Five ways family life was different when Queen Elizabeth II was born

21 April 2026 marks what would have been the late Queen Elizabeth II's 100th birthday.

A lot has changed since 1926, when Huddersfield Town had just been crowned Football League First Division champions for the third time in a row and John Logie Baird gave the first demonstration of a television.

But how has family life changed in the last 100 years, since Queen Elizabeth II was born?

Bitesize Parenting takes a look at life for families back in 1926 to see what it was like.

While the 1920s might have been 'roaring' for some middle and upper class Britons following the end of World War I, many working-class families faced a very different reality. Well over a million people were unemployed in 1926, and around 1.7 million workers took part in the 1926 General Strike, causing disruption and hardship, deepening the struggles for many families already living in poverty.

The weekly wage for an ordinary labourer in the mid-1920s was between 28 and 40 shillings, equivalent to between about £115 and £165 in today's money. As a comparison, the National Living Wage for people age 21 and over from April 2026 is £12.71, which works out at £483 for a 38-hour working week. However, a wage for an ordinary labourer could stretch much further in the 1920s, often covering more essential household costs than equivalent wages do today. That said, the overall standard of living for a family would be considered much worse than today.

We have some advice on how to talk to your children about family finances.

Parenting for those families on lower incomes would have been made even more difficult by low quality homes and overcrowding. Parents in the United Kingdom had around 2.4 children on average in the mid 1920s, but for some families this would have been higher, meaning cramped living conditions. According to the most recent Office for National Statistics data, the total fertility rate in 2024 was 1.41 children per woman in England and Wales, which is the lowest rate since comparable records began in 1938.

Most working-class families in large towns and cities lived in small terraced houses with no indoor bathroom, no running hot water and no central heating. Even though many people still live in Victorian terraced houses today, the standard of family life has improved substantially as amenities and services have advanced. 'Slum housing' was still widespread in the 1920s and it was not until the Housing Act 1930 that councils had to identify and begin demolishing them. From the 1930s onwards families started to move into newer, more modern housing, including semi-detached houses.

School attendance was compulsory for all children until age 14 in the United Kingdom by 1926, but many working-class children left at age 14 to start work. Rural schools were often small, single room buildings with one teacher who taught all children regardless of age, whereas urban schools had larger buildings with greater age separation. There was a focus on the 'three Rs' – reading, writing and arithmetic – but lessons were gendered and focused on things like needlework and domestic duties for girls, with things like woodwork and other manual skills taught to boys.

School dinners became more common after the Provision of Meals Act in 1906, but not all children qualified for free or subsidised school meals, and many either went home for dinner or brought in a simple packed lunch. School in 1926 was also very strict, and punishments like the cane, strap or ruler were commonly used to deal with misbehaviour.

Modern schooling is now almost unrecognisable to one hundred years ago. We now learn subjects like computing and the use of technology in classrooms is now commonplace, which wasn't the case in 1926. School dinners have also changed significantly since Queen Elizabeth II was born – with plans in place for another overhaul of the menu in 2027.

The Education Act 1944 increased the compulsory age of schooling, but it was not until 1972 that pupils had to remain in school until they were 16 years old. Corporal punishment such as caning, remained legal in state schools across the UK until 1986 -1987, but was still allowed in many private schools until the late 1990s or early 2000s, depending on the part of the UK.

More food was locally sourced by families in the 1920s than it is today, with some exceptions such as tea and sugar. Fruit and vegetables would be grown locally and eaten in season – so you wouldn't get strawberries and raspberries all year round like you can today.

Electric refrigeration did exist in the 1920s but was expensive and not very common in households, so most people kept food in larders or pantries and meat was usually eaten on the day it was purchased, or salted to make it last longer. For many people, a food shop was more frequent than the modern 'weekly shop', and there were no supermarkets as we know them today in the 1920s, with folk opting for local butchers, bakers and grocers.

Breakfast in 1926 may have included bread, porridge or occasionally eggs. Lunch, also known as dinner, was the main meal and would feature vegetables like potatoes, soup, pies and meat eaten a few days a week. Tea, was the evening meal and often consisted of bread and butter, cold meat, cheese or jam. However diets varied by region and income.

You can find lots of nutritious recipes and tips for family eating on Bitesize Parenting's Food page.

Many workers only had Sunday off in 1926, however some did have Saturday afternoons to themselves. In the 1920s there were fewer bank holidays than today and no legal right to paid leave for workers to take holiday, so family time and activities were much more limited than today.

In 1926 around 2 million households had a radio license following the launch of the BBC's radio service in November 1922. Early radio broadcasts featured classical music, news and children's programmes. Cinema was a popular form of entertainment in the 1920s, but British cinema in 1926 was silent – with music provided by a pianist in the cinema. Popular film stars of the decade included Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo and Buster Keaton.

Sport was a popular pastime, and Saturday afternoon was a time when sports like football were played – a tradition that still exists today – this was due to the half-day workers were given on a Saturday. Walking was also a popular activity for families, but places you could walk in 1926 were restricted. There were no national parks and it was technically illegal to walk on common land, unless you stuck to public footpaths, so people often visited public parks. At home, parlour games like cards and dominos were popular family activities.

For inspiration for more modern family activities, you should check out our activity page!

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