Prince Maurice of Teck

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

Pianos as status symbols in 1916

In 1916, a single gramophone cost as much as 200 music hall tickets, making it a luxury item, yet families often saved for years to purchase a piano as a symbol of respectability. By 1914, there were three million pianos in Britain, and in 1916 alone, 40,000 were sold.

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

Rising food costs for families in 1915

A standard family's weekly supply of food, which cost 19s 8d in July 1914, rose to 24s 5½d by March 1915 due to wartime price inflation.