How Far Did the British Class System Change in the Years 1918-1951?

Question 1

Upper Class

War Casualties

Answer 1

12.9% of men in the army died, but 19% of peers and their sons and 20% of Old Etonians died
Many officers- high mortality rate

Question 2

Upper Class

Economic Challenges

Answer 2

Increased income tax, death duties. taxes on estates (over £2mil now 40% tax, tax on incomes over £2500 rose, 2% 1914, 25% 1925)
Many forced to sell their properties - almost 1/4 of land in England 1918-1920
1951, over half landless

Question 3

Upper Class

Political Challenges - Elected

Answer 3

Labour Party (1900)
ROPA (1918) - increased w/c MPs in parliament
Wealthly landowners 40% of MPs in 1910, only 5% by 1945

Question 4

Upper Class

Political Challenges - Lords

Answer 4

Loss of influence over the House of Lords
Parliament Act (1910) - lost power to veto any bill relating to taxation
Removal of hereditary seats in the House of Lords - appointed life peers instead

Question 5

Upper Class

Socio-Cultural

Answer 5

Bore brunt of satire boom (1950s), but retained widespread affection and adoration of public
Opened homes to people - houses sold or donated to National Trust
Country Houses Scheme (1937) - live in estates rent free for 2 generations if they transferred ownership to National Trust

Question 6

Upper Class

New Upper Class

Answer 6

Growing affluence - ‘new money’
Able to buy large estates and send children to private + grammar schools
Dominate society and politics, MacMillan’s Cabinet contained 40 Old Etonians

Question 7

Middle Class

Inter War Years

Answer 7

Inflation hit middle classes hardest (blamed on trade unions)
Affluence gap narrowing, so did social status, so they defined themselves by affluent lifestyles and cultural + leisure pursuits

Question 8

Middle Class

Economic

Answer 8

Prosperity, growth in working opportunities
Commercial and financial sectors in London grew by 34% in 1920s
Growth of new industries (STE) and jobs in management (700,000 in 1931, 1.25 mil in 1951)

Question 9

Middle Class

Education

Answer 9

Good quality secondary education (Butler Education Act, 1944)
Widened working opportunities
Eleven plus reinforced class boundaries

Question 10

Middle Class

Housing

Answer 10

Increased affluence made home ownership a pre-requisite for entry into the middle class - particulary in communter belt (SE)
1939, 60% of middle class were homeowners, only 20% of working class
Geographical divide - suburbia

Question 11

Middle Class

Culture/Leisure

Answer 11

Aimed to differentiate themselves through leisure - theatre, classical music, fine art, exclusive sports (golf), shunned cinema, pop music, and football
Preserved social superiority, no longer based on economic status

Question 12

Working Class

Little Change

Answer 12

Very little change, surge in patriotism and sympathy but little real shift in attitudes
Failure to deliver ‘land fit for heroes’

Question 13

Working Class

Political

Answer 13

Increased membership of trade unions (by 90% between 1914-18)
ROPA (1918)

Question 14

Working Class

Industrial Relations

Answer 14

Increasingly militant union action - 1921 Miner’s Strike, 1926 General Strike
But failed to achieve improvements - union membership declined by 40% in 1920s as many lost faith

Question 15

Working Class

Welfare

Answer 15

Welfare state brought some improvements
Government would care for the people ‘from the cradle to the grave’
Basic safety net, but people still lived in inadequate housing with poor diets + extortionate rents
Housing programmes (40s+50s) built flats - increased class divisions