liberals student notes

8/17/2019 Liberals Student Notes

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GCSE History

Paper Two



2

Key Quest ion 1: How was Brit ish society changed, 1890–1918? The Liberal WelfareReforms

What were working and living conditions like for the poor in the 1890s?

FocusPoints Why did the Liberal government introduce reforms to help the young, old andunemployed?

How effective were these reforms?

Poverty and distress in the 1890s, the work and impact of Charles Booth andSeebohm Rowntree.

Reasons for the liberal victory in the 1906 election.

Specified

Content

Reasons for the liberal reforms for example the extent of poverty, New Liberalism,the roles of Lloyd George and Churchill, the threat from the recently formed

Labour Party.

The Children’s Charter, compulsory medical inspections in schools,free medical treatment and free school meals for the poor, the establishment of

. , ,

National Insurance Act 1911.



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Old Age

DeathFathers would often die

People who were too old to work were poor and could not afford to

young and leave behind afamily. Widows would bepoor.

Large families

Families with lots

live.

Why werepeople

found themselves short of money.

late-19 th

Century?Illness

People who were ill would not be aid.

Unemployment

Also they had to pay for medical Treatment.

DisabilityIf someone was disabled the would

en w o os their jobs did not have enough

not be able to work. Many people were disabled after work

their families. accidents.



5

Social Investigations.

Charles Booth wrote a number ofstudies between 1886 and 1903,

’book called “Life and Labour of thePeople in London”. He carried out

interviews with poor people. Doctors,teachers and priests. He also

In 1901 Rowntree published his workon the life of poor people in York.

He said that people needed aroundco ec e uge amoun s o a a onthe way the poor people in London

lived.

Booth said that people were poor, or

s per wee o ve. e sa aga n

that around 30% of people livedbelow what he called the “ Poverty

Line ”.

in poverty , if they earned less than21s per week. Booth said that 30%

of people lived in this way.

Rowntree said that most peoplecould not help being poor. They were

simply not paid enough to live on.

However, he said that large familieswas the main cause of overt in poverty led to illness and death.

He also said that most people wholived in poverty were not responsible

York.

or e r con on.



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Why did the Liberal

ar y

n

e

Election? Who were the main Liberal Reformers?

In 1906 there were two mainpolitical parties –

The Conservatives who did notwant the overnment to do much to

Herbert Asquith:Prime Minister between 1908 and 1916. Was at the head of the

help the poor.

The Liberals who were keen tohelp the poor and give the

.

David Lloyd George:Chancellor of the Exchequer during most of the reforms. He designedthe National Insurance Act and Old Age Pensions scheme. He raised

.

There was also a small LabourParty who wanted to spend muchmore on helping the poor and said

the money though taxes to pay for the reforms. Supporters of thereforms loved Lloyd George, opponents hated him!

Winston Churchill: A keen su orter of the reforms who hel ed desi n the National

the government should control allimportant aspects of life and

business.

In 1906, the Conservatives were

Insurance Act and the Labour Exchanges scheme. He later left theLiberals and became a Conservative.

divided and the public were angrywith the way they were running theeconomy. The Liberals ran a good

election campaign and won a.

remained small, but it was clearthat it could keep on growing.



7

o f

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Background

The General Election of 1906 saw the Liberal Party come to power. They won a massive victory in the electionand managed to beat the Conservatives quite easily. Over the next few years they introduced many reforms that

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l R e f o r .

l G o v e

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1) The Labour Party

In the 1906 General Election, there were two main political parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives. Most richpeople voted Conservative and most of the poorer people voted Liberal. However, in 1900 a new political party

L i b e r

t r o d u c had been set up—the Labour Party. The Labour Party said it would help the poor people by taxing the rich and

spending the money on social reform—this is known as Socialism. The Liberals were afraid that the LabourParty’s ideas would be very popular with the poor people and that the Labour party would win all the poorerpeoples’ votes. The Liberal Social Reforms were a way of keeping the poorer people voting Liberal.

d i d t h

- 1 9 1 4 I

2) Social Investigations

W h

1 9 0 6 By the end of the 19th Century a number of famous people were carrying out investigations into how people livedin Britain. In 1901, Seebohm Rowntree (of the famous chocolate family) published a report into life for poorpeople in year. His report said that over 1/4 of people in York were poor and that their poverty was not their ownfault. He said that the government should help them. At about the same time, Charles Booth found the samethin s were true in London. These re orts shocked eo le in the Government and made them take some actionto solve these problems.



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3) National Efficiency

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m ?

The Liberal Party was supported by many businessmen and important politicians. They wanted welfare reform foranother reason. They argued that Britain could not be a major world power if it did not look after its people better.They said that a well educated, well fed and healthy workforce would be better at producing goods in the factories.They said that other countries such as Germany were already providing welfare for their people and that their

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l R e f o r factories were doing much better than Britain’s.

During the Boer War of 1899-1902 (fought against South Africa) 69% of all British men who volunteered wereconsidered unfit for military service. This had caused some alarm. This meant that some people believed thatBritain’s Armed forces would be better off if there were welfare reforms. The said that a well educated and health

l G o v e

e S o c i

population would provide a better army to fight rivals such as Germany and defend the British Empire.

Britain needed to be more efficient if she was to compete with France, Germany and the USA.

L i b e r

t r o d u c

4) Key Individuals and new ideas

There were some leading members of the Liberal Party who wanted to reform the lives of ordinary people. They

d i d t h

- 1 9 1 4 I were very mpor an n es gn ng e re orms an ma ng sure ey go roug ar amen . av oy eorge

and Winston Churchill were probably the most famous Liberal Reformers.

More and more people began to accept that it was OK for the government to interfere in the lives of ordinarypeople. The old idea of Laissez Faire (leaving things alone) was no longer fashionable. Many people in the Liberal

W h

1 9 0 6 Party were keen to use the power of government to help the poor. This was known as New Liberalism.

5) To Win Votes

The Liberals were politicians and they introduced the reforms because they hoped they would be popular.



9Reform Evaluation

Free Schoo l Meals: (1906) By 1914, over 158,000 children were receiving a freemeal each day.

Local councils were given the power to provide a freeschool meal for children of poor families. This had to bepaid for by local rate payers.

The scheme proved that the government should providehelp.

,did not provide the free meals. Most children wentwithout.

School Medical Inspections: (1907)

Many children were diagnosed with diseases that couldhave threatened their lives. r a loctors an nurses went nto sc oo to prov e ree

compulsory medical checks for children. Their job was tospot thesigns of illness.

However, even when a child had been diagnosed, themedical treatment was not free. Many parents could notafford the treatment. t h

e L i b e

r m s

These clinics were set up to treat children who had beendiagnosed as having an illness during a SchoolMedical under the 1907 scheme.

more children received free medical care.

These clinics only covered children of school age.Younger children and adults in the same family could still i l d

r e n a n

R e f o

.The Children’s Act: (1908)

A whole range of measures known as the Children’sCharter. For the first time it made it illegal to neglect or

This Act gave protection to children and made them“special”. It laid out that children should not be abused.This was an important principle.

C h

abuse children. Children under 14 were banned frompubs and it was illegal to sell tobacco to children under 16.

Children under 14 who broke the law were put on trial in’ ’

known as “borstals”.

Children were seen as special and in need of care.



10

Old Peo le and the Liberal Reforms

The Old Age Pensi ons Act (1908)

This gave a weekly pension from government funds to the elderly. From January1909 almost everyone over the age of 70 was eligible for a state pension.

.

Evaluation

Old people no longer depended on the Poor Law or Charity.

650,000 Old people claimed their pension in the first year.

The government was providing a free benefit to help the elderly.

Many people were too old to work long before they were 70—they had worked from a very young age andthey were ill or disabled. Most people died before they were 70!

Only very poor people got all of the money. Old people with some other income lost some of their pension.

Anyone who was known to be lazy or always drunk was banned from the pension.

Anyone who had been to prison in the last ten years was also banned.



11

The Unemployed the Sick and the LiberalReforms

The National Insurance Act (1911)

This was the main reform that set out to help the sick and the

What the Unemployment Insurance Was the Scheme Any Good?

Labour Exchanges Act (1909)

unemployed. It was in two parts. Part One dealt with Sickness and PartTwo dealt with Unemployment.

This was a government run insurancescheme aimed at stopping workersbeing poor if they became

J Many people were helped by thescheme

Exchanges—the first Job centres. Theywere aimed at getting men into jobs asquickly as possible so they would not bewithout wages. .

All workers in some jobs had to jointhe scheme. Jobs that were seasonalsuch as shipbuilding and construction

It did force employers and thegovernment to help workers.

LNot all people could join—only some

Before this men had to wander around totry and find a job. By 1913 3000 men aday were finding work through one of thegovernment’s Labour Exchanges. .

The employee, the employer and thegovernment paid 2d each per week .

obs could become members of thescheme.

LThe benefits were low and would notIf the employee was unemployed thenthey could receive 7s 6d per week for15 weeks.

.lifestyle needed around 21s per week

LIf a man was unemployed for a long

then he would be without help.



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What the Health Insurance Scheme of theNational Insurance Act Did Was the Scheme Any Good?

This was a government run insurance Many people were helped by thescheme aimed at stopping workers beingpoor if they became ill.

All workers in low paid jobs had to join thescheme.

scheme

It did force employers and the

government to help workers.

Each week the employee paid 4d, theiremployer paid 3d and the governmentpaid 2d.

The family of sick men were notcovered.

Not all people could join—only some

If a worker fell ill they were given sick pay10s a week for 13 weeks and then 5s aweek for another 13 weeks.

scheme.

The benefits were low. Even the mostbasic lifestyle needed around 21s per

Workers in the scheme could get freemedical treatment and maternity care.

Tem million men and 4 million womenwere in the scheme.

week

If a man was very ill for a long time orwas ill more than once in a year, hisbenefits would run out and then he wouldbe without help.



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Who Opposed the Reforms?

The Labour Party: They wanted more reforms and said the Liberal

reforms were too limited.The Conservative Party: They said it was wrong to use taxes to helpthe poor—benefits would make them lazy and unwilling to work.

Rich People: They had to pay the taxes to fund the reforms.

The Middle Class: People like shopkeepers, doctors and lawyers.They had servants and had to pay national insurance contributions forthem. They objected to paying the money.

The Insurance Companies: They had always provided insuranceschemes for things like sickness and illness. They were afraid theywould lose business.

The working class: Many ordinary working people hated the reforms.They disliked being told how to bring up their children and hated havingto pay National Insurance Contributions.

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