Time To Ponder

I don't know much about my great uncle Tommy Dodds apart from snippets. He was a miner at Sleetburn, had a pocket watch, used snuff and eventually died of cancer. He had done rather well in examinations after leaving New Brancepeth school and it was felt that he had the potential to get a degree; in the event it was his younger brother Wilfrid that collected the  glittering academic prizes. I rather fancy that Tommy's fate was due to  limited family finances and if so it is a familiar story for quite a few working class lads in those days. For bright daughters it was often worse; they tended to suffer  because their role was seen to be that of looking after the hearth while the man was out earning  the family finances.

As previously stated  Tommy had a pocket watch but I do not recall him owning a wrist watch even though such watches became popular in the 1920s, having originally been called wristlet's!

I did not wear a wrist watch until 1960 but several of my mates had them before then. It is a funny thing but how often do you see young people wearing wrist watches these days? Most of them do not see the point because mobile phones supply the time, the internet and much else.

WB