1.6) The Grim Reality of 'Living-In'
In 1891, 450,000 shop assistants 'lived-in' and the employer paid them partly in cash and partly by providing board and lodging.
'He has no freedom and no responsibility.'
George Bernard Shaw on the plight of those 'living in'
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Originating from a time when the apprentice lived with the employer's family, the 'living-in' system in the retail trade became a condition of employment.
Premises were taken in cheap neighbourhoods or buildings were erected specially to house workers. Six to 20 young men or women often had to share a room where lives were frequently endangered in cramped and appalling conditions.
In 1912 fire destroyed Barkers department store in Kensington, London and five shop girls who lived on the premises were burnt to death.
Those who 'lived-in' were subject to all manner of abuse. Food was dreadful - bread rock hard and at least a week old, meat nearly 'walked off' the plate, rats ran across the room minutes after lights out, rooms were infested with lice, money was deducted from wages for book keeping errors and charges were made for reading matter, etc. Baths and hot water were considered a luxury and in some houses only one pint of hot water was allowed per person per week. Yet you were still expected to turn up for work spic and span.
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