"People dressed very differently in the early part of the twentieth century. It was a transitional period from the Victorian to the Edwardian styles and to those of the war years. Money being short, clothes had to last much longer than today, and so the older fashions were still worn. I remember my grandmother going to Chapel in a much ornamented black dress, and on her head a bonnet tied under her chin with ribbons, smart in the Victorian era but rather old fashioned in the second decade of the 1900s. Many older ladies wore bonnets that had been fashionable in their earlier years."
"My grandfather wore a blue serge tailed coat, with a pocket in the tail, from which he would produce a hymn book in Chapel. The normal Sunday dress for the men of the village was a very good quality navy blue serge suit. These suits were made by the village tailors. The cloth was of good quality but the fit was poor. A bowler hat was worn on the head and usually a flower in the buttonhole. Walking sticks were fashionable and on their feet were boots, not shoes. The frock coat was favoured by men who thought themselves a little better than their fellows. This was a three quarter length coat that extended to just above their knees. The reveres were often decorated. Non-conformist Ministers and local preachers usually wore these coats. The ordinary manual worker wore for work a shirt, usually without a collar and tie, an old jacket and a pair of corduroy trousers, tied under the knee with a strap."
"Ladies' dresses were still of Edwardian vintage and very elegant. I remember Mother's long dresses with "Shoulder of Mutton" sleeves, and the long gold chain that she wore with a watch on the end of it. In the house she wore a pinafore, reaching almost to the ground, with frilled sleeves."
"Middle aged ladies tended to wear black. At about the age of 50 family bereavement began to be frequent. When a member of the family died it was customary to go into mourning and to wear black clothes for about six months. Consequently at this time of life, it was sensible to wear black clothes all the time, which made it unnecessary to spend hard earned money every time a relative died. This made middle aged women look much older than they were in actual years. When my mother came to this age and was going to go into black, with some difficulty we persuaded her not to do so, keeping her youthful appearance a little longer."
"Boys were kept in dresses until they were several years old and their hair was left uncut. It was quite an event when the boy was old enough to have his hair cut, to discard the dresses and to wear short trousers. I had a very dark red velveteen suit at this stage, decorated with fancy buttons and a curled top knot on my shortened hair, a proper little Lord Fontleroy!"
