Attitudes to Poverty in the 20th century

Victorians believed that poverty was self-inflicted, and they it was brought on by:

• laziness
• overspending
• laziness

In order to prevent laziness and drunkenness, they limited help available. There were only two sorts of help poor people could get:

• outdoor relief
  • poor people could get small money handouts
  • very limited availability
  • shameful
• the workhouse
  • shelter, food and clothes
  • but only the bare minimum
  • very harsh work

• Books
  • people began to write books about poverty, so for the first time people began to understand about poverty
  • statistics were included in books
  • examples: Seebohm Rowntree, who created the 'poverty line' (the bare minimum at which people could get by)
• The Salvation Army
  • William and Catherine Booth went out on the streets and gathered them into the Salvation Army
  • They raised awareness by going out in uniforms, smartly dressed, bands playing in order to raise money for the poor
• The Boer War
  • when the Boer War started in 1899, Britain introduced conscription. However, poverty was so bad that in some places 90% of people failed their medical tests as they were malnourished
  • this made people realise that something had to be done about poverty

Children

• Free school meals became optional in 1906 and compulsory in 1914
• School medical inspections started in 1907 and medical treatment offered in 1912
• The Children's Charter was introduced in 1908
  • separate children's courts, borstals, children couldn't buy alcohol, tobacco or fireworks, children's working hours were limited, and it became illegal to mistreat children

Elderly

• Pensions were introduced for the over-70 in 1908
  • only for people who were not drunk, imprisoned, unemployed and who had lived in the country for 30+ years

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Workers

• Trade Boards were set up to help workers (e.g. setting minimum wages) in 1909
• Labour Exchanges were set up to help people to find work in 1910
• National Insurance was set up 1911
  • Part I - sick pay
    • workers paid 4d, employers 3d and the government 2d which gave the worker sick pay and medical care
  • Part 2 - unemployment pay
    • worker, employer and government paid 2.5d which provided unemployment benefit

Moral Reasons

• Liberal ideas - wanted to help the poor
• findings of social reformers

Personalities

• Lloyd George who had experienced poverty as a child
• Churchill who had read reports

Nationalist Reasons

• the need to defend the empire
• imperial pride - the greatest nation has the worst poverty

Political Reasons

• when the Labour Party was formed Liberals had to help the people or risk losing votes