The Ordinary Wartime Housewife Who Created One Of Britain’s Greatest Diaries

The Ordinary Wartime Housewife Who Created One Of Britain’s Greatest Diaries

Yesterday we found out about Mass Observation and today we are going to learn a little about Nella Last, one of the most famous diarists connected to the project. What I love about her story is that she was not a politician, celebrity, or historian. She was an ordinary housewife from Barrow-in-Furness whose personal feelings and thoughts ended up becoming one of the most important records of everyday life during the Second World War.

Nella Last was born Nellie Lord on the 4th of October 1889 in Barrow-in-Furness in Lancashire. Her father worked as a railway clerk, and in 1911 she married Will Last who was a joiner and shopfitter. They had two sons, Arthur and Clifford, and for many years Nella lived the normal routine of domestic life that was expected of most women of her generation. She seemed to find life difficult and struggled with anxiety.

In 1939, at the age of forty-nine, she began writing for Mass Observation. She described herself as “Housewife 49.” What started as a diary gradually became a huge record of daily life, it eventually reached around twelve million words.

In her diaries, she said that she felt restricted by domestic life and was sometimes lonely in her marriage. Will was generally portrayed as a quiet, traditional, and often emotionally distant man.

She appears to have had a close relationship with her two sons, Arthur and Clifford. Her diaries show that she worried about them constantly during the War. She seemed to be especially close to Clifford and she encouraged his artistic talents. She seems to have been closer to her children than to her husband. 

During the war she volunteered with the Women’s Voluntary Service and the British Red Cross, helping her community while also recording her thoughts, worries, frustrations, and hopes. This seemed to give her a sense of purpose.

Her diary was an incredible peek inside the life of wartime Britain. She wrote about everything from rationing and bombing raids to family tensions and the changing roles for women during the war. The bombing of Barrow in 1941 affected her badly, her own home was damaged.

 Writing seemed to give Nella a confidence and independence she previously didn’t have. It allowed her to express feelings that she may previously have kept hidden.

After the Second World War Clifford emigrated to Australia, where he became a respected sculptor with works displayed in galleries including the Art Gallery of Ballarat. Nella was exceptionally proud of all his achievements.

She continued to write into the Mass Observation long after the war, giving us another great insight into post-war Britain.

After her death in 1968, her diaries were published and later inspired the television drama Housewife, 49 starring Victoria Wood. Nella Last’s words remain one of the most powerful and incredible personal accounts of ordinary British life during wartime.

Image info:

Nella and Clifford