B4 - Reasons for the Liberal Reforms

Question 1

deserving poor

Answer 1

those who deserve help

eg: in poverty due to low wages, family size, old age etc

Question 2

undeserving poor

Answer 2

those who do not deserve help

eg: in poverty due to drinking, gambling, laziness etc

Question 3

laissez-faire

Answer 3

• main government attitude of the time

- the belief that the state should not intervene in the lives of the people. (leave alone)

Question 4

poor law system

Answer 4

• people put in workhouses (poor house in Scotland)
• horrible conditions
• unsuccessful as they couldn’t cope with rising unemployment or poverty

Question 5

self-help

Answer 5

the belief that poverty could be beaten by hard work and a positive attitude.

Question 6

examples of charities

Answer 6

1. The Salvation Army
2. Dr Barnardo’s Homes
3. NSPCC
4. YMCA

Question 7

Charles Booth

Answer 7

• carried out his survey in London
• found 35% of the population were living in poverty
• used scientific methods
• provided statistics that showed how widespread poverty was

Question 8

Seebohm Rowntree

Answer 8

• carried out his work in York
• found 30% of those living in York were in poverty
• established the poverty line
• identified primary and secondary poverty

Question 9

primary poverty

Answer 9

those whose earnings were not enough and they could not survive on them alone.

Question 10

secondary poverty

Answer 10

those who had enough money but wasted it.

Question 11

impact of Booth and Rowntree

Answer 11

• proved charity was not enough to deal with poverty
• proved poverty was a nationwide problem
• established “deserving poor”

Question 12

impact of investigations carried out by the conservative government in response to Booth and Rowntree

Answer 12

confirmed their findings and reinforce that poverty had a huge impact on the nation’s health.

Question 13

example of investigation carried out by the conservative government in response to Booth and Rowntree

Answer 13

1903 The Royal Commission on Physical Training in Scotland

Question 14

B&R cons

Answer 14

• many people challenged the surveys and believed the poor wasted their money.
• only focused on inner-city areas like London and York so no evidence on poverty in rural areas.
• surveys published at the start of C20th but no sign of reform until 1906

Question 15

municipal socialism definition

Answer 15

the spending of local authority money in order to benefit the public as a whole

Question 16

Municipal socialism in Birmingham

Answer 16

liberal major Joseph Chamberlain made various improvements to the city including:

• buying waterworks & gas works
• clearing the worst slums
• building better housing

Question 17

Municipal socialism in Glasgow

Answer 17

the ‘founding fathers’ improved the city by:

• regulating sanitary conditions
• improving the filthy environment

Question 18

Municipal socialism pros

Answer 18

• took direct action to improve the lives of the poor
• local success paved the way for similar results at a national level
• changes made in Birmingham and Glasgow showed that municipal socialism worked

Question 19

Municipal socialism cons

Answer 19

-huge opposition to the idea of taxation in Britain and it was seen as unfair that the wealthy needed to provide for the poor.

Question 20

evidence of poor health of Britain proved during Boer war

Answer 20

• 25% of all volunteers were rejected due to poor health
• even higher in industrial areas like Manchester (90%)
• Took 3 years for 400000 professional British soldiers to defeat a force of 35000 Boer farmers.

Question 21

action taken after Boer war statistics

Answer 21

• govt formed Interdepartmental Committee on Physical Deterioration.
• found that most problems came as a result of malnutrition and overcrowding.

Question 22

fear of national security pros

Answer 22

• Britain desperately needed healthy armed force for future wars and to retain their status as a ‘great power’
• believed that findings of ICPD led directly to the earliest reforms.

Question 23

fear of national security cons

Answer 23

• no genuine concern for poor and wanted to pass reforms for political advantage
• Germany had been threatening British navy since 1871 so concerns over national performance were not new.

Question 24

new liberals definition

Answer 24

had a more interventionist approach. They believed the govt had a responsibility to help the poor out of problems which they had no control over.

Question 25

Campbell Bannerman

Answer 25

• a traditional ‘old’ liberal who believed in laissez-faire

- prime minister 1906-1908 (little reform during this time)

Question 26

new liberalism cons

Answer 26

• in 1906 most new liberals were still committed to the idea of laissez-faire and there was no mention of social reforms in their 1906 manifesto.
• still vastly outnumbered by old laissez faire liberals
• reforms made before new liberals had established much influence

Question 27

The newly established Labour Party were winning public support for…

Answer 27

their campaigns for social welfare policies such as old age pensions and unemployment benefits.

Question 28

why were Labour a threat to the Liberals

Answer 28

they relied on working class votes and were threatened by the Labour party so needed to offer similar support to the working class.

Question 29

why could Labour not have posed much of a threat?

Answer 29

• the Liberals cannot have been truly worried by Labour because they would have offered pensions earlier and Labour were still a very small party at the time with only 29 seats.
• the Liberals were still the party gaining the majority of working-class votes and in 1906, they won 400 seats proving that Labour did not have an impact on their success.

Question 30

what did the poverty cycle allow govt to do

Answer 30

identify points in a person’s life when they were most likely to fall into poverty and therefore introduce reforms targeted towards specific people.
eg: pensions for elderly or free school meals for children.