3. Social issues 1906-1914

Question 1

Describe the upper class as a social group in 1906

Answer 1

• Wealthy landowners, whose families had dominated society for generations
• Obtained wealth from industry and commerce transformed the upper class
• Upper class started to include factory owners/those who invested in industry

Question 2

Describe the middle class as a social group

Answer 2

• Reps ~1/4 of the population
• Very wide demographic: Upper middle class work as lawyers, doctors, teachers, merchants, factory owners, entrepreneurs
• Incomes of “professionals” could vary widely, eg. teachers getting a salary of £200 yearly vs successful barristers achieving up to £28,000

Question 3

Describe the lower middle class as a social group

Answer 3

• Consisted of non manual employees eg shop assistants, clerks, shopkeepers. self employed artisans, etc
• Many of these earned less than skilled workmen but their social standing was higher

Question 4

Describe the working class as a social group

Answer 4

• Made up 75% of the population
• Consisted of skilled workers vs unskilled workers
• Skilled workers earnt considerably more than unskilled workers
• Average wage of just over £1 weekly for unskilled workers. Not enough to provide for families and so many lived in poverty

Question 5

How many people did Charles Booth interview?

Answer 5

4000

Question 6

When did Charles Booth carry out scientific estimations of poverty?

Answer 6

1889

Question 7

What did Charles Booth’s survey conclude about the extent of poverty in London?

Answer 7

People living below the poverty line was closer to 30.7% than the 25% listed by the government statistics

Question 8

What did Rowntree conclude to be the first cause of poverty?

Answer 8

Unemployment or low wages

Question 9

What did Rowntree find out about York?

Answer 9

28% of York was living in poverty

Question 10

How many shillings did people need to earn per week to stay out of poverty?

Answer 10

21 shillings

Question 11

What did Booth and Rowntree both say about how people fall into poverty?

Answer 11

It could be from factors completely out of their control. It’s not just the weaknesses of individuals eg. idleness or wastefulness, but also could happen to the most hard working individual from economic factors like unemployment, irregular work and low wages or from old age, sickness and premature death of the main wage earners. Families may also be affected by lack of education and therefore lack of opportunity

Question 12

What did the findings of Booth and Rowntree contribute to?

Answer 12

The growth of New Liberalism

Question 13

How much were new social reforms going to cost the Liberal government?

Answer 13

• Around £16 million (requiring new taxes)

Question 14

When was the People’s Budget introduced?

Answer 14

1909

Question 15

What new taxes did the People’s Budget introduce?

Answer 15

• Income on a sliding scale (progressive taxation)
• Super tax for people with incomes over £5000
• Tax on cars according to horse power
• 3 dime per gallon tax on petrol
• Inheritance tax on estates worth over £5000
• New tax on profits gained through selling lands
• Overall, meant the rich pay a significantly bigger portion of income in tax

Question 16

Who resisted the People’s Budget?

Answer 16

The House of Lords, who had a strongly conservative majority (and large landowners), showed strong resistance and threw the budget out, leading to a constitutional crisis

Question 17

What was Dr Barnardos?

Answer 17

• One of the charities set up in 1867
• Concerned with orphan children
• (Far fewer charities focused on the elderly than they did orphans)

Question 18

What was the Poor Law?

Answer 18

• Series of laws dating back to Elizabethan times, designed to help the poor and destitute
• Poor Law Amendment Act (1834) tried to bring in one national system of poor relief
• Any person needing help was meant to go to a workhouse (harsh conditions)
• “Outdoor relief” also continued which meant payments in cash/goods/services to people in their own homes
• Accepting relief led to being labelled a pauper, with much shame and disgrace attached to this

Question 19

What did social reform create Britain into?

Answer 19

• Never created a full welfare state, which wasn’t what the Liberals actually wanted anyway
• Liberals did what they intended which was to set up a basic minimum
• Churchill described it as “a life belt”

Question 20

What major areas were left untouched by reform?

Answer 20

• Housing remained in short supply
• 1909 town planning act left permissive because fighting interests of wealthy landlords was too much of a challenge
• No attempt to reform the Poor Law
• No educational reform (after 1906 Education Bill was destroyed by the Lords)