Thurrock in the Thirties follows many of the same themes as Terry Carney’s previous publication, Thurrock in the Twenties. Once again he has produced a book full of interest to those who have vivid memories of the period and to those who have settled in Thurrock and are eager to learn more about the history of the area before World War II. It follows the same format as his previous book and is researched almost entirely from the pages of the Grays & Tilbury Gazette and the Thameside Mail.

The final result is well worth what must have been many days of painstaking study and categorising of the data into the 22 chapter headings which range through every aspect of life in Thurrock.

The cheerful cover showing the smiling faces of the cast of ‘The Quaker Girl’ is in stark contrast to the description of poverty in Tilbury when a quarter of the town’s population were on the verge of starvation. This book is full of contrasts between village and town, industry and agriculture, wealth and poverty, new estates such as Batas and interesting individuals such as the Rev. C. R. N. Burrows the famous natural historian valued by the scientific community.

There are also details of the courts, shops, entertainment, transport and roads, cinemas, environmental issues, the list goes on. Every chapter is illustrated and the advertisements in particular are a source of amusement, the Twilfit corsets from Joyes 16/11 and a bungalow on the Blackshots Park Estate could have been yours for only £25 deposit. How times have changed.

We are fortunate, that with the publication of Thurrock in the Thirties, we now have a series of books for the enjoyment of the general reader as well as an excellent resource for local historians, telling the story of Thurrock in detail from 1914 to 1945*.

Hazel Austin

*The Great War by Roger Reynolds MVO
Thurrock Goes to War by Roger Reynolds MVO and Jonathan Catton.
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