East of England Sense of Place Suffolk
Guided tours of Suffolk's past

Seven Ages of Man, and Woman, in Suffolk

Out to work

"I left school at twelve; passed the Labour Certificate. I left in the morning and I started work in the afternoon, picking fruit .

I was glad to be out earning some money. I got eighteen pence a week then. When I was sixteen and went out and got half a crown I thought I was a millionaire."

"I worked four years as a day-girl where father worked; and then I went out as cook after that on Oulton Broad. I was sixteen; half a crown a week!"

Country children did not have many options when it came to seeking a job. Girls would go 'into service' as servants. Most boys went onto the farm, maybe starting as a 'back'us boy'. (Backhouse boys worked in the kitchen as well as on the land.) Some would become apprentices with a village craftsman.

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