What did your grandparents do for a living?

[bobsmum]

Just been pondering about the skills etc my grandparents had. And wondering how to keep some of them alive or at least be a bit more clued up about my past IYSWIM

On my dad's side:
Grandpa was a cooper, played the saxophone and clarinet in the army band and kept bees.
Gran was a dinner lady in later life, but need to find out what she did before children. Made fab mice pies and steak pie. They lived in a prefab for years after the war.

On my mum's side:
Papa worked in the thread mills, was in the navy and made jam. Was an amazing handyman - made me a dolls house and my brother a ride on steam train.
Gran was a nurse, a mad keen knitter and had a hostess trolley fully stocked with cakes on all tiers every time we visited. She loved decorating.

Anyone else?

ummm

maternal gm- slinky jazz singer and then pub landlady.

maternal gf- no idea what the biological one did as nana took his identity to the grave. but my step gf (the only one ive ever known) was geologist with the british survey.

paternal gm - sahm of 6 (i think)

paternal gf - merchant seaman

Also surprised at how much social mobility there is - lots of gps come from different backgrounds from each other.
Not what I expected at all, thought our parents were first socially mobile (ish) generation.

oh my Nana was socially mobile alright!

i miss her.

and despite the fact I know all about them 3 of my gps died before I was born. My mum's mum died about a fortnight before I was born - which must have been horrendous for mum - something I only really understood after dd1 was born. and whilst I don;t want to make light of it I am eternally grateful that Mum let me off being called Doris. It was, she tells me, a close thing.

yes, doris may have been a burden

my Nana was Doreen in rl apparently. i never heard anyone address her other than as Patricia tho,bless her pretentious socks

One grandad was a postman, my Grandma died when my mum was a teenager - not sure what she did before having children.

Other grandad was a miner, my Grandma worked in a cotton mill and then in a cake shop.

Forgot to say that my miner grandad used to blow things up (on purpose) and was also a raging alcoholic - so that's a good mix of skills.

one grandad was a tailor which was seasonal work in those days - don't ask me why -I'd love to know. He had a paper round in low season.
Grandmother was in service before she married.
Other grandad was a grocer.

Dad's dad was a boiler stoker in the navy, then a labourer, his wife was in service before she married.

Mum's dad was an NCO in 17th/21st Lancers during WWI, worked for his old CO after the war for a couple of years, then worked his way up to Inspector for Bournemouth Buses and her mum was a nanny in London where she met Pops when he was working for his old CO.

My Mum's side
Grandad was an electrical engineer, and fixed TVs, he was also a prize winning Giant onion grower, and had a fantastic allotment
Grandma worked in the mills.

On my Dad's side

Grandad was in the czech army, Step-grandad owned a button factory, which burned down.
Grandma... not sure, I think she was a SAHM.

re teacher
music teacher

furniture factory owner
bookkeeper

harpsichordsgoingbangandwoosh - was it the bike company that gave it away?!

maternal g'mother- was a seamstress, supported 4 children right through the war by working from home. her husband, my g'father, was a feckless, popular drunk who she kicked out after baby number 4. He was sent to jail for not sending her money, but he still didn't send it when he got out.

paternal g'mother was a professional crow. and her husband was a railwayman, from Cornwall. He hated the thought of following his father into farming, so he left the family smallholding in Gunnislake and got a job as a fireman on the trains in south Wales.

Paternal GF - RAF, forester for Duke of Somerset and then for Lord Mountbatten
Paternal GM - SAHM, hospital cook (surprised not more deaths, not her forte!)

Maternal GF - RN commando, general labourer, fireman at a nuclear power station, printer.
Maternal GM - in service, cinema usherette, SAHM, greengrocers assistant, charge hand at an art paper factory (Daler Board).

Paternal GF - Indian Civil Service
Paternal GM - academic turned SAHM
Maternal GF - solicitor at Ministry for Agriculture Food & Fisheries
Maternal GM - children's book illustrator turned SAHM

My Maternal Grandfather was a tailor - such a talented man. Even into his eighties he would sit cross legged on the floor and could make patterns for suits out of old newspapers. He would sit with his Singer sewing machine and make the most amazing things. Everyone in our town knew him and he made most of the gents 'first' suit.

Maternal Grandmother: Worked at the Laundrette.

Paternal Grandfather: Railway Policeman (but was also a keen photographer and later in life, the people in his village would ask him to take photo's of their spouses if they thought they were being unfaithful )

Paternal Grandmother: School Cook

dad's dad: magician
dad's mum: sahm
mum's dad: not sure
mum's mum: worked as a pottery painter (after mum's dad died)

Most interesting person in my recent past though is my maternal G GM who ran an old fashioned inn and then went on to own and run a "milk bar" in the city!! I remember her well and can still "hear" her telling me evocative tales of the rich and famous in her trendy milk bar complete with soda fountains and live jazz music. My life seems rather ordinary compared with her wild days running several businesses as once, through 2 wars and as a single mother - all on her own in a male dominated world. One hell of a great role model

Maternal grandfather, dairy farmer. He cleared most of the land himself then made some money during the Korean War raising sheep for uniform wool.
Maternal Grandmother, farmer's wife. A hard life with no plumbing or electricity till well into her 40s. She comes from quite an aristocratic background, two of her maiden aunts were ladies in waiting to Queen Victoria.

Paternal Grandfather, labourer. He was an uneducated Irish immigrant who had been brought up by his sister because his family were too poor to support him. He emigrated to NZ as part of a scheme for ex-servicemen after the first world war.
Paternal grandmother, telephonist before, during and after marriage, despite having 7 children, one severely handicapped.

maternal gps, both teachers. paternal gf - soldier, policeman, shop owner. paternal gm - domestic servant (i think), shop owner with gf.

i see i haven't given my maternal gm enough credit - should say she carried on being a primary school teacher as well as bearing and raising 12 children.

My nan was a care assistant almost all her life.

She died in her early 60s from cancer. I was always over at her house as a child and just before she was diagnosed I went to live with her as I was always fighting with my mother in those teenage angst days! I asked her if I could live with her and she said yes straight away, which was very surprising. Although she loved me like nothing else on this earth, I thought she would want her own space and say no. It was a blessing really as I got to spend the last few months of her life by her side every minute of the day. She died within a few months of being diagnosed.

Her husband died in his 20s back in the early 1960's of a heart attack I think, leaving my nan with 3 children under 5.

My fondest memories with her were going up to town every Saturday with her to help with her shopping and having a huge breakfast in Littlewoods! When she was poorly too in those last few months she used to be up at all hours. Sometimes i'd wake in the middle of the night and go an sit with her and we'd have a chocolate mini roll and sing 'downtown' by Petula Clark. She died of lung cancer and tried to give up smoking when she was diagnosed and i'd catch her having a sneaky cigarette in the small hours. Of course i'd try to stop her but she'd bribe me with the chocolate mini rolls and i'd take the roll and go to bed in uncontrollable tears because I knew she was dying and nothing could stop it. I still got myself through college, she died just before my exams. I passed 1st time (only one in my class to) and I know she'd be so proud of that.

Mine are a bit boring I'm afraid.

Mother's side:

GM was a primary school teacher both before and after WW2 (her female GP ordered her to go back to work in 1946, rebel!). Hated being a SAHM but then we came along and she loved being our SAHGM while our mother went out to work.
GP worked as a clerk for the Steel Tube co.
He was an ARP Warden in WW2. Sadly I never knew him.

Father's side:

GM (still alive, 87) was a milliner until she married 'up' then a SAHM.
GP a tax inspector like his father and grandfather, uncle and (much later) younger son. In later life, a factory's chief accountant.

Mum's mum was the personal assistant to a university professor; mum's dad was first an accountant, then after retiring went back and did law and became a barrister.

Dad's dad was a general in the Aust army and Dad's mum was a SAHM

dad's mum left home at 14 to go to milan to work, came from a farmers family. met grandad there during the war and cohabited and had dad before getting married. Grandma always told me 'do what you like and do not care what people say, they'll talk regardless what you do!' which really summs it up, especially in small towns.
dad's dad was CEO of Insurance Company.

mum's mum was SAHM, sadly died at 39 of cancer. Mum's dad 2nd wife owned her own shop till she met grandad when she stopped working. he worked for a petrol company.