UK House & Home

These adverts are from after WW2 through to the early 1950s.  This is one of my favourite sections, I think that it gives me a warm, comfortable feeling. Stop! A reality check is needed and a social comment to place things into context.

With the outbreak of war the roll out of electricity supply to the older Victorian/Edwardian houses of inner city and town was stopped. It was resumed after the war, but many homes were not connected until the late ’40s with town gas continuing to be the source of light (and cooking) perhaps only downstairs, upstairs being lit by candle and oil lamps. Many of the houses (esp the smaller terraced) did not have bathrooms and indoor toilets until the late 1960’s/early ’70s when Local Authority grants became available. Some isolated rural communities and homes did not have mains water until the late 1960s.

With the exception of those for Reckitts and Horlicks all of these ads come from what was known as the glossy mags such as Country Life and the adverts reflect a comparatively narrow readership drawn from mainly the middle classes.

Reckitts Blue - Homepride 1946. One in a series. The poem, the first verse in particular is all that I mean about that warm comfortable feeling!!	Reckitts Blue - Autumnal 1946. One in a series.
Reckitts Blue - Home Sweet Home 1946. One of a series.	Marley thermoplastic floor tiles 1951
De La Rue gas cooker 1951	English Electric refrigerator 1951
The Finch Organisation - bathroom 1951	The Finch Organisation - kitchen 1951
Walpamur paints - rural scene 1952	Walpamur paints - suburbia scene 1952
Horlicks 1951 Another great ad with image and wording that gives the home as the place to withdraw to from the rest of the world.