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Britain 1906-57 History A level > 1. 1906 - 1914 Liberals in power > Flashcards

1. 1906 - 1914 Liberals in power Flashcards

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1
Q

How much of a majority did the Liberals win in the 1906 election?

A
  • 401 Liberal seats
  • 157 Conservative seats
  • Landslide victory
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2
Q

How did the Boer War impact election results?

A
  • Helped Conservatives win a majority in 1900 elections because of patriotic support
  • However, war lasted longer and was much more costly (lives / money) than expected at first
  • Some methods used put civilians in concentration camps, causing outrage
  • Exposed malnutrition in cities. Soldiers getting conscripted weren’t healthy enough to serve
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3
Q

What was the Education Act by the Conservatives and when was it?

A
  • 1902
  • Implemented under the Conservatives
  • Provided for all schools to be funded from local taxes.
  • Previously, Anglican / Catholic schools had been funded by by churches
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4
Q

Why was the Education Act received both positively and negatively?

A
  • Great achievement for standardising a chaotic system
  • Extended state education into the secondary area
  • However, caused outrage among non-conformists
  • They revert to the Liberal party because their taxes would be spent on Roman Catholic / C of E schools
  • Already thought C of E had too many advantages, this was one more
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5
Q

What was the Licensing Act and when was it?

A
  • 1904
  • Aimed at reducing number of pubs
  • Compensated brewers / publicans for cancellation of licences
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6
Q

Why did people dislike the Licensing Act?

A
  • Nonconformist taxes were being used to compensate people doing the “devil’s work”
  • Why should they be paid for distributing alcohol?
  • Brewers were traditional conservative supporters. It was denounced as the “brewer’s bill”
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7
Q

What was the Chinese Labour Issue and when was it?

A
  • Between 1902 and 4
  • Chinese labourers work for very low wages and get imported to South Africa and kept in overcrowded camps
  • Moral outcry by non-conformists
  • Trade unionists scared that employers will bring them to Britain, lowering wages
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8
Q

What was the Taff Vale Case and when was it?

A
  • 1901 and 1902
  • Dispute in Wales between Taff Railway Co and railway worker’s trade union = strike action
  • Co takes union to court and demands compensation for loss of profits in the strike
  • 1902 Lords ruled that co was within its rights to sue union
  • Impossible for unions to have successful strikes, they’re horrified
  • Conservatives could over rule Lords judgment but they ignore it because Balfour thinks it’s a matter of the courts
  • To workers, it seemed like the conservatives were working completely against them
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9
Q

When was the tariff reform campaign launched and who launched it?

A
  • Launched in 1903
  • Launched by Joseph Chamberlain
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10
Q

What did Joseph Chamberlain want and why?

A
  • Wanted to reintroduce tariffs (with lower level tariffs being imposed on goods from the Empire)
  • Policy known as imperial preference
  • Wanted this to protect British industry and farming, generating revenue for reform and strengthening the Empire
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11
Q

Who supported and who opposed the tariff reform campaign?

A
  • Supporters were industrialists / farmers
  • Opposition was working / middle classes who feared that food would become scarcer and living standards would fall
  • Split the Conservatives, united the Liberals
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12
Q

Why did the issue of tariff reform unite the Liberals?

A
  • They all had a common belief in free trade
  • Liberal party could present themselves as the party who would keep food prices low
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13
Q

Which leading Conservative voted with the Liberals on the issue of tariff reform and when?

A
  • Winston Churchill
  • 1904
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14
Q

Why did people dislike Balfour?

A
  • Lack of political skill
  • Not sensitive to public opinion
  • Seemed to not understand the social issues of the time
  • Decided the government should step down in Dec 1905, becoming responsible for the timing of the 1906 election
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15
Q

How many constituencies did the Lib-Lab Pact affect?

A

30 constituencies

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16
Q

When was the Lib-Lab Pact made?

A

1903

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17
Q

How many LRC candidates were put up for election in 1906? How many seats were won?

A
  • 50 candidates put up
  • 29 seats won
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18
Q

What did the Lib-Lab Pact do?

A

Pact where the Liberals agreed that they wouldn’t oppose Labour candidates in selected constituencies in the 1906 election, where a Labour candidate was more likely to defeat Conservatives than the Liberals

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19
Q

What is new liberalism?

A
  • New liberalism is the freedom from evils like poverty, low wages, insecurity.
  • Promoted intervention by the state to uphold standard of living and the use of ‘safety nets’.
  • Only stressed need to help the vulnerable and still believed in free trade and freedom to do business without control (like classical liberalism)
  • Meant higher gov spending which contradicted traditional beliefs of low taxation
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20
Q

What is classical liberalism?

A
  • Freedom to do things like freedom to worship, publish or criticise government.
  • Promoted laissez-faire attitudes and freedom from state intervention
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21
Q

What did TH Green argue about New Liberalism?

A
  • Liberalism should give people the opportunity to be more moral
  • Social reforms from the state should allow people to fulfil the broader definition of liberalism
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22
Q

What is a TH Green quote about Social legislation?

A

It would ‘maintain the conditions without which a free exercise of human faculties is impossible’

23
Q

What did JA Hobson say about New Liberalism?

A
  • British economy faces issues of under consumption
  • Majority of population are too poor to buy enough goods to keep the economy thriving
  • State should intervene to reduce unemployment/poverty
24
Q

What did JT Hobhouse believe about New Liberalism?

A
  • Argued for “collectivism”, meaning gov should take action to distribute wealth more fairly through society
  • Taxes should be used to implement social reforms which would benefit poorer sections of society
25
Q

What were political motives for new liberalism?

A
  • Rescue Liberals from recent divisions. Give them a united theme
  • Help the Liberals win the working class vote above Labour (who were threatening them at the time)
  • Social reform makes Conservatives vulnerable to attack. Gives them a clear alternative to conservative policies
26
Q

What was the concern over national efficiency?

A
  • Growing concern that the British economy was no longer as efficient as before
  • Thought that British importance internationally might be at risk
27
Q

Why were there concerns about National Efficiency?

A
  • Boer war highlighted deficiency in military/administrative efficiency + highlighted poor health among working class
  • Germany, Japan, US catching up/overtaking British industry
  • Germany growing militarily
28
Q

Who supported New Liberalism in the Liberal Party?

A
  • Half of Liberal MPs elected in 1906
  • David Lloyd George
  • Winston Churchill
29
Q

What positions did David Lloyd George have between 1906 and 1915?

A
  • President of the Board of Trade (1906-1908)
  • Chancellor of the Exchequer (1908-1915)
30
Q

Who led the new Liberal government from 1906-14?

A
  • Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (1905-1908)
  • Henry Herbert Asquith (1908-1915)
31
Q

What was the Education Act and when was it?

A
  • 1906
  • Arranged for meals for children attending public elementary schools
  • Meant that hungry children could concentrate better and therefore learn more
  • By 1914, 14 million free school meals were being provided by LEAs yearly
  • HOWEVER, it was permissive, not compulsory. In 1913, only about 1/2 of LEAs were actually providing meals
32
Q

What was the Education (Medical Inspections) Act?

A
  • 1907
  • Meant LEA (Local Education Authorities) were obliged to give school children three medical inspections through their school years
  • By 1914, 3/4 LEAs were providing free medical inspections + 2/3 some form of free medical treatment
  • HOWEVER, it provided only a very baseline check and the poor couldn’t often pay to treat the illnesses exposed by the check
33
Q

What was the Old Age Pension Act and when was it?

A
  • 1908
  • Introduced by Lloyd George
  • 70+ people with annual income of £21-£31 weekly receive a pension
  • 1 million people receive pensions by 1914
  • HOWEVER, pensions were for people “of good character” = not provided if people had been imprisoned, had no birth certificate or hadn’t lived in the UK for 20 yrs. They paid for the bare minimum for survival and are given on a “sliding scale” meaning only the poorest get the full amount
34
Q

What was the National Insurance (unemployment) Act and when did it happen?

A
  • 1911
  • Done by Lloyd George
  • Created a National Insurance scheme which was contributed to weekly
  • Enabled contributing workers to receive weekly benefit if unemployed
  • Covered 2.25 million workers to provide 7 shillings weekly up to 15 weeks
  • HOWEVER only applied to insured trades, ones known for seasonal/cyclical unemployment
  • Only became fully operational in 1912
35
Q

What position did Lloyd George have in Campbell-Bannerman’s government in 1906?

A

President of the Board of Trade

36
Q

What was the Trade Boards Act and when was it?

A
  • 1909
  • Boards set up to fix minimum wages and inspect conditions in specific trades
  • Initially covered 200,000 of mostly women workers. Extended to six other trades and coal miners by 1913
  • HOWEVER left out many other low paid workers (farmers) and there were too few inspectors for rules to be enforced
37
Q

What was the National Insurance (Sickness) Act and when was it?

A
  • Compulsory scheme where workers paid weekly into a fund
  • Covered around 13 million workers (though this was out of around 45 million)
  • Paid out weekly sickness benefit of 10 shillings weekly for 13 weeks then 5 shillings weekly for another 13 weeks
  • Maternity grant for women, disability benefit, free treatment for TB and free medical treatment with approved doctors
  • HOWEVER, only covered workers earning under £160 annually and workers 16-60 (there was a 10 year gap because pensions only started at 70). It also only covered the contributor, not family.
38
Q

What were Labour exchanges for and when were they set up?

A
  • Set up places where workers looking for a job and employers looking for workers could meet
  • By 1914, 430 exchanges were finding 3000 jobs daily
  • HOWEVER, it’s been estimated that for every worker who found a job, three did not. The state also wasn’t creating jobs for unemployed, just making the job market run smoother
39
Q

What was the Children’s Act and when was it?

A
  • 1908
  • Made parental neglect illegal
  • Set up juvenile courts for young offenders
  • Illegal to sell tobacco and alcohol to children
  • Much of this was codification of existing laws (though there were some new things)
40
Q

What was the Workmen’s Compensation Act and when was it?

A
  • 1906
  • Extended provisions to compensate workers for occupation-based diseases/accidents
  • HOWEVER, it often wasn’t easy to prove that the accident was work based
41
Q

What was the Merchant Shipping Act and when was it?

A
  • Improved food/accommodation for merchant seamen
42
Q

What was the Shops Act and when was it?

A
  • 1911
  • Provided weekly half-day holiday for shop workers
  • HOWEVER, employers could make up with longer hours on other days
43
Q

What was the Coal Mines Act and when was it?

A
  • 1908 and 1911
  • Fixed length of working day underground to eight hours
  • Improved safety regulations
44
Q

How many seats did the LRC win in the 1906 election?

A
  • 29 seats (which increased to 30 after a Durham miner chose to join Labour)
45
Q

What issues did the Labour Party face politically in 1906?

A
  • The Liberals started implementing reforms for workers, who were their main demographic
  • New Labour MPs, being working men with limited formal education. had little administrative experience compared to other parties. Formal Commons procedures were intimidating
  • Keir Hardie didn’t necessarily have the right qualities to hold his party together and create an effective force in the Commons
  • It consisted of socialists and trade union officials, meaning they didn’t form a cohesive body
46
Q

What was the Osborne Judgement?

A
  • Labour MP’s salaries were paid by compulsory trade union levies
  • WV Osborne, a Liberal, challenged his trade union in demanding the political levy
  • The Lords ruled in favour of Osborne which made it hard for Labour to operate politically
  • They had a financial crisis in 1910 when it had to fight elections
47
Q

What resolved the Osborne Judgement?

A
  • The Liberal government approved for payment of MPs in 1911
  • They also passed the 1913 Trade Union Act which allowed unions to levy money on members for political purposes (but also allowing any member to opt out if they objected)
48
Q

How much did trade union membership rise?

A
  • 1906 they had 900,000
  • 1914 they had 1.5 million
49
Q

How did membership of socialist societies grow?

A
  • 17,000 in 1906
  • 33,000 in 1914
50
Q

How much did local Labour societies grow?

A
  • 83 Labour societies in 1906
  • 158 Labour societies in 1914
51
Q

What did the Conservatives rename themselves in 1909?

A

Conservative and unionist party

52
Q

What did the Conservatives do in May 1912?

A

Formally merged with Liberal Unionists

53
Q

How did the Conservatives remain powerful even after having less than 1/4 of seats in the 1906 election?

A
  • They still had a majority in the Lords which meant they could block government legislation from the Liberals
  • The House of Lords became “Mr Balfour’s Poodle”
  • Bills blocked by the Conservatives included a Scottish Land Bill, Abolition of Plural Voting, and a Licensing Bill

Britain 1906-57 History A level (8 decks)

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