Harriet's Family

About the Book

Harriet bolt, born in 1885, into a poor family living in Bedminster, Bristol, was forced dot defend her mother against an alcoholic father. Harriet lost her fist husband in a mining accident, leaving her with two young children in the days w3hen there was no social security. married to her second husband for only three years, he was sent to the Front in the Great War, leaving Harriet to run the family shop and look after her children. On his return from the war, life settled down, their children grew up, the Harriet and her family encountered the tribulations of the Second World War and the devastations it wreaked on the Bristol she loved. After the war, Harriet's family grew and prospered, to a level unthinkable to Harriet's parents. In spite of much of her life being an uphill struggle, the book is both funny and harrowing in turn.

During her eighty-three years of life the changes Harriet experienced were inextricable entwined with the social, economic and cultural changes of her immediate environment and the wider world. In her lifetime she had seen five British monarchs and two world wars, working-class women, who were of little account when Harriet was a child, had been given the vote and even become Members of Parliament: transport had evolved from horse and cart to jet aircraft. this is a true story of Harriet's triumphs and tears, over a period of time when the world changed irrevocably for everyone.

About the Author

Sheila Hayward left school at sixteen and worked as a junior copywriter in a advertising agency, where she met her husband. bored with the type of jobs she was offered as a Òmarried womanÓ she decided to take A-levels and read for a degree in Psychology, a subject she subsequently taught at A-level for twelve years. During this time, individually and in conjunction with her colleagues, she wrote a number of Psychology textbooks: Individual Differences, Biopsychology, Comparative Psychology, Introductory Psychology, published by Palgrave, and Applying Psychology to Organisations, published by Hodder & Stoughton, Studying part-time, she obtained a Masters degree in Organisational Psychology at the University of Bristol. awarded a scholarship by the University, she researched occupational stress and stress management and was awarded a PhD in year 20000. She researched and lectured in Psychology at Bristol and delivered a number of lectures at University College, London, followed by a research post at Cardiff University. She has always had an interest in history, particularly social and political history and the history of Bristol, her birthplace. On retiring from full-time employment Sheila researched her family history, in order to write an accurate account of her Grandmother's life, a project she had promised herself for a number of years. She has four children and (to date) five grandchildren. In addition to family history research she enjoys reading, horse-riding, gardening, cooking, foreign travel and spending time with her grand children.