Depression of the 1930's................ The saddest thing that one has to remember about those days is the realisation that people had no money in their possession on a Monday morning. At one stage people were Pledging their goods as early as 7.30 am to enable them to purchase food for breakfast. Some brokers came to a standstill as there was nothing left to pawn.

Saturday Night at a London Pawnbroker's, 1906.

A Sale of Unredeemed Goods at Debenham, Storr and Co., London, 1906

Typical stock take for one particular day in 1836: 539 men's coats, 355 vests, 288 slacks, 84 pairs of stockings, 1986 gowns, 540 petticoats, 240 silk hankies, 294 shirts, 60 hats, 84 bed ticks, 108 pillows, 206 blankets, 300 sheets, 102 bibles, 204 watches, 216 rings, 48 Waterloo medals. Based on this evidence, it would appear that the people of Glasgow were pawning life's necessities and not luxuries.

One wonders what people would had done had there been no pawnshop. A vast amount of people would have and did go hungry, there were money lenders but the interest rates were exceptionally high, people did borrow from each other from week to week, a majority suffered in silence, some resorted to thieving and mugging, the only answer to the pawnshop was the Parish payment, where people had to suffer a degrading means test before any cash, however little was offered.

Pawnbroking began to decline in the 1930s as the state found itself under pressure to take the basic care of the poor into its own charge, and then the British working class began to enjoy a level of prosperity, comfort and security which would have seemed inconceivable before 1939.

On the whole 'uncle' has not had a good press. Journalists, especially in London, have usually portrayed him as a shifty, dishonest character, the friend of thieves and rogues and almost certainly Jewish.

The British have always seemed to have had a love-hate relationship with their pawnbrokers; they have needed them and appreciated their services, and, at the same time, experienced strong feelings of guilt about requiring this form of credit. The roots of this significant attitude are to be found in the history of two types of borrowing. Mortgages and bank loans have been associated with the upper classes, but what the pawnbroker has traditionally provided is, for the most part, money for the hard up members of the working class.