Interesting Stories and Notes

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 'A Life of Lily' 

CHAPTER 8

My Courting Days

I remember that before I went with my husband I was seeing a boy‑friend and he came round to take me to Battersea Town hall dancing (I couldn't dance, I wasn't allowed to by my parents.)  I borrowed a Hobnail dress and off I went. The attendant took my coat and the penny I paid to put it in the cloakroom. I wasn't there long.  I went and got my coat back and went home.  The next night he came round and I said, "Where did you go?"  He said he had taken another girl home.

I soon gave him the elbow and told him I didn't want to see him any more. As he was leaving he asked if he could get out if he walked to the bottom of our turning.  He did not know it was a cul‑de‑sac so I said, "yes." Eventually he came back and told me he couldn't get out, so I said, "That will learn you a lesson," and that got rid of him.  

When I was about sixteen and a half to seventeen years, I went to the Fair ground in Falcon Road and I was having a ride on the chair‑back, which used to swing high and low, very fast, at two penny a ride.  When the chair stopped I felt giddy, and the young lad sitting behind me spoke to me. I can say it was love at first sight for both of us.  So he arranged to see me again.

Bill was an apprentice learning French polishing, and spraying.  He had to go to the Polytechnic in Battersea Park Road three evenings a week; I met him in between times.

When we first started courting we did not have much money.  I do not think I was always in work. As we got a bit older and had a little more in wages, we used to go to the pictures. One was called "The Shakespeare" and cost four pence each, up in the Gods, sitting on a wooden plank and getting kicked up the bum by the people behind us.   Another was "The Grand" where we saw Sweeny Todd the Barber.  There was also "The Picture Palace" and  "The Imperial," where we paid nine pence each.  We also went to "Chelsea Palace" to see Wrestling; it used to be very funny; many a time they used to put a bucket on one of the fighters head, and we would all call out, "ride him cowboy."

My treat when we went to the pictures was a four penny walnut cream whip if Bill was flush, or if not, a quarter of 'stick jaw', two pence a quarter, or two gob stoppers ‑ lasted all night at a penny each.   Sometimes he would polish a table and get a florin (two shillings) and then we both would have a slap-up feed, pie and mash, cost three pence each, or stewed eels and mash (lovely).  

I always used to tell Bill that he courted my family, because he enjoyed playing games.  We had a dartboard hanging on the kitchen door and we all used to play.  It had a ring of holes all round it ‑ thousands of them, due to years of the family missing the board altogether. It was great fun.  Also we all played cards for money. Only the winner was allowed to keep two pence ‑ the rest used to get their money back.  We sat up late at night, and then Bill would have to run home as he had to be in at ten ‑ it was always a quick goodnight kiss, a cuddle ‑ the Church Bells used to ring, so we all knew what the time was.

While I was in service at Hampton Court, Bill and I both decided to get engaged.  He bought me a ring with five diamonds, or should I say diamond chips, for five pounds. After he put the ring on my finger he gave me a big hug and a kiss.  As we came out of the jewellers, he said, "Lil, I'm glad you picked that one."  So, I said, "Why?"   "Because the five stones means to me 'I Will Love You Always'. I replied the same words to him.  He also gave me six teaspoons as a gift.

I courted my Bill for 7 years before we got married.

We went to a lot of places on our tandem.  When my Bill's sister was ill in Colchester we cycled all the way on a Sunday.  As we got to King Cross, going through the market, the bike skidded and I went down like a sack of coal.  People helped me up though I was not hurt and we carried on to Colchester.  We spent some time with my future sister‑in‑law and then had to return home.

As we got near Whitechapel we bought a thick chunk of pineapple and sat on the tandem eating it.   Lots of people were sitting out so I asked them why they were not in bed. One old man said "Can't go to sleep, Misses, because of the bugs." 

As we made our last effort homewards, Big Ben struck twelve o'clock.  What a boom.   I saw it all lit up for the first time in my life and it frightened me to death. Anyway, we got home tired out but safe.  But did my legs ache.  I can't remember going to sleep.

My Bill was a very good swimmer and one day he entered for a swimming Gala against another team.  We made our way to Hammersmith swimming baths and while Bill went to change I followed a smart young man in and sat chatting with him near the front.  Half way through the attendant came and asked to see the tickets.  "Get up the back in the Gallery where you should have been ."  He said he thought I was the young man's sweetheart! Good job I had to move because in the second half his girl friend turned up.  Bill said he wondered how I was seated like a Lady near the front.  We had a good laugh after it was all over.  Bill had to swim six lengths.  He won the race and received a medal and an alarm clock (which never worked).

All the family used to watch Chelsea play football. We would make our way over Battersea Bridge and join the mob on their way to see Chelsea play. They had a lot of good players then and always a good crowd. If Chelsea scored a goal we would all cheer our heads off.  Sometimes we would shout, "Foul Ref."

Sometimes we would be late for a game and then about 24 of us would hire a lorry, which would take us all for two shilling, or about 1/2 pennyworth each. We couldn't do it regularly because of the expense.  Everybody stood up in the lorry, packed in like sardines, singing happily, not caring if we got there in time. I can remember when they were playing Arsenal, and I was carrying my first child, a kind policeman took me down to the front out of the crush. I didn't go after I had my first but I thoroughly enjoyed the matches that I saw.  Great fun.

Bill's Dad died when my Bill was only eleven years old.  He died of cancer of the bowel whilst in St. Thomas's Hospital and was buried at Wandsworth Cemetery. He was a sailor and then stonemason.

Bill's mother, Edith (peacock) Burgar, was left with 5 children to bring up by herself.  The youngest, Winnie, never knew her father.  Bill's Mum lived in Battersea, was a very hard‑working mother, and worked in a laundry from eight in the morning till seven at night.  The first thing she used to do after work, when I knew her in my courting days, was to take off her stiff corset. 

She used to go out late on Saturday and buy a hank of bananas for six pence and pay one shilling for a weekend joint.  There were no fridges then.  The first time I went round to tea on a Sunday I didn't eat much because they had marge on their bread (we had butter at home) so I told her I didn't eat much. After that the poor old dear used to get 1/4 lb of butter for me.  Well I courted my Bill for seven years before we got married, since we had to save hard.  His mother wasn't very pleased at first but she soon came round to see us and we always made her welcome, and everything was okay!  She always used to like her pint of roasted peanuts, which was her only treat, although she sometimes on a Sunday went to the pictures now and again. 

She was poor, but what she did have she would share with everybody.  A good mother‑in‑law, we never had any arguments.  She had three sons and two daughters ‑ bless her.  Horace died when he was about thirteen years old; he was a nice boy and a good swimmer.  He died falling off a school wall.

When I used to visit my future mother‑in‑law she would often be decorating.  About every three months she would paper a room, each being done in turn, flower patterns only, plenty of wrinkles, but at least it looked cleaner. At that time wallpaper was tuppence halfpenny a roll and the paste was made out of flour and water. She would use a broom and a stick and push the paper up the wall and then brush it smooth, or nearly smooth.

She lived for many years with her two daughters until her death in 1966 at the age of 73. She is buried in Putney Vale Cemetery.

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