Published in Windlesora 17 (1999)
© WLHG
I grew up in Eton Wick during the 1920s and 30s. Like the other lads in the village I had to walk through the College every day to Eton Porny School in the middle of the High Street. All the boys between the ages of seven and fourteen went to Eton Porny School unless they had qualified for the Slough Grammar School or the Eton College Choir School. Most of us walked the distance of a little over one mile, three times a day. There were no school meals and we were given the one penny bus fare to get us home for dinner. We walked back and, of course, home again at 4 o’clock.
There were many large families with six or more children. There were eight in ours. It seemed perfectly natural that the girls should be sent into service at the College when they left school at fourteen. They were required to live in. I had three older sisters and an unmarried aunt who provided living space for myself and four younger brothers by working in the College.
Their conditions would seem intolerable by today’s measure but were certainly not unusual terms of employment at that time. In 1927 my older sister went into service at the age of fourteen. Her days started at 6 a.m. and ended at 9.30 p.m.. There was no full day off during the school term, but once a week she was off duty between 2.30 and 10 p.m. by which time she had to be in the house again. She was also off duty on alternate Sundays between 2.30 and 10 p.m. The salary was £18 a year. She was required to provide her own uniform of black frock with white collar and cuffs, black stockings and shoes, and a white cap. When out of the College houses, servants were always obliged to wear stockings and, if walking beyond the point known as the Burning Bush, to wear a hat. Servants were not permitted to acknowledge in the street the boys who they daily waited upon at table.
The living space was not the only benefit we derived from sisters living in at the College. We never wanted for cricket bats, pads, gloves, balls and even the occasional rugby ball. We also had elastic propelled planes, books in abundance and foreign stamps; these were all thrown away by the College boys, as were their coloured house caps and other garments. Most local lads derived benefits in these forms, and, although the pads were not always a pair, and bats were often in need of binding, it was all of a quality that we would not otherwise have acquired. I remember receiving a book of British wild birds in my Christmas stocking and it mattered not that I guessed Santa had influence in the College. Families in Eton and Eton Wick often purchased dripping from the cooks at about four pence a basin. This seemed to be a permissible perk but I do not remember any other food handouts.
The College would claim that it has never tried to influence the village just one mile to the west. That may well be, but having an influence and setting out to influence are two very different things.
Frank Bond
Chairman, Eton Wick History Group
Windsor Local History Group 