William Lewis Freeman

What people wore

Working-class menswear habits

Working-class men often wore their father's old suits for manual labor, leading to common sights of mismatched coats and trousers.

Getting around

Horses ruled the early 1900s streets

Before World War One, horses dominated town streets, pulling everything from carriages and taxicabs to delivery carts and buses.

At the table

Buying Meat for Home Cooking

Because many working-class homes lacked ovens, families often bought 3/4 pound of leg of beef and 1/2 pound of beef suet for meat puddings or rissoles.

Music

Concertina music at village festivals

In the early 20th century, concertinas were widely used at house dances, village festivals, and in pubs, where dancers might even perform on farm wagons. Collectors sometimes had to be stationed at doors to ensure dancers paid the musicians, as collecting fees became harder with the popularity of round dances.

Daily life

Lighting in the home was rarely electric

Most late-Victorian and Edwardian families lacked electricity and relied on gas, or in rural areas, oil lamps and homemade rushlights.

What it cost

Bread prices at the century's end

By the late 19th century, bread prices declined to just above 1 penny per pound, a staple item for a subsistence-level family.