4a+-+LIBERAL+REFORMS

__**THE BIG QUESTION **__ **How was British society changed, 1890-1918? **
 * __THE LIBERAL REFORMS 1906-1914 __** [[image:http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQAGSNSSiIIiaviDIhlr9cQqdG0tkIETj9ZvjfuymwmnZ5pRw1K3A width="440" height="253"]]

__**HEADLINE QUESTIONS **__ What were working and living conditions like for the poor in the 1890s? How were social reformers reacting to the social problems of the 1890s? Why did the Liberal government introduce reforms to help the young, old and unemployed? How effective were these reforms?

__**CONTENT THAT YOU NEED TO KNOW **__ Poverty and distress in the 1890s; The work and impact of Charles Booth and Seebohm Rowntree;  Reasons for the liberal victory in the 1906 election;  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 juvenile courts and borstals;  Old age pensions 1909, Labour exchanges 1909, the National Insurance Act 1911;  <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; text-align: center;">Attempts to reform the Poor Law.

<span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; text-align: center;">__**SKILLS THAT YOU NEED TO DEVELOP**__Evaluation of image and text based sources of evidence;To use contemporary evidence to answer questions about: motivation; propaganda; purpose; reliability;Comparisons of sources in terms of their reliability and usefulness;Weighing up evidence into groups that support and oppose a statement;Recall relevant and specific own knowledge that can be usedto help explain and contextualise contemporary sources.



__**<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">How was British Society changed, 1890-1918? **__ <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">The obvious technological changes that have occured since the turn of the twentieth century are as apparent as the huge social changes that have taken place, whether it is in the rights of the individual or fashion or youth culture. Many of the developments have been down to individuals setting trends, whilst the majority of changes have either been led by, or focused against politicians who have the ability to change life styles, whether for their own good or the safety of the nation. The video below is from a Hovis advert from a few years ago showing changes in British society since the late 1800s. You might just see some familiar changes related to our course in the first 40 seconds:

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<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14px;">Your knowledge of the topics are of course going to be vital to support the evidence that you're presented with in the exam. A good background to this period is shown by Andrew Marr in his Making of Modern Britain.

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**__ What were working and living conditions like for the poor in the 1890s? __**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Working Conditions **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Most people at the beginning of the twentieth century worked in the ‘old industries’.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">These were the industries that had developed during the Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Steel-making and shipbuilding 1,570,000 <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Transport 1,440,000 <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Agriculture 1,400,000 <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Textiles 1,350,000 <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Building 1,220,000 <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Clothing 1,210,000 <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Mining 940,000


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The Old industries had depended upon steam power and developed where there was coal and iron.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">They were mostly in the North West, North East, South Wales and Scotland. They had been the basis of Britain's industrial success since the Industrial Revolution.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">They were heavy, concentrated industries. They produced raw materials or very large products like ships.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In all of these industries Britain had been the leading country in the nineteenth century.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">But by 1900 other countries were beginning to catch up.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">During the First World War, when Britain was busy fighting, the USA and Japan both overtook Britain in some of these industries.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The most mechanised industry was textiles. In cotton and wool factories all production was carried out by machine.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Most workers in these industries were men. Only textiles and clothing employed large numbers of women.

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Why did women found developing a career very difficult at the beginning of the twentieth century?


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Women were often not as well educated as men. Before 1876 education had not been compulsory and it was not free until 1880. Some families educated their sons, but not their daughters.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">At the beginning of the twentieth century only about one girl in fifty stayed at school after the age of ten.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Women were expected to get married and have children. Men were the head of the household and could tell women what to do.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Women’s pay was always less than a man’s, it was usually about two-thirds.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The law offered very little protection to women when they tried to get a job. There was nothing like ‘equal opportunities’.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Women did not have the vote and so could do little to change the situation.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">The employment opportunities for women in the years to 1914 **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The largest employer of women was Domestic Service. About 2,300,000 people worked as domestic servants, including about 1,600,000 women.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Many girls went into domestic service when they left school at the age of twelve.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Women also worked in large numbers in the textile industries (cotton and wool) and in clothing.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Often the work in the clothing industry was carried out in small workshops which were in the house of the employer. These were part of the ‘Sweated Trades’.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">These workers faced very bad conditions and very low pay. Women had no way of protesting as they usually worked in small groups and had no trade unions.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">They often needed the money and had no alternative but to accept the conditions.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Women were also beginning to work in newer industries with inventions, such as telephone exchanges and using the typewriter.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Women worked in telephone exchanges connecting calls and in offices using typewriters. They were usually quicker than men and had smaller hands and fingers.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Domestic service **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">This employed one person in every eight in 1900.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">It was also one of the few jobs that employed women in large numbers.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">There were two types of domestic service. Some ‘lived in’ in houses of their employers, others ‘lived out’.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Domestic servants often worked in very bad conditions and it was almost impossible for them to do anything about them.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Servants who lived in had rooms in the attics of houses and worked very long hours as cleaners, cooks or chambermaids.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Their pay was often very low, sometimes only 5 or 10 pounds a year. They often only got one half day a week, or even a month, off.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Servants who lived out were usually married. They were better paid


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Why did so many women work in Domestic Service? **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The school leaving age was 12; many girls went straight into service. They were able to earn some money to help the family budget until they got married.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Because there were so many girls looking for work, pay was very low.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">It was a job, which did not require a high level of education. Most of the work was manual.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Coalmining **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Coalmining was a major employer at the beginning of the twentieth century.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">In some parts of the country, such as South Wales, South Yorkshire and parts of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, towns and villages depended entirely on coalmining.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Sons went down the pit with their fathers at the age of fourteen and worked all their lives underground.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Mining could be very dangerous. About 1,000 miners were killed every year. 20% of miners suffered some form of injury during their lives.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Many miners who did not suffer injury caught pneumoconiosis from inhaling coal dust. This gave them a terrible cough and their lungs filled up with coal dust.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Agriculture **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">British agriculture had suffered from increasing competition from the USA at the end of the nineteenth century.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Frozen meat had also begun to be imported from Australia and New Zealand
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Many British farms were very small and the workers had very little machinery to use. A lot of work was still done by hand at harvest-time and haymaking.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Dockwork **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Dockers were men who unloaded ships when they arrived in British ports.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Most of the work was done by hand. Dockers were expected to carry as many as 1,000 sacks off a ship in a day.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Dockwork was 'casual'; this meant that many dockers did not know if they would have a job from one day to the next.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Dockers were ‘taken on’ each morning by a foreman. Dockers sometimes had to bribe the foreman to persuade him to pick them every morning.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">There were often fights between dockers as they tried to get work in the morning.

=<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The Sweated Trades =


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In the sweated trades workers worked in tiny workshops, in dreadful conditions for very low pay.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Other workers worked at home and were paid piece rates. They made jewellery, painted toy soldiers or addressed envelopes.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Most of these workers were women. They needed to earn money, but had to look after their children.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">There were laws to stop this happening, but they were very difficult to enforce. The worst conditions were in very small workshops, often in the house of the employer. It was almost impossible to check on every workshop.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The workers could not afford to complain or they would lose their jobs.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Shipbuilding **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">This was one of the most successful industries in Britain. One third of all of the world’s ships were built in Britain.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Skilled shipbuilders, such as rivetters, were among the highest paid workers in Britain.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Other industries, such as coal and iron and steel, depended on shipbuilding for many of their orders.

__**<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Living Conditions **__
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Until the mid-nineteenth century, housing was generally very poor in the centres of cities.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">From the late 1850s, proper drains began to be built and fresh water was supplied to most houses.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">However, in some areas, such as the East End of London, most working people lived in rooms or parts of houses.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">In the North of England, houses were often ‘back-to-back’ with no gardens.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">In London, houses were built around courtyards with a water tap in the middle.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Some people were lucky enough to move into brand new flats in Peabody Buildings
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">These were built by an American George Peabody, who came to live in London and was shocked by the dreadful standard of housing for many people.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">He set up a charity that built many blocks of flats in central and East London. Many of them are still standing today.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">However, many families lived in one room in a tenement building.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In London, in 1902, only 3 out of 8 water companies filtered supplies before they were pumped into houses.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Average life expectancy was less than 50 for both men and women.



<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Poverty in the 1890s

 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">At the end of the nineteenth century central government did not provide any help for poor and sick people in Britain.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">There was only one major way that that help was provided, through the Poor Law.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Many people did not believe that it was the government’s responsibility. There was also a strong belief if somebody was poor it was their own fault.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">People blamed poverty upon laziness, drunkenness or crime.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The worst effects of poverty were found in areas like the East End of London.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Many people assumed that poverty and ill health were linked to the area that people lived in.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">The Poor Law/Workhouse system **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The whole country had been divided into ‘Unions’ and each Union had built a workhouse.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">If people were unable to support themselves, they could apply to be admitted to the workhouse, where they would be fed and housed.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In a Workhouse families were separated. There were rules to obey, such as: silence during meals, wearing workhouse clothes, no drinking or smoking, only seeing your family once a week.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">It was intended to try to persuade people not to go into the workhouse.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">By the late nineteenth century, workhouses were much better. Children were educated apprenticed to learn a trade.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Poor Law Hospitals offered free medical treatment.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">From 1886 Poor Law authorities were allowed to provide work for the unemployed. From 1905 they could raise money for this purpose.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">About 80% of paupers received outdoor relief. Only about 150,000 were in workhouses. By the end of the century married couples were not split up.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Paupers were properly clothed and fed, but workhouses were still very unpopular. However, they continued to operate until 1929.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The Workhouse Virtual Tour **

**__ How were social reformers reacting to the social problems of the 1890s? __**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Charles Booth **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Charles Booth began a survey of life in the East End of London in 1886.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Over the next seventeen years he and his workers visited every house in every street and questioned the occupants.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">They found out how many people lived there, what work they did and how much they earned.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">His findings were published in ‘Life and Labour of the People in London’ in 1903.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">He showed how many people lived in dreadful conditions, with families squashed into one room in damp tenement blocks.

You can have a look through the Booth Report and see exactly what he and his colleagues discovered, in a location that you will be familiar with:

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Seebohm Rowntree

 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Seebohm Rowntree did almost exactly the same in York.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In 1901 he published Poverty: ‘A Study of Town Life’, which was based on interviews with every family in York.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Booth and Rowntree came to very similar conclusions.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Both found that about 30% of the population lived in poverty.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Both Booth and Rowntree worked out that a family of five, two adults and three children, would need about £1.08 each week.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Rowntree also worked out why each family did not earn enough to live on. The most common reason was low pay, which accounted for 52% of the families.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The other reasons were: unemployment, sickness, death of the main wage earner, large families and old age.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">But despite the dramatic findings of Booth and Rowntree, the government did not act. It took something else to bring about changes.




 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Why did the Liberal governments introduce reforms to help the young, old and unemployed? **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Reasons for the Liberal Reforms **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">The political background **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">The Reform Acts of 1867 and 1884 had given the vote to many more people and almost all working men. By 1900, 7,000,000 men could vote.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Political parties now had to persuade voters to support them in general elections by publishing manifestos and making promises.

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">The Labour Party

 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In 1900 the Labour Representation Committee was founded. It became the Labour Party in 1906.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The LRC (Labour Party) wanted to improve conditions for working people.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The LRC offered to support the Liberals if they would introduce reforms.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In 1903 the Liberal Party and the LRC formed the MacDonald-Gladstone Pact. The two parties agreed not to fight against each other in the next general election.

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">The Liberal Party

 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">David Lloyd George wanted to improve the lives of ordinary people.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">He helped to develop the idea of ‘New Liberalism’, which was aimed at working people.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">So when the Liberal Party won the general election in 1906, they decided to introduce some reforms to improve the health and the welfare of the British people.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Social and Economic change **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Throughout the nineteenth century more and more reforms had been passed by governments. Government had taken responsibility for many areas of people’s lives and had protected them from harm.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Factory Reform had begun in the early part of the century. Public Health reform had begun in 1848. The first Education Act was passed in 1870.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">In 1906 the Liberal took everything step further.

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Important personalities[[image:highfieldmwh/Lloyd George.JPG width="415" height="293" align="right"]]

 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The most important people in the Liberal Party were:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Herbert Asquith, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1905 to 1908 and Prime Minister from 1908 to 1916;
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">David Lloyd George, who became Chancellor in 1908 and introduced the People’s Budget of 1909.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Winston Churchill, who was President of the Board of Trade.

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">The Boer War

 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In 1899 Britain went to war with the Boers, the Dutch settlers in South Africa.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Altogether about 450,000 men were recruited.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">For the first time, however, volunteers had to take a medical and many failed. Overall, about 37% of volunteers were rejected.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">But in some inner city areas of Britain, the figure was as high as 90%.

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">How did the British government react?

 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The Government became worried that there would not be enough men fit enough to fight in a war in the future.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In fact the figures were so bad that they were kept secret until after the war had ended in 1902.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">After the Boer War a committee was set up to investigate the problem and it received some alarming reports.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The school leaving age had just been raised to twelve and teachers wrote in to their pupils were too tired to work and were unable to stay awake in class.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">This concern for the health of the people of Britain became known as ‘National Efficiency’. The people of other nations, like Germany, seemed to be far more healthy
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In 1905, a Royal Commission was set up to investigate the Poor Law, but when it reported in 1909 there was no agreement on what should be done.

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Germany

 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In Germany the situation was quite different. The Germans had a form of welfare system, in which workers received unemployment benefits, medical treatment and old age pensions.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">It meant that Germans were fitter than many British people.



__**<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">How effective were the Liberal Reforms? **__

 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">For more details and sources from the period click on the banner below: **



<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">School children

 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In 1906 local authorities were allowed to offer free school meals to very poor children so that they received at least one decent meal a day.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Not all local authorities decided to do this and only about 100,000 children benefited.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The meals helped to prevent diseases like rickets, which were caused by malnutrition.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In 1907 the government began school medical inspections and dental checks.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">These were intended to try to prevent children catching infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis (TB), which was a major killer at the beginning of the twentieth century.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Children who lived in poor inner city areas could be up to 10 cm shorter than children in other areas.

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">The Children and Young Persons’ Act (Children’s Charter) 1908

 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">This set up juvenile courts and juvenile prisons called ‘Borstals’.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Children were also banned from buying tobacco, fireworks and alcohol.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The hours of work of children were limited
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Parents became legally responsible for the upbringing and welfare of their children by.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Young offenders were sent to Juvenile Courts and then to Borstals

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Old Age Pensions 1908

 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Pensions were paid for the first time at the age of 70 in 1909. These pensions were non-contributory. A single person received 25 pence a week and a married couple received 37 ½ pence.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Altogether, there were about 1,250,000 people of seventy or over, which was more than had been expected.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Pensions were only available for old people with an income of less than £26 a year, or £39 for a married couple.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Old people no longer had to go to the workhouse and did not have to rely on their children for charity.

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Trade Boards 1909 and 1913

 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">These tried to help the low-paid. The worst conditions were in the ‘sweated trades’.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The Trade Boards Act set minimum wage levels for jobs where the workers could do little to help themselves. A second act was passed in 1913 to extend protection.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Trade Boards were made up of representatives of employers, workers and outsiders.

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Labour Exchanges 1910

 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">These were an idea of William Beveridge. Many workers had casual work and were frequently laid off.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Until 1910, the only way that a worker could find out where there were jobs was by walking from factory to factory.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In 1910, the Liberals set up a network if more than 400 Labour Exchanges (Job centres). These advertised jobs in one place.

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">The National Insurance Act 1911

 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The Act covered about 14,000,000 workers in industries such as building, shipbuilding and engineering, who earned less than £160 a year.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The worker bought a stamp costing 4d (about one and a half pence). His employer added a further 3d and the government contributed 2d.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In return, when the worker was away from work because he was sick he received 10 shillings (50p) a week for twenty-six weeks in any year and also got free medical treatment. This was provided by doctors who agreed to be ‘on the panel’.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Workers also received disablement payments, and maternity benefits.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The second part of the National Insurance Act came into force in 1912.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">This extended insurance to 2,500,000 workers in seasonal employment.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The worker, the government and the employer all paid two and a half pence.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The worker could receive unemployment benefit of 7 shillings (35p) a week for fifteen weeks in any year.

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">School Clinics

 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In 1912, the Liberals set up children’s clinics. If the School Medical Service said that children should go and see a doctor, parents could take them to the clinics free of charge.



<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">How successful were the Liberal Reforms?

 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">For the first time the government accepted responsibility for the well-being of some of the people of Britain.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Old Age Pensions were only paid at the age of 70, when average life expectancy was about 47.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Only the lowest paid workers were covered by National Insurance, and it only included men.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The medical treatment offered by the Act did not include dentists and opticians and only covered the worker, NOT his family.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Hospital treatment was only provided for TB, the most dangerous disease at the time.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The Poor Law and the workhouses were not abolished. When benefits ended after 26 weeks or 15 weeks, the worker had to go to the workhouse.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">But the Liberal reforms were a start.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The Liberals had never intended to take over complete responsibility for the welfare of the British people.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">They had wanted to provide some sort of a safety net to prevent people falling into absolute poverty.