Nella Last (née Nellie Lord; 4 October 1889 – 22 June 1968) was an English

housewife A housewife (also known as a homemaker or a stay-at-home mother/mom/mum) is a woman whose role is running or managing her family's home—housekeeping, which may include Parenting, caring for her children; cleaning and maintaining the home; Sew ...

who lived in

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town and civil parish (as just "Barrow") in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the county of Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borou ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England. She wrote a diary for the

Mass Observation Mass-Observation is a United Kingdom social research project; originally the name of an organisation which ran from 1937 to the mid-1960s, and was revived in 1981 at the University of Sussex. Mass-Observation originally aimed to record everyday ...

Archive from 1939 until 1966 making it one of the most substantial diaries held by Mass Observation. Her diary, consisting of around 12 million words, two million of which were written during World War II, is one of the longest in the English language.

Biography

She was the daughter of local railway clerk John Lord. She married Will Last on 17 May 1911, a shopfitter and joiner. They had two sons, Arthur (8 August 1913 - 18 May 1979) and Clifford (13 December 1918 - 20 October 1991). During the Second World War she volunteered for the

Women's Voluntary Service The Royal Voluntary Service (known as the Women's Voluntary Services (WVS) from 1938 to 1966; Women's Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS) from 1966 to 2004 and WRVS from 2004 to 2013) is a voluntary organisation concerned with helping people in need ...

(WVS) and the

British Red Cross The British Red Cross Society () is the United Kingdom body of the worldwide neutral and impartial humanitarian network the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The society was formed in 1870, and is a registered charity with 1 ...

. An edited version of the two million words or so she wrote during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

was originally published in 1981 as ''Nella Last's War: A Mother's Diary, 1939-45'' and subsequently republished as ''Nella Last's War: The Second World War Diaries of 'Housewife 49'' in 2006 when interest in her work grew again. Last's diary from January 1944 to the beginning of May 1945 is currently missing, as it was lost from the Mass Observation collection before it was moved to

Sussex University The University of Sussex is a public research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the South Downs National Park, and provide ...

. A second volume of her diaries, ''Nella Last's Peace: The Post-war Diaries of Housewife 49'', was published in October 2008, and a third and final volume ''Nella Last in the 1950s'' appeared in October 2010. Her published writing describes what it was like for ordinary people to live through World War II, reporting on the bombing of Barrow in April 1941 (including her own home at 9 Ilkley Road) and offering her reflections on a wide range of contemporary issues. Some critics, such as

Edward Blishen Edward Blishen (29 April 1920 – 13 December 1996) was an English author and broadcaster. He may be known best for the first of two children's novels based on Greek mythology, written with Leon Garfield, illustrated by Charles Keeping, and pu ...

, see a proto-feminism that anticipates the post-war women's movement in her account of her own marriage and her liberation from housewifery through her war work. Her younger son

Clifford Last Clifford Frank Last OBE (13 December 1918 – 20 October 1991) was an Australian modernist sculptor. Born in Barrow-in-Furness, Barrow in Furness, England, he was the son of Nella Last, author of a World War II diary on which the TV film ''H ...

(1918-1991) emigrated to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

following the war and went on to become a noted

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, with works displayed at the

Ballarat Fine Art Gallery The Art Gallery of Ballarat is the oldest regional art gallery in Australia. It was established in 1884 as the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery by a company of interested citizens led by James Oddie. It initially rented out the first floor of the Balla ...

. Last died on 22 June 1968, aged 78. Her husband, Will Last died less than a year later on 19 May 1969. Their son Clifford died in Australia in 1991.

TV film

Last's wartime diaries were dramatised by

Victoria Wood Victoria Wood (19 May 1953 – 20 April 2016) was an English comedian, actress, musician, screenwriter, and director. Wood wrote and starred in dozens of sketches, plays, musicals, films and sitcoms over several decades, and her live comedy act ...

for

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

in 2006 as ''

Housewife, 49 ''Housewife, 49'' is a 2006 television film based on the wartime diaries of Nella Last. Written by and starring English actress and comedian Victoria Wood, it follows the experiences of an ordinary housewife and mother in the northern English ...

'', which is how she headed her first entry at the age of 49. Wood played the lead role. Other notable cast members included

David Threlfall David John Threlfall (born 12 October 1953) is an English stage, film and television actor and director. He is best known for playing Frank Gallagher in Channel 4's series '' Shameless''. He has also directed several episodes of the show. In Ap ...

who played her husband Will, Christopher Harper who played her son Cliff, as well as

Stephanie Cole Patricia Stephanie Cole (born 5 October 1941) is an English stage, television, radio and film actor, known for high-profile roles in shows such as '' Tenko'' (1981–1985), ''Open All Hours'' (1982–1985), ''A Bit of a Do'' (1989), '' Waiting ...

as Mrs Waite. ''Housewife, 49'' was released on DVD Region 2 on 21 May 2007 and on DVD Region 1 on 11 March 2008.

References

External links

BBC History featureArticle about Victoria Wood’s TV dramatisation of the diariesNella Last at IMDb
{{DEFAULTSORT:Last, Nella 1889 births 1968 deaths 20th-century English diarists 20th-century English women writers People from Barrow-in-Furness History of Barrow-in-Furness British women diarists Housewives British women in World War II Writers from Lancashire