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MINIMUM STANDARD

To make the analysis of material simpler, particularly where it concerned the furniture items which serve the needs of the individual, it was decided to compare the recorded results with a minimum standard of furnishing. Since there was no other minimum standard available it was necessary to define one. After consultation with welfare workers and furniture specialists in which the health, comfort, rest and convenience of the family were taken into consideration, the following standard was arrived at a minimum.

1 bed per person (a person included a child of any age;)

1 straight chair per person;

½ easy chair per person;

1/3 Wardrobe or hanging cupboard per person;

½ dressing table or chest of drawers per person;

1 table which could be used for eating per family;

1 kitchen cabinet or sideboard for cooking utensils per family.

The furniture list includes other items as well as those that define the minimum standard in order to record the frequency with which these extra items are possessed.

The following table shows the results of an analysis of the findings:

Table 1 shows that 15% of families fall below the minimum standard for beds.

11% of the families have less than 1 straight chair per person, and 10% have less than ½ easy chair per person.

28% of the families fall below our minimum standard for chest of drawers, that is, ½ per person.

11% of the families have no wardrobe whatsoever, and in 10% of the families more than 3 people share 1 wardrobe.

The table below shows what proportions of families own furniture items which serve the entire family.

2% of families have no large eating table. 33% have no separate kitchen table for cooking .

22% of the families have no sideboard. 49% have no kitchen cabinet.

33% of the families have no occasional table. Only 13% have a trolley or waiter, and only 27% have a separate place for linen. 24% have a display cabinet.

30% have a bookcase and 23% have writing desks.

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SHORTAGES:

It seems useful to find out whether a shortage of furnishing was concentrated in certain groups in the population. The problem was approached by comparing the standard of furnishing of the families in which there was less than one bed per person with the sample as a whole.

As can be seen clearly above, those families who have less than one bed per person are much shorter than the sample as a whole in all other items as well.

Analysis of furniture inventories by classification data brought two other factors to light. The standard of furnishing is related to (a) the size of the family, and (b) the wage rate of the chief wage earner (economic group). This first factor, the relationship between the family size and standard of furnishing can be seen in the following table, in which the furniture items which serve the needs of the individual are analysed.

The above table shows that in families with 2 persons, 97% have at least one bed per person. In families of 7 or more, only 43% have one bed or more per person. The same trend is true of chairs, dressing tables, and wardrobes. A first analysis by economic groups showed that the main differences in furnishing arise between the groups whose main wage earner had a wage rate less than £5. 10s. a week and the groups whose main wage earner had a wage rate of more than £5. 10s. a week. Therefore these two economic groupings were used for the final analysis.

Tables 4 b, c, d, e and. f, relate economic group to the possession of beds, chest of drawers, wardrobes, straight chairs and easy chairs amongst households with and households without children. For instance, table 4b shows that of the 282 households whose chief wage earner had a basic wage of £5 10s. or more per week, (274 i.e. 37% of the 282) had 1 or more beds per person in the households Table 4d, shows that of the 894 households with children 214 (that is 24% of the 894) had less than ½ and not less than ⅓ of a Wardrobe per person in the household.

It will be seen that in general, less furniture per person is available to those in the lower economic group than to those in the higher; and to those in households with children than to those in households without children.

To enable it to be discovered to what extent the households which are both in the lower economic group and also comparatively short of furniture coincide with those which both contain children and are comparatively short of furniture; table 4G, was prepared.

Studied in conjunction with table 4b it shows that on the average the fact that a household contains children and the fact that its chief wage earner is in the lower economic group both contribute appreciably towards being comparatively short of beds * .

In view of the close relation between shortage of beds and shortage of other items of furniture exhibited in table 3 it seems likely that the conclusion with regard to beds is true also with regard to the other items of furniture.

Broadly then we may say that the present investigation indicates that shortage of furniture is most acute amongst those households which both possess children and are in the lower economic group (i.e. less than £5 10s. per week basic wage of chief wage earner.)

Families whose chief wage earner has a wage rate over £5. 10s. are better furnished in beds, easy chairs, wardrobes, and dressing tables or chests of drawers. The same is true for the items of furniture which serve the family as a unit, as seen in the following analysis:

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FURNISHING STANDARD AND RESTRICTED PRODUCTION :

During the war years the restricted production of furniture has made it difficult to buy otherwise than with priority dockets, and therefore it is possible that the low furnishing standard of certain groups is not a permanent feature of their standard of living, but it is due to their inability in the past six years normally to replace furniture. To discover whether or not the low standard was due to a shortage on the market, housewives were asked whether there was any furniture needed so badly that it must be bought in the near future (the next 3 months), and whether there was any intention of buying in the distant future (next 2 years). The following table gives the relationship between the standard of furnishing and the desire to buy various furniture items in the near or distant future.

The table shows that all families who have less than ½ bed per person want to buy a bed in the near future, and 36% of those who have less than one and more than ½ bed per person want be buy one. Even if the proportion of housewives who want to buy in the distant future is taken into account there is a large proportion remaining who are below the minimum standard, but who do not propose to buy a bed or beds in the next 3 months or the next two years. The situation for chairs, wardrobes, and dressing tables is a similar one to that for beds.

The next two tables show the proportion of housewives who want to buy furniture in the near and/or distant future.

Only 17% of the random sample express a desire to buy furniture in the near future whereas more than twice that proportion in the Utility Furniture sample intend to. Much the same is true of the intention of buying in the distant future.

The furniture item most wanted in the near future is beds. The next on the list are wardrobes, and dressing tables, followed by chairs and easy chairs. The same furniture items in much the same order of importance are mentioned with the intention of being bought in the distance future.

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BUYING AND SELLING FURNITURE :

For practical purposes the Board of Trade was interested in knowing to what extent housewives bought or sold furniture. The schedule therefore included questions which asked all housewives who had set up home ten years ago, or longer whether they had bought or sold any furniture in that time, and if so what items. This was not asked of those who had been married less than 10 years since it was felt that the six war years intervening may have disrupted normal trends. Out of the sample of 1844 housewives, 1472 were asked these questions. The results showed that one third had bought bedroom furniture of some sort, either in suites or in odd pieces in that time. One fourth had bought sitting room furniture e.g. easy chairs, settees, etc:

Tables 11 and 12 below, show in detail what proportions of housewives had bought or sold various furniture items since setting up home.

The same housewives were asked to give their reasons for buying and selling. Not all of them were able to give reasons. These who were, gave one or more of the following:

FOR BUYING:

An increase in family - this was particularly true of beds

Improvement of furnishing

To replace old or worn out - this was mentioned mostly where lounge furniture was concerned.

To complete home - this reason was given in the greatest number of cases, and was especially true of kitchen and dining room furniture.

FOR SELLING:

To replace with new, or because didn’t like old - given in one third of the cases

Moved to smaller house

Financial need

Miscellaneous, e.g. old or worn-out, moved to new part of country, broke up home - each mentioned in a very small proportion of cases.

SUMMARY : An inventory of specified furniture items was taken of a random selection of housewives, and a minimum standard of furnishing was defined. A considerable proportion of the households, particularly the poorer with large families were underfurnished, 15% of the families had less than 1 bed per person, 11% had less than 1 straight chair per person. 28% of the families had not enough drawer space, and 33% had not enough hanging space to protect clothes from dust.

Only a proportion of these families intend to buy furniture in the near or distant future.

On the other hand there is a small proportion of people who although above the minimum standard, want to buy furniture in the near future and a slightly higher proportion who want to do so in the more distant future.

In interpreting these results it should be kept in mind that this investigation was based on the existing housing conditions and that no attempt was made to estimate further furniture needs, brought about by rehousing of families not yet in possession of a house of their own.

This has only been a first attempt at investigating peoples’ standard of furnishing. Many more detailed investigations will be needed before a thorough knowledge of habits and standards in furnishing can be acquired.