Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
This study is available via the UK Data Service QualiBank, an online tool for browsing, searching and citing the content of selected qualitative data collections held at the UK Data Service. This qualitative data collection comprises 453 life-story interviews originally collected as part of the study The Edwardians: Family Life and Work Experience Before 1918. The interviews were undertaken in the late 1960s and early 1970s and formed the basis of the first national oral history project in the United Kingdom. Paul Thompson first became aware of the need for a project of this kind in the late 1960s while in the process of writing a book about the social history of Britain between 1900 and 1918. He recognised that there existed little direct evidence of life during this period from a working class point of view, that such material would be valuable, and that it must be gathered immediately while there were still people alive who were able to provide testimony of this kind. His objective was to examine social life and social change during this period, focusing upon work experience and family and community life. The project resulted in a number of publications, including Thompson's The Edwardians: The Remaking of British Society, which was published in 1975 and again in revised form in 1992. In his introduction, he detailed three basic aims for the book: The first was 'to establish what I believe to be the most important dimensions of social change in the early twentieth century' (1992: xv). In doing so, he concentrated upon specific issues which he considered to be fundamental to social structure, notably class, gender and age, while also exploring other issues such as work experience, education and leisure. His second intention was 'to suggest the main reasons for social change, and especially the extent to which conscious effort by Edwardians for social change was critical' (1992: xvi). Finally, he aimed 'to give a place, in this evaluation of general social change, to the contribution and experience of ordinary individuals' (1992: xvi). The experiences gained from the project also contribute greatly to Paul Thompson's 'The Voice of the Past' (1978, second edition 1988). A total of 537 interviews were recorded on reel-to-reel audio tape and 453 later transcribed as typed, paper documents. The interviews were open-ended (guided by a schedule) and of between one and six hours duration. A related project, Systematic Analysis of Life Histories, is also included. The aim of this project was to prepare the qualitative interviews for numerical coding shortly after completion. Additionally, this quantitative component of the collection has been enhanced. A selection of the original variables was cross-referenced for verification. The data set was then expanded to include a set of additional variables on occupation and location as well as textual summaries of the interview transcripts. The original sound recordings are deposited at the British Library National Sound Archive.
Main Topics:
The interview schedule covered: domestic routine, including the roles of husbands and children; meals; the upbringing of children; emotional relationships and values in the family; leisure; religion; politics; school; courtship and marriage; the wider family; relationships with neighbours and perception of the community structure; experience of work and occupational history of the whole family.
Quota sample derived from the occupational census of 1911, clustered and stratified by region and social class
Face-to-face interview
Compilation or synthesis of existing material
