Nella Last: the Housewife who wrote history

When we think of wartime heroes, our minds often turn to soldiers on the front line, brave nurses, resistance fighters, or politicians, steering their nations through uncertainty. Rarely do we think of the quiet, steadfast housewife stirring a pot of soup, patching clothes, or tucking children into bed while bombs shook the night.

There are so many voices that are reminiscent of WW2. Churchill’s addresses to the nation, speeches from a new King, the voices of the men who returned to tell their stories, and those who wrote from the front lines, whose experiences have shaped documentaries, movies, and thankfully charities that still support returning servicemen to this day.

Yet, an ordinary woman, a humble housewife, has been one voice through which I’ve learned the most from during that time. In her own way, and unbeknownst to her, Nella Last became one of Britain’s most remarkable and prolific chroniclers of the Second World War - not by wielding weapons, but a humble pencil.

Who was Nella Last, Housewife 49?

Nella was an ordinary middle-aged woman living in Barrow-in-Furness, a shipbuilding town on England’s northwest coast. She was a wife, a mother, and a homemaker whose days were filled with cooking, sewing, and keeping her family safe and warm. The occupation of millions of women in Europe at the time, and there was nothing particularly “remarkable” about her. Nella’s husband, Will Last, was a joiner, her eldest son Arthur was a Tax Inspector which happened to be a reserved occupation (meaning he wasn’t conscripted), and her youngest son Clifford joined the Army. Their home, at 9 Ilkley Road, Barrow in Furness was a modern (at the time), but modest three bedroom semi-detached. While being up north and away from most of the bombing in the major cities, the location was known for its ship-building, and so, became a target for German Luftwaffe bombing during the Blitz campaign.

While the political “war machines” of Westminster carried on with their grand and important business, another kind of effort was quietly unfolding. In the aftermath of WWI, it had become clear that understanding the voice of the people mattered too. Out of this grew the Mass-Observation Project - a remarkable social research initiative launched in Britain in 1937 by a group of intellectuals and writers. Its purpose was simple yet profound: to record and better understand the everyday lives, thoughts, and habits of ordinary Britons.

At the time, opinion polling was still very much in its infancy, and the founders of Mass-Observation wanted to go deeper than statistics. They hoped to create an “anthropology of ourselves” by capturing the details of daily life - how people worked, relaxed, shopped, worshipped, and thought about current events. It would give, in its own way, a snapshot of public morale to Westminster.

When the Mass-Observation project invited ordinary citizens to record their lives for posterity in 1939, Nella answered the call with a devotion and diligence few could have predicted. Over the next three decades, she poured her heart and mind into diary entries that would eventually span an astonishing 12 million words.

The Mass Observation office supplied each diarist with a code, based on their occupation and age, and thus, “Housewife 49” was given as Nella’s moniker.

Through her writing, Nella gave voice to the everyday resilience of women who held the home front together. She wrote about rationing, about the struggle to find joy in the little things, her marriage though not troubled - at times, a bit “stifling”, and about the courage it took to keep a cheerful face for her family when her own heart felt heavy. Knowing what we do now, given her health, age, and mindset, it’s likely she was going through the menopause - her diaries not only make it an insight into wartime life, but also how lonely and isolating this period of change in a woman’s life can be.

I also found her thoughts on other women’s struggles during wartime to be very poignant and interesting. Thing’s certainly changed for women after the war!

I feel this conscription of women will be a backward step, for it is taking the best, most formative years from a girl’s life and giving her a taste of freedom that many crave for. Will they settle later to homes and children? Nella Last

Her words aren’t like most, they are deep, thoughtful, reflective and captivating. We are party to the richness of her innermost thoughts. Nella really captures the very essence of running a home during turbulent times, it makes you realise how lucky we are today. She also shows us that the work of tending to a home and family, even when reduced to the simplest, humblest tasks, is in itself an act of defiance against despair. Every stew stretched with a little extra barley, every knitted sock for a soldier, every flower arranged in a jug on a windowsill, every day stepping out the door to “keep calm and carry on”, was in its own way, an affirmation of hope.

Nella, despite her husband’s reservations and pressure for her to “just stay home and look after me”, signed up to help the war effort as part of the WVS (the “Women’s Voluntary Service). She found great solace in her voluntary work, and it helped her to use her many talents beyond homemaking. This is a wonderful article on the service itself.

For married women, like Nella, and myself, it wouldn’t have been easy or even feasible to join the Land Army, WRNS (The Wrens), or occupations that took you away from home for much of your time, so the WVS became the real hands and feet of the British Home Front.

Women of the WVS up and down the country were setting up mobile canteens, assisting in the evacuation of children, raising funds, sewing and knitting garments, and salvaging things needed for the front line, or those bombed out of their home.

There was a brief time I thought about reenactment as I love Home Front history and was so inspired by Nella, I purchased a replica WVS uniform. I never quite had the confidence to wear it to an event, but that’s a story for another day…

How Nella Last’s diaries can still inspire housewives today

I found one of Nella’s diaries in a charity shop more than a decade ago, and have since devoured each volume from cover to cover at least three times over.

We often read about women who have done or said remarkable things. Women who built business empires, achieved things on a world stage, entered or married into the glitz and glamour of celebrity, politics, or royalty - but what I adore about Nella is that she’s “just” one of us! She has hopes and fears, keeps herself occupied with trying to make a nice home despite the lack of resources, and often struggles with nerves and depressions. Mrs Last has little by the standards of what makes most women “famous” or successful, but also much - in a husband, the marriage not perfect, but trooping along, and in her two sons who she dearly loves.

A little life in the grand scheme, but one that, faithfully and touchingly documented during such an extraordinary time, lives on as a legacy.

If you haven’t met yet, I’d love for you to get to know her! There are four books on her writings, Nella Last’s War, Nella Last’s Peace, Nella Last in the 1950s, and an anthology of writings, Nella Last Writing in War & Peace.

The late, great, Victoria Wood also brought her to the small screen in a TV adaptation, Housewife 49, which is available on Prime, or as a DVD (and sneakily here on YouTube) if you cannot access it on Amazon in your region (like here in Australia). I have to share my honest thoughts with you though - while Victoria did a wonderful job in portraying Nella (also, it’s fun to play “spot the Beryl”) - I can’t help but feel the books are better. They’ve been rather unkind to her husband in particular and condensing 12 million words to an hour and a half really misses out on so much of her story.

I would also advise against paying heed to some of the reviews of her books. They mention casual racism, which you’ll have to be aware of if you are sensitive to such things, but remember - it’s of its time. While inexcusable, its just the way things were back then. We cannot change history, nor rewrite it - only learn from it.

I found this rather wonderful short film on YouTube that will give you a sample of her diaries. Why this hasn’t had more views I do not know. If you watch it, make sure to leave an appreciative comment. It’s really lovely.

Nella Last’s Diary for today’s homemaker

Today, we can learn from Nella’s example. In a world that often undervalues the unseen work of homemakers, her diaries remind us of the quiet strength and dignity to be found in serving faithfully within the walls of our homes. How it lives on in the most unexpected ways! Nella didn’t live to see her words published, it proves that a life can live on in legacy, and inspire those who come after us, whether we know it while we are on this earthly plane, or not.

She also teaches us that even in times of upheaval, the homemaker’s hand steadies the family and by extension, society itself.

What makes Nella so inspiring is not just that she recorded her life, but that she did so with honesty. She admitted her frustrations, her longings, her occasional weariness - and yet she persevered. Through her words, we glimpse a woman who discovered meaning in her vocation, and who left behind not only a testament to her own life, but also a gift for generations of women who would come after her.

Nella Last never set out to become famous. She was, quite simply, a housewife with a pencil and a piece of paper, and yet her legacy stands as a gentle reminder that the ordinary work of women is, in truth, extraordinary.

For every homemaker reading this today: may you know that the work you do matters. Whether you are caring for little ones, managing the rhythm of a household, or volunteering your time in service to others, you are writing history in your own way - just as Nella did.

With love as always,