Britain - Cradle to the Grave

Britain - Cradle to the Grave

1. Attitudes towards poverty 1 - Victorians

   • people
     • self help by Samuel Smiles
   • If people were in poverty / poor they we classes as
     • bad christians
     • wasting money on gambling, prostitution and / or alcohol
     • ignorant and lazy
     • wasted money rather than saving
   • Government
     • Laissez faire
     • old liberals
       • Henry Campbell
       • Bannerman - prime minister
   • law
     • poor law
       • indoor relief
         • poor/ work house
       • outdoor relief
         • in your own home
       • provision was very meagre (very little)
         • they wanted to make sure you were sufficiently poor to merit aid (to get help)
         • to deter people
           • stigma of applying

2. Attitudes towards poverty 2 - Changing

   • Charities
     • swamped and tried to convince people to take action
   • National Security
     • Boer War showed Britain could scarcely protect her empire after 3 years of war against farmers
       • In some places 2/3 of recruits were unfit or malnorished
   • National Efficiency
     • government worried because British workforce was unfit and malnorished
     • Countries such as Germany, America and Japan were over taking Britain ecconomically
   • Soup kitchens
     • Dr Margret MacMillan and Fred Jowett (both socialists) used rates illegally to feed malnourished school children
       • after they noticed they were falling asleep or not concentrating in class
   • Political Concerns
     • Internally
       • New Liberals like Winston Churchill and David Lloyd-George advocated state intervention
         • influenced by social reforms in Germany and New Zealand
     • Externallly
       • Rise of Labour Party
         • Harness working class votes
       • Conservatives
         • threatened introduction of social reform
         • steal votes from Liberals
       • Socialists
         • intellectual groups like the Fabien Society and those helping the poor argued, loudly for government intervention
   • Investigations
     • Social
       • Charles Booth
         • London
         • 30%
       • Seebohm Rowntree
         • York
         • 27%
     • Royal Commission
       • ordered after Boer War
         • free school meals

3. Liberal Reforms

   • Children
     • 1906 Education(provision of school meals) act
       • problems
         • Voluntary
           • some councils could not afford it
           • some councils did not believe in it
         • socialism
     • 1907 Education (Administrative Provisions) act
       • introduced 3x medical inspections in school career
         • problems
           • they identified what was wrong but not treated
     • 1908 a group of acts called the 'Children's Charter'
       • banned children buying alcohol and cigarettes
       • Juvenile Coarts
       • burstals
         • prevents falling to heavy crime
       • abuse inspections
         • physical, sexual, abandonment
   • Employed (all didn't effect enough people/workers)
     • Workman's Compensation paid when injured or compensation for loss of life or limb
     • Mines act set 8 hour working day and minimum wage
       • problems
         • strikes in WW1 abandoned hours and pay conditions for war effort
     • Trades Board Act sweated trades - laundry, tailor, seamstress/dressmaker, lace worker
       • Reginal Boards set pay and conditions
       • problems
         • different pay and conditions in every region
   • Elderly
     • Old age pension act 1908
       • kept many people out of poor/work houses
       • collected from post office so no stigma attached
       • helped a large number of elderly
       • taxes paid for scheme so poor people did not have to make a contribution and push them deeper in to poverty
       • problems
         • had to be 70 to qualify - many did not live to this age (average age 55)
         • rich people objected to their taxes being used for this
         • limitations were if you had been in jail, the sanatorium, abroad for too much time then you did not qualify
         • amounts paid were much lower than suggested by Rowntree
   • Sick
     • National Insurance act (part I)
       • provided medical attention
       • paid for 26weeks - half and half - first 13 they got full pay(10) then half (5) for the second 13 weeks
       • maternity grant for the first time ever
       • problems
         • only covered the person paying stamp but not their family members
         • only people with TB got hospitalised
         • seasonal workers couldn't pay enough stamps
         • contributions pushed workers further into poverty
   • Unemployed
     • Labour Exchanges
       • employers and workers could go to the same place
       • could mend and wash clothes
       • 414 by 1911
       • problems
         • not compulsory to advertise jobs
         • did not help -seasonal workers, specialist workers(engineers, masons)
     • National Insurance act (part II)
       • provided unemployment payments regularly
       • contributions from worker - so he felt he was paying his way
       • employer protecting their worker for the first time
       • government replaced inadequate poor law for those workers covered
       • problems
         • did not cover enough workers - 7 trades
         • contributions pushed poorer workers into poverty
         • did not cover seasonal workers
         • did not cover workers for long enough

4. Effects of the war

   • rationing
     • equality in food and distribution
     • poor people became more healthy
       • some had more to eat
       • better food
     • rich ate what the poor ate
   • government introduced more education on sanitation, pregnancy, contraception and nutrition
   • housing
     • every one "mucked in" to help when houses were bombed
       • bombs did not discriminate between the classes neither did those who helped
       • rich classes could see the conditions of the poor
   • war government introduced universal free milk for primary children
   • Classes mixed in together
     • war duties
     • shelters
     • land armys
       • people of all classes shared experiences and gained greater awareness of each other's lifestyles and needs
   • Armed forces
     • men of all classes working together and gaining greater awareness of what should be done after the war is over
       • this time they would create a new Britain unlike the false promises of WW1 "Home fit for hero's"
   • Beveridge report made lots of recommendations to the government to improve life after the war
   • government (mainly tories) published white papers on how to improve social conditions after the war
   • education plans of Tony R.A. Butler were introduced in1944 but implement by Labour in 1945

5. Social Investigations

   • Booth
     • book published "life and labour of the people in London"
     • poverty line
     • 30% of all people in poverty
     • poverty in London
   • Rowntree
     • showed poverty was widespread
     • primary poverty - used to describe those whose earnings were so low they could not survive on them alone
     • 1/3 of people living in town in poverty
     • York
     • secondary poverty - used to describe those whose earnings were enough to live on but who spend money in a wasteful way
     • cycle of poverty
   • Royal Cmmision