Britain, Battersea, Bishops and This Happy Breed.

This Happy Breed (1944) is a story of a Battersea based family between the war years; 1919 to 1939. Its a David Lean masterpiece written by Noel Coward and stars John Mills and Robert Newton.  Mum, Dad, Gran, one aunt and three grown up children; Reg, Vi and Queenie all live under one roof.  Daughter Queenie is a 'all fur coat and no knickers' social climber who thinks she is to good for suburbia. There are deaths, a couple of weddings and war babies born.

When the family move to Stonhouse Street in Clapham the removal company is Bishops & Sons Depositories. The company now trades under the name Bishops Removals and still has a branch in Battersea.

The films' era has great clothes; the men wore suits to work, when resting and even to the seaside. The women's fashions change from flapper dresses to lovely tea dresses (lots of dressmaking in the home) and wrap over coat/jackets like this one:

This Happy Breeds' great characters and real locations is a wonderful showcase for the then British working class way of life.