The Need for Reform + Politics

Question 1

What help was there for people in the 1890s?

Answer 1

• Only workhouses for financial support, but that involved long hours and bad treatment
• There was no unemployment benefit either
• Or no government pensions for the elderly

Question 2

What were conditions like?

Answer 2

• Houses were damp and cold and didn’t have proper sewerage so people got very ill
• Many people couldn’t afford doctors or medicine
• Children had to go to work at a young age to get money for their families so missed out on education
• Large numbers couldn’t eat properly: 50% of Boer War soldiers were malnourished

Question 3

What was the first report?

Answer 3

“Life and Labour of the People” by Charles Booth, 1889

• Details taken from London
• 30% of people found to be in poverty
• Impossible for people to find work
• Low wages so couldn’t support families

Question 4

What was the second report?

Answer 4

“Poverty, a Study of Town Life” by Seebohm Rowntree, 1901

• Details taken from York
• Not a lot of people could afford basic food or housing

Question 5

What was the public opinion on helping the poor?

Answer 5

• People involved in public health services said the government should get more involved in health issues themselves
• Socialists argued the land should be more evenly spread
• Labour argued that the gov. should give lots of financial help to the working class

Question 6

What did the Conservative government do to investigate poverty in 1905?

Answer 6

• Royal Commission investigated poverty and whether the help given by the Poor Law was good enough
• The members of the Commission couldn’t agree on the causes of poverty so produced two reports

Question 7

What was said in the Majority Report?

Answer 7

• If people were poor it was their own fault
• They made themselves poor by gambling and drinking
• Enough was being done to help already

Question 8

What was said in the Minority Report?

Answer 8

• People couldn’t help being poor
• Illness, old age and job shortage made people poor
• They thought more should be done

Question 9

What were Liberal and Conservative attitudes to helping the poor?

Answer 9

1) The gov. should interfere as little as possible with other people’s lives
2) It was wrong to raise taxes as people should decide how to spend their money
3) Giving them help was undermining their independence

Question 10

What were Labour’s attitudes to helping the poor?

Answer 10

1) The poorest in society should get help
2) The government should get money to pay for this from taxes
3) The government should nationalise major industries and make use of their profits

Question 11

What did the Liberals do?

Answer 11

• Won a landslide election in 1906
• Minority Report, Labour and general public all pressured the Liberals to give laws to help people in poverty
• They had to compete to win working class voters which led to the emergence of New Liberalism which supported intervening with people’s lives