Edwardian Social conditions Flashcards
1
Q
Housing density
A
declined as a
national average from 11% (1891) to 7.8% (1911).
2
Q
Mortality rates children and teenagers
A
- declined by 50% between 1860 and 1914; in 1905 it stood at 138 deaths per 1000
- 16/1000 in 1981
- infant mortality declined
more because of medical advances than the effect of social reform
3
Q
The availability of work
A
- increased
- the number of miners doubled between 1881 and 1911
- white-collar work
had gone up by 200%. - Building work increased by 20%
- miners’ wages had
increased by 90% for this period.
4
Q
decline from 1910
A
- real wages significantly declined
- agricultural work opportunities
declined by 20% between 1881 and 1911
5
Q
death rates
A
- many workers lived longer
- but lived longer in ill health
- shown by the records of Friendly Societies who paid
sickness benefit - wages of the miners could compensate for the inevitable years
of ill health that exceeded the years of good health over a lifetime
6
Q
Housing density
A
- varied across the country
- in the north-east, over 36% of Jarrows population lived in overcrowded conditions
- in Bedford, the figure was less than 0.5%
- The London average was 16%
- Booth’s study of London found large families living in rooms of eight square foot.
7
Q
Edwardian society was extremely unequal
A
- 1905 Leon Chiozza
Money’s book ‘Riches and Poverty’ was a best-seller with socialists - estimated that 1.25m of the ‘rich’ had a total income of £585m
- 3.75m of the ‘comfortable’ had a total income of £245m
- 38m of the rest had a total income of £880,000
8
Q
income tax
A
- only paid by those on incomes of £150 pa (1.25m taxpayers in 1909)
- skilled worker could expect 45s/week
- £300 pa was considered ‘uncomfortably well-off’
- richer members of the middle classes were on £600 pa
- the rich on £2500 pa.
- A ‘living wage’ in 1908 was estimated at £50 pa.
9
Q
what percentage of britain population was living in towns
A
- 77% of the country’s
population - 44m
10
Q
Housing
A
- improved since the Victorian period
- but it had not kept up with the growth in population
- 1901 many poorer working-class families lived in overcrowded and insanitary enclosed courts or slums.
- Crown Court, Stepney, in east London, condemned as unfit for human habitation in 1911.
- housing 16 families in five houses, sharing two toilets and one water tap in the yard between them.
11
Q
improvement to housings
A
- 1875, national
and local legislation had considerably improved the layout and construction of new working-class houses (e.g London County Council and construction by philanthropists) - but there was still a huge stock of older dilapidated housing (‘slums’) for those who could afford nothing better
- Housing Associations began to build social
housing for the working class at the end of the 19th century but (more numerous) social housing built by Councils did not start significantly until the late 1920s.
12
Q
Height of children and adults
A
- In 1914 children in the best w/c areas were 2 inches higher than their
contemporaries from the poorest w/c areas due to Poor diet. - Poor children grew to be short adults.
- Recruits to the army in the early 1900s were no taller than their predecessors in the 1820s.
13
Q
life expectancy
A
- 1900 stood at 44 years for a man
- 48 years for a woman
14
Q
workers and poverty
A
- A worker would be fortunate to earn 25s per week and
- as they could not rely on continuous employment, they sometimes lived below the poverty line.
- Agricultural workers were often the poorest type of worker earning 14s per week.
15
Q
strikes 1910
A
- 1910: Miners in NE & S Wales over shifts and pay
- Coal Mines Act 1908 gave 8 hr day so 3 shifts/day
- Tonypandy: 1 dead
- Oldham textiles lock-out
16
Q
strikes 1911
A
- Dockers, lock-out.
- Liverpool: 2 dead
17
Q
strikes 1913
A
- Dublin strike
- Irish Citizens Army
18
Q
strikes 1914
A
- Triple Alliance
formed
19
Q
Were the strikes a symbol of rebellious energy
A
- Strikes were rational responses about wages and conditions often provoked & caused by employer lock-outs
designed to achieve harsher conditions, to defy union recognition and collective bargaining.
– Hyperbole by Mayor of Liverpool, syndicalism present in some miners (A. J Cook) and Dockers (Tillet)
- but most strikes resolved through informal arbitration of George Askwith and DLG.
- Triple Alliance formed to assert national leadership control over local unions who started strikes as well as to assert leverage – failed after 1WW.
- Only 20% of the workforce was unionised; workers volunteered to fight in 1WW.
20
Q
- National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS)
A
– suffragists led by Millicent Fawcett.
- Est. 1888 in response to denial of vote extension in 1867 & 1884.
- It doubled in size between 1902 -1910.
21
Q
Women’s Social & Political Union (WPSU)
A
- est. 1903 after split from NUWSS
- led by the Pankhursts
22
Q
Misconception promoted by the suffragettes
A
- militancy was needed as women had not made any progress in
political emancipation
BUT women
- gained the vote in council elections in 1869;
- could be and were elected to Local School Boards in 1870;
- played active roles in the Conservative’s Primrose League & in the Liberal’s Women’s Political Federation;
- could be elected officials of councils following the Qualification of Women Act 1907; and two conciliation bills (1911 & 1912) indicated parliamentary support for an extension of the franchise to women. Support reversed in
1913 conciliation bill following militancy.
23
Q
female involvement in the public sphere
A
- women were 32% of British work force,
- 55% of single women worked outside the home (married: 10%);
- 60% of Lancashire cotton workers were women;
- Domestic service employed 1.5m women;
- Female teachers increased from 80,000 in 1862 to 171,000 by 1900;
- Female clerks increased from 279,000 in 1862 to 570, 000 in 1901.
24
Q
marriage for women
A
- Until 1900 women married later or not at all as more women than men
- costly contraception available
- birth planning publications prosecuted for obscenity
- Divorce impossible for women & loss of custody of kids followed.
25
Married Women’s Property acts
- 1870 & 1882
- secured for women both property held by them before marriage
and any subsequent income.
26
investigations into property
- Booth found
30% of London were poor
- led to Rowntree’s more structured investigation into York which found 30% of a prosperous city were poor
- Rowntree established the minimum income in 1901 for the physical efficiency of a family of two adults and 3 children: 21s 8d/week.
- In 1911: nearly a third of the population in GB earned less than 25s/week.
- found that poverty was caused by low wages, unemployment, death of a wage earner and by old age
27
real wages
declined when inflation hit GB in early 1900s.
- increased by
1/3rd during the final quarter of the 19th C because US wheat halved the price of bread, imports halved the price of meat; and the price of sugar decreased by 58% due to imports.
- The Boer War of 1899-1902 was expensive and caused inflation in GB so real wages stagnated.
28
conspicuous consumption
- 87% of private property was owned by 1m out of 44m people
- private property was owned by 1m out of 44m people.
- M/C grew more than W/Cs, both relatively and absolutely from 3.2m (1891) to 5m (1911),
- Income tax payable on £150 pa
- 1890s: 850,000 paid it
- in 1910: 1.25m = all M/C on £300 - £600 pa.
- Rich: £2000 pa.
- Skilled worker: 45s/week.
29
7 social class divisions
A: the ‘loafer’ on 18s/week living in slums.
B: low-skilled workers on 25s/week in poor to adequate housing (Agricultural workers: 14s per week).
C: skilled workers in comfortable housing on 45s/week.
D: small shopkeepers on £3/week.
E: small businessmen on £300/year, grammar school educated.
F: professionals & managers on £600/year, university educated.
G: the Rich on £2000+/year.
20s in a pound. A ‘living wage’ in 1908 was estimated at £50 pa.
30
income tax
- paid by 1 million people in 1894
- those who earned £160 or more pa
