Today is the 100th anniversary of the Representation of the People Act, most famously giving some women the right to vote, on a number of conditions. But it wasn’t just women that benefitted from the heroism of the suffragettes and voting reform campaigners – the Act also opened up the enfranchisement of all men aged 21 and over, resulting in 5.6 million more men able to vote, alongside the newly-enfranchised 8.4 million women.
The conditions for women allowed those 30 years old and older to vote, if they were a member or else married to a member of the Local Government Register, a property owner, or a graduate voting in a University constituency. Overnight, even under these conditions, women became 43% of the electorate. Due to the loss of so many young men in the First World War, had women also been enfranchised from age 21, they would have made up the majority, which was probably a key reason for the age difference. Women eventually received the vote on the same terms as men in 1928.
I remain in awe of the bravery of the suffragettes. These were women deciding to break the law and suffer the harsh consequences in support of their cause, while societal pressures built up all around them. This small article from 1913 is a tiny glimpse into the day to day pressures of being a suffragist at this time. Dated 4th March 1913, it immediately precedes momentous events – the Cat and Mouse Act was passed in April 1913, following outcries at the brutal force feeding of imprisoned women on hunger strike. Now hunger-striking women were allowed to be released when their health deteriorated, and rearrested after they had recovered. And in June 1913, Emily Wilding Davison died a few days after being trampled by the King’s horse at the Epsom Derby, receiving hate mail in hospital as she lay unconscious.
The Westminster Tea Shop was run by the Women’s Social and Political Union (W.S.P.U.), the militant suffragette organisation led by Emmeline Pankhurst. The headline plays up the student high jinks and the “amusing scenes” that resulted, although it’s hard to see the humour in forty to fifty male students descending on two young women running a small tea shop and behaving in a threatening manner, no matter how amusing they may have thought themselves at the time. The women stood up for themselves and come across so well as to surprisingly earn a rather approving write up of their manner.
Nottingham Evening Post, 4th March 1913
UPROARIOUS STUDENTS
AMUSING SCENES IN A SUFFRAGIST TEA SHOP
A number of students made a hostile demonstration yesterday afternoon at the Westminster Tea Shop, a small café carried on under the auspices of the W.S.P.U. in Toothill Street, Westminster.
Forty or fifty in number, the students approached the café shouting and booing, and on entering the premises created a disturbance by banging walking sticks upon the tables and shouting “Do you women want the vote?” a question which they answered with an emphatic “No.” There were only two young women in charge of the tea shop at the time, but they appear to have dealt with the situation in a remarkably cool manner, one of them informing the students that they must calm themselves or they would not get the tea they asked for.
Eventually tea was served, but the students still behaved uproariously, and threatened to smash the windows. Meanwhile a message had been telephoned to the police, and the arrival of a body of about 20 police had the effect of quelling the disorder, without any damage being inflicted on the property. Before the young men left, the young lady in charge of the shop ventured to address them in a few words in support of women’s suffrage, and her remarks were punctuated with cheers and boos. A large crowd gathered round the premises.
Oh, I can’t tell you the joy I felt when I saw this book, The Universal Home Doctor, on the shelves of of one of the few charity shops in town which still sells proper vintage books.
The Universal Home Doctor, 1935
At first I thought it was a copy of a book I already own and love, the first old book I ever bought, The Universal Book of Hobbies and Handicrafts, as the colour, size and bindings are exactly the same. When I looked closer I saw the different title, although it’s still under the “Universal” heading which told me that these two books were part of a series, something I never suspected. I wonder if there were any more books in this set?
Neither book is dated but I have found out the the Hobbies book was published in 1935. The Home Doctor is variously dated as having the first edition published between 1932-36. Therefore I’m going to say that this also dated from 1935, as it would make sense for companion books to be published at the same, or nearly the same, time. Abe Books dates the Home Doctor as being from 1950, but this is very evidently untrue. It’s definitely pre-war, the references, pictures and hairstyles are unmistakeably from the 30s. And there were only two editions, this first one, and a second in 1967 which was a completely different book in many respects, having been updated and changed in appearance.
Here we have 1930s man in (nearly) all his glory.
The Universal Home Doctor, 1935
The book consists largely of an encyclopaedia-format of medical problems and it enlightened me as to what Apoplexy actually was – it’s what we now call a Stroke. In addition to the alphabetical reference system, there’s appendices which give more in depth treatment to a number of subjects. There’s a section for new mothers on how to care for babies, and another section on the subject of Beauty.
I can’t resist a vintage beauty tip so this has been my first port of call. I was surprised, however, to see plastic surgery is not only mentioned but talked about as being rather commonly practiced. The most widespread form of this was evidently face lifting. The face lift operation was first performed in 1901, but became more popular over the course of the 1920s. “The only means of contracting a skin which has become too large is to remove parts of it by surgical operation, in which the procedure, to explain simply, is very like that of a dressmaker who “takes in” a dress that is too large for a customer.”
There are direct or indirect methods, either cutting the wrinkled skin out itself, with the skin over the area healing in more stretched manner, or by removing part of the skin at the edge of the face and pulling the skin tighter from there. Always remember to get both sides done though, they “…must always be performed on both sides, to avoid the grotesque effect of one side young and the other old.”
The Universal Home Doctor, 1935
It wasn’t just face lifts – the book also mentions other “popular procedures”, including tummy tucks and breast reductions, filling collar bone hollows with fat, ears being pinned back and “little toes removed if the feet are thought too broad.” The latter was also the subject of scandalised reporting a couple of years ago, with women having so-called “stiletto surgery”, cutting off little toes for their feet to fit better in heels. It turns out it was nothing new.
I’d like to know more about the “various other “cosmetic” operations, more remarkable for ingenuity that common sense.” But you also need to be wary as legally “anyone – without any surgical training whatever – can set up as a “Beauty Specialist” and perform such operations under local anaesthesia.” This sounds like something that should definitely have been left in the past, and yet only a few weeks ago I read this, on unregulated cosmetic clinics in Australia, performing plastic surgery without any checks on their training.
Also like today, there are limitations and consequences to consider. “There are, however, two grave objections to the process of “face-lifting”. One is, that the natural expression is removed along with the superfluous skin, and the patient’s face becomes mask-like. A second, and perhaps more serious objection, is that these operations are not permanent in their effects….inevitably the time comes when the over-stretched skin takes its revenge, and the last state of the patient is worse than the first.”
I do love this line –
“It remains for the individual to choose between the necessity of “growing old gracefully” or growing old, as Mr E. F. Benson puts it, in the guise of a “grisly kitten.””
The Universal Home Doctor, 1935
Wrinkles are tricky. First and foremost to help avoid their onset you need “a healthy life and contented outlook: worry and bad temper are fatal. It is noteworthy that it is not real troubles, but petty worries and all the nagging trifles of every day that are responsible for premature wrinkling!”
It’s quite right that bad eyesight can cause premature wrinkling, I’ve been slowly getting used to new gas permeable contact lenses for the past couple of months and my creased squint lines have depressingly got much worse in a short space of time as a result. For which I can thank Boots Advanced Protect and Perfect eye cream, which has incredibly restored things right back to normal (I am not being paid for this advert).
The Universal Home Doctor, 1935
This is interesting, especially for someone who loathes high heels.
“Uncomfortable clothes are a cause of lines on the face, especially uncomfortable shoes. Women have wisely discarded two instruments of torture, the strangling collar and the squeezing corset, but they seem more reluctant about shoes. The discomfort of too narrow soles and too high heels still produces the frown of pain.”
Yes, this is still a thing. I bet this poor woman has the frown of pain alright.This reminds me of “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”, Kimmy having developed “scream lines” from being abducted and forced to live in a bunker for 15 years.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=y23dEyGaGlg
“Plucking the eyebrows seems to be losing its popularity…..brows that are no more than dark lines on the forehead seem to take away all “character” from the face.” Eyebrow fashion – whether it be plucking yourself bald like a chicken, or drawing in thick black beetling brows – remains a mystery to me still.
The Universal Home Doctor, 1935
There’s a lot of information about looking after the hair. For a start, who is doing this? “The hair should be well-brushed for five minutes night and morning, preferably in front of an open window, as air is necessary for hair health.”
Hats, in 1935, were all but compulsory. “As regards hats, the best kind for the hair would be none at all except in very brilliant sunshine; but, since one must be worn, it should be light and well-ventilated. The lining should be washed once a week.”
As the owner of an oily scalp, the advice on the frequency of hair washing baffles me. “Roughly, once a week in the town and once a fortnight in the country should be enough.” And oh, the faff of having to make your own shampoo out of melted shredded soap, glycerine and eau-de-cologne. Or olive oil, egg and lemon juice.
The Universal Home Doctor, 1935
Be careful about colouring your hair. An experienced hairdresser should bleach it for you as it “in unskilled hands may damage the hair seriously, as well as produce extraordinary effects.”
But hang on, X-rays are suggested as a means of removing superfluous hair. Seriously, X-rays? The book notes that its possible that the treatment may cause damage and changes to the skin, but hopes that “with further research, doctors may hit the happy mean and then this method of depilation will be by far the most satisfactory of the local treatments.” It’s true, it was noticed in the later part of the nineteenth century that X-rays resulted in hair loss and, before the terribly destructive effects of radiation were discovered, this was actually a method used by many women. Until 1946, that is. When the effects of radiation on the surviving inhabitants of Hiroshima and Nagasaki made it quite clear that this wasn’t something to be trifled with. Many women in the meantime had had scarring to the skin, developed cancer and even died from what was later deduced to be radiation damage from X-ray hair removal. It was even given a name – North American Hiroshima maiden syndrome. There’s a fascinating post here about it.
The Universal Home Doctor, 1935
How to deal with thin necks, fat necks, thin shoulders, fat shoulders, thin arms and fat arms.
Fat necks should be “patted sharply all over with cotton wool dipped in an astringent lotion; the cleansing lotion recommended for the skin may be used, with the addition of two tablespoons of eau-de-Cologne….home massage should not be tried or the condition will probably be rendered worse.”
The Universal Home Doctor, 1935
I’m not entirely sure how this would help, but now I’ve got the Happy Monday’s song “Fat Neck” in my head, and, thanks to my husband, the unfeasibly thick neck of George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher from the band Cannibal Corpse. All the astringent lotion in the world’s not shifting that. George said, “A friend of mine once said, ‘You don’t have a head, you’re a neck with lips.‘”
I’m always interested in the dietary advice from other ages. Here, carbohydrates are recommended as the basic foodstuff which should make up the majority of our diet. The fact it transforms quickly into sugar is a plus here, rather than the cause of the demonization of carbs now.
I’m pretty sure than no one apart from possibly Gwyneth Paltrow is keeping tabs on their daily phosphorus allowance these days. Still, interesting to see that the, sadly neglected, foodstuff treacle is a source of both calcium and iron. Maybe treacle will be the next trendy superfood?
The Universal Home Doctor, 1935
Edit: inspired by Tasker Dunham’s comment below about the other books in this series, I went digging. I found this advert from 1940, beautifully illustrating the series, or, at least, some of them. Daily Herald, 2nd January 1940.
Britain had been preparing for conflict long before the actual declaration of war on 3rd September 1939. The government had started building warships from 1938, but a lot of thought was also given to how life would best work on the home front. It was clear that this war would be all-consuming, and so things like how food would be rationed, and whether evacuations from the larger cities would be needed were all considered. Right from the start, bombardment by the Luftwaffe was considered to be a threat which could begin at any time, and the Blitz of the UK began a year after the war started, in September 1940.
What’s interesting about this advert, for a “Eugene Wave” home perm, from only a few weeks into the war, is that it references the “midnight alarms” that were anticipated, as well as women’s “war-time jobs” that were immediately called for. The Eugene Wave was marketed as a way to continue your preparations for war on a personal appearance level.
Manchester Evening News, 25th October, 1939
“Midnight alarms are apt to catch you unawares and the wan light of dawn has no mercy. The rush and fatigue of your war-time job calls for special attention to your beauty. Now is the time to treat yourself to a Eugene Permanent Wave, the really permanent wave, which keeps its charming natural “shape” under the most difficult conditions.”
Gladys Cooper (later to become Dame Gladys Cooper) was an English actress with a long career in films, TV and the theatre. She was born in 1888 and got her start on the Edwardian stage, and pre-World War One silent movies. Here she was in 1913.
Gladys Cooper, 1913
I was familiar with her in one of her later roles from 1964 – that of Mrs Higgins, Henry Higgins’ mother in “My Fair Lady”, for which she received an Oscar nomination. But I never knew she’d had such a glittering career prior to that. Or been such a raving beauty.
In My Fair Lady, 1964
In 1929 she was 41, and still described in this newspaper article in the Gloucester Citizen as “England’s Most Beautiful Actress”. She did have an angelic look to her, like an cartoon of a perfect flapper come to life.
Gladys Cooper with her children
In the article, she gives her thoughts on the subject of beauty. Her assessment is to be aware that beauty is skin deep, and that charm, personality, developing your intellectual talents and maintaining your health are more important in being an attractive person all round. Which is sensible and hard to disagree with.
She considers children one of the best ways of keeping young – well, yes, I suppose they are in that they keep you in touch with the more youthful side of life, although the lack of sleep involved isn’t great for a non-haggard appearance. I like her line saying that “I don’t see how one can get old with so much mischief and such a diversity of young interests around her.”
As a fellow 41-year-old woman, I am pleased that to see that “Time was when a woman of 35 was old. Now many women of that age are still considered girls.”
Gloucester Citizen, 5th June, 1929
Gloucester Citizen, 5th June, 1929
Gloucester Citizen, 5th June, 1929
Beauty
By Gladys Cooper
(England’s Most Beautiful Actress)
“If I were only beautiful!” is the obsessing thought of countless women. To many of them physical attractiveness would mean the consummation of all their worldly aspirations and longings.
Does physical beauty really mean as much as all that however? I think not. Beauty ought to be as asset to any woman – it is, but only under certain conditions.
To the woman who is content to rely upon physical attractiveness alone, without attempting to make herself intelligent, clever, or amusing, and too lazy to develop whatever intellectual qualities she possesses, beauty is a handicap. Middle-age will find her very sorry for herself, and in old age she will suffer complete disillusionment.
The qualities which cause the world to acclaim a woman as beautiful are elusive, and I should think that three-fourths of the beautiful women of the world are as much in spite of their physical attractions [as] because of them.
Perfect features alone do not make a woman beautiful: expression means almost everything in a face, and since expression springs from thought, it follows that perfect beauty comes from perfect thinking.
So it is that many women whose features could be “torn to pieces” by a critic, achieve great attractiveness through beauty of expression. On the other hand I know women whose features have set in a permanently petulant cast purely as a result of their unbeautiful disposition. And I know few things more unpleasant than an ugly expression on fair features.
The more beautiful a woman is, the earlier should she look to her future. By developing her intellectual self she can face without fear the time when she will be no longer physically beautiful.
For that is a time that every woman has to face – we grow old soon and our looks go.
WOMEN WHO NEVER GROW OLD
Some women, of course, never grow old, and are beautiful to the last. Such was Ellen Terry, who was as gracious a figure in her old age as in her extreme youth. It was not physical beauty, however, which made Ellen Terry a loved figure. She had not perfect features, she was not a perfect type. But she had a charm that transcended any sort of physical beauty.
Charm! That is a word that ought to mean everything to a woman, that is the secret of three-fourths of the so-called beautiful women of the world.
They may, some of them, be physically beautiful, but that is only incidental. Many of them, as a matter of fact, are not beautiful, but are women of pure and beautiful thought which finds its physical refection in beautiful reflection. And they go on being beautiful forever.
A plain woman with the quality of charm will find herself a centre of attraction where a score of so-called beauties would be almost un-noticed.
Beauty does not get one far in any walk of life, unless it has something behind it. It may help in the first instance – in the theatrical profession it certainly does. But it is a slender reed upon which to lean unless there are brains and understanding behind it.
I should not like to be thought that I disparage physical beauty. In a reasonably-minded person, it ought to be a glorious thing, and it is the duty of every woman who is beautiful to do all she can to remain so.
There are many ways which she can preserve her attractiveness. First she must preserve her health, for I do not think an ailing woman can be beautiful. “Delicate” beauty does not mean ailing beauty. By living a health life and thinking healthily, a woman may do much to preserve her freshness. These are days when women look younger than ever.
Time was when a woman of 35 was old. Now many women of that age are still considered girls.
“MAKE UP”
Present day fashions offset beauty much more effectively than the fashions of our forebears, and the athletic life of present-day youth also helps considerably. Present day “make up” too, by its naturalness, is infinitely better than the artificial fashion of former generations. No right-minded woman need fear age, and I think the most pathetic spectacle is that of the woman who, driven to desperation by the first grey hairs, tries to look young and succeeds in making herself into a freak. Middle-age can have beauty and dignity if taken complacently; it is a tragedy to the woman who gets into a panic because she detects signs of its approach.
My own view is that children are one of the best things for helping to keep a woman young. I don’t see how one can get old with so much mischief and such a diversity of young interests around her.
That may not be a popular view, but I give it as my own experience.
GOOD LOOKS – AND DUTY
A beautiful woman has a big responsibility to her home. If she cares she can make its whole atmosphere reflect her personal charm. If she is vain and empty, her good looks will avail her less than nothing, and will probably be a curse to all with whom she comes into contact.
It would be a happier world if every good-looking woman would look upon her beauty not as a personal asset about which she had reason to be proud, but something towards which she had a duty – the duty of sharing her gift with the world.
In Bossypants, Tina Fey, one of the world’s Very Good Things, wrote this about women’s impossible quest to be acceptably attractive.
“Every girl is expected to have caucasian blue eyes, full Spanish lips, a classic button nose, hairless Asian skin with a California tan, a Jamaican dance hall ass, long Swedish legs, small Japanese feet, the abs of a lesbian gym owner, the hips of a nine-year-old boy, the arms of Michelle Obama and doll tits.”
Of course, the standards of beauty change with each generation, just to ensure that women are forever playing a losing game. The porn-inspired standards of hairlessness, for example, and the adventures in eyebrowing which are current beauty tropes, have rather left me behind in a Generation X-rated befuddlement.
In 1924, these were the following rules of Spanish Female Beauty. At least, as according to The Gloucestershire Echo.
Tina Fey’s “full Spanish lips” were, ironically, not to be seen then – lips are dictated to be red, narrow and fine. The extreme hourglass figure is the one to gain approval – wide front, narrow, long waist and large hips.
I can’t imagine anything designated “large” being in the conception of female beauty right now.
The Gloucestershire Echo, 11th January 1924
SPANISH FEMALE BEAUTY
There are thirty “ifs” in the Spanish conception of female beauty:-
If Three things are white – Skin, teeth, and hands;
Three things black – Eyes, eyebrows, and eyelashes;
Some advice for wives from Mrs M. A. Dobbin Crawford who was, in 1930, the Honorary Assistant Surgeon at the Liverpool and Samaritan Hospitals for Women and the Liverpool Maternity Hospital. Full marks for her for marrying someone with “Dobbin” in their surname, and for her valuable work as a surgeon specialising in women’s health. But I’m not crazy about the marital advice.
Bath Chronicle, 27th December 1930
Advice to Wives
“Never Criticise Your Husband to Anybody”
As given to a meeting of business girls in Liverpool on Wednesday by Mrs Dobbin Crawford, a Liverpool surgeon:
Never criticise your husband to anybody, not even to your own mother.
Be sympathetic and understanding.
Nothing destroys the happiness of married life more than the lazy, slovenly wife.
Encourage your husband to keep his friends. Don’t be jealous of them.
A marriage that is childless by arrangement is generally a disappointment.
As the proud owner of a six year old boy, I’ve recently been inducted in the world of the nit. In one evening I went from never having even seen a head louse in my life, to being a rather immediate expert in them. Judging by other parents comments, and the sheer volume of head lice adverts around at the moment, there may be something of an epidemic of the little blighters around at the minute. I’m going to blame the strange, mild, wet and windy weather we’ve been having, if that has anything to do with these things. It’s also my go-to reason as to why I’ve had non-stop colds for the past three months.
It inspired me to have a quick look through the archives for advice on head lice in days gone by. I quickly found out that It Was My Fault. Apparently alongside Jerry Hall’s advice that a woman be “a maid in the living room, a cook in the kitchen and a whore in the bedroom,” a woman should also be wielding a nitty-gritty comb and a bar of foul-smelling Derbac soap in the bathroom too.
Gloucestershire Echo, 16th June 1921
Derbac is still available, fighting the good fight against those pesky lice.
Hand-shaming here in 1939 by Hinds Honey and Almond hand cream.
Daily Herald, 1st March 1939
“I try to hide my horrible hands,” says a woman whose hands are dried out from the washing and housework at home. To be fair, washing laundry by hand is absolutely brutal on the skin. It’s so bad that “No-one ever dances with me twice – I’m sure it’s my horrible hands that keep men away.”
A spot of Hinds Cream later, and she has “Honeymoon Hands”, whatever they are – does it mean hands as soft as the women who have managed to get married? Or have her new improved hands resulted in an immediate proposal?
Apparently Hinds is still a popular brand of hand cream in Mexico and Argentina, and now owned by GlaxoSmithKline. I don’t know if they still sell the Honey and Almond variety, though – analysis in 1917 by the American Medical Association showed that there was no honey in the formula at all, but that clearly hadn’t prevented them marketing it as such for at least the next 20 years.
It’s funny how this is pretty much the same basic premise as that of Fairy Liquid, which cut out the need to use hand cream (supposedly, although not actually in reality, in my experience) with their “Hands that do dishes can feel as soft as your face with mild green Fairy Liquid.” At least it didn’t go on about your horrible hands though, and it assumed the woman was already married. Hooray!
What would you imagine a Judge’s marital advice, which takes the topic of women’s emancipation into consideration, in 1925, to consist of?
Probably much the same as I imagined when I found this article and read the headline. And yet, all credit to Judge Joseph Sabath, his advice is far ahead of its time. In fact, it’s probably a bit too forward-thinking for a few judges even now.
Dundee Courier, 5th January 1925
Judge’s Advice to Wives and Husbands
The increase in divorce is viewed as a sign of progress by Judge Joseph Sabath, of Chicago, who has presided over the hearing of 10,000 divorce cases, but who refuses to grant a legal separation unless all efforts at conciliation have failed.
“The large number of divorces is rather a manifestation of progress than of retrogression,” he declares.
“It is one of the natural incidents attending the emancipation of womanhood. The wife no longer is a chattel, but a free human being, living and acting on terms of equality with her husband.
“It is natural and right that she should seek relief by dissolution when the equal partnership becomes impossible.”
Judge Sabath’s advice to husbands draws from his experience in the Divorce Courts, is as follows:-
“Make your wife a real partner, and discuss business problems with her. Give her your confidence. Avoid the interference of relatives. Supply your wife with enough money to maintain the household without skimping. Have children or adopt some. Work together, play together, and grow up together.”
His advice to wives is this:-
“Assert enough independence to make your husband notice it. Do not be afraid to soil your hands. Make your husband assume more responsibility for the home life than merely financing it.
“Never flirt even to tease your husband, he wants to be the one man in your life more than anything else, and to flirt is to stir a fire that may consume both of you.”
Beauty hints from 1914. I might try the “drying your face upwards” one, my creases could do with being smoothed out.
Rinsing your hair in cold water is still said to help promote shininess, but I haven’t heard the rainwater tip. I suppose I could go and fill a bucket from the rain butt to wash my hair but it’s a bit too much like doing a regular ice bucket challenge, especially at the time of year. Also, when my hair gets rained on it turns into a frizzball although maybe the soap would prevent that?
The Portsmouth Evening News, 14th November, 1914
Beauty Hints
It is not generally known that washing the hair in rainwater and soft soap, and rinsing in cold water, makes the hair soft and silky.
Finger nails should always be cut the last thing at night. By the morning the cut portion will have hardened, and be unlikely to break or split.
When drying the face after washing, always rub upwards towards the nose. This helps to smooth out those creases on each side below the nose, and also prevents wrinkles. The eyes should be rubbed from the side of the face towards the nose.
Natural teeth, even when filled and preserved, are much better than artificial ones. Therefore visit your dentist once or twice yearly, and let him fill up any cavity that exists, and so arrest decay. When choosing a tooth-powder avoid any that contains gritty, acid or irritating substances. These not only act injudiciously on the enamel of the teeth, but are also bad for the gums.
