Liberal Reforms Flashcards
What was life like before the Liberal Reforms?
- Britain was filthy and overcrowded
- Most people lived in poverty
- The new toilet made problems
- The industrial revolution made people live in slums
- Cholera was spreading
- Joseph Baisljet made underground sewers
- 1/3 of Londoners lived with insufficient food and shelter
- 15,000 under 16s were in juvenile prison
- Age of consent raised from 13 to 16
- Salvation Army provided for those in need
- By 1900 there were 22,000 charities
Describe living conditions before the Liberal Reforms.
- Poor people lived in appalling conditions
- They burnt their doors as a means of keeping warm
- Up to 20 people could live in a house at once
- The homes were very close so disease spread quickly
What were the causes of the Liberal Reforms?
- Social Reformers
- Increasing Information and Scale of the Problem
- National Efficiency
- Key Individuals
- Political Rivalry
Describe employment before the Liberal Reforms.
- Dock workers have to wait at the docks each day to see if they can get work
- it’s is common for dock workers and building workers to only get 3 days of work a week
- Gas workers worked in horrendous conditions
Who were the Social Reformers?
- Charles Booth
- Seebohm Rowntree
- John Galt
What did Charles Booth do?
-He found that 30% of Londoners lived below the poverty line and only 1% were deserving
-he divided them into 4 classes:
The Lowest Class
Very Poor
Poor
Poor
What did Seebohm Rowntree do?
He found out the causes of poverty in York:
- 5% unemployment
- 10% death of a wage earner
- 5% illness or old age of a wage earner
- 22% low wages
- 52% large family
- 6% other
- He wrote ‘Poverty: A Study of Town Life in York’
- 27% of the population lives below the poverty line
Describe Increasing Information and Scale of the Problem
- Salvation Army and other charities, 22,000 by 1900
- Role of Civil Servants
- 1900 163 deaths per thousand
- Top 10% of the country owned 92% of the countries wealth
Describe National Efficiency
-Boer War
• Half of recruits were unfit for service
•69% unfit in some areas of Britain
•Committee on Physical Deterioration was made
-Workforce
•Challenged industrially by USA and Germany
•Germany had an admired welfare programme
Describe Key Individuals
-David Lloyd George
• 1908 became chancellor of exchequer
•He had a notable background
•Belived in New Liberalism
-Winston Churchill
•Switched to Liberals in 1908
•President of board of trade - he was aware of the contrast between Britain’s wealth and slums
Describe Political Rivalry
-Conservatives
•In power before 1906 - introduced Unemployed Workmen’s act
•Wanted to steal votes from the liberals
-Labour
•Formed in 1900
•Represented the working class
• Small and newly established
What did John Galt do?
- He showed the middle class ‘magic lantern’ shows
- They proved that the poor weren’t in that situation because of laziness
- Proved they had hard lives
- Showed that their jobs often lead to early deaths
What were the Free School Meals 1906?
- Gave free school meals for the poorest children at school
- By 1914 over 158,000 children had free school meals once a day, every day
- Almost 14 million were given out in 1914
What was the Pensions Act of 1908?
- Gave the elderly weekly pensions
- The 70+ were entitled to 5 shillings a week
- Married couples could get 7 shillings 6 pence a week
- Those who had an income of over £31 a year weren’t entitled to a pension
- Only available to British citizens, who’ve lived in Britain for the past 20 years were entitled
- You could be denied a pension if you were believed to have not worked to your best ability
- In the first year 650,000 people collected their pension
- The number of people collecting outdoor relief fell by over 80,000
What were the School Medical inspections 1907?
- Doctors and nurses went into schools to give compulsory medical checks
- They recommended any treatment thought necessary
What was the Children’s Act 1908?
- Insurance companies pay out money to parents in the event of their child’s death, even in suspicious circumstances
- Children’s homes were checked
- Under 14s couldn’t go to and adult jail, they were sent to a ‘Borstal’ which was equipped for children
- Under 14s couldn’t go into pubs
- Under 16s couldn’t buy cigarettes
What is the people’s budget 1908?
- Lloyd George had to raise money for the reforms
- He said as the rich inherited most of their money, they should pay to help out others
- He planned to tax the rich
- The House of Lords opposed
- Once the Liberals won the election in 1910 The House of Lords had to agree
What was the Labour Exchanges Act 1909?
- Unemployed workers could go to a Labour Exchange to look for a job
- By 1913 Labour Exchanges were putting 3,000 people into jobs every working day
What was the National Insurance Act of 1911?
- Aimed to prevent poverty through illness
- Workers could insure themselves against illness
- All men and women in manual, low paying jobs, if they earned less than £610 a year had to join
- They paid 4 pence a week and got stamps to put into a book
- The employers added 3 pence worth of stamps
- The government added a further 2 pence worth
- The workers got up to 26 weeks of paid sick leave a year
- The first 13 weeks at 10 shillings a week
- The last 13 weeks at 5 shillings a week
- About 10 million men and 4 million women were insured
What was the National Insurance Act 2 of 1912?
- Aimed to prevent poverty through unemployment
- Open to people in unsteady trades
- Workers, employers and the Government all paid 2 pence a week
- If a worker is unemployed they can claim 7s 6d a week for up to 15 weeks a year
- It initially helped out 2.25 million people
Describe the responses to the Liberal Reforms
- Rich - hated them as they were taxed to help pay for them
- Conservatives - bitter about Lloyd George’s claim that the rich only inherited their money and didn’t work for it
- Labour - Claim that the reforms didn’t go far enough, labour exchanges didn’t create full employment, only 500,000 pensioners benefited, and only half of Britain’s local authorities set up free school meals
- Employers - had to pay for the National Insurance Acts; 3d per week per employee for NI1; 2d per week per employee for NI2
- Workers - Many benefitted from the reforms such as free medical care
- Elderly - Many benefitted from pensions and they were non-contributory
