Liberal Reforms

Question 1

What was life like before the Liberal Reforms?

Answer 1

• 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

Question 2

Describe living conditions before the Liberal Reforms.

Answer 2

• 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

Question 3

What were the causes of the Liberal Reforms?

Answer 3

• Social Reformers
• Increasing Information and Scale of the Problem
• National Efficiency
• Key Individuals
• Political Rivalry

Question 4

Describe employment before the Liberal Reforms.

Answer 4

• 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

Question 5

Who were the Social Reformers?

Answer 5

• Charles Booth
• Seebohm Rowntree
• John Galt

Question 6

What did Charles Booth do?

Answer 6

-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

Question 7

What did Seebohm Rowntree do?

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Describe Increasing Information and Scale of the Problem

Answer 8

• 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

Question 9

Describe National Efficiency

Answer 9

-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

Question 10

Describe Key Individuals

Answer 10

-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

Question 11

Describe Political Rivalry

Answer 11

-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

Question 12

What did John Galt do?

Answer 12

• 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

Question 15

What were the Free School Meals 1906?

Answer 15

• 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

Question 16

What was the Pensions Act of 1908?

Answer 16

• 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

Question 17

What were the School Medical inspections 1907?

Answer 17

• Doctors and nurses went into schools to give compulsory medical checks
• They recommended any treatment thought necessary

Question 18

What was the Children’s Act 1908?

Answer 18

• 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

Question 19

What is the people’s budget 1908?

Answer 19

• 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

Question 19

What was the Labour Exchanges Act 1909?

Answer 19

• 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

Question 19

What was the National Insurance Act of 1911?

Answer 19

• 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

Question 19

What was the National Insurance Act 2 of 1912?

Answer 19

• 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

Question 21

Describe the responses to the Liberal Reforms

Answer 21

• 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