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'It had been my parents' desire that my brother, Eric and I should both go to University and become teachers,' writes Sydney Partridge, who at the age of 2, lived with his parents on the Isle of Wight after being born in 1922 in London. He continues... 'However, I was not happy with the thought of spending my life in front of 30 or so children.
As there was no prospect of a decent 'white collar' job on the island, I decided that after getting my Matriculation I would study for the Civil Service Clerical examination in January 1939. The successful result saw me take up my post in the Accountant General's Department at Post Office Headquarters in Central London in June 1939.
So at the age of 16 I left home and started earning my own living on a salary of £85 a year. This was equivalent to about 32s/6d per week for weekly-paid clerks in 'outside' employment, who were not privileged to be numbered among the monthly-paid gentlemen of His Majesty's Civil Service!
We were expected to be 'gentlemen', not removing our jackets while at our desks, for fear of shocking the ladies of the Civil Service, and not having our shirtsleeves rolled-up, even in hot weather!
The pay would have been adequate for anyone living in London and having no expenses apart from fares to work, lunches, clothes and a small contribution (perhaps) to the parental budget. But for someone to live in 'digs' paying 25s/- per week for his bedroom plus breakfast, evening meal and weekend meals, it left no margin after train fares to work, a midday snack and the cost of laundry, shoe repairs etc.
The pay scale was by annual increments after age 18, so I had to wait 15 months before I could get my first increase to £105 a year. The maximum of the scale was £250, but it would take 12 more years to reach that level. If, before that time you were any good, you could hope to be promoted to Executive Officer and move 'sideways' (with a promotion increase of £154 a year) onto the Executive pay scale, which went up to £525 a year! At that salary one could afford a wife, a house of one's own, and a car. So it was a career with good prospects.
As a young Clerical Officer on such a low wage it was tough going. My mother was good enough to urge me always to send my shirts, etc. home to her for laundering (the cost of parcel post was much cheaper than laundry bills).
I kept my train fares down by walking the first mile or so to Clapham Junction station (from my 'digs' in Wandsworth, S.W.18) and if you got there before 7.30 a.m. you could get a 'workman's' ticket to Waterloo for two and a half pence. There was also a cheap means of getting from Waterloo to the City via 'the Drain', a tunnel railway, officially called the Waterloo-Bank Railway - not part of the London Underground system, but operated by Southern Railway. If you took a 3-month season ticket, this would cost only about 1d each way.
For mid-day snacks most people went to the cafes run by J. Lyons or ABC where you could have cheese on toast or beans on toast for 5d per slice, or 8d for two slices. If you had strong teeth you could have bread and cheese - a quarter of a crusty round loaf, a dab of butter and a hunk of cheddar cheese for a total of about 3d. Alternatively, in the City there were a few branches of 'Jacks Snack Bar' from which you could take-away half a plate-sized pie of apple or mincemeat for 3d - though that was difficult to eat genteel-like without risk of getting some of the filling down your shirt front!
After a short while of experimenting with these mid-day snacks, I decided to do without any snack at all, to save the money. As I had no tea at the morning and afternoon tea breaks (when the tea and biscuits trolley came round the desks), I went without any refreshment from 7 a.m. to the evening meal at 6 p.m. This was usually cold meat, pickles and 'bubble-and-squeak' followed by pudding and custard.
To pass the evenings and weekends (after going to work on Saturday mornings), I got books from the Public Library - 'only one book out at a time'. I read so voraciously that I once took a book back to exchange it before closing time on the same day that I'd borrowed it! to the consternation of the library staff, because that was not strictly allowed.
After having been a frequent cinema goer during my last few years at school, I went without seeing a single film for about 12 months, in order to save money. Then a particular film came up 'The Arsenal Stadium Mystery' which, as a long time supporter of the Arsenal football team; I could not abstain from seeing.
Apart from the library books, my only entertainment was walking around the City during my lunch-breaks, looking at Wren churches and other places of interest, and at weekends, walking around the Wandsworth, Putney and Battersea districts. Also I was keenly interested in athletics (particularly the mile and half-mile races) and I attended athletics meetings at the White City Stadium, for which I walked five miles each way between Wandsworth and White City.
By these economies I was able to manage on my salary and to build up a (very) little capital in the Post Office Savings Bank (in those days there were very few Building Society branches, so most working people kept their money in the P.0.S.B. or National Savings Certificates). I was determined not to have to ask my mother to send me any money, as her job was not secure or well paid, and they both had to live on her pay and his small pension.'
Sydney must have been extremely self-disciplined. I can't imagine going all day between breakfast and dinner without any food or liquid refreshment.
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