4A - Changing Living Standards, 1918-1945

Question 1

How was DLG’s promise of a land fit for heros fulfilled in the PW period after WW1?

Answer 1

Initial PW boom, prices rose and gov did little to regulate production. Demobbed soldiers returned to work and it seemed that living standards would rise and that families would have spending power

Question 2

What evidence is there that the PW boom ended in 1920?

Answer 2

1 million unemployed, ⅓ were ex servicemen. Cuts in living standards in many areas

Question 3

How did some areas prosper after WW1 while some declined?

Answer 3

1932 12% of those in electrical appliance manufacture were unemployed compared with up to 70% of those engaged in ship building.

Question 4

How did disparity in living standards show in the 1920s-30s?

Answer 4

1932 - London and the southeast faced unemployment rates of 11% compared to almost 40% in Wales

Question 5

How was hunger present during the Great Depression?

Answer 5

Survey 1933 - concluded that unemployment benefits were insufficient to provide a minimum diet recommended by the Ministry of Health

Question 6

Why did women go hungry more than men during the Great Depression?

Answer 6

More WC women went hungry than men when there was insufficient food to go around: mothers ensured their husbands and children were fed first

Question 7

What did people’s diet consist of in the Great Depression and how was it funded sometimes?

Answer 7

Bread, margarine and tea made up most meals. Local greengrocers provided tick in poor areas and pawnbroker enabled families to borrow money

Question 8

What emerged after 1933 and where?

Answer 8

Light industries like the production of household appliances grew in the South East of England and these more prosperous areas experienced a consumer boom.

Question 9

What evidence is there that there was a consumer boom?

Answer 9

1930 - 200,000 vacuum cleaner sales a year - rose to 400,000 in 1938
300% increase in the sale of electric cookers between 1930 and 1935.

Question 10

Why was there a wider variety of food in the 1920s-1930s?

Answer 10

Fresh fruit imported from abroad which improved diets - some believed that it was harmful to kids, most fruit still came in tins

Question 11

How did food improve for he less affluent?

Answer 11

Late 1920s - 20,000 fish and chip shops in GB with fish at less than 2p and chips less than 1p.

Question 12

Why were people able to move away from overcrowded inncer city areas to council houses?

Answer 12

1.1 million council houses built during interwar period, 90% were on new estates.

Question 13

How did home ownership increase from 1914-1938?

Answer 13

1914 - 10% of population owned their home

1938 - 32% owned their own home

Question 14

What fuelled the housing boom after 1937?

Answer 14

Off the gold standard, cut in interest rates fuelled housing boom as it wasn’t worth saving

Question 15

Why was there the need for the gov to intervene directly in the supply of food, clothing and other essential items in WW2?

Answer 15

Germany sank GB shipping and resources needed to be diverted away from the civilian economy to the army

Question 16

How did the bombing of GB cities affect living standards?

Answer 16

Destroyed homes, left people homeless

Question 17

How did rationing affect standards of living?

Answer 17

Ensured that the vast majority of people had the same limited access to food and resources, regardless of income.

Question 18

What accompanied restrictions on the allocation of food in the WW2 period?

Answer 18

By a government public information campaign which emphasised thriftiness - make do and mend as well as ideas to make food go further.

Question 19

What did people do as a result of rationing?

Answer 19

Subsistitues for normal foodstuffs - often unpleasant and unappetising. Lack of white flour = National Loaf - a grey looking bread agreed to be unpleasant to eat.

Question 20

When did restaurants become subject to rationing controls and what effect did it have?

Answer 20

1942 - only a limited amount of food they could serve and limited amount of meat and fish available.

Question 21

Why was restaurant food rationed in 1942?

Answer 21

To prevent resentment from working class households who saw wealthier people getting round the rationing controls

Question 22

Why could rationing be argued to be good for people’s living standards?

Answer 22

Food supplemented with vitamins and minerals by the Ministry of Food. The level of infant mortality fell during the war years, might account for post war baby boom.

Question 23

How did working conditions improve during WW2?

Answer 23

New jobs created for civilian munitions workers offered good pay and working conditions as a result of TU negotiations. Average pay for GB workers increased during the war

Question 24

How were women able to work during WW2?

Answer 24

Creches were established in the factories of many essential war industries. First were set up in November 1941 and within six months there were 667 set up.

Question 25

How did WW2 bombing affect living standards?

Answer 25

Deaths of 40,000 people + 2,000,000 homes bombed. Rural countryside not directly affected. PW era the destruction of Coventry and other areas gave the opportunity to rebuild and modernise cities.

Question 26

How was bombing beneficial for living standards in WW2?

Answer 26

Led to Taylor Walters Report which specified minimum space and number of rooms, and restricted building to twelve houses per acre. Better housing built in destroyed areas.