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A brief history of office cleaning

Published 17th November, 2022 by Stan Atkins

A brief history of office cleaning

I make no apology for this article being London centric because Essex and the east end of London was where I started my cleaning career. I am sure other major cities would have a similar story to tell.

One of the earliest references to office cleaning was in the form of charladies. This is an old-fashioned occupational term, referring to a paid part-time worker who comes into a house or other building to clean it for a few hours a day or week, as opposed to a maid, who usually lives as part of the household within the structure of domestic service. A charwoman usually worked independently, often for cash in hand, or might come through an employment agency.

Many charladies in London worked early mornings (0600 hrs-0800 hrs) to return home before their husband set off for work. I can remember in my primary years a lot of our early morning cleaners came from the east end of London into the city to clean and referred to their jobs as earning pin money (a complete misuse of the term) and an indication of their self-perception. Many charladies had famous sons and daughters - for example, Mrs. Micklewhite’s son Maurice became and remains a famous movie star - Michael Caine (not a lot of people know that)!

The word ‘char’ in ‘charwoman’ comes from Middle English and it means ‘chore’, so charwoman is literally a chore-woman. The tasks performed by a charwoman varied depending on the agreement which she reaches with her employer [1].

Reference (example from the Hansard Archives. Contains Parliamentary information licenced under the Open Parliament licence v3.0):

1. ‘we should not train nurses to perform skills and then employ them as charladies’.

2. ‘of course, there is also alternative work for them, as lavatory cleaners and charladies’.

3. ‘I say nothing in denigration of charladies’.

My assumption was, before researching this piece, that charladies carried out general office cleaning duties and were often depicted wearing an apron and a head scarf and of a certain age. Furthermore, I believe they then, after finishing their cleaning duties in the morning, prepared the tea trolley and pushed it around the offices at 10.00 hrs. This I now understand was a complete misconception. This is illustrated very well by the 1963 film ‘Ladies Who Do’ starring, amongst others, Peggy Mount, Robert Morley and Harry H. Corbett.

However, Initial Cleaning began as a tea delivery service to offices before the founder, Mr. A. P. Bigelow, introduced towel rental services to businesses in London. Each towel was marked with the customer’s initial, which ensured that customers only received their own towels, leading to the name Initial Towel Supply Company. Some of you will remember that Initial Services then branched into office cleaning and pest control.

Possibly the earliest recorded office cleaning company was The Ramoneur Company Limited, founded in 1848. As the name suggests, they were originally chimney sweepers and carried out work on both domestic and commercial premises. Young boys were often employed to climb the chimneys and sweep them. A society of benevolent persons whose object was to supersede, as far as possible, the necessity for employing climbing boys, was formed in 1803, investigation proving that not one-tenth of master-sweepers conformed to the rules of the Act of 1788. The society offered rewards for the invention of a cleaning contrivance - a course which seems to have been the chief means of bringing about the final demise of the climbing boys [2].

Probably the most famous DOC (daily office cleaning) company is OCS, its story starting in 1900. Since then, it has grown from one man with a ladder, bucket and a pushcart to an international business. Frederick William Goodliffe set up the New Century Window and General Cleaning Company as a sole trader. In 1912, his eldest son, Gilbert, joined the business as a junior clerk, aged 14. He was followed by his second son, Tom, in 1920 and his third son, George, in 1928. In the 1930s, Frederick’s sons were pivotal in the formation of a new company - Office Cleaning Services. At one time it was the major office cleaning company in London, and I can remember travelling on the tube in the mid-1970s where OCS frequently advertised their services on the posters next to the escalator.

In later years, DOC cleaning was formed. This company celebrates its 50th anniversary next year and holds royal warrants. Some people believe that DOC stands for daily office cleaning, but in fact it derives from one of the founding director’s names - Dave O’Connor.

There is much more to write on this subject, but as I stated in the title to this piece, this is a brief history of office cleaning!

Denotes one of the earliest examples of:

[1] is this an early example of the Gig economy.

[2] HSWA (1974) is the hierarchy of controls - substitution. This is one of the earliest references I can find for substitution.

About the contributor

Stan Atkins

Stan Atkins

CEO

BICSc

Article links

www.bics.org.uk

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