War Diary of Nella Last

Page 1 of 6

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Family, friends, woman's role
• 3. Family row
• 4. Death, freedom and marriage
• 5. Cliff, Arthur - and home thoughts
• 6. Find out more
• Print entire article

Introduction

In September 1939 Nella Last began a diary that was to continue for nearly 30 years. She was a volunteer with the Mass Observation Archive, which was set up in 1937 by Charles Madge and Tom Harrisson.

They wanted to record the views of ordinary British people, and recruited volunteers to observe British life, and diarists to record a day-to-day account of their lives. These archives now give a unique insight into the lives of British civilians who found themselves going through a period when their country was at war.

Nella Last was a housewife, married to a shop-fitter and joiner. Their younger son, Cliff, was in the Army and the older son, Arthur, was a tax inspector and therefore exempted from conscription. Both were now living away from home. The Lasts lived in Barrow-in-Furness - a shipbuilding town. During the Blitz, it became a target for German bombing.

This was a period when families were separated, and sometimes coping with the loss of a family member. Cities were being bombed, and housewives such as Nella had to find new ingenious ways to keep their homes together. This remarkable account depicts clearly what it was like for ordinary families living through World War Two.

The two sets of extracts published on this site have been divided into those concerning Nella's more personal life, as it was affected by the war (part one), and those concerning more public events (part two - for link see 'Related Links' column, right).

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Published: 2001-07-01