SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

http://www.retronaut.co/2012/08/montagu ... e-1934/The second half of the catalogue is a look at the Leeds factories at the time.

What a fabulous item of real nostalgia. I particularly like the list of radio stations with wavelengths - we appear to be "North regional." As a child, when admiring the huge valve radios of the time, I was always astounded by the fascinating foreign names on the dials - in reality most of those stations were just a dream, and you were lucky to get the BBC with yards of aerial - and earth - wire

That's fascinating simong. Great suits. Fun to see the use of 'guinea' (21 shillings, being £1.05p in the new fangled decimal money!). The Radio Chart is interesting. Radio Luxembourg must have gone to 208 metres at a later stage as I used to listen to Radio Luxembourg 208 in the 1950s. Edit moments after posting. Blakey beat me to it about the radio stations!

The 5 guinea double breasted suit is described as ideal for university students, how times have changed!!

Up to the age of fifteen I lived in the Comptons, not the "little" Comptons but the ones on Hudson Road, I could see where it joined Compton Road from our front window. Burton's was the biggest clothing firm in the world in those days and I can still recall the thousands of "young lasses", together with the odd bloke making their way down our street on their way to, or coming from, the factory at dinner or home time. My mother worked there after leaving school, as did my grandfather who was a house-painter and actually decorated Sir Montague's house at either Wetherby or Harrogate, I can't remember which. I can still picture in my minds-eye the dozens of busses carrying workers coming up and down Hudson Road from exotic outlying places such as Kippax, Ledston Luck or even Micklefield to name but a few! In those far off days virtually every home in Leeds had someone who worked at Burton's and as far as I know the working conditions were second to none. Dental care, opticians, physios were all in the precincts of the factory together with sporting opportunities, football, rugby and boxing and a thriving amateur dramatics society. I found the catalogue pictures excellent, though I don't recall seeing anyone in a demob suit quite as smart as that. Happy days and thanks for the memories

simong wrote: http://www.retronaut.co/2012/08/montagu ... e-1934/The second half of the catalogue is a look at the Leeds factories at the time. Fascinating stuff indeed of a once mighty Leeds outfit(no pun intended)......I was interested by the large overcoats for men being made in sizes 32-40" chest........think the general population was quite a bit smaller in measurement back then ! Great piece though............suits you sir !

Some cracking links on that site.Tips for single women - 1938 makes interesting reading.Don't know what the single ladies of todaywould make of it though!

dogduke wrote: Some cracking links on that site.Tips for single women - 1938 makes interesting reading.Don't know what the single ladies of todaywould make of it though! Yes,still applies today about not drinking too much for fear of it making you look "silly" ! Hilarious.I liked the Hollywood audition for black cats ! Tres amusant.Sorry to drift off topic,couldn't help it.

dogduke wrote: Some cracking links on that site.Tips for single women - 1938 makes interesting reading.Don't know what the single ladies of todaywould make of it though! I could tell you....lol. Brilliant, nostalgic reading. My mam was a tailoress at Price's.

Johnny39 wrote: Up to the age of fifteen I lived in the Comptons, not the "little" Comptons but the ones on Hudson Road, I could see where it joined Compton Road from our front window. Burton's was the biggest clothing firm in the world in those days and I can still recall the thousands of "young lasses", together with the odd bloke making their way down our street on their way to, or coming from, the factory at dinner or home time. My mother worked there after leaving school, as did my grandfather who was a house-painter and actually decorated Sir Montague's house at either Wetherby or Harrogate, I can't remember which. I can still picture in my minds-eye the dozens of busses carrying workers coming up and down Hudson Road from exotic outlying places such as Kippax, Ledston Luck or even Micklefield to name but a few! In those far off days virtually every home in Leeds had someone who worked at Burton's and as far as I know the working conditions were second to none. Dental care, opticians, physios were all in the precincts of the factory together with sporting opportunities, football, rugby and boxing and a thriving amateur dramatics society. I found the catalogue pictures excellent, though I don't recall seeing anyone in a demob suit quite as smart as that. Happy days and thanks for the memories I have very similar memories of growing up in the Comptons Johnny.We lived in Compton Avenue and not so close to Hudson Rd. My mother and her two sisters worked at Burtons Factory . She started as a machinist straight from school but then the war intervened and she joined the WAAF. Later when I was a kid she worked in the welfare office of the factory and my aunts were both secretaries. My aunts took advantage of the sports facilities playing tennis & badminton. I remember visiting the factory on a number of occasions for the children's xmas party, sports days and whist drives ( where I used to help giving out score cards) . We also went on Burtons annual outings to London & Liverpool and trips to the theatre & pantomine. I also stood on the corner of Compton Rd and Hudson road when the Queen visited the factory ( abt 1957/58 ).My overriding memory was the scale of the machine rooms and the hordes of workers, mainly lasses as you say, pouring in and out of the entrance at the start and end of the working day, and the sound of the factory hooter. Everything about Burtons was on large scale and I remember the London trip involved 2 chartered trains. Here are a couple more links for anyone interested in the history of Burtons in Leeds http://www.movinghere.org.uk/galleries/ ... 388460.stm