U2 - Why Liberals introduced Reforms 1906-14 Flashcards
L L I E R
- Liberal Divide
- Labour Party (Growth)
- Individuals (Churchill and Lloyd George)
- Efficiency
- Reports (Booth and Rowntree)
Pre - 1906 Government attitudes towards people and poverty
- Britain was extremely rich in 1900
- Wealth had been based on growing industrialisation, overseas empire and the strongest navy in the world
Government Attitudes 1850s - 1906
Laissez - Faire
- Didn’t believe it was the responsibility to intervene in the lives of the British people
- People were expected to deal with their financial and social hardship on their own
- Believed the state of British people was one of ‘self-help’
Government Attitudes 1850s - 1906
British Government thoughts on poverty
Believed it was self-inflicted through
- Idleness
- Ignorance
- Drunkenness
- Gambling
Government Attitudes 1850s - 1906
Samuel Smiles (a scot)
- 1859 ‘self help’ book typified the attitude of the time
- Argues that those living in poverty had only themselves to blame and could get themselves out of poverty through hard work and saving
- Rich people read this book as they could afford it and could read unlike poor people
Government Attitudes 1850s - 1906
What help exist during the laissez - faire at:
- YMCA - 1844
- The Salvation Army - 1866
- Barnardo’s - 1869
- R.S.P.C.C - 1884
Government Attitudes 1850s - 1906
The Poor Law System
- In Scotland the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1845 allowed disabled, widows and deserted wives and children into Poorhouses
- They weren’t forced to work
- The able-bodied weren’t allowed in
Government Attitudes 1850s - 1906
The Poor law System - Factors it created
- HUMILIATION
- DESPERATION
- SEPERATION
Government Attitudes 1850s - 1906
The Poor Law System - Portrayed Successful
- Made state help appear very unattractive to the poor
- Calculated by Historians that 90% of the unemployed never opted for poor relief despite the fact that they lived in poverty
Government Attitudes 1850s - 1906
By 1906 New Liberals dominated the government and who
- Asquith
- Haldane
- Lloyd George
- Churchill
Government Attitudes 1850s - 1906
1906 General Election
- Liberals: 399 seats
- Conservatives: 156 seats
- Labour: 29 seats
- Irish Nationalists: 82 seats
Government Attitudes 1850s - 1906
Henry Campbell Bannerman
- Liberals came into power promising social reform (helping people)
- He was PM (Prime Minister)
- Died at age of 69
- He was Glaswegian
Government Attitudes 1850s - 1906
H.H Asquith
- PM from 1908-1916
- Passed most of Liberal Reforms
- Nicknamed squiffy by opponents
- Fond drinker
- A NEW LIBERAL
Government Attitudes 1850s - 1906
David Lloyd George - Chancellor of the Exchequer
“The country that spent £250 million to avenge the insult of a Dutch farmer is not ashamed to see her children walking in the street…in rags”
Government Attitudes 1850s - 1906
Winston Churchill - President of the board of trade
saw “little glory in a country which rules waves but is unable to flush it’s own sewers”