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'Apart from 'picking up' a girl on the street or at a dance hall, most young men I knew had to rely on striking up a friendship with a girl at their place of work.'
Sydney Partridge, born in 1922, remembers how life was during the 1940's when working for the Post Office and living in a hostel in Earls' Court.
'The accommodation position in London (with so many houses having been destroyed or damaged by the bombing during the war) was serious, particularly for those from the provinces seeking to set up home. There was no unfurnished accommodation to let, and as with all shortages, there were 'rackets' in which some greedy type would acquire property, put in a few sticks of furniture and let it as 'furnished accommodation' at exorbitant rents.
There was comparatively little building of residential suburban houses, and a shortage of supplies of bricks, cement, seasoned timber, roof tiles, etc. Pre-war houses which had been built a few years before the war, for about £500 to £800, had risen in price to several thousand pounds, but our wages were still on pre-war scales plus a percentage addition for 'cost of living'.
To start married life in a home of one's own, (with a mortgage, of course) was not within the financial capacity of people in clerical jobs and it was necessary to climb higher up the salary scale, or to obtain promotion, before one could afford a mortgage.
In the Civil Service, at least, it was normal for a young woman to resign her position on marriage (indeed, the 'Marriage Bar' for women was still in force). If it were necessary for her to continue earning money to support their married life, it would have to be on a temporary (i.e. non-secure) basis, which was less well paid than she would have been previously.
If a young woman did stay on in a temporary capacity after her marriage, it would usually be for only a year or two until she was about to have a child. At this time she would be expected to give up her job and stay at home to look after the baby. It was then the amount of the husband's salary which determined how they would be able to live, so if he got married before he was well up the salary scale, or about to be promoted, he and his family would be in for a meagre life. For this reason, it was usual for prudent men to wait until they were in their late twenties before they got married.
The enforced absences from the UK for several years, of young men who were abroad on active service, and their coming home to find that their girlfriends or acquaintances had become married, engaged or pregnant, narrowed down the field for meeting, getting to know and courting a suitable girlfriend. Apart from 'picking up' a girl on the street or at a dance hall, most young men I knew had to rely on striking up a friendship with a girl at their place of work.
In the case of the Civil Service, this meant one knew the grade, salary and promotion prospects of any person in whom one was interested! This fact reduced the likelihood of being deceived by the pretensions of a 'line-shooter' and hopefully improved the prospects of a lasting marriage. However, there was always the financial aspect - if you rushed into marriage before the man was earning sufficient salary to support a family and provide a home, then the marriage would be in difficulties. So I decided that I would not think seriously about finding a wife until I was earning sufficient salary to afford to purchase (with mortgage), a house of our own. Until then, I continued to live rather frugally at the hostel, and spent all my holidays with my parents at Ventnor.
Most of my school friends had been killed or dispersed by the war. The girl I had been most keen on at school had served in the WRENS and after the war she got married to a man she met in the Navy and they went to live in Northern Ireland, which was his home country. My closest male friend at school had stayed on in the Navy, so we seldom met now.
I was doing well in my job, and was recommended for promotion to Executive Officer and took up that position in October 1948, within two years of resuming my civil occupation. I was posted to the Staff Branch of my Department and dealt with accommodation matters, and later with the promotion system (annual reporting on staff) for a large department of about 2,500 people.
Dealing with the forecasting of the costs and numbers of staff of all the various grades, gave me the opportunity to use my mathematical skills and, since I was reliably accurate with figures I must have 'come to notice' as someone who should be used in the more demanding work of the financial branches. So I was transferred to a finance job in 1952. This was shortly after getting married to Marjorie, who had been a Clerical Officer in the Staff Branch.'
Marjorie and Sydney went on to live in Southgate, North London, commencing life on a shoestring budget.
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