0:00:09 > 0:00:11On the 16th of November 1898,
0:00:11 > 0:00:15Harrods department store in London was packed with journalists
0:00:15 > 0:00:18and well-heeled customers.
0:00:18 > 0:00:23The crowd had gathered to experience a technological marvel -
0:00:23 > 0:00:25Britain's first moving staircase.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32Some of those who took tentative steps onto the device
0:00:32 > 0:00:34were so overwhelmed by the experience,
0:00:34 > 0:00:38they had to be revived at the summit with smelling salts and Cognac.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42Breathless reporters described the escalator as a magic carpet,
0:00:42 > 0:00:45like something out of a fairy tale.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49It may have been only 40 feet long,
0:00:49 > 0:00:54but the enchanted staircase was transporting customers and staff
0:00:54 > 0:00:59away from the old-fashioned drudgery of the Victorian shop floor.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01It was a thrilling vision of the future,
0:01:01 > 0:01:05a taste of what was to come as the new century dawned.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08Shopping was entering the modern world
0:01:08 > 0:01:11and shopgirls were definitely on the up.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16This is the story of how the lives of our shop workers
0:01:16 > 0:01:19were revolutionised in the early 20th century.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23It's the tale of the arsonist shopgirl
0:01:23 > 0:01:25who silenced the Prime Minister...
0:01:27 > 0:01:30Gladys and two other Suffragettes went to the theatre
0:01:30 > 0:01:32and attempted to burn it down.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36..the American entrepreneur who tore up the rule book...
0:01:36 > 0:01:39Harry Selfridge wanted the staff to feel that they were
0:01:39 > 0:01:42serving their friends, equals.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45He never allowed any grovelling.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50..and the daring shop worker who ended up a Cabinet minister.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53Is it a good policy to have cheap labour
0:01:53 > 0:01:56which leads to the individual woman worker such misery?
0:01:57 > 0:02:01Most of all, it's the story of how shopgirls found their voices,
0:02:01 > 0:02:05no longer content to be just servants of the shop floor.
0:02:05 > 0:02:09Instead, they were becoming a respected workforce,
0:02:09 > 0:02:11professional young women at the heart
0:02:11 > 0:02:15of the nation's blossoming love affair with shopping.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42At the dawn of the 20th century, nearly a quarter of a million women
0:02:42 > 0:02:45were working behind the counters of Britain's shops.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52Their life may have appeared glamorous and shop work light,
0:02:52 > 0:02:54but the reality was very different.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02Surprisingly, it was a 21-year-old shop assistant's craving
0:03:02 > 0:03:05for a fish supper that helped reveal the truth.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12Margaret Bondfield arrived in London in 1894.
0:03:12 > 0:03:13She had £5 in her pocket
0:03:13 > 0:03:17and high hopes of getting a good job in one of the big stores.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20But even with seven years' experience in shops in Brighton,
0:03:20 > 0:03:23it took Margaret a difficult three months to find work.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27So a fish supper was a well-deserved treat.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32Bondfield had quickly learned that the big city's bright lights
0:03:32 > 0:03:35blinded people to the grim realities of shop work.
0:03:37 > 0:03:39Long hours, low pay
0:03:39 > 0:03:43and the strict Victorian system of compulsory living-in
0:03:43 > 0:03:46meant the proprietors owned most of the shopgirls' waking moments.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52Many shopgirls were servants in all but name.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56Her chips were wrapped in newspaper
0:03:56 > 0:04:00and as Margaret tucked in, a letter caught her attention.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03It was from the Secretary of the New Union of Shop Assistants,
0:04:03 > 0:04:06who was urging his fellow workers to band together to combat
0:04:06 > 0:04:08the wretched conditions of their employment.
0:04:08 > 0:04:10It was a call to arms,
0:04:10 > 0:04:13and this young shopgirl was ready for a fight.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21Founded in 1891, the National Union of Shop Assistants
0:04:21 > 0:04:24was part of the wider struggle for workers' rights
0:04:24 > 0:04:26that was gathering pace in Britain.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33The fledgling union, which often convened here in East London,
0:04:33 > 0:04:36aimed to expose the injustices faced by shop workers.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40But it was finding it hard to attract members.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42Margaret Bondfield's moved to London,
0:04:42 > 0:04:46she's finally found a job, she's seeing the darker side of shop life.
0:04:46 > 0:04:48Then she joins the union.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50Was that quite a risky thing to do?
0:04:50 > 0:04:51It was, absolutely,
0:04:51 > 0:04:56because in many ways shop assistants weren't expected to join unions.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59They were subject to potential dismissal were they to join.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02So it was quite a risk for her to take.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04What kind of activities did she get involved with once
0:05:04 > 0:05:06she was in the union?
0:05:06 > 0:05:09Well, she begins writing for them on what life in the shop
0:05:09 > 0:05:12was really like, under the pen name Grace Dare.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15The name unites these two qualities of her character,
0:05:15 > 0:05:19grace on the one hand and that kind of daring as well.
0:05:19 > 0:05:21She sounds like some heroine from a magazine of the time.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25Exactly. Definitely. She would have been fined, of course,
0:05:25 > 0:05:27for using candlelight in her dormitory room.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30So she's an undercover reporter for the union? Wow.
0:05:30 > 0:05:32In a sense, yes.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35She said she was writing these articles for two years
0:05:35 > 0:05:39and no breach of rules was ever reported by any of her roommates.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41Where else do her writings appear?
0:05:41 > 0:05:44Well, she worked compiling reports that then informed a series
0:05:44 > 0:05:47in the Daily Chronicle in 1898,
0:05:47 > 0:05:51a series called Life In The Shop, and this piece here describes
0:05:51 > 0:05:57the living conditions and working conditions of the shop assistants.
0:05:59 > 0:06:04"At seven, the getting-up bell rings and the assistant's day begins.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08"Basins and cold water are provided in each dormitory as a rule,
0:06:08 > 0:06:12"the assistants finding their own soap and towels.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17"At eight, the bell summons the first breakfast party
0:06:17 > 0:06:20"to a meal of often weak tea and bread and butter.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25"Half an hour is allowed for dinner.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27"The meal is eaten in haste,
0:06:27 > 0:06:30"and liable to be interrupted at any moment.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36"Eight o'clock is considered an early hour to shut,
0:06:36 > 0:06:38"and nine is not uncommon.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44"Then at 11 o'clock, the door of the institution is shut.
0:06:46 > 0:06:51"A quarter of an hour, the gas in the dormitories is turned out."
0:06:52 > 0:06:55Lots of people thought it was quite a glamorous profession,
0:06:55 > 0:06:57but Margaret saw the grittier side.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00They are under the tyrannical rule of the shop walker
0:07:00 > 0:07:02as many of these pieces recount.
0:07:02 > 0:07:06And so they're quite terrified of losing their jobs at any moment
0:07:06 > 0:07:09for breaking one minor rule or another.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12There were hundreds of rules that would be posted
0:07:12 > 0:07:13that they had to follow.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16And they could lose pay for breaking these rules, couldn't they?
0:07:16 > 0:07:21Absolutely, so they'd be fined for putting flowers in bottles
0:07:21 > 0:07:25in their dormitory rooms or wearing a flower on their dress
0:07:25 > 0:07:27more than three inches.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30- Sure. Or failing to make a sale. - Absolutely.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32So behind the facade, life's quite grim.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34I think their lives were very monotonous,
0:07:34 > 0:07:38so the monotony of the food in the living-in situation is emphasised,
0:07:38 > 0:07:40every day the same thing.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44And in the shop, life was monotonous and routine,
0:07:44 > 0:07:46everything very regularised,
0:07:46 > 0:07:50winding and unwinding ribbons, the same kinds of activity.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53But these actions are not necessarily purposeful actions.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56They're meant to convey the impression of busyness.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04"It is de rigueur to make a show of occupation.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07"The ribbons can be wound and unwound.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11"The stock boxes can be gone through again.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16"When madam and her daughters enter,
0:08:16 > 0:08:21"they must feel the clutter of activity that says buy, buy, buy."
0:08:25 > 0:08:29The Victorian shopgirl seemed just a cog in the commercial machine.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34Without Margaret Bondfield's explosive exposes,
0:08:34 > 0:08:38we'd know very little about the lives of Britain's shopgirls
0:08:38 > 0:08:40towards the close of the 19th century.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43Her reports for the Daily Chronicle brought the misery of
0:08:43 > 0:08:47shop assistants' conditions right into middle-class homes
0:08:47 > 0:08:51and it was hard to ignore the unpalatable truth.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54Margaret's writings kick-started campaigns
0:08:54 > 0:08:57to improve shopgirls' lot, but it would be a long haul.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04It was one thing exposing the problems to the public,
0:09:04 > 0:09:07it was quite another persuading shop assistants
0:09:07 > 0:09:10that they should rally together and stand up for themselves.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17750,000 men and women worked in the nation's shops,
0:09:17 > 0:09:19but a mere 2,000 were members of the union.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26So in 1898, Bondfield, now a union official,
0:09:26 > 0:09:29set off across Britain on a recruitment drive.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36Many shop assistants were wary of speaking to her.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38Countless employers banned union membership
0:09:38 > 0:09:41and the assistants were scared of being sacked.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47But it wasn't just fear that deterred shop workers
0:09:47 > 0:09:49from signing up for the union.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54Margaret Bondfield felt that her fellow shopgirls
0:09:54 > 0:09:57either couldn't be bothered to join the union or, worse still,
0:09:57 > 0:09:59they thought it was somehow beneath them.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02These are some despatches from the road from her tour published
0:10:02 > 0:10:04in the Shop Assistant Union journal,
0:10:04 > 0:10:07and you can just hear her exasperation.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11Here's an image of Margaret addressing a rather sparse crowd
0:10:11 > 0:10:15in Bristol and her text explains the poor turnout.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19"Ye Gods! What a miserable thing it is
0:10:19 > 0:10:22"that any class of workers need to be cajoled to a meeting
0:10:22 > 0:10:26"by sugar plums in the shape of a bishop or a garden party."
0:10:27 > 0:10:30Really what she's saying is these workers think
0:10:30 > 0:10:33they're a cut above the miners, mill workers and dockers,
0:10:33 > 0:10:36that they're too good for the union.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40Margaret signs off her report by saying how much
0:10:40 > 0:10:44she detests their pretence of gentility.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47You can almost feel the scorn burning off the page.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53Bondfield returned to London, down but not out.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58For the next decade, she continued to fight for better conditions
0:10:58 > 0:11:02in privately owned shops, chipping away at the problems she'd exposed.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09But concrete and far-reaching change was on the horizon for shopgirls,
0:11:09 > 0:11:12care of a group who did pull together.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19This is the Co-operative Store of Annfield Plain, County Durham.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22It used to be five miles down the road, but it's been rebuilt,
0:11:22 > 0:11:26brick by brick, here at Beamish Living Museum.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34Today's Co-operative Movement has its origins in 1840s' Rochdale.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39A group of weavers and other local traders
0:11:39 > 0:11:42were fed up with having to buy from profiteering shopkeepers
0:11:42 > 0:11:46who sometimes fiddled the scales or disguised rotten food,
0:11:46 > 0:11:50and decided to fight back by opening their own store.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55The tradesmen realised that if they clubbed together
0:11:55 > 0:11:58and bought goods directly from suppliers, they could then
0:11:58 > 0:12:03sell them on to their own customers at a fair and honest price.
0:12:03 > 0:12:08It would be a new type of shop, mutually beneficial to them all -
0:12:08 > 0:12:09a co-operative.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12By setting up their own shop and dealing with their own suppliers,
0:12:12 > 0:12:16the weavers wanted to take control of their living costs.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19Their philosophy was that working people should
0:12:19 > 0:12:23improve their lives through self-help, but their dream
0:12:23 > 0:12:27was nothing less than the creation of a new fairer, social order.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35More co-operative stores quickly took off in working-class areas.
0:12:38 > 0:12:43By the early 20th century, the Co-op had grown in a commercial giant,
0:12:43 > 0:12:47with its own wholesale society, almost 1,500 shops
0:12:47 > 0:12:50and thousands of shopgirl employees.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58The shop assistants who stood behind this counter were selling
0:12:58 > 0:13:03a cornucopia of delights - homeopathic cocoa, macaroon toffees.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08Lots of different herbs and spices.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14As well as more everyday items, tea, coffee, custard powder.
0:13:17 > 0:13:18And next door in the drapery,
0:13:18 > 0:13:21they sold all kinds of household fabrics for bedding,
0:13:21 > 0:13:24curtains and clothing, but much more besides,
0:13:24 > 0:13:28hats, shoes, corsets. my favourite, Reform underwear.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34It was everything you could want and all under one roof.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40Of course, plenty of privately owned stores had honest shopkeepers
0:13:40 > 0:13:43and stocked an extensive range of goods too.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47But the monumental difference between the Co-op and other shops
0:13:47 > 0:13:49was that before you could buy these products,
0:13:49 > 0:13:51you had to be a member of the Co-op.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54That meant that, as a customer, you were a co-owner of the business
0:13:54 > 0:13:57and entitled to a share of the profits.
0:13:57 > 0:14:01And those profits were paid to you through the quarterly dividend,
0:14:01 > 0:14:03or divvy.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06It made for a new relationship between shop assistants
0:14:06 > 0:14:08and their customer owners.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13The Co-op's customer owners looked very different
0:14:13 > 0:14:15to most Victorian proprietors.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20Mainly working class,
0:14:20 > 0:14:23they included many housewives who did the daily shop.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31But if the owners were different, the conditions for Co-op shopgirls
0:14:31 > 0:14:34were all too similar to those of other shop workers.
0:14:34 > 0:14:37They were underpaid and overworked.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43Thankfully for them, one group of Co-op members took up their case.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50The Women's Co-operative Guild
0:14:50 > 0:14:53was a movement of the Co-op's female customers,
0:14:53 > 0:14:56ordinary working-class women who came together
0:14:56 > 0:14:58to discuss the issues of the day.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02It became huge with thousands of members all over the country
0:15:02 > 0:15:05and it developed a distinctive brand -
0:15:05 > 0:15:07no-nonsense, kitchen-table politics.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17In Runcorn, Cheshire, the Guild is still going strong.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19Has everybody paid?
0:15:21 > 0:15:23Just like today,
0:15:23 > 0:15:26the early Guild members discussed a huge range of topics,
0:15:26 > 0:15:29from housekeeping tips to social issues,
0:15:29 > 0:15:31to ways of supporting each other.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37As it would have been Mable's 95th birthday,
0:15:37 > 0:15:44all the ladies gave a toast in her favourite drink, sherry.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50The Women's Co-operative Guild began in the 1880s. How did it start?
0:15:50 > 0:15:55The real reason it was set up was to help women who,
0:15:55 > 0:15:59as you can imagine at that time, were ill-educated,
0:15:59 > 0:16:04they had just gone from their own family home into being married.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07So it was to try and encourage them and come along to somewhere
0:16:07 > 0:16:11where it was quite safe and secure in a women's only environment
0:16:11 > 0:16:14where they didn't judge one another,
0:16:14 > 0:16:16because they were all in the same boat.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20In 1899, the campaigner, Margaret Llewelyn Davies,
0:16:20 > 0:16:22became General Secretary.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24How does she change things?
0:16:24 > 0:16:27She wanted to try and get them to campaign for,
0:16:27 > 0:16:30not only for themselves, but for women as a whole.
0:16:30 > 0:16:33She was interested in welfare benefits for small children,
0:16:33 > 0:16:39maternity care for mothers, and also divorce reform.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43But her most famous one, of course, is for the minimum wage.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46- It seems very early. - It does. It does.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49And at the time, that was sort of 1910, but at the time,
0:16:49 > 0:16:53she preferred actually to call it a living wage, because she felt
0:16:53 > 0:16:56the women weren't actually living on the salaries that they were getting.
0:16:56 > 0:17:01OK. And what kind of campaign did she bring forward on that?
0:17:01 > 0:17:04Well, they set out this petition
0:17:04 > 0:17:07and it was a petition to the Co-operative Wholesale Society
0:17:07 > 0:17:13and they campaigned for minimum living wage for 14 and upwards.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16And as each year they grew older, they were supposed to be,
0:17:16 > 0:17:21they wanted an increment until they got to the age of 20.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25'At the start of the century, a 20-year-old Co-op shopgirl
0:17:25 > 0:17:27'typically earned just 12 shillings a week,
0:17:27 > 0:17:31'scarcely enough to pay her rent and buy the bare necessities.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34'Eggs would have been a luxury.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37'Her male counterparts often earned double,
0:17:37 > 0:17:41'taking home 24 shillings a week.'
0:17:41 > 0:17:43And did they succeed in the campaign?
0:17:43 > 0:17:45Yes, they did, absolutely.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49Do you know 12,000 women actually got the minimum living wage?
0:17:49 > 0:17:52- So they get a pay rise? - 20 years old...
0:17:52 > 0:17:55They got a pay rise and it's 17 shillings a week.
0:17:55 > 0:18:00- Which at the time is...- For them was a great deal of money, yes.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05Women had campaigned for the rights of women and won.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07Now with their new living wage,
0:18:07 > 0:18:12the Co-op workers of 1912 became the first group of British shopgirls
0:18:12 > 0:18:17to enjoy the sweet taste of greater independence.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20The Co-op became more than just an employer.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23In many parts of the country, it became a way of life.
0:18:24 > 0:18:26Eileen, did you work in a Co-op shoe factory?
0:18:26 > 0:18:29- Yes, I did.- OK, when was that?
0:18:29 > 0:18:33When I was 14, which was about, what?
0:18:33 > 0:18:341938.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37And who else worked in the Co-op, did you work? Yeah, OK.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39What did you do?
0:18:39 > 0:18:41I worked in the grocery part.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44- OK.- Yeah, it was pretty hard work really
0:18:44 > 0:18:47because there was no trolleys or anything like that, you was
0:18:47 > 0:18:52having to carry cases of, you know, cans of beans and what have you.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56I think that's why we're all riddled with arthritis.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02- It was hard work, but we did laugh.- Yeah.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04I mean, even the butter you used to have, you know,
0:19:04 > 0:19:08use the butter pat and wrap it and everything was done by hand.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11Well, what do you think the Co-op meant to people at the time
0:19:11 > 0:19:12that you were working there?
0:19:12 > 0:19:15They were brought up with the Co-op, really, wasn't it?
0:19:15 > 0:19:17And it was like a community, wasn't it?
0:19:17 > 0:19:19- It was, yeah, yeah.- Yeah.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22- And if you worked in the Co-op, were you a member of the Co-op?- Yeah.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25- OK.- You opened up with, was it a shilling?- Yeah.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28That's right, because that's how you got your share book, isn't it?
0:19:28 > 0:19:31You had your own number and you got your dividend, didn't you?
0:19:31 > 0:19:33At the end of the year.
0:19:33 > 0:19:35- And that was in cash or in...? - Cash, yeah.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39And you used to all go and line up at the end of the year, didn't you?
0:19:39 > 0:19:41To go and get your divvy.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44- And you saved it for Christmas, didn't you?- Yeah, yeah.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47- I've got my card. - And still money on it.
0:19:47 > 0:19:49- Is there?- Yes.- Cash it in!
0:19:49 > 0:19:51I don't know where to take it to.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54It's 97 pence on this.
0:19:54 > 0:19:56They owe you 97 pence.
0:19:56 > 0:20:00They do owe me 97 pence and it'll be from 1976.
0:20:00 > 0:20:02You should take it along and see what happens.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10The Co-op helped to raise the bar for workers' rights
0:20:10 > 0:20:11in an era of national reform.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17Before the end of 1912, the Liberal Government had
0:20:17 > 0:20:21ushered in improvements for many workers, including miners,
0:20:21 > 0:20:25factory employees and even for staff in privately owned shops.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31By 1912, many shop workers had won a minimum wage,
0:20:31 > 0:20:34but also shorter hours.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37This is a photograph of the employees of Kendal Mill,
0:20:37 > 0:20:39Manchester's most famous department store.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41They've been given the day off to celebrate
0:20:41 > 0:20:45the passing of the Shop Act and they look pretty happy about it.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48This woman in the front's got a very broad smile.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51Now it was against the law for shop staff to work for more
0:20:51 > 0:20:53than six hours without a meal break.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55But most popular of all,
0:20:55 > 0:20:58they were given an early closing day which brought the working week down
0:20:58 > 0:21:02to five-and-a-half days, certainly steps in the right direction.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07Political activists may have been dragging shop assistants
0:21:07 > 0:21:11out of Victorian drudgery, but they weren't the only ones.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22Across the Atlantic, American industry was in the throes
0:21:22 > 0:21:25of an industrial and technological revolution.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31Whether in the steel mills or in Sixth Avenue stores,
0:21:31 > 0:21:35the buzz words were efficiency and productivity.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43In the summer of 1906, Owen Owen,
0:21:43 > 0:21:46founder of Liverpool's biggest store,
0:21:46 > 0:21:50returned home from a two month fact-finding trip to North America.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56Standing on the deck of his Cunard liner, Owen's head was buzzing,
0:21:56 > 0:22:00full of visions of things he'd seen across the Atlantic.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03In New York, he'd seen a shopping paradise,
0:22:03 > 0:22:07stores like Macy's, Bergdorf and Goodman, Rothschild & Co,
0:22:07 > 0:22:11were bigger and better than anything in Britain.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15They were cathedrals of commerce, and they were going all out
0:22:15 > 0:22:18to make their customers want more and spend more.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25Liverpool may have been one of Britain's most prosperous cities,
0:22:25 > 0:22:28but it had nothing on shopping American style.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34So when he arrived home, Owen Owen recorded his thoughts about
0:22:34 > 0:22:38this brave new commercial world and the role shopgirls played in it.
0:22:40 > 0:22:43Lisa, your great-grandfather went to America in the early 20th century,
0:22:43 > 0:22:46what kind of things stood out for him?
0:22:46 > 0:22:49He was interested in absolutely everything.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51The fact that the shop assistants,
0:22:51 > 0:22:56they had to produce enough sales to cover their salaries.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59- Wow.- It was very different to here.
0:22:59 > 0:23:03And if they didn't, they would be kicked out without a quibble.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07And if they arrived a few minutes late for work in the morning
0:23:07 > 0:23:11because they all lived out, they didn't live-in,
0:23:11 > 0:23:16which he was used to here, they would not be allowed in the store
0:23:16 > 0:23:20and they would be docked a half or a whole day's wage.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23So although there's more personal freedom, no living-in,
0:23:23 > 0:23:27no fines, there's an incredible attention to their performance.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30And, as he sums up here, "System, system, system."
0:23:30 > 0:23:33It's all about the system, the micro-management
0:23:33 > 0:23:37almost of the employers, the employees are working to targets,
0:23:37 > 0:23:41- sales targets week by week, very, very early on.- Yes, yes.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44So this is a slick, automated, very modern way of doing business.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47What else does he like about the American stores?
0:23:47 > 0:23:53The size of the stores, which completely fascinated him.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57There are no medium-sized stores and
0:23:57 > 0:24:02the immense sum spent on advertising which really quite shocked him.
0:24:02 > 0:24:07You could spend about £500 just on natural flowers for a display.
0:24:07 > 0:24:09No expense spared?
0:24:09 > 0:24:14No expense spared, even, "An avenue of singing-birds."
0:24:14 > 0:24:18So it's the size, it's the advertising, it's the display,
0:24:18 > 0:24:21- the design.- Yes.- Overall, he's wowed by the experience.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23Yes, it comes through in everything.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26"It has indeed been a revelation to me
0:24:26 > 0:24:29"the way business is done this side.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32"Many of the ideas are those I've nearly all my life been
0:24:32 > 0:24:37"trying to put into force, but less effectively than I should have done.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41"As it is, these ideas have come too late
0:24:41 > 0:24:44"and sometimes I wish that I'd not come to America at all."
0:24:46 > 0:24:50Owen Owen died before he could implement the American ideas
0:24:50 > 0:24:53he'd admired so greatly - the advertising,
0:24:53 > 0:24:57the selling techniques and the new attitude towards shop assistants.
0:25:00 > 0:25:04But down in London, a charismatic American was poised
0:25:04 > 0:25:07to launch his own brand of the US system
0:25:07 > 0:25:11and for some shopgirls, life was going to get a whole lot better.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24Early on the 15th March 1909, hidden by a curtain,
0:25:24 > 0:25:28some window dressers were finalising a display,
0:25:28 > 0:25:30the likes of which Britain had never seen.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36At exactly 9am, a bugler started playing
0:25:36 > 0:25:38and the curtains were drawn back to reveal one of the most
0:25:38 > 0:25:43spectacular windows displays London had ever seen.
0:25:43 > 0:25:47Instead of these windows being crammed wall-to-wall with stock,
0:25:47 > 0:25:52elegant mannequins stood in front of exquisitely painted backdrops.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56It was just a taste of what was to come on the opening day
0:25:56 > 0:25:58of London's newest department store.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00Selfridges.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05The self-made millionaire, Harry Gordon Selfridge
0:26:05 > 0:26:09was a man with a mission, to drag British retailing
0:26:09 > 0:26:12and the lives of its shop workers firmly into the modern world.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16In less than a year,
0:26:16 > 0:26:20he constructed England's largest, most luxurious store.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25An 80-foot-high emporium that aimed
0:26:25 > 0:26:30to reinvent British shopping and service and to do so in style.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38Selfridges is now such a fixture on Oxford Street,
0:26:38 > 0:26:42it's hard to imagine the sensation it caused when it first opened.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46Newspaper headlines hailed a new era of shopping, describing
0:26:46 > 0:26:51the eager crowds and thousands of women besieging the West End.
0:26:51 > 0:26:56Not only that, thousands of shop assistants queued up to work here.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02Customers were enticed by the idea
0:27:02 > 0:27:05they'd no longer be harangued to make a purchase.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08This store was specifically designed to allow them to browse
0:27:08 > 0:27:09and buy at will.
0:27:12 > 0:27:17And staff would be liberated from oppressive Victorian ways.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20Above all, there'd be no compulsory living-in
0:27:20 > 0:27:24with its institutional dormitories, poor food and lack of freedom.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31But Harry Selfridge's masterstroke lay in recognising that the skills
0:27:31 > 0:27:35of Britain's shopgirls had yet to be fully tapped.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38He set out to transform his shopgirls from
0:27:38 > 0:27:42servants of the counter to highly trained, confident young women.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49To find out more about Harry Selfridge's ambitions for his staff,
0:27:49 > 0:27:52I'm meeting Lindy Woodhead...
0:27:52 > 0:27:54in the Champagne Bar, of course.
0:27:56 > 0:27:58So it's a new start, a new kind of shop,
0:27:58 > 0:28:02how does this philosophy translate onto the shop floor?
0:28:02 > 0:28:05I think to explain Selfridge's philosophy, Pam,
0:28:05 > 0:28:07you have to look at Selfridge himself.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09And he was American,
0:28:09 > 0:28:14so coming over to England full of very imaginative ideas,
0:28:14 > 0:28:17to bring those ideas into a situation
0:28:17 > 0:28:19that had been much more formal.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23So he wanted the staff to feel that they were serving their friends,
0:28:23 > 0:28:27equals, he never allowed any grovelling.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30And when you think how class bound British society was at that time,
0:28:30 > 0:28:33- this is remarkable. - Utterly extraordinary.
0:28:33 > 0:28:36Let's talk about training, what kind of things did they have to do?
0:28:36 > 0:28:39Well, the first thing is that he instigated,
0:28:39 > 0:28:41and I think the most important,
0:28:41 > 0:28:45he instigated a two-year management training course.
0:28:45 > 0:28:47What topics did the lectures cover?
0:28:47 > 0:28:51They were very...there was a lot of diversification in these lectures.
0:28:51 > 0:28:53We've got some sheets here.
0:28:53 > 0:28:55We've got, for example, here's a mathematics one.
0:28:55 > 0:28:58So the students would have had to do percentages,
0:28:58 > 0:29:00rather technical I would have thought here,
0:29:00 > 0:29:03and fashion, all aspects, of course.
0:29:03 > 0:29:05- I love this one - gloves. - A lecture on gloves.
0:29:05 > 0:29:09- Gloves, of course, were the absolute essential accessory.- Yes.
0:29:09 > 0:29:13No woman could go out or would go out without gloves and a hat.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16And therefore her gloves and the care of them,
0:29:16 > 0:29:20how to put them on, using talcum powder to put them on,
0:29:20 > 0:29:24all of these things mattered tremendously.
0:29:24 > 0:29:26And these are notes written by staff at the time.
0:29:26 > 0:29:31Absolutely. And these are the lectures to the students.
0:29:31 > 0:29:36"We are students in a business which gives us the opportunity of learning
0:29:36 > 0:29:40"in a way provided by no other firm of its kind
0:29:40 > 0:29:43"on this side of the water."
0:29:43 > 0:29:46Are you sure that wasn't dictated to them?
0:29:46 > 0:29:47It's too good to be true.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50But it is true and it is wonderful.
0:29:52 > 0:29:55Other department stores across Britain
0:29:55 > 0:29:57were also providing training
0:29:57 > 0:30:01but Selfridge boasted loudest about his professionalised shopgirls.
0:30:03 > 0:30:07Though not everyone was impressed by the firm's modern methods.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11Outspoken author GK Chesterton believed big businesses
0:30:11 > 0:30:16like Selfridges were destroying the livelihoods of the little shopkeeper
0:30:16 > 0:30:18in towns and villages across Britain.
0:30:20 > 0:30:24And in 1912, he took up his pen to battle against what he perceived
0:30:24 > 0:30:27as the damaging new city culture.
0:30:28 > 0:30:31Chesterton attacked big shops.
0:30:31 > 0:30:35In a piece in the Daily News, he railed against awful,
0:30:35 > 0:30:40interminable emporia that seemed to him to be an idea of hell.
0:30:40 > 0:30:42Now many people then and now might agree with him,
0:30:42 > 0:30:45but what was more troubling was the way he directed his vitriol
0:30:45 > 0:30:49so specifically against the shopgirls.
0:30:49 > 0:30:53He says, "When you look at the dress model, the mannequin,
0:30:53 > 0:30:56"you think that some shopgirl has had her head cut off.
0:30:58 > 0:31:00"When you look back at the real shopgirl
0:31:00 > 0:31:03"you feel inclined to do the same to her."
0:31:07 > 0:31:11Chesterton's beloved small town shops were still largely staffed
0:31:11 > 0:31:16by male assistants with women more visible as housewife customers.
0:31:19 > 0:31:23But it was a very different picture in the big city stores.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29So it's unsurprising that, for Chesterton,
0:31:29 > 0:31:31the increasingly independent shopgirl
0:31:32 > 0:31:35came to embody the ills of the modern world.
0:31:35 > 0:31:39Chesterton probably wasn't expecting that any of these shallow shopgirls
0:31:39 > 0:31:43would reply, but 180 of Selfridges' female staff
0:31:43 > 0:31:47wrote a letter to the Daily News and they demanded it be published,
0:31:47 > 0:31:51"In justice to ourselves and all women employed in similar businesses
0:31:51 > 0:31:55"upon whom the stigma of contempt has been laid."
0:31:55 > 0:32:00And they go on, "We're proud to say that we feel as women workers
0:32:00 > 0:32:03"we have in our ranks some of the brightest intelligences
0:32:03 > 0:32:06"associated with commerce."
0:32:06 > 0:32:09It's a really strong statement, full of self-confidence
0:32:09 > 0:32:12and self-belief from the staff of Selfridges.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18Their self-belief wasn't just coming from the training
0:32:18 > 0:32:20they were getting in the work place.
0:32:21 > 0:32:24When they wrote that letter, the streets of Britain's cities
0:32:24 > 0:32:28were thronging with women going out to work,
0:32:28 > 0:32:31to shop and to demand the vote.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35# Shout, shout
0:32:35 > 0:32:38# Up with your song
0:32:38 > 0:32:40# Cry with the wind
0:32:40 > 0:32:43# For the dawn is breaking... #
0:32:43 > 0:32:47By 1912, the Suffragettes, led by Emmeline Pankhurst
0:32:47 > 0:32:52had tired of peaceful demonstrations and turned to militancy,
0:32:52 > 0:32:54arson, bombing
0:32:54 > 0:32:58and a campaign to smash the windows of London's major stores,
0:32:58 > 0:33:02such as here at Swan & Edgar in Piccadilly Circus.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06And here in the East End of London was one of the key bases...
0:33:06 > 0:33:10'And one of Selfridges' shopgirls was ready to step out
0:33:10 > 0:33:12'from behind the counter and on to the front line.'
0:33:14 > 0:33:16Laura, who is Gladys Evans?
0:33:16 > 0:33:20Well, Gladys Evans was a shop assistant at the age of 15,
0:33:20 > 0:33:24and by 1908, when she was in her early 30s,
0:33:24 > 0:33:29she was employed by Selfridges to prepare for the grand opening
0:33:29 > 0:33:32of their big new store on Oxford Street.
0:33:32 > 0:33:35So she was a Suffragette as well. What kind of things did she do?
0:33:35 > 0:33:37After her long day working behind the counter,
0:33:37 > 0:33:41she then went off to start organising for votes for women.
0:33:41 > 0:33:46And in particular she's recorded as having focused on
0:33:46 > 0:33:49trying to recruit other shop assistants.
0:33:49 > 0:33:51She would have been saying, "We need the vote,
0:33:51 > 0:33:54"because we need to improve our daily lives as women workers."
0:33:54 > 0:33:58OK. And Suffragettes were becoming more militant around this time.
0:33:58 > 0:34:00How did the authorities, the police respond to this militancy?
0:34:00 > 0:34:02With great brutality.
0:34:02 > 0:34:08And it's in response to this intensification of police brutality
0:34:08 > 0:34:10and state violence against the Suffragettes
0:34:10 > 0:34:14that Gladys Evans feels that she needs to take a risk herself,
0:34:14 > 0:34:17undertake an act of very serious militancy.
0:34:17 > 0:34:19And what did Gladys do?
0:34:19 > 0:34:23She travels to Dublin because the Prime Minister, Asquith,
0:34:23 > 0:34:28who was notoriously unsympathetic to the Suffragettes,
0:34:28 > 0:34:30was going to be visiting Dublin.
0:34:30 > 0:34:35And the day before he was about to give a very important speech
0:34:35 > 0:34:39in the Theatre Royal, Gladys and two other Suffragettes
0:34:39 > 0:34:42went to the theatre and attempted to burn it down.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46- So this is before Asquith arrives at the theatre?- Yes.
0:34:46 > 0:34:49To stop him being able to speak, they thought they would burn it down.
0:34:49 > 0:34:51I mean, it was a pretty serious act, it's a fire-bomb attack.
0:34:51 > 0:34:53What happened next?
0:34:53 > 0:34:58Gladys Evans and her friends, her comrades are arrested
0:34:58 > 0:35:02and given incredibly harsh sentences.
0:35:02 > 0:35:06- Gladys is given five years... - Wow.- ..penal servitude.
0:35:06 > 0:35:12So even in terms of the very harsh treatments given to Suffragettes,
0:35:12 > 0:35:15this is an excessively long sentence.
0:35:15 > 0:35:16Did anyone try to help her?
0:35:16 > 0:35:20The Women's Social and Political Union organised a mass petition
0:35:20 > 0:35:21calling for her release,
0:35:21 > 0:35:25and they also planned a letter writing campaign
0:35:25 > 0:35:28to put pressure on the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
0:35:28 > 0:35:33And so the employees at Selfridges are getting up a petition
0:35:33 > 0:35:38to the Lord Lieutenant and some young businesswomen are agitating
0:35:38 > 0:35:41among the shop assistants' union to get resolutions passed
0:35:41 > 0:35:44condemning the harsh sentence.
0:35:44 > 0:35:47So she became a very important figure for shop assistants?
0:35:47 > 0:35:50Yes. I mean, she's a martyr for the cause.
0:35:52 > 0:35:55In prison, Gladys went on hunger strike
0:35:55 > 0:35:58and was brutally and forcibly fed.
0:35:58 > 0:36:00After 58 days,
0:36:00 > 0:36:04the Government granted temporary release on grounds of ill-health.
0:36:04 > 0:36:06She never returned to prison.
0:36:09 > 0:36:14In August 1914, Britain declared war on Germany.
0:36:18 > 0:36:21The Suffragette leaders brokered a deal with the Government.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24In return for an amnesty for their political prisoners,
0:36:24 > 0:36:27the Suffragettes would cease their violent acts
0:36:27 > 0:36:30and help mobilise women to the war effort.
0:36:32 > 0:36:36And women's war work would transform Britain's work places,
0:36:36 > 0:36:39not least its shops.
0:36:39 > 0:36:43By September 1914, just a month into the conflict,
0:36:43 > 0:36:46the Draper's Record had published a list of the thousands of shop men
0:36:46 > 0:36:48who'd answered the Government's call to arms.
0:36:48 > 0:36:50Here are just some of them.
0:36:50 > 0:36:54175 from Selfridges, 106 from Whiteleys,
0:36:54 > 0:36:5820 from Eaden Lilley in Cambridge, right down to the smaller shops,
0:36:58 > 0:37:02three from Dust and Co in Tunbridge Wells.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05For the shopgirls left behind,
0:37:05 > 0:37:07it was a chance to show what they were made of.
0:37:12 > 0:37:16The declaration of war threw British retail into a head spin.
0:37:17 > 0:37:21Many stores were forced to close as shop men turned soldiers and headed
0:37:21 > 0:37:25for the front lines, and jittery investors withdrew their backing.
0:37:28 > 0:37:32But grocery stores had to deal with a huge upsurge in custom
0:37:32 > 0:37:35as people panic bought food as prices rocketed.
0:37:36 > 0:37:40The problem was, unlike drapers and department stores,
0:37:40 > 0:37:43the staff in grocery shops had, up to then,
0:37:43 > 0:37:46remained overwhelmingly male.
0:37:46 > 0:37:49Stores like Sainsbury's quickly realised they needed women
0:37:49 > 0:37:53to serve on their front lines and started a recruitment drive.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02This news reel entitled Lady Grocers
0:38:02 > 0:38:05shows just a few of the women who stepped into shop men's shoes
0:38:05 > 0:38:07for the first time during the war.
0:38:09 > 0:38:11Sainsbury's new leading ladies
0:38:11 > 0:38:14had to learn all the basics of grocery work from scratch,
0:38:14 > 0:38:16how to advise customers...
0:38:19 > 0:38:20..how to tackle the cheddar...
0:38:23 > 0:38:25..and how to carve the ham.
0:38:29 > 0:38:33By 1915, some of Sainsbury's stores were entirely,
0:38:33 > 0:38:37and successfully, staffed by women and boys too young to enlist.
0:38:42 > 0:38:46As the war dragged on, more and more women replaced male shop workers.
0:38:49 > 0:38:54By 1916, 2,000 men from Harrods had answered the call to arms...
0:38:56 > 0:38:59..some 70% of eligible staff.
0:39:01 > 0:39:03All these men had gone away to fight,
0:39:03 > 0:39:06- where did that leave the women in the store?- The beginning of the war,
0:39:06 > 0:39:11women were finding new roles from when the men had left.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15One of these was as a commissionaire at the doors to Harrods,
0:39:15 > 0:39:19opening the doors and hailing cabs for customers.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23Harrods, the green men, because of their green uniform,
0:39:23 > 0:39:27are already very well-known by this stage, so now we have green women,
0:39:27 > 0:39:32so you get women coming in as drivers delivering in Harrods vans.
0:39:32 > 0:39:34So here's one in her smart uniform
0:39:34 > 0:39:39and here's a photograph taken about 1916/1917 with her van
0:39:39 > 0:39:44and her porter on the rounds in London I think.
0:39:44 > 0:39:45That's wonderful, isn't it?
0:39:45 > 0:39:48And she's looking rather pleased with herself.
0:39:48 > 0:39:50- Yes, hands in her pockets.- Yeah.
0:39:50 > 0:39:52And was it just in the workplace,
0:39:52 > 0:39:55or were there other ways in which life changed for women in the store?
0:39:55 > 0:39:59Well, women were also moving into sports activities
0:39:59 > 0:40:01which they haven't tried before.
0:40:01 > 0:40:04So we get to 1917
0:40:04 > 0:40:08and we've got the Harrods Ladies Football Team in their kit.
0:40:08 > 0:40:11That is superb. Who did they play?
0:40:11 > 0:40:13They were playing Sterling Athletic,
0:40:13 > 0:40:16who were a team of munitions factory...
0:40:16 > 0:40:19a lot of women were working in the munitions factories.
0:40:19 > 0:40:24And the write-up in the Harrodian Gazette is by one of the players,
0:40:24 > 0:40:28"Then came us, yes, the Harrodian team of all the talents,
0:40:28 > 0:40:32"looking charming in white sweaters and caps and green shorts.
0:40:32 > 0:40:36"Where we made the mistake was not to turn out in football boots but as
0:40:36 > 0:40:39"this was our maiden attempt at the game, we naturally lacked much."
0:40:39 > 0:40:41What was the score?
0:40:41 > 0:40:448-2 against the Harrods girls.
0:40:44 > 0:40:47So they go back to get some more practice.
0:40:48 > 0:40:50What happened when the men came home?
0:40:50 > 0:40:53When the war ended the men came back, they got their jobs back,
0:40:53 > 0:40:59so the women van drivers and the women commissionaires disappeared.
0:40:59 > 0:41:02But I think the perception of women in the store
0:41:02 > 0:41:04had changed fundamentally.
0:41:04 > 0:41:06Women had learnt to drive.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09Women had learnt to drive and they'd also been in those positions
0:41:09 > 0:41:12and that could never really be taken away from them.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15They could never go back to where they'd been before.
0:41:15 > 0:41:17You can see if you look in,
0:41:17 > 0:41:21this is August 1917 in the Harrodian Gazette, "Gone are the prejudices
0:41:21 > 0:41:24"and restrictions hitherto prevailing against female labour.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27"She enters on the same footing as her brothers."
0:41:27 > 0:41:30So the war has really brought a transformation
0:41:30 > 0:41:32to the status of women.
0:41:38 > 0:41:41In November 1918, the war ended.
0:41:44 > 0:41:48Soon the soldiers came home to their families and old jobs.
0:41:53 > 0:41:57The returning shop assistants demanded better working conditions
0:41:57 > 0:41:58and they got them.
0:42:02 > 0:42:07By early 1920, many shop owners had agreed to a 48-hour week.
0:42:08 > 0:42:12Many, but not all.
0:42:12 > 0:42:17In April 1920, a rebellion broke out here in Oxford Street.
0:42:23 > 0:42:28400 shop workers walked out on their 84-year-old boss, Mr John Lewis,
0:42:28 > 0:42:33for breaking a promise to improve their pay and conditions.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36The strikers described him as a "gnarled old oak"
0:42:36 > 0:42:39refusing to move with the times.
0:42:39 > 0:42:42John Lewis hit back, denouncing the accursed trade unions.
0:42:44 > 0:42:48Lewis had founded his shop on Oxford Street in 1864
0:42:48 > 0:42:53and remained firmly entrenched in his Victorian ways.
0:42:53 > 0:42:55Living-in, low pay
0:42:55 > 0:42:58and a culture of austerity defined his management style,
0:42:58 > 0:43:01providing value for the customer was the bottom line
0:43:01 > 0:43:05and if that meant penny-pinching with the staff, so be it.
0:43:07 > 0:43:10One of the strikers, shopgirl Hilda Cannon,
0:43:10 > 0:43:13became the dispute's poster girl,
0:43:13 > 0:43:15helping to rally huge public support,
0:43:15 > 0:43:19and it came from all quarters, from West End theatres
0:43:19 > 0:43:23to staff at rival Harrods and even from the Queen herself.
0:43:27 > 0:43:29Described as grey eyed and soft voice,
0:43:29 > 0:43:34but possessing any amount of grit, Hilda was a new kind of shopgirl,
0:43:34 > 0:43:37who was happy to step out and speak up.
0:43:42 > 0:43:44But old John Lewis refused to budge,
0:43:44 > 0:43:48so after five weeks Hilda and her comrades gave up on the strike
0:43:48 > 0:43:50and landed jobs elsewhere.
0:43:53 > 0:43:56Even Spedan, John Lewis's older son,
0:43:56 > 0:43:59accused him of being ruthlessly closed fisted.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04Spedan was determined to do things different.
0:44:04 > 0:44:06He dreamt up a revolutionary vision for the future,
0:44:06 > 0:44:09which remains at the heart of the business today.
0:44:12 > 0:44:13As a young man,
0:44:13 > 0:44:16Spedan had started to think about the John Lewis stores accounts
0:44:16 > 0:44:19and had been appalled by the enormous difference
0:44:19 > 0:44:22between the shop's profits and the staff payroll.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26Spedan, his brother and father together
0:44:26 > 0:44:30enjoyed an income of about £26,000 a year,
0:44:30 > 0:44:34while the entire staff wage bill came to just £16,000.
0:44:35 > 0:44:38To Spedan, this was just plain unfair.
0:44:40 > 0:44:43Spedan believed that success should not be achieved
0:44:43 > 0:44:46at the expense of his staff, but built on their happiness.
0:44:46 > 0:44:48In an extraordinary move,
0:44:48 > 0:44:52he decided to hand control of the business to his employees,
0:44:52 > 0:44:56making them owners of what would become the John Lewis Partnership.
0:45:03 > 0:45:05Spedan kick-started his changes
0:45:05 > 0:45:09when he was manager of John Lewis' sister store, Peter Jones.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14Judy, what was Spedan trying to do at Peter Jones?
0:45:14 > 0:45:18He realised that if he could make the staff more involved
0:45:18 > 0:45:20in running the business that the business would
0:45:20 > 0:45:23probably become more efficient and more profitable.
0:45:23 > 0:45:25And how did he do that?
0:45:25 > 0:45:29The biggest hook really, I suppose, to encourage the staff to participate
0:45:29 > 0:45:31would have been through things like this.
0:45:31 > 0:45:35- Now this is a Share Promise. - What was the Share Promise?
0:45:35 > 0:45:37He couldn't, as his father still owned the business,
0:45:37 > 0:45:40give them the dividend directly,
0:45:40 > 0:45:45so these were documents which were issued and signed by Spedan Lewis.
0:45:45 > 0:45:47- To all staff? - To all the staff.
0:45:47 > 0:45:52And it basically agreed that he would pay them the dividend
0:45:52 > 0:45:54as and when he was able to do so.
0:45:54 > 0:45:56So they became shareholders in the business?
0:45:56 > 0:45:59Yes, that's the first time they become shareholders
0:45:59 > 0:46:02- and that's in 1920.- 1920. Was he the first person to do that?
0:46:02 > 0:46:05It was really quite radical for them
0:46:05 > 0:46:07and I think he had to keep it quite quiet from his father,
0:46:07 > 0:46:10because I don't think his father would really have approved too much.
0:46:10 > 0:46:13- Oh, really?- Yes. - He didn't know?- Oh, yes.
0:46:13 > 0:46:15Spedan was keeping two sets of books at one time
0:46:15 > 0:46:19so his father didn't know exactly what he was spending his money on.
0:46:19 > 0:46:21I think there's a story here of a young woman
0:46:21 > 0:46:23who did want to cash in her shares.
0:46:23 > 0:46:25Yes, this is in Spedan's book and he's writing about
0:46:25 > 0:46:29one of the girls that was working for him at the time,
0:46:29 > 0:46:31and it says in here,
0:46:31 > 0:46:34" 'Oh, Matron, Florrie's got her share money!
0:46:34 > 0:46:36" 'But are these things really money?'
0:46:36 > 0:46:39"The Matron said, 'Of course they're really money,
0:46:39 > 0:46:43" 'as I keep telling you silly girls and now perhaps you'll believe it.'
0:46:43 > 0:46:45"Whereupon the questioner said,
0:46:45 > 0:46:48" 'But I've got 30 of them, fancy me being worth £30.'
0:46:48 > 0:46:50"And she burst in to tears."
0:46:50 > 0:46:52Because she couldn't believe she was worth £30.
0:46:52 > 0:46:54No, absolutely not.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57What was his attitude to employing women?
0:46:57 > 0:47:01He was incredibly keen on recruiting women, and he thought that women
0:47:01 > 0:47:05would add a new dimension to the management structure of the business,
0:47:05 > 0:47:08because up until that time most of the managers had been men.
0:47:08 > 0:47:11So he doesn't want more of the same shopgirls just serving
0:47:11 > 0:47:15on the shop floor, he wants women in more managerial roles and positions?
0:47:15 > 0:47:20He was very aware that a lot of his customers were middle-class ladies
0:47:20 > 0:47:22and he thought recruiting some of them
0:47:22 > 0:47:24would do the business no harm whatsoever.
0:47:24 > 0:47:26Who's this one? This is Miss Bowen.
0:47:26 > 0:47:30Laura Bowen managed to join the Partnership
0:47:30 > 0:47:35and within three years became the general manager of Peter Jones.
0:47:35 > 0:47:36At the age of 24?
0:47:36 > 0:47:38Yes, yes.
0:47:38 > 0:47:41So she was, and as you can see from the press cuttings,
0:47:41 > 0:47:44it was really big news in those days.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47- "A woman's triumph from university to store's chief."- Yes, yes.
0:47:47 > 0:47:49How about this one? "Miss General Manager,
0:47:49 > 0:47:52"important business post for pretty girl student".
0:47:52 > 0:47:55- Oh, they still managed to get that little dig in there.- Yes.
0:47:55 > 0:47:58"A pretty, dark-haired girl, Miss Laura Bowen."
0:47:59 > 0:48:03All over the country, forward-looking department stores
0:48:03 > 0:48:07were starting to promote their shopgirls into management positions.
0:48:10 > 0:48:12It sent a positive message to women
0:48:12 > 0:48:15looking to get into higher-end shop work.
0:48:15 > 0:48:17When you got the job at Peter Jones,
0:48:17 > 0:48:21did your friends and family think this was a good place to work?
0:48:21 > 0:48:24Well, my mother thought it was marvellous to think
0:48:24 > 0:48:27I'd got such a job.
0:48:27 > 0:48:30- Well, it was THE store, wasn't it?- Yeah.
0:48:30 > 0:48:33It was. I couldn't believe it myself.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38What did your husband think of you working?
0:48:40 > 0:48:44Well, he just accepted it, dear.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47And what was so appealing about working there for you?
0:48:47 > 0:48:50We all seemed to work together.
0:48:50 > 0:48:55As you say, the Partnership, we really did work as partners.
0:48:55 > 0:48:58Do you think it felt different to other kinds of shop work?
0:48:58 > 0:49:00- Oh, yes.- What made it so great?
0:49:00 > 0:49:05We used to get these shares, you see, you got the shares.
0:49:05 > 0:49:07- Yes.- And that.
0:49:07 > 0:49:10Did that feel quite special to have the shares?
0:49:10 > 0:49:12Well, it did really.
0:49:12 > 0:49:15And I think you really felt you was a partner
0:49:15 > 0:49:18because you held the shares.
0:49:18 > 0:49:21At the time you were working there, Spedan Lewis was the boss,
0:49:21 > 0:49:23did you ever meet him?
0:49:23 > 0:49:25- I did, yes.- Did you?- Yeah. - What was he like?
0:49:26 > 0:49:29- Well, quite a grumpy old man. - Was he?
0:49:31 > 0:49:36Grumpy or not, Spedan Lewis's scheme is still in place today.
0:49:40 > 0:49:44Since 1929, every member of the John Lewis Partnership has shared
0:49:44 > 0:49:47the responsibilities and the rewards
0:49:47 > 0:49:50of being a co-owner through the bonus system.
0:49:52 > 0:49:55This is one of those unique moments where, as an organisation,
0:49:55 > 0:49:59we share the profits amongst all of us as co-owners.
0:49:59 > 0:50:02These partners are gathering in the Oxford Street store,
0:50:02 > 0:50:07they're awaiting one thing - the figure that will reveal
0:50:07 > 0:50:10what percentage of their salary they'll be receiving as a bonus.
0:50:13 > 0:50:14CHEERING
0:50:14 > 0:50:1615%, everybody!
0:50:22 > 0:50:26The financial forecast at the dawn of the 1930s was much more sobering.
0:50:29 > 0:50:33The Great Depression hit many British industries hard.
0:50:33 > 0:50:34But it was to prove a pivotal moment
0:50:34 > 0:50:37in the creation of the modern shopgirl.
0:50:39 > 0:50:42It might sound surprising, but the hungry 1930s was also
0:50:42 > 0:50:46the moment when the British public shopped like never before.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51While traditional heavy manufacturing,
0:50:51 > 0:50:53such as shipbuilding suffered,
0:50:53 > 0:50:56the new light-industry sector flourished.
0:50:56 > 0:50:59Improved mass production techniques made things like
0:50:59 > 0:51:04electrical appliances and synthetic textiles available and affordable.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10People with jobs and money wanted to buy
0:51:10 > 0:51:14and shrewd shop owners were only too happy to supply the demand.
0:51:14 > 0:51:18With chains opening up like Boots, Littlewoods, British Home Stores
0:51:18 > 0:51:22and Woolworths on every city and suburban high street,
0:51:22 > 0:51:25this was truly the dawn of mass consumer culture.
0:51:26 > 0:51:30In the inter-war years, the number of chain stores quadrupled.
0:51:33 > 0:51:36And some family favourites firmly established themselves
0:51:36 > 0:51:38on our high streets.
0:51:40 > 0:51:44No longer the preserve of the independent or family owned store,
0:51:44 > 0:51:47high streets across the land now drew in increasing numbers
0:51:47 > 0:51:49of women workers.
0:51:52 > 0:51:55One chain proved particularly popular.
0:51:57 > 0:52:00Michael Marks opened his first Penny Bazaar right here
0:52:00 > 0:52:05in the centre of Leeds' Kirkgate Market in 1884.
0:52:05 > 0:52:09At first, he just sold cheap items, things like darning wool, buttons,
0:52:09 > 0:52:13needles and tablecloths and, of course, everything cost a penny.
0:52:13 > 0:52:15Then he teamed up with Yorkshireman Tom Spencer
0:52:15 > 0:52:18and together they launched a chain of stalls
0:52:18 > 0:52:21and later shops that would spread across the whole country.
0:52:24 > 0:52:27By 1939, Marks & Spencer was operating
0:52:27 > 0:52:33some 40 miles of counter space and employing 17,000 staff.
0:52:33 > 0:52:36The secret of M&S's success between the wars was selling fashionable,
0:52:36 > 0:52:41good quality, ready to wear clothes at bargain prices.
0:52:41 > 0:52:45So-called Mrs Goodwife could get a complete outfit, tennis frock,
0:52:45 > 0:52:49blazer, hats, stockings, shoes and, of course, underwear,
0:52:49 > 0:52:51all for £1 and a penny.
0:52:56 > 0:53:00The class barriers between shopper and shopgirl were crumbling,
0:53:00 > 0:53:04as browsing and bargain prices hit the high street.
0:53:08 > 0:53:11And selling off-the-peg clothing required the assistants
0:53:11 > 0:53:13to learn quite different skills.
0:53:18 > 0:53:20If I walked into a Marks & Spencer store in the 1930s,
0:53:20 > 0:53:22what would I see?
0:53:22 > 0:53:25It must have been like a breath of fresh air for people,
0:53:25 > 0:53:27because it was not at all intimidating.
0:53:27 > 0:53:31It would have been very well laid out.
0:53:31 > 0:53:33Clear ticketing pricing.
0:53:33 > 0:53:37You could go and you could touch and feel fabrics and look at sizes
0:53:37 > 0:53:41and take things out of their display units.
0:53:41 > 0:53:43What kind of fabrics were they using?
0:53:43 > 0:53:45In the 1920s and 1930s,
0:53:45 > 0:53:51Marks & Spencer started to introduce what were relatively new fabrics
0:53:51 > 0:53:54and of those I would say that one of the most important was rayon.
0:53:54 > 0:53:56What is rayon?
0:53:56 > 0:54:00Rayon is a man-made fabric, and I don't know if you can see,
0:54:00 > 0:54:03it has a nice sheen on it.
0:54:03 > 0:54:08So of course it was trying to be like silk,
0:54:08 > 0:54:11have the qualities of silk but, of course, silk was very expensive.
0:54:11 > 0:54:15It sort of revolutionised the availability of clothing,
0:54:15 > 0:54:17because you could, you know, in theory,
0:54:17 > 0:54:20you could just go on producing more and more and more.
0:54:20 > 0:54:22Very many more women found, also,
0:54:22 > 0:54:27that it was becoming cheaper to buy something ready-made.
0:54:27 > 0:54:30So in a way the balance of power shifted to the customer with
0:54:30 > 0:54:34- ready-to-wear and ticketed prices and browsing.- Yes.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37So the sales assistant has to have a whole new role.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40There's a manual here, for example,
0:54:40 > 0:54:44which talks about training of new staff.
0:54:44 > 0:54:46"Approach to customers.
0:54:46 > 0:54:49"Most customers like to look around before buying.
0:54:49 > 0:54:52"Customers who obviously want to buy and are waiting to be attended
0:54:52 > 0:54:56"should be asked, 'Can I help you?' Or a similar question."
0:54:56 > 0:54:59So I suppose you let them get on with it to a certain extent.
0:55:02 > 0:55:06"Explain to the girl how to display selling points,
0:55:06 > 0:55:09"the folding of articles,
0:55:09 > 0:55:11"how to build and maintain displays.
0:55:13 > 0:55:17"Check that the counter is kept well filled throughout the day
0:55:17 > 0:55:20"and that stock is sold in rotation."
0:55:21 > 0:55:24Did anything else change for shopgirls at this time?
0:55:24 > 0:55:28It's very likely that they were recruited from local areas
0:55:28 > 0:55:33and may very well have known the customers that they were serving.
0:55:33 > 0:55:35So they're coming from a more similar class background than
0:55:35 > 0:55:37- they might have done?- I think so.
0:55:37 > 0:55:40And so that, in a way, is another way of democratising
0:55:40 > 0:55:43the whole process of buying clothing and of retail.
0:55:46 > 0:55:50Alongside their specialised training in more subtle selling techniques,
0:55:50 > 0:55:54Marks & Spencer shopgirls enjoyed new benefits -
0:55:54 > 0:56:00rest-rooms, subsidised canteens and even staff holidays.
0:56:03 > 0:56:05Other shops were quick to follow suit.
0:56:07 > 0:56:10Shopgirls had begun the century vastly out-numbered
0:56:10 > 0:56:13and out-paid by their male colleagues,
0:56:13 > 0:56:16they had no political voice, few personal freedoms.
0:56:16 > 0:56:20Many were locked in at night in institutional dormitories.
0:56:20 > 0:56:26Now on the eve of World War II, over 400,000 women were working in shops.
0:56:26 > 0:56:29More and more of them had unprecedented access to training
0:56:29 > 0:56:32and some were even making it as managers.
0:56:32 > 0:56:35It seemed as if anything was possible.
0:56:37 > 0:56:40No-one better exemplified this sense of possibility than
0:56:40 > 0:56:45former shopgirl Margaret Bondfield, whose undercover reports had
0:56:45 > 0:56:48first exposed the hardships of shop life back in the 1890s.
0:56:51 > 0:56:56She was elected as one of Labour's first women MPs in 1923
0:56:56 > 0:57:01and, in 1929, became Britain's first woman Cabinet minster.
0:57:04 > 0:57:08"I just want to say how awfully glad we are that we have a woman
0:57:08 > 0:57:11in our second Labour government.
0:57:11 > 0:57:15A woman who started life as a shop assistant
0:57:15 > 0:57:18and who is today the first woman minister of this Cabinet.
0:57:20 > 0:57:24The revolution on the shop floor was gathering speed.
0:57:26 > 0:57:27In the next episode,
0:57:27 > 0:57:32I'll find out how the shopgirl took centre-stage on the home front,
0:57:32 > 0:57:36how she rose to become the embodiment of '60s fashion
0:57:36 > 0:57:39and I'll look at the very different influence of another famous Margaret
0:57:39 > 0:57:41also steeped in shop life.
0:57:41 > 0:57:43Margaret Thatcher.
0:57:43 > 0:57:46For the first 18 years of my life,
0:57:46 > 0:57:50I lived over the shop which my father owned and ran.