Working class aspirations

Despite my predominantly working class origins, I gained access to higher education at Trinity College Cambridge (see eg. previous post). My mother’s origins were working class; my father’s half working class. His mother (my grandmother) was the daughter of a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) who travelled by pony and trap from his home in Boxted to Colchester station to take the steam train to work in the Patent Office in London.

I benefitted from the expansion of higher education by the Wilson government and my mother’s encouragement of my ability to excel at school. Social class still affects social standing and identity.