History Notes - rules for shop assistants 1854
History Notes
Our first markets for 2024 are safely over. There were a good number of stalls selling interesting items and a number of people going home with a wide assortment of goods, particularly plants. The next markets are after Easter and just before Mother's Day when the weather should be cooler.
The town clock puzzle has been solved - the official opening was at Remembrance Day in 1924 so we have a while to plan for the day. There is a photo showing a huge crowd gathered around the clock and effectively blocking all four street entrances - something we may find difficult to re-enact!!
As promised here are the rules for shop assistants in 1854
The store must be opened promptly at 6 a.m. and remain open until 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday the year around.
The store must be a swept, counters, base shelves and show cases dusted; lamps trimmed, filled and chimneys cleaned, and pens made; doors and windows opened; a pail of water and a scuttle of coal must be brought in by each clerk, before breakfast if there is time to do so, and attend to customers who call. Stores must not be opened on the Sabbath day unless absolutely necessary and then only for a few brief minutes. Any employee who is in the habit of smoking Spanish cigars, getting shaved at a barber's shop, going to dances and other such places of amusement, will most surely give his employer reason to be suspicious of his integrity and all-round honesty. Each employee must pay not less than one guinea per year to the church and must attend Sunday School every Sunday. Men employees are given one evening a week for courting purposes, and two if they go to prayer meeting regularly. After 14 hours of work in the store the leisure time must be spent in reading good literature.
Well there it is - perhaps we are glad to live in the 21st century where we work shorter hours and are ad lib to decide if we play sport, mow the lawn or decide to do any one of hundreds of other hobbies - even research a bit of local history!
The sorting and filing continues at the Museum and I have actually finished one family that was dumped into a folder with two others - it covers a large number of people through about 5 generations. The original husband lost his wife in mid-life and was apparently so upset that he went back to his home, burnt it to the ground and left the district: - eight children were left to fend for themselves with no home to live in while mourning their mother.