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Robin Reid

1925–2015

Born
1925, Porto
Country of birth
Portugal
Died
2015
facts
5
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

  • Birth1925, PortoProbable1 source
  • Death2015Probable1 source

A life in time

  1. Born · Porto

    Birth, Porto

  2. Died

    Death

What was it like?

The world around Porto, 1925: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Robin was born the same year as Maria Barroso, Carlos Paredes, and Yukio Mishima.

Who ruled

  • Manuel Teixeira Gomes

    President of Portugal, 1923–1925 · Portuguese Republic

  • Bernardino Machado

    President of Portugal, 1925–1926 · Portuguese Republic

  • Óscar Carmona

    President of Portugal, 1926–1951 · Portuguese Republic

Born the same year

  • Maria Barroso

    Portuguese actress (1925-2015)

  • Carlos Paredes

    Portuguese musician (1925–2004)

  • Yukio Mishima

    Japanese author (1925–1970)

  • Paul Newman

    American actor (1925–2008)

  • Peter Sellers

    British actor and comedian (1925–1980)

  • Nílton Santos

    Brazilian association football player (1925-2013)

Fashion

Barretes used as storage

Fishermen used their wool hats, known as 'barretes', as practical storage for tobacco, cigarette rolling papers, and matches.

Embroidering by oil lamp light

Women frequently worked until 11:00 PM by the light of oil lamps to embroider their festival clothing after a full day of labor.

Music

Concertina: The Heart of Northern Festivals

The concertina, a small diatonic button accordion, became the essential instrument for village festivals, pilgrimages, and dances, particularly in northwestern Portugal.

Improvised Singing Battles: Desgarrada

In the desgarrada, singers improvised rhymed verses against each other while a concertina player maintained the rhythm and marked pauses for the next witty reply.

Getting around

Traditional rural transport methods

In rural northern Portugal during the 1920s, travelers could observe peasants using wooden-soled shoes while driving oxen carts with creaking wooden wheels, a stark contrast to the emerging motor transport in cities.

Limited access to rural sanctuaries

Until the mid-1930s, accessing the sanctuary of Porto d'Ave was only possible on foot or by horse along narrow paths, as roads were not yet suitable for automobiles or animal-drawn carriages.

Daily life

Lack of Basic Infrastructure in Homes

In rural areas, many homes lacked running water, electricity, and toilets, with families often using basic holes in the ground for sewage. Cooking typically occurred on floor-level fires without chimneys, leaving walls blackened by smoke.

Limited and Patriotic Schooling Conditions

Rural schooling was often limited to a single room for four grades and around 40 students, lacking electricity and toilets. Children were taught in a patriotic, conservative environment that focused on memorization and obedience to the regime.

Food

Shared Sardines and Bread-Based Diets

Ordinary families relied on bread, potatoes, and vegetable soups, with meat and fish reserved for special occasions or consumed in tiny, shared portions. It was common for a single sardine to be divided among three people, and poor families in rural areas often relied on seasonal produce from small garden plots.

Around 1900–1924

Broa as a Daily Staple

Corn bread (broa) was a staple food, often baked once a week and hung from a beam to stay fresh. Children often carried a piece of broa in their hands from morning until night.

Prices and wages
Around 1914–1924

Daily wages for workers in Portugal

In 1917, a rural worker's average daily wage was $60 (escudos), while by 1924, it had risen to 8$50. In Lisbon, workers saw their daily pay increase from approximately 63 centavos in 1914 to 1 escudo in 1916 and 2 escudos in 1919.

Around 1914–1924

Rising food costs and scarcity

During the war years, the price of potatoes in Lisbon doubled from six cents to twelve or fourteen cents per kilogram. By 1924, a daily wage was often insufficient to purchase basic goods like one kilogram of bread, which consumed 30% of a worker's daily pay.

Work
Around 1910–1919

A Rural and Agrarian Economy

The Portuguese economy was profoundly rural, with 62 percent of the workforce engaged in farming, while industry and services employed 22 and 16 percent, respectively.

Cannery work dictated by factory sirens

Women in the sardine canning industry lived by the sound of factory sirens, rushing to work at any hour of the day or night whenever fish boats landed. They often worked 14 to 16 hours a day without fixed schedules, standing to clean, fillet, and hand-pack fish with meticulous speed.

During their lifetime

  1. 1930

    Establishment of the Estado Novo single party

    The National Union was established as a single party as part of the Estado Novo regime's institutionalisation.

  2. 1935

    Inauguration of the Emissora Nacional

    The Emissora Nacional began official broadcasts, formally inaugurated in August, becoming a central figure in Portuguese radio history.

  3. 1961

    Outbreak of the Colonial Wars

    Portugal began fighting colonial wars in Africa, leading to massive emigration and military expenditures that consumed half of the GNP by the end of the decade.

  4. 1973

    1973 Oil Crisis impact in Portugal

    The OPEC oil embargo caused fuel shortages and queues at petrol stations, as oil supplied three-quarters of Portugal's primary energy.

  5. 1974

    The 25 April Revolution ends dictatorship

    The 25 April Revolution ended the dictatorship and colonial rule, triggering major social, political, and economic changes, including the introduction of a minimum wage.

Family

Children

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.