When the staff moved into St Andrew's House, from the many offices in Edinburgh that they all originally inhabited, (Princes Street, George Street, Queen Street, and St Andrew's Square), the war had just started. They were supposed to move into the building with a huge fanfare, civic reception and Royal visit from the King and Queen in 1940, but scrambled in as soon as war was declared. The staff were very definitely male, only starting the recruitment of 'boys and girls' by open competition in 1928 and my old friend, whose full name is Robert Meredith Williamson (called Robin by his friends, but Williamson in the office) started then.
He began in the Board of Agriculture for Scotland and worked in Establishments, now HR. There were 500 people in the Board, all male except for the eight or nine female typists. Two of the typists were widows, otherwise they were single ladies. As soon as a girl got married she left the service, no exceptions, no excuses. The typists were quite protected in that there were several things that would not be given to them to type. For example the veterinary and cattle officers would not send details of cattle problems that were to do with sexual organs to the type pool, the junior (male) staff had to type this themselves.
Girls began to enter the Board of Agriculture and other Scotch (sic) Boards from 1928, but only in single figures every year and of course left again as soon as they were married. So when the Boards or Departments (as they were then known) moved into St Andrew's House in 1939, the staff were predominantly male. They were also very formal by today's standards with all male staff being called by their surnames and calling anyone senior to them (even by one grade) Mr… Girls and women were called Miss.
In February 1940 the King and Queen did visit St. Andrew's House, but it was a very low key affair. Robin knew nothing about it until after the event. The royals were not introduced to any junior staff and there was no civic reception.
Clerical Assistants (CAs) were paid in cash every Friday from the pay room on the second floor and the queue used to come along the corridor and down the stairs in a long line. (When I worked in St Andrew's House as a CA in 1969 this still happened. The queue was actually great fun as it lasted for ages, you got away from your desk and got to chat to all your friends). In the 1930/40s Clerical Officers (COs) got paid monthly but still in cash and they still had to queue. Junior executive staff (EOs) got paid in cash monthly, but it was brought to their desks. Soon after I started work in St Andrew's House, I was paid monthly into my bank account.
There was a morning trolley service with fresh baked goods and tea urns, there was no coffee as once rationing kicked in the trolley was a very sparse affair - mainly tea and plain biscuits. There was a dining club on the top floor where only those of a higher grade usually ate. It had waitress service and the waitresses wore black dresses and white frilly aprons. Ordinary staff never went there, most people went home for lunch.
Robin was involved in planning for the bicycle sheds for St Andrew's House. They were wooden sheds at the back of the building. He was a great cyclist and cycled every day to St Andrew's House from Hailes Gardens in the morning, back home for lunch, back to work and then home again. Obviously lunch was taken more seriously in those days than now.
The staff worked Monday to Friday and Saturday mornings. The men had to wear suits during the week, but could wear flannels and sports jackets on Saturdays. I'm not sure what the women wore.
As soon as the War started lots of the young men had to leave the service to join up, so more girls were employed, though not many at this stage. The people remaining were expected to carry out the work of those who had left so there was lots of (unpaid) overtime. Also those who were left were expected to play their part in home defence so Robin did fire-watching on the roof of St. Andrew's House several nights a week. On one occasion they heard the sound of German aircraft engines and phones in the information room. It was the first night of the two nights of bombing which became known as the Clydebank Blitz, Thursday 13th and Friday 14th March. The Blitz was horrendous causing a great deal of damage, killing 1.200 and seriously injuring 1,100 people.
Robin was protected from doing his national service until 1942 when conscription was extended to under 35s (he was 31). He was still in a protected category so was mobilised into the Fire Service in Edinburgh and demobilised back to St. Andrew's House in 1945. He was most surprised to find when he returned that his three members of staff were all women. He was even more surprised when he had to speak to others of his own grade, in other divisions, that sometimes were women too. Obviously while so may men were away in the services, they had had to employ women. However, the old rules still stood and as soon as the girls were married they had to leave. Also since the returning service men were guaranteed jobs, they were employed in preference to women during the late 1940s and 50s, so again the numbers of women dropped during that time.
I joined the Scottish Office in February 1969 and worked in St Andrew's House until the August when I moved to Chesser House. The layout of St Andrew's House at that time was not changed in any way from how it had been in 1939, it was still long corridors and offices. Everyone over EO (B1) had a room away from junior staff, HEOs (B2) usually shared two to a room, SEOs (B3) and above had their own rooms. I remember as a 'treat' being given a guided tour of the Ministerial suite to see the wood panelled offices occupied by the Secretary of State for Scotland and others. The dining club existed but I only went there once with Robin who treated me to lunch there, the waitresses still wore black and white uniforms. The trolleys still came round but twice a day by then, morning and afternoon, everyone would down tools and stop for tea, cakes and biscuits. They still had things that were baked on the premises, I remember sausage rolls and tiny mince pies. I put on a stone in my first four months! Lunch time was very definitely an hour long and you were not expected to stay at your desk.
I worked in the registry in the basement for a couple of months and was scared witless by the messengers, who delighted in telling me about the ghosts of the prisoners, who had died in Calton Gaol, that haunted the basement of St Andrew's House. I never saw any and quickly joined in the telling of the same tales to new starts.
When I came in each morning I had to sign the book and put in my name and time of arrival. After 830 am a red line was drawn and if your name appeared below the line you could be called up to your HEO (B2) to explain yourself - very scary.