New records released from the 1921 census allowed Jan Daniells to learn more about the hardships of her ancestors in Birmingham's notorious back-to-backs.
ITV Central's Rosie Dowsing joins former back-to-back resident Jan Daniells revisiting her heritage in Birmingham's notorious housing of the past.who grew up in Birmingham's back-to-back housing as a child, says she was shocked' and 'humbled' to learn that many generations of her family also endured hardships there.
The National Trust have long preserved the last remaining back-to-back houses on Hurst and Inge Street, in Birmingham, as a heritage site, but the release of the 1921 census now provides more details about those who lived there in the inter-war years. Jan says uncovering her family history of hardship was both important and humbling, as generations of her father's side, and some on her mother's side, experienced similar living conditions to her early childhood.
"It makes you think it is their hard graft, their endurance, that has helped us get to where we are as future generations."Jan says some of her most vivid memories are the icicles that would form on the windows, the huge amount of spiders, and the struggles her mum had when trying to buy food or top up the meter.
The research by FindMyPast and the National Trust uncovered details about what life would have been like for back-to-back residents in the aftermath of the First World War – including struggling creatives, cramped and squalid living conditions, and veterans struggling with the terrible legacy of combat.
The project also discovered from the census that a few houses along, at 40 Inge Street, five families were crammed into one three-room house, enduring terrible conditions around full-time work at the nearby motor works, metal works and hospital.
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