What was wealthy life like in the 1970s and before?

[Ozgirl75]

I was just pondering today, I can imagine and picture what it was like to be wealthy in the 1980s; a Porsche, holidays in Europe, gold fittings etc. But if you were quite wealthy (say earning 500k+ as a business owner, working in the city, banker etc) in the 1950s or 1970s, what was your life like? What did you spend your money on? What was your house like? Where did you live in fact?
i grew up in the 80s and 90s so it’s just hard to imagine proper wealth (not aristo inherited, more like earned money) earlier than that.
Anyone here grow up in wealth from the 40s onwards?

Hart to Hart, ££ USA, merc coupes. Hers was yellow. All mod cons in USA late 70s kitchen. There’s a ski episode with fab apres ski fashion!

The London club for those up from the country still very much a thing. Staunchly old money & upper middle class & many have daily paper copies of the Daily Mail popped by doors, which might surprise Mumsnet. It’s surprisingly cheap & some like dignified care homes with a good bar, nail tech & hairdresser.

I went to a direct grant school in the 1970s - fee-paying independent but took a lot of scholarship girls 100% funded by the local education authority, and many of the other girls were on means-tested fees which made it affordable to middle income families. All these girls had to have gone to state primary schools till age 11. We also had many girls at the school who'd been attending the junior department of our school, or other private schools, often from the age of 3, and they tended to come from much more affluent families. I remember talking to one such girl and finding out that while she and her sister were at our (day) school, her brothers had been sent away to boarding schools. I expressed some surprise at this and she said it was just how it was. Boys went away but mothers wanted to keep their daughters close. I didn't press the point but I found that mind-boggling.

Some of these girls were sent to public schools for the sixth form. As these schools had only just started taking girls I'm not sure how well that worked out for them. It was very clearly being done for social and networking reasons, as the academic standards at our school were excellent.

Fascinating thread, thanks op!

@Ozgirl75 he was a top civil servant, he was offered something that would have guaranteed a knighthood but turned it down much to the annoyance of his wife, she never worked.

That would be more like pre WW2 when household servants were so much easier to find, compared with afterwards. Even fairly ordinary families would often have a maid, aka skivvy. In the late 50s my folks moved us into a 1920s house (a nothing special 4 bed) that still had bells in all the rooms, and an indicator in the ‘breakfast room’ (actual kitchen was more like a scullery) to indicate which room wanted attention.

YYY to all of these details.

Rolls Royces and jaguars and big chunky Mercs were the cars driven by the rich I think. You used to see a lot of Rollers on the streets of certain parts of London.

cars were fewer but expensive cars like Mercedes or Jaguar were even fewer. You v.rarely saw exotic ones like Ferrari, they were for the Home Counties. Houses were cheaper. the Imagine house owned by John Lennon was 75000 pounds. its Tittinghurst Park in Surrey and came with a few acres. Affordable for a pop star. Clapton bought his Italianate villa in Surrey about 1970 and still has it. Luxury goods eg LV or Gucci were unheard of outside London. Footballers wives weren't a thing, just a wife and really only George Best was the big icon. Air travel limited and expensive. So if you were rich you could go to these places mentioned in that song and see only your own kind. No Russian money and Oil state money wasn't about. No Chinese property buying .Wasn't there a thing about taking currency abroad? You could only take £25 I think.

Or Bentley. Big plutocrat cars. Still are but more people can afford them

I could be wrong about this, but until the early/mid 1980s I don't think it was usual for logos to be conspicuously added to goods so other people would know which brand you'd bought. The first time I remember hearing that this was changing was when a friend of ours who was training as a teacher told us that the children she was teaching were incredulous when she didn't recognise a tiny crocodile logo on a polo shirt as the brand of Lacoste. I thought it was tacky then, and if I'm honest, I still think it's tacky now, but that was one of the big differences between the 1970s and 1980s - conspicuous consumption was absolutely blatant in the 80s - the Loadsamoney years, of course.

There were logos eg LV or Chanel but these would be on the luggage or buttons of the suits. But labels were inside the item or if bespoke for men there might not be one. Most of us had no idea about these names because there was no outlet for them except in major cities in Europe. In the UK Gucci, LV, Hermes etc were only in London on Bond and/or Sloane St. There wasn't a luxury goods market as such except for a smaller clientele. Designer was unheard of but there were Designers. Jagger wore YSL at Hyde Park in 1969. But names like Dior, Guy Laroche, YSL, Chanel were just seen in Vogue or on models like Chrissie Shrimpton or Twiggy. The Lacoste thing came about because Rene Lacoste wore those polo shirts and he was nicknamed The Crocodile. People were getting savvy about TV and if you saw that badge it might boost sales. Fila and Bjorn Borg were a dream match in the 70s.

After my father left the forces he became a very high earner in the Seventies and Eighties but we were very nouveau riche. So we lived in a detached 4 bed on an executive estate with a burgundy bathroom and gold taps. My father had a new company car every 2 years and my Mum had a little Mini Metro with the red seat belts. We holidayed in Europe for 2 weeks every Summer usually France or Germany. I can remember my Mum once paying £45 for a bottle green wool coat for me from Cavendish House in Cheltenham. It came with matching dark green patent leather shoes and little bag on a gold chain. I loved that coat and shoes so much.

I went to ballet and ballroom dancing lessons and my bedroom was decorated in that pink/cream Dolly Mixtures fabrics and matching wallpaper. We always had the latest toys and gadgets at Christmas and birthdays. It was a very privileged childhood in most ways but with a definite emphasis on conspicuous consumption rather than cultural capital.

My mothers parents were wealthy, they had a beautiful house with inherited furniture, their children went to boarding school but if they ran you a bath the water would be lukewarm and shallow and presents at birthdays and Christmas were incredibly unshowy. They weren't mean they bought my parents their first house in London zone 1 in the last 60s, they just disliked wasting money and I suppose anything flashy. If they bought anything it would be absolute top quality, would be expected to last and would be carefully taken care of.

My parents divorced in the 70s and my dad who was from a different background made a lot of money in the 80s. His dad had grown up in real poverty. My dad remarried and that house was a shrine to 80s consumption, electric breadknife, digital watches, you name it. For his 40th birthday party he bought all the food from Harrods and he had really made it. Again, he wasn't actually really wasteful, he just enjoyed the money he had, but it was a very different way of spending.

Yes to the lack of value placed on certain aspects of physical comfort, and also the downplaying of birthdays, Christmas, etc.

If cold baths were good enough for parents when they were in boarding school, lukewarm baths were good enough for us... Brrrrrrrrrrrrr....

Just wanted to add that when I was ten my parents sent me to private school and that's where I made some friends who were from proper, old monied backgrounds. They lived in dilapidated period houses which were freezing cold and very dusty everywhere. But they had Agas and ponies and gun dogs, and spent weekends at country fairs and gymkhanas. It was a while other world to me and one I never fully immersed myself in. I was always a hybrid.

Because housing was so much more affordable than today there wasn't such a huge gap I don't think between the very wealthy and the middle classes. Setting aside that m When I was a child in London a lot of our friends lived in houses that would now be worth at least £2 million, that was totally possible in a relatively normal job, and because there wasn't that much to buy, everyone sort of evened out.

Another difference is the boys going to school, girls staying at home thing. I went to a private school and it was fairly common for my friends brothers to be at boarding school. I don't think that happens now.

When I was a child 60s/70s the rich people we knew had large detached houses with tennis court and swimming pool. The fathers commuted and often had a pied a terre, the mothers didn't work. They would have a gardener and a daily woman and depending on whether any small children around would have some help with children. Private schools and usually boarding for boys as they got older but not necessarily for girls. Some moneyed types had Rolls Royces or Bentleys but unless they were shabby they were looked down on a bit . Children did not have luxury goods or multiple treats and, of course, most people still ate fairly simply in those days on a daily basis although the mothers might have done Cordon Bleu and been pretty handy if they were having a dinner party.

Interesting @Arraminta
My parents started to 'make it' in the 80s and 90s, after I'd left home and after spending the 60s and 70s grafting and scrimping and investing in their business. So my childhood definitely wasn't 'rich'!
However Mum started buying lower end designer clothes in the 80s - Max Mara was a favourite - and Dad was fond of buying g her v good jewellery. He also had what would be considered flash cars. But their working class roots showed in the food they ate and the lack of books in the house and the holidays they took. I was an oddity - first in the wider family to go to university.

Your experience mirrors mine somewhat.

I am immensely proud of what my parents achieved from nothing. They employed many hundreds of people who mostly remained employees for decades. Proof that you can be super bright in many and varied ways. In many ways they didn't properly enjoy their wealth and could have bought way more for themselves in terms of holidays and experiences.

I think you misunderstand what nouveau riche is. It's not moving to a nice middle class job and the trappings that come with it. I'd be nouveau riche too if that was the case.

people who have recently acquired wealth, typically those perceived as ostentatious or lacking in good taste

Well, this is the Oxford Dictionary definition of nouveau rich which accurately describes my father. Even down to his somewhat ostentatious taste in home furnishings and cars.

Sounds like private schools in the 80s and 90s too. I personally don't think girls were pushed enough. We sat on the floor of an office and discussed gap years. I remember turning to a friend and saying I'd quite like to be an air hostess. This was a £10k a year school! Friends lived on islands like Seychelles. Had farms, manors, lakes, swimming pools, tennis courts. Lots of South of France holiday, some camping though, lots of skiing. Old house and old furniture. Books. Cliques. You just knew you were automatically classified when people met you. What worth does this person have, do they increase or decrease my social standing. Hated that. Nice parents were welcoming. Clarks shoes and high end clothing catalogues. No one wore makeup under 12 and even then it was only the lightest amount. Natural hair. Reading and books. Nods to fashion. Horses. Cheltenham, Marlborough. Most mums didn't work, or worked part time or did voluntary work.

Yes you sound very similar. My father grew up in a council house and his parents were factory workers but he was so clever and really benefitted from the grammar school system back then. To go from such humble beginnings to being able to send his daughter to private school was a huge achievement.

@Salarygoals, that may have been what it was like at girls' boarding schools, but I think since the 1870s there have always been plenty of girls' day schools like mine - you only got in if you did well in the entrance exam or the 11+, high academic standards, demanding curriculum with strong science and maths as well as the arts/humanities/languages, big push to do well from teachers, parents and the girls themselves. I was almost exactly the same age as Diana and there has never been any doubt in my mind that I got a much better education than she did, in spite of the fact that my parents didn't pay a penny for mine.

Wealthiest family in my private (day) school in late 1970s sent their daughter to Roedean at 13. They had several horses and acres of land. Spent much of the summer staying with relatives in Scotland or France. She spoke fluent French and payed a lot of tennis (grass court in the garden). Quite a lot of inherited furniture and silver and mother in designer clothes. Cars were a filthy Volvo estate and a landrover. Staff - a housekeeper and a guy who did the horses/garden etc. May have been a married couple.

Next wealthiest family were 2 GPs. Had one daughter and a housekeeper who often did the school run. Again a large house and a lot of land and horses. Also a lot of tennis and frequent sailing (she got a boat for her 18th). Nice cars but not flashy but renewed quite frequently - probably needed to as GPs still did a lot of home visits and night calls. Had a house in France shared with a couple of the other GPs.