The Good Citizen at Home

Edwards, Sian

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-65157-6_5

Sian Edwards⁴

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in the History of Social Movements ((PSHSM))

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Abstract

This chapter explores the centrality of the home in discussions of good citizenry, particularly for girls. It argues that across the mid-twentieth century the sphere of the home remained central to understandings of good citizenship for girls in youth movements, but suggests that an emphasis on domesticity was strengthened following the Second World War. Significantly, this chapter also reveals through a study of the rural experience, often neglected, how rural domesticity was constructed as being different to the urban. This chapter also explores the role of youth movements in facilitating courtship for young girls and calls for a reassessment of the relationship between young girls and domesticity, suggesting that there are important factors of agency at play.

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Notes

1.
The Guider, May 1939, p. 165.
2.
E. Latham (2000), ‘The Liverpool Boys’ Association and the Liverpool Union of Youth Clubs: youth organisations and gender, 1940–70’, Journal of Contemporary History, 35, 423–437, at p. 436; C. Dyhouse, Girls Growing up in Late Victorian and Edwardian England (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981),p. 1.
3.
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4.
A. Baden-Powell and R. Baden-Powell, The Handbook for Girl Guides or How Girls can Help Build the Empire (London: The Girl Guides Association, 1993. Original Work Published 1912), p. 413.
5.
Smith suggests that the decline of the importance of Empire can be seen in the rewriting of the Guide handbook to omit many references to the British Empire following the First World War . Smith, ‘Be(ing) Prepared’, p. 52.
6.
The Guide, 25 January 1930, p. 1256.
7.
The Guide, 9 December 1933, p. 107.
8.
The Guide, 20 June 1931, p, 265.
9.
For a useful overview on the interwar scrutiny of people’s diets see Ian Gazeley, Poverty in Britain, 1900–1965 (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), pp. 72–76. There was also considerable discussion on obesity at this time, see: I. Zweiniger-Bargielowska (2005), ‘The culture of the abdomen: obesity and reducing in Britain, circa 1930–1939’, Journal of British Studies, 44, 239–273.
10.
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11.
The Guider, May 1939, p. 165.
12.
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13.
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14.
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15.
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16.
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17.
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18.
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19.
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20.
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21.
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22.
For a more general discussion of how girls were taught about motherhood in this period see: A. Davis, Modern Motherhood: women and family in England 1945–2000 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2012), Chapter 3.
23.
The Guider, March 1955, p. 83
24.
S. Spencer, Gender, Work and Education in the 1950s (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), p. 1.
25.
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26.
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27.
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28.
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29.
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30.
Claire Langhamer discusses this domestic image, whereas Laura King focuses specifically on fatherhood. C. Langhamer (2005), ‘The meanings of home in postwar Britain’, Journal of Contemporary History, 40, 341; L. King, ‘Hidden Fathers?’, p. 29.
31.
L. King, ‘Hidden Fathers?’, p. 29.
32.
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33.
The Scouter, June 1955, p. 149.
34.
The Scouter, April 1955, p. 90.
35.
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36.
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37.
The Young Farmer, March–April 1946, p. 31.
38.
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39.
Hampshire Young Farmers’ Yearbook 1958–59, D71/51/16, MERL, p. 54.
40.
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41.
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43.
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44.
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45.
The Young Farmer, March–April 1949, p. 72
46.
The Young Farmer, March–April 1946, p. 28.
47.
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48.
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49.
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50.
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51.
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52.
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53.
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54.
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55.
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56.
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57.
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58.
S. Whatmore, Farming Women: gender, work and family enterprise (London: Macmillan, 1991), p. 3.
59.
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60.
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61.
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62.
Farmer and Stockbreeder, 30 January 1933, p. 249.
63.
Finch and Summerfield, ‘Social reconstruction’, p. 7. This is an argument made by Margaret Lane in her work on working-class marriage. See: M. Lane (2014), ‘“Not the Boss of One Another”: a reinterpretation of working-class marriage in England 1900 to 1970’, Cultural and Social History, 11, 441–458.
64.
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65.
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66.
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67.
The Young Farmer, May–June 1944, p. 47.
68.
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69.
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70.
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71.
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72.
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73.
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74.
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75.
The Guider, August 1960, pp. 239–240.
76.
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77.
The Guider, May 1944, p. 77.
78.
The Guide, 27 March 1941, p. 119.
79.
The Guider, July 1944, p. 101.
80.
The Guider, August 1959, p. 211.
81.
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82.
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83.
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84.
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85.
J. Gledhill, (2013), ‘White Heat, Guide Blue: The Girl Guide Movement in the 1960s’, Contemporary History, 27, pp. 65–84, at p. 76.
86.
The Guider, August 1950, p. 168.
87.
Ministry of Agriculture, File Report 2093, ‘Report on a Somerset Village’, 11/05/1944, p. 55.
88.
The Guider, August 1960, pp. 239–240.
89.
The Guide, 9 August 1946, p. 311.
90.
The Guide, 26 February 1954–14 May 1954.
91.
The Guide, 26 February 1954, p. 107.
92.
The Guide, 26 March 1954, p. 159.
93.
Hampshire Young Farmers’ Yearbook 1958–59, D71/51/16, MERL, p. 54.
94.
The Young Farmer, December 1935, p. 163.
95.
East Sussex Federation Year Book 1960, D71/51/18, MERL, p. 31
96.
East Sussex Federation Year Book 1960, D71/51/18, MERL, p. 31.
97.
The Guider, May 1944, p. 77.
98.
The Guider, August 1960, pp. 239–240.
99.
The Guider, May 1944, p. 77.
100.
The Guider, July 1944, p. 101.
101.
See M. Collins, Modern Love: An intimate history of men and women in twentieth-century Britain. (London: Atlantic Books, 2003), Chapter 3.
102.
The Guider, July 1955, p. 213.
103.
Lancashire County Yearbook 1953, D71/51/13, MERL, p. 47.
104.
Hampshire Young Farmers’ Yearbook 1958–59, MERL, D71/51/16, p. 55.
105.
Farmer and Stockbreeder, March 11–12 1952, p. 97.
106.
P. Jephcott, Rising Twenty: notes on some ordinary girls (London: Faber & Faber, 1948), p. 66.
107.
The Guider, July 1955, p. 213.
108.
The Guider, July 1955, p. 213.
109.
The Guider, August 1960, pp. 239–240.
110.
Guide Log Book, 7th Dunstable Company, 28 April 1958, GGA, London, ST2/S4/BZ.
111.
The Guider, April 1959, p. 108.
112.
Judy Giles, ‘A home of one’s own’, p. 240.
113.
Farmer and Stockbreeder, 3–4 May 1955, p. 13.
114.
The Young Farmer, May–June 1955, p. 217.
115.
The Young Farmer, May–June 1955, p. 217.
116.
Nottinghamshire Federation Yearbook 1956, D71/51/8, MERL, p. 63.

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Department of History, University of Winchester, Winchester, UK
Sian Edwards

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Edwards, S. (2018). The Good Citizen at Home. In: Youth Movements, Citizenship and the English Countryside. Palgrave Studies in the History of Social Movements. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65157-6_5

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65157-6_5
Published: 29 November 2017
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-65156-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-65157-6
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