Figure 1.-- Here we have an unidentified English family in their back garden, obvuiusly a middle-class fmily. We see a small, but tidy back garden (the Britih term for back yard). Mother has haulded out a blanket for the boys to sit on. That is something that would be unlikely in America on a well-manacured lawn. This looks to be grandfather's home with two adult daughters, thus an extended family. In fact both men might be grandfathers, here we can only guess. Notice one of the men wears a tie and suit for a backyard event. The two boys are dressed idntically in long-sleeve white shirts, short pants, and long school socks. A concession to summer seems to be white, perhaps canvas shoes (plimsols). They look to be bout 11-13 years old. We would guess they went to the same private school, presumavly a prep school. The snapshot is undated, but looks like the late-1920s or early-30s to us.

Here we have an unidentified English family in their back garden,during the summer. They are obviously a middle-class family. We see a small, but tidy back garden (the Britih term for back yard). Mother has haulded out a blanket for the boys to sit on. That is something that would be unlikely in America on a well-manacured lawn. This looks to be grandfather's home with two adult daughters, thus an extended family. In fact both men might be grandfathers, here we can only guess. Notice one of the men wears a tie and suit for a backyard event. The two boys are dressed idntically in long-sleeve white shirts, short pants, and long school socks. A concession to summer seems to be white, perhaps canvas shoes (plimsols). They look to be bout 11-13 years old. We would guess they went to the same private school, presumavly a prep school. The snapshot is undated, but looks like the late-1920s or early-30s to us. The boys don't look very happy to us which is a little unusual in family snapshots. Beyond the social and family insights here, we have a very important historical strategic insight. English families, both working-class and middle-class families tended to live in single-family dwealings. This meant cities which spread out horizontally with relatively low population densities. This contrasted with Germany where multi-story apartment buildings were much more common meaning cities with far greater population density. This would be an important factor in the coming world war. Families like this built Anderson bombshelters in their back gardens

Created: 4:14 PM 2/21/2018
Last updated: 4:14 PM 2/21/2018