Yes - mid-day was called dinner and late afternoon was tea - although dinner for dad was his pit piece - plain bread, one with jam, the other with cheese - all fitting into a tin box of the same shape as the bread. Dad was up at 5:30am and back by 4pm. At primary school, we walked back home at mid-day for "dinner". At secondary school, to which we were bussed, it was initially school dinners, but like Rhyd6, they didn't agree with me - three stodgy courses to be consumed in 20 minutes (so that the second half of the school could get their turn in a subsequent 20 minutes). So I (and many others) turned to sandwiches.Dod101 wrote:I have no idea but if so, so did Lootman apparently. In my family history notes, I have commented that the industrial revolution more or less passed us by and that is true on all sides of my family so maybe you are right. We lived in a relatively small town and my father worked within walking or cycling distance of our house as a joiner in the workshop. He returned after 12 noon and was back at work by 1 pm. He thus had plenty of time for the main meal of the day at home during that time. My mother did not work and so she had the meal dished up for him more or less as he came in the door. We and those in a similar position called that meal dinner. Tea was usually not later than 5.30 pm after my father returned home. He often worked overtime but came home for tea and might then return to work for a further three hours or so. His normal working hours were 8 am to 5 pm with an hour off between 12 noon and 1 pm. That was in the immediate postwar period although my memory is probably of the early 1950s.scotia wrote: You seem to have led a sheltered life. In lots of respectable working class households, the main wage earner could/did not return home at mid day for a meal. I have quoted my family experience in a mining village - but it extended to other industries. Not to mention the problems of shift working.
Dod
There is a picture of a miner's sandwich tin at https://miningheritage.co.uk/snap-tin/
