What ordinary people did ...
"What is 'ordinary' does not leave major traces." Written by Raquel Gil Montero, historian.
Historical narratives mostly focus on rulers and the most powerful people at the time. Documentation about the role of ‘ordinary’ people throughout history has always been lacking. Except in two instances.
The first is when groups of ordinary people act together, when they often gain power and influence events, which are then recorded in history books.
“In the Evening a Detachment with Two Pieces of Cannon went to the Bastile, to demand the Ammunition deposited there. A Flag of Truce had been sent before them, which was answered from within; But nevertheless, the Governor (the Marquis de Launay) ordered the Guard to fire, and several were killed. The Populace, enraged at this Proceeding, rushed forward to the Assault, when the Governor agreed to admit a certain Number, on Condition that they should not commit any Violence. A Detachment of about Forty accordingly passed the Drawbridge, which was instantly drawn up, and the whole Party massacred. This Breach of Faith, aggravated by so glaring an instance of Inhumanity, natuarlly [sic] excited a Spirit of revenge and Tumult not to be appeased. A Breach was soon made in the Gate, and the Fortress surrendered. The Governor, the principal Gunner, the Jailer, and Two old Invalids, who had been noticed as being more active than the Rest, were seized, and carried before the Council assembled at the Hotel de Ville, by whom the Marquis de Launay was sentenced to be beheaded, which was accordingly put in Execution at the Place de Grêve, and the other Prisoners were also put to Death.” The storming of the Bastille, during the French Revolution. Transcript of 'The London Gazette'.
Secondly, there are stories of ordinary people who are involved in tragic, unlawful or astonishing events, which also make their way into historical accounts.
“The woman Mary Ann Cotton who was apprehended on Thursday evening on the charge of feloniously administering to her step-son, Charles Edward Cotton, a quantity of a certain poison with intent to kill and murder him, was taken before Major Hodgson at the Bishop Auckland Police Court yesterday and formally remanded for eight days.1” From The Journal, Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Saturday, July 20, 1872.
Mary Ann Cotton was hanged in 1873 for the murder of her stepson, Charles Edward Cotton. Cotton is thought to have also killed her mother, a friend, a lover, three husbands (her fourth husband kicked her out), and eleven children & step-children; she used arsenic poisoning. Cotton often benefitted from their life insurance payments after their deaths.
However, these are very unusual events, even if they occurred to ‘ordinary’ people. Throughout history there is little documentation about the effect of events on the lives of the general population, for instance during the French Revolution. A ‘people's history’, or ‘history from below,’ is a type of historical narrative which attempts to account for historical events from the perspective of ‘ordinary’ people rather than leaders.
Accounts of events are usually written by people who observe it, rather than the people who live through it. They are different stories.
In the 16th Century peasants made up around 85% of the population of England. The wealthy & powerful were not interested in the lives of the peasants, they just wanted their services, rent and taxes. There are some illustrations of rural life in medieval books. However, since these books were handwritten and extremely expensive, it was not wise to upset a rich client by including illustrations of people living in unattractive poverty, which was mostly the case.
The closest we get to information about how ‘ordinary’ people lived, loved, worked, thought and felt in the past, is documentation of local folklore, superstitions, songs and traditions. This poem is probably from the 17th Century, when a home weaver could make a good living - before industrialisation.
There's meat hung down afore the fire to roast, There's the puddin' on the brandree afore it to toast, Potatoes top o' the hob, they'll be done enough soon, But I think yee can weave a few more bobbins by noon.
It was not until comparatively modern times that ordinary people were taught to read & write, and even then, they rarely had the time to write autobiographies, or had the wherewithal to get them published. Even by the 19th Century, when most of the population were literate, there are not many accounts of ordinary people, like these good folk.
These drawings are by George Johann Scharf (1788 to 1860), who was known principally for his illustrations of scientific works; but he found his work tedious and boring. What George preferred to do was to sketch ordinary Londoners. But although George notes that he saw the man with the ship on his head for over 10 years (presumably the child grew out of the basket), he made no mention of asking for or knowing the man’s story.
Since letter writing in the 19th and most of the 20th Century was the main method of communication, many letters survive2, giving us an insight into ordinary people’s lives. One of my favourite letters was written by Jourdon Anderson, a freed slave in the USA. In 1865 he received a letter from his former master. Jourdon wrote an intelligent, insightful and amusing letter in reply.
“Sir, I got your letter, and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can.
“I want to know particularly what the good chance is you propose to give me. I am doing tolerably well here. I get $25 a month, with victuals and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy (the folks call her Mrs. Anderson), and the children, Milly, Jane, and Grundy, go to school and are learning well. The teacher says Grundy has a head for a preacher. They go to Sunday school, and Mandy and me attend church regularly. We are kindly treated.
“Mandy says she would be afraid to go back without some proof that you were disposed to treat us justly and kindly; and we have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores, and rely on your justice and friendship in the future.” Click here to read the entire letter.
Finally, historians became interested in the lives of ordinary people in Britain during World War II, even if it was in a time of crisis. The Mass Observation Project3 called for people to write down their experiences, which many people did, including Nella Last. She sent her diary entries every week, with the heading "Housewife, 49", her age when she first began the correspondence.
Once Nella started writing she could not stop. She wrote about her daily life from 1939 to 1966 (Nella died in 1968). She wrote around 12 million words, only two million of which were written during World War II; her diary is one of the longest in the English language4.
“Odd how differently people look on home. To me it’s my real ‘core’ of life and living. I can always relax and read or sew happily if I’m on my own, and would like to have people in rather than go out looking for change. My husband has his mother’s deep horror of being in the house by himself, and only wanders around unhappily, looking out of windows, watching the clock and timing my return.”From ‘Nella Last in the 1950s: The Further Diaries of Housewife, 49’.
Nowadays
I have rarely written a diary but in the 1980s and early 1990s I wrote letters, because our only other communication method was the telephone, and long-distance calls were expensive. Over time telephone calls became less expensive, and eventually mobile phones & computers became affordable, facilitating instant, easy communication. Nowadays, like most people, my correspondence is overwhelmingly digital.
But I have a concern about what will happen to all our emails, texts, documents, photos and videos. Storage companies will not keep the vast amount of data that we are creating forever (the ‘cloud’ is not limitless), and we all have occasional technical issues with our computers and phones (remember to do a regular back-up). And what happens when you die? There is a real risk that everything could disappear down a digital dark hole, as happened to some of my late husband’s documents.
My everyday life is different in many ways from my grandparents and previous generations. I don’t even know what a brandree is!5 Who knows how different my daughter’s life will be from mine? Thankfully, there is Substack, with many wonderful writers, many of whom write about their ‘ordinary’ lives.
Please consider how to save your words safely, so they can be read by future generations.
I find the style of old newspaper articles fascinating. Long sentences like this are never used in newspapers nowadays, and sadly the word ‘feloniously’ is rarely seen.
The Mass-Observation Project is a United Kingdom social research project; originally the name of an organisation which ran from 1937 to the mid-1960s, which was revived in 1981 at the University of Sussex.
There are a couple of books of Nella’s diaries, and an excellent film, starring Victoria Wood.
I could not find out what a brandree was. It may have been a flat metal plate, or a hanging sway that went over the fire. Does anyone know more?
Great article. In Portugal, we have 2 ladies who where ordinary peoplo
people but make a huge difference:
- Padeira de Aljubarrota: https://pt.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padeira_de_Aljubarrota
- Maria da Fonte: https://pt.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolu%C3%A7%C3%A3o_da_Maria_da_Fonte#Maria_da_Fonte_e_os_motins_iniciais
What a lovely post. And far from ordinary, if you get my drift. The letter from Jourdon Anderson is astonishing in its wit and clarity; I have lived in the USA for 35 years and put two kids through school and yet I have never seen it before. Thanks for sharing these valuable parts of history.