rightful owner.

Working in a hot, humid atmosphere, female ironers, calenders and pressers stood for hours each day. The most skilled task was ironing. Pleats, shoulders, sleeves, cuffs and collars all received different attention. By 1921 Hotpoint advertised electric irons as ‘the iron which will eventually be installed in every up-to-date laundry.’

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

A popular job was working the calendering machine. A large roller pressed and smoothed blankets, sheets and table cloths etc and required four women, two at each end sweeping cloth through the machine several times, halving, folding and setting aside for packing. Working as a team, they chatted and gossiped. The press was less popular. This steam-driven machine (similar to those in a modern day drycleaners) was worked by one woman alone.

I grew up in the centre of West London’s laundry universe, Acton. Nicknamed ‘soapsud island’, its main rivals were Harlesden, Willesden and Kensington. Apparently Acton had a rough reputation – my parents never let me venture down that part of town…

LINKS & LEADS

Members of the Federation of Launderers are listed in the 1921 Handbook at https://archive.org/details/handbookfor192100nati where you will find illustrations of machinery your ancestors may have operated. Grace’s Guide includes laundry-machine manufacturers https://gracesguide.co.uk. Watch a 1937 video of laundry operations at Caefelin Laundry, Llangollen, Wales, at https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-caefelin-laundry-llangollen1937-online and be grateful for your washing machine and drier.