A unique insight into the realities of Edwardian England...

1906: Every Man For Himself!

Ed. by Maisie Robson, M.A.

ISBN 978-0-9542318-0-4 (2002) A5 pbk, £3.99 [Distributed on behalf of the Eynsford Hill Press]

In 1906, a fortnightly magazine, The Self Educator, was launched to give the struggling middle classes and the "respectable poor" a start in life.

This edition, in the authentic words of the original contributors, Harmsworth journalists including Arthur Mee, describes the working conditions, wages and prospects for men and women planning to open shops, learn trades, or enter domestic service.

The original articles from which this material has been sensibly and sensitively extracted, show us the manifold layers of Victorian society continuing almost untroubled under a new King. A society where everybody had a place, and all knew what it was, from the rich man in the castle to the poor man at the gate, and all grades in between. But also a society where movement was possible: where a modest sum could set someone up in a "situation ", one of the many niches or trades which were necessary to keep a complex and multi-layered society functioning, from which further advancement was then, theoretically, within one's grasp: the world of Kipps and of Tono-Bungay.

Equally possible though, was movement the other way, in a time where today's welfare safety-nets were largely unknown.

Whether you are a general historian, or a genealogist with a butcher's boy, butler, or barge-builder in your family tree, 1906: Every Man For Himself! is a fascinating window into a now-lost world, indicating that the long golden days of Edwardian summers may not have been so idyllic as we think!

The material is presented here, for the first time since 1906, in a new edition especially prepared for 21st Century readers.
Now read about Maisie Robson's other books:

Arthur Mee's Dream of England

Arthur Mee and the Strength of Britain

An Unrepentant Englishman