3.6 Social and Welfare Reforms: Pressure and action (1880-1914) Flashcards
What did Charles Booth do to help the poor?
He conducted an investigation over a course of 17 years in order to surmise why the poor lived the way that they did
- to do this he looked at their homes and the quality of life
- this allowed him to analyse wether there was a structural explanation for poverty
- he used 35 co-workers over 17 years to study the poor in London
What did Booth find out?
He divided the population into classes to be,p understand the cause of poverty
- Class A = 0.9% of population at the bottom: he believed that people were born into this and rarely escaped
- Class B = 7.5% we’re casual low paid workers: believed that this was due to mental, moral or physical illness = incapable of increasing their QOL
- Class C = slightly better off but irregular work = struggled seasonally
- Class D = low incomes but regular work = able to budget
- Class E and F = 51.5% received regular work with good income
- Class G and H = 17.8% upper and middle classes
What did Benjamin Rowntree do to help the poor?
He stood for democracy, a minimum wage, family allowances and old age pensions
- he conducted 3 surveys of poverty in York
- his aim was to find the number of people in poverty and the nature of the poverty and build on Booth’s findings (e.g. his idea of the poverty line)
- he made his investigations using a full time investigator who made house to house visits and focused on the working class families = head of the family = wage earner and had no employed servants
What did Rowntree find out?
- he visited 11,560 households
- he found that about 28% of the population of York lived in squalor and were in need of help
- using his information about the wages they received he surmised that minimum wage should = 21 shillings a week and this was where he drew his poverty line
- on or under the poverty line were 10% of the 28% and he defined this as ‘primary poverty’ =no way of making ends meet
- the remaining 18% were ‘secondary poverty’ who were on the brink but couldn’t get help
- using this info he came up with the Poverty Cycle
Fabian Society
- Founded in 1884
- Socialists
- Used gradual non-confrontational methods to push for change
- Beatrice and Sidney Webb and Emmeline Pankhurst were members of it
What is socialism?
Political and economic ideology = advocated that the means of production should be owned and democratically controlled by the community as a whole
Who were the key members and how did the Fabian Society protest for change?
Key members:
- George Bernard Shaw; H.G Wells, Ramsay MacDonald and Emmeline Pankhurst and Beatrice and Sidney Webb
They:
- held public meetings
- published numerous pamphlets
- lobbied politicians on a wide range of topics from Poor Law reform to international alliances
What did the Fabian Society want to achieve?
They wanted to successfully utilise the power of local governments and trade unions to bring about change and advance national and international socialism
1906: lobbied for the introduction of the minimum wage in order to stop British companies trying to remain competitive by lowering wages
1911: lobbied for the creation of a universal health service = to enable the British to be physically fit and to defend and develop their empire
Why did the Fabian Society support the British in the Boer War?
- they believed that the basis of British foreign policy should be imperialism = pursuit of Empire = Britain becomes the centre of a worldwide empire
= needed fit soldiers
How did they support the emergence of the Labour Party?
- 1900 = sent delegates to the Labour Party Foundation Conference = emergence of the Labour Representative Committee who 6 years later, 26 candidates won seats in the election and set up as a separate party in the Commons = the Labour Party
Random:
1895: set up the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
What was the Boer War 1899-1902?
- between British Army and the burs - Dutch farmers in South Africa
- the British had: good kit, trench knowledge and the latest German rifles
- Joseph Chamberlain led the army: was a politician who came from the working class making a name for himself
- he was an imperialist and the Boer was also called ‘Joe’s War’
- Dutch farmers used Guerrilla techniques
- Lord Kitchener also helped with the war: took harmless women and children to refugee camps and essentially created the first concentration camps
- Emily Hobhouse saw this when delivering help to these camps and reported this to Britain: 80% of those who died in British concentration camps were below the age of 16
What did the Boer War reveal about the poor in England?
- recruits were found to be largely unfit
- in some industrial areas, 2 out of every 3 potential recruits didn’t pass the army medical examination
- Booth and Rowntree investigation confirmed this was due to poverty
- Rowntree observed that 26.5% of recruits trying to enlist from York = rejected as ‘unfit’
What did the government do in response to the discoveries made clear by the Boer War?
- 1903: set up commission to investigate ill health: this was the Interdepartmental Committee of Physical Deterioration
- They made 53 recommendations:
1. Medical inspections of children in schools
2. Free school meals for the very poor
3. Training in mothering skills
BUT they suggested that ‘fears of national deterioration were largely unfounded’
What did others do in response the findings made clear by the Boer War?
- intellectuals and those in the political elite began to campaign for ‘national efficiency’
- military reasons = Britain = empire = needs huge army to maintain
- if Britain lost military strength the Empire would crumble (it did anyway stupids)
What were the economic reasons behind improving the lives of the poor?
- Britains workforce up until the end of the 19th century had been the leading industrial nation before other countries caught up
- Britain = lost economic competitiveness and other countries overtook
- but eh campaign focused its attention on the need to improve conditions for the poor
Impact of Boer War on British politics
Herbert Asquith and Richard Haldane = members of cabinet in New Liberal administration of 1906 and Asquith became PM in 1908 and wanted to increase national efficiency
The Royal Commission 1905-09
- was set up by the conservative govt. in 1905
- their responsibility was to enquire into the workings of the Poor Laws and to find the best way to relieve the poor
- it had 20 members: 5 poor law guardians; 6 COS members; 4 were members of the Local Government Board, Charles Booth, Beatrice and Sidney Webb along wiht religious and trade union leaders
- They were far better qualified than those who participated in the 1932-34 Royal Commission
- Visited 200 poor law unions and 400 institutions; took evidence from 450 witnesses and read and analysed 900 statements of written evidence
- However when they came to writing their report they couldn’t agree = two reports produced
First report of the Royal Commission: Majority Report
- concluded that the origins of poverty were moral
- Poor Law should remain the main vehicle in dealing with poverty
- Boards of Guardians allowed too much relief and they should be replaced by public assistance committees
- Mixed workhouses didn’t deter the able-bodied poor
- There should be increased co-operation between charities and those doing administration for Poor Law = voluntary aid committees should be set up
Second report of the Royal Commission: Minority Report
- concluded that the origins of poverty were economic
- a Ministry of Labour should be set up which would introduce and oversee public work schemes, set up a string of national labour exchanges to help the unemployed find jobs, organise a schedule of training schemes ans set up detention colonies for the deliberately idle
- The Poor Law administration should be broken up into Education Committees to deal with child poverty, Pension Committees for the elderly poor, and Health Committees for the sick or infirm poor
Strengths of the two reports:
- pressure on govt, to act
- various first hand sources used = unions and institutions
- Both had basically the same idea
- People who made the reports = qualified
- Campaign to change the existing Poor Law = captured the support and imagination of the younger generation
Weaknesses of the two reports:
- two different reports = uncertainty and disagreements with how Poor Law should be managed
- Beatrice and Sidney Webb (supported minority) = launched a campaign for the break up of the existing Poor Law = risked antagonising leading politicians in government
What were the principles for Welfare Reform in the 20th century
- Poverty as a condition = not always the fault of the poor
- Govt. should take responsibility for improving the situation of the poorest members of society
- Poor Law unions and Boards of Guardians = should be abolished and replaced by Public Assistance Committees that would work closely with local voluntary agencies
Why were the Liberal Reforms introduced?
- Research by Booth and Rowntree and others (Fabian Society)
- Army recruitment issues from Boer War
- Continue the work of Conservative’s Royal Commission
- Threat of the new Labour Party
- New liberals = Lloyd George and Churchill
- Industrial growth by Germany threatened Britain
The Old Pensions Act, 1909
+ves
- funded by taxes = non-contributory = decreased the stigma surrounding poor relief
- paid men and women over the age of 70, 5 shillings a week per person and 7 shillings for a married couple
~ves
- didn’t reduce number of elderly receiving relief in the workhouse
- too frail and vulnerable to cater for themselves
- pensions weren’t paid to people who couldn’t find work or had been in prison in the last ten years. Had to be British citizens for last 20 years
- around 600,000 claimed pension = same amount as elderly poor relief
- if they earned over 12 shillings a week no pension, 8-12 shillings = reduced pension
- you could only get a full pension if under 8 shillings a week
