INDEX
Abel-Smith, Brian, 275n44, 279, 283
Aberdare, Lord Henry Bruce, 184
age: old (see old age; old age paupers/pauperism); sickness and, 13–14 (see also health; sickness benefits)
Alber, Jens, 212–13
Albert, Prince Consort, 57
Alexandra (queen of Great Britain), 129
Allen, William, 103
almshouses, privately-funded, 159n56, 162n61
Ancient Order of Foresters (AOF), 42–43, 45, 93, 96, 98n39
Anderson, Sir John, 272–73
Arnold, R. Arthur, 60
Asquith, Herbert Henry, 194, 207
Assistant Poor Law Commissioners: Stockport, decrease in mill production and wages in, 50; Stockport, defense of reduction in poor relief in, 54, 56; working-class self-help, increase in, 46
Association of Poor Law Unions, 229
Atkinson, Anthony, 22, 282, 304, 307
Bailey, Roy E.: poverty, the interwar social security system and, 307; Rowntree and Lavers conclusions about welfare and poverty, challenges to, 282–83; Rowntree/Linsley human needs scale and the Beveridge scale, comparison of, 270n30; social income, effect on poverty of, 257–58; unemployment incidence in London, analysis of, 228; working-class families with incomes below the “human needs” standard, estimates of, 253
Bakke, E. W., 221
Bane, Mary Jo, 6n14
Bank of England, 57
Barnett, Canon Samuel, 19, 78, 79n7
Barnsby, G. J., 80–81
Bauer, Peter, 20
Baxter, R. Dudley, 9, 30, 34, 79
Bell, Lady Florence, 1, 3, 181–82, 295
Benevolent or Strangers’ Friend Society, 58
Benjamin, Daniel, 228
Bennett, William, 24
Bevan, Aneurin, 279
Beveridge, William: boycott of by the government after publication of the Beveridge Report, 273n38; casual employment among dockworkers and building laborers, 117; as chair of the Beveridge Committee, 259–61; duration of unemployment, importance of, 221; on economic insecurity, 3; on employment policy, 275–77; employment White Paper, criticism of, 277; labor, on the importance of, 106; labor exchanges, promotion of, 199–200; national assistance, level of benefits for, 280; prosperity and want, relationship of, 309; radio address appealing to Churchill, 271–72; testimony before the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress, 187–90; on trade union administration of unemployment benefits, 118; tripartite scheme of contributions adopted by, 25; on the Unemployed Workmen Act, 132; on unemployment, 107; unemployment benefits, size of, 123; unemployment insurance, proposal for, 201; the war and the Beveridge Report proposals, 263; at Wells’ memorial service, 270n31; worker contributions, call for, 301, 304; work relief, impact of, 132. See also Beveridge Report
Beveridge Report, 260–62; ambiguities in, 271; 1945 as an electoral victory for, 278; as a break from the past, but not a revolution, 284; funding the benefits, 266–67, 270–71, 300–301; generosity of the benefits, 268–70, 279; parliamentary debate of, 272–73; the proposals, 264–68; public opinion context for, 262–63; the war as context for, 263–64; White Paper proposals compared to, 275
Billinge, Mark, 163
Blackburn, Sheila, 199
Blackley, Canon William L., 143–44
Blatchford, Robert, 291
Board of Trade: minimum hourly wages, trade boards to set, 197–99; public employment initiated by local authorities, inquiry reporting, 126–27; seasonal fluctuation in labor demand, memorandum on, 116; survey of urban working-class households, 173–74; unemployment index constructed by, 107, 109
Boards of Guardians: benefit levels set by, 54; in East End unions, assessment of actions during the distress of 1866–1868 by, 70; workhouse in cases of cyclical unemployment, objection to, 51–52, 106; workhouse test accepted by, 85
Bodkin’s Act (1847), 83
Boilermakers and Iron and Steel Shipbuilders Union, 101
Boot, H. M., 51
Booth, Charles: casual laborers in London, estimate of, 13; competition for work at the London docks, 116; criticism of by Bosanquet and Loch, 180; cross-sectional data for Poor Law unions, 1891–1892, 154–55; differences in pauperism rates across unions, explanations of, 156–58; gender differences in outdoor relief, 153–54; gender differences in sources of old age support, 152; low pauperism rates in the North, reason for, 162; new information provided by, impact of, 26; old age pensions, proposals for, 183–85; pauperism among the aged, estimates of, 138–40, 143; poor law unions, typology of, 160n58; poverty in London, casual or irregular employment and, 175n13; poverty surveys by, 15, 128, 171, 294–95; recommendation for assistance to the aged poor, 1890 conditions and, 164; on the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress, 186
Bosanquet, Helen, 104, 180, 186
Bowley, Arthur L.: on economic insecurity, 3; minimum weekly expenditure for a person over 70, estimate of, 231; poverty and economic insecurity, relationship of, 11, 305–6; poverty and low wages, relationship of, 211n109; poverty estimates, use of Rowntree’s standard for, 6n13; poverty line for a family, estimates of, 228–29; testimony before the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress, 187–88; unskilled workers’ wages, increase in, 243; urban poverty, studies of, 171–77, 249–52, 295; wages, unemployment insurance and, 242; weekly income and the poverty line, relationship of, 31
Boyd Orr, John, 245–46
Brabrook, Edward, 99
Braithwaite, William, 202n88
Bridgewater Fund, 62
British Medical Association, 203, 279
Broadberry, Stephen, 34, 211, 212n109, 242n46
Buchanan, George, 64
Budd, John W., 197n74
Bulkey, M. E., 198
Burhop, Carsten, 211, 212n109, 242n46
Burnett-Hurst, A. R., 11, 31, 171–77, 295, 305–6
Cairncross, A. K., 281
Campbell-Bannerman, Henry, 207
Cannan, Edwin, 228
Carr, E. H., 262
casual laborers, 12–13
Central Relief Committee (Manchester), 62
Chadwick, Edwin, 177
Chamberlain, Austen, 208
Chamberlain, Joseph, 125, 144, 183–85
Chapman, Sidney J., 187–88
charitable relief: double distribution of relief, concerns regarding, 77; for the elderly, 146; hungry 1840s, during the, 56–58; Lancashire cotton famine, during the, 60, 62; London crises of the 1860s, during the, 67–68, 70–71; as a mixed blessing under the New Poor Law, 72–73; work relief projects funded by, 126–27
Charity Organisation Society (COS): applicants to West Ham distress committee, classification of, 130; based in London, 89, 91; Crusade Against Outrelief supported by, 76, 78–79, 84–85, 89, 123–25, 141, 293–94; formation of, 26; improving living standards and the fall in pauperism, relationship of, 92; pauperism among the aged, method of counting, 138; propaganda supporting poor law reform by, 15; self-help, the workhouse test and predictions of increases in, 92–93; stigmatization of poor relief by, 303; tax reduction as partial appeal of, 297
Charity Organisation Society Report on Unskilled Labour, 116–17
Checkland, S. G., 199n80
Children’s Act (1908), 194
children’s allowances, 265
Churchill, Winston: Beveridge Report, reaction to, 272; general election called in 1945, 278; German compulsory insurance, advantage of, 214; Ghent system for unemployment insurance, rejection of, 215; income shocks, impact of, 24; on insecurity, 3; Labour Exchanges Bill, introduction of, 200; national insurance, on the need for, 16; on the political benefits of social welfare legislation, 207–8; postwar reconstruction and social policy, speech focusing on, 273–74; Rowntree’s Poverty, reaction to, 180–81; Trade Boards Bill, introduction of, 197, 199; unemployment insurance, proposal for, 200–201
Citizens’ Relief Fund (of Glasgow), 127
Clay, Henry, 220
compulsory unemployment insurance. See unemployment insurance, compulsory
condition of England question, 179–83
Corporation of the City of London, 57
COS. See Charity Organisation Society
Crewe, Lord Robert, 207
Crowther, M. A., 154
Crusade Against Outrelief: death knell of, democratization of the Poor Law and, 292; effects of, 25, 28, 86–92, 133, 142, 288–89; gender differences in Poor Law relief following the, 152, 154; old age pauperism, decline of, 141; public opinion and, 26, 293–94; restriction of public assistance resulting from, 15–17; self-help movement and, 98; stigma against relief promoted by, 163; tax reduction as driver of, 297; tests of during the downturns of the later nineteenth century, 123–27; unemployed, impact on public policy towards the, 106–7; unemployment during cyclical downturns, inability to cope with, 125; unemployment relief following the (see unemployment relief); the Union Chargeability Act and, 82–84; workhouse test, middle-class taxpayer’s support for, 76–82, 84–85
Daily Telegraph, 127
Davies, M. F., 173n7
Davison, R. C., 236n31
Deacon, Alan, 226n13
Departmental Committee on the Aged Deserving Poor, 146–48
de Schweinitz, Karl, 260–61, 284
destitution, definition of, 7
disability benefits, 13, 33, 226–27, 230–31, 238–39
distress committees, 123, 128–31, 187
Dupree, Marguerite, 9n20, 30, 80, 81n12
earnings. See wages
Eastwood, David, 47n26
economic insecurity: of the bottom one-third of the working class at the beginning of the twentieth century, 104–5, 169; contemporary discussion of, 3; defining and measuring, 4–7, 9n18; examples of, 1–3; extent of, 8–11; extent of, factors determining the, 5; income fluctuations, causes of, 11–14; old age and, 134–35 (see also old age); persistence of, 309–10; poverty head counts as a measure of, inadequacy of, 305–7; reasons for focusing on, 3–4; role of in the lives of working-class households, 24–25; share of households/workers in, 10, 30–31, 173; unemployment and, 106–7 (see also unemployment)
Economist, the, 273
Eden, Frederic, 37–38
Education (Administrative Provisions) Act (1907), 194
Education (Provision of Meals) Act (1906), 194
Eichengreen, Barry, 228
elections, general: Labour’s showing in 1900, 292; Labour’s showing in 1906, 292; Labour’s victory in 1945, 278, 292, 296, 301; Liberal defeats in 1886, 1895, and 1900, 201; Liberal victories in 1906 and 1909, 193, 201, 205–6
electorate, expansion of, 205–6, 211, 289–92, 296
Ellwood, David, 6n14
Emery, George, 303n31
Emery, J. C. Herbert, 303n31
Employment Policy (White Paper), 274–78
Engels, Friedrich, 50, 247, 291n11
Epstein, Abraham, 3n5
Esping-Andersen, Gøsta, 307–8
Evans, Martin, 269–70
Eveleth, Phyllis B., 244
Falkingham, Jane, 301
Family Allowances Act (1945), 278
Feinstein, Charles H., 4n8, 33, 107
Feldstein, Martin, 20
Financial Times, 261n3
Fishlow, Albert, 43n11
Fisk, Rev. J. H., 57
Flora, Peter, 212–13
Fogel, Robert W., 209n106
Foresters. See Ancient Order of Foresters (AOF)
franchise, extension of, 205–6, 211, 289–92, 296
Friedman, Milton, 20
Friedman, Rose, 20
friendly societies: benefits paid by, 102–3; economic insecurity and, 5, 302–3; expenditures by, 99–100, 103; growth in, 1850–1913, 93, 95–99; membership levels post-1834, 44–46; membership levels pre-1834, 42–43; pension benefits paid by, 145; unemployment benefits, reasons for not providing, 118, 302. See also self-help, working-class
Friendly Society of Iron Founders, 101
funding of social spending: in the Beveridge Report, 266–67, 270–71; cost of social policies, evolution of response to, 296–99; New Poor Law, within the, 47–48, 52–57, 68, 71–72, 82–84; of Poor Law relief, 25, 39; through Poor Law unions, 239–41; workers’ contributions, 299–301
gender: old age pauperism and, 150–54
Germany: as a model for the Liberal Welfare Reforms, 214–15; social welfare and spending, pre-1914, 212–14; wages in Britain and, comparison of, 211, 212n109
Gilbert, Martin, 181
Gladstone, W. E. G., 184
Glasgow Unemployed Relief Fund, 124
Glennerster, Howard, 269–70
Goose, Nigel, 159n56
Gorsky, Martin, 42
Goschen, George, 76–77
Goss, Frank, 1–3
Great Reform Act (1832), 205
Green, David R., 68n80
Greenwood, Arthur, 260
Greif, Avner, 15n33
Guinnane, Timothy, 197n74
Hallsworth, Joseph, 199
Hamilton, Lord George, 186, 193
Harris, Bernard, 248
Harris, José, 129, 263, 268–69
Hatton, Timothy J.: growth in per capita food consumption, cause of, 246; industrial unemployment 1870–1913, estimates of, 108; poverty, the interwar social security system and, 307; poverty rate and intensity, social income and, 257–58; Rowntree and Lavers conclusions about welfare and poverty, challenges to, 282–83; Rowntree/Linsley human needs scale and the Beveridge scale, comparison of, 270n30; unemployment incidence in London, analysis of, 228; unemployment series for unskilled laborers, 111–12; working-class families with incomes below the “human needs” standard, estimates of, 253
Haveman, Robert, 22
Hawksley, Thomas, 77
Hayek, Friedrich, 20
health: Beveridge Report proposal regarding, 266; children’s, Liberal Welfare Reforms addressing, 194; disease environment, interwar improvement in, 246–47; height by age, 209–11, 244–49; infant mortality rates, 243–44, 246–49; life expectancy, 14, 135–36, 209–10, 243, 246; the National Health Service enacted regarding, 279; poverty and, 177–79; work time lost due to sickness, 13–14. See also sickness benefits
health insurance: during the interwar period, 226–27; Liberal Welfare Reforms and, 202–4
Heggeness, Misty L., 8n17
Hennessy, Peter, 278
Hennock, E. P., 213n111, 213n113
Hill, Octavia, 78–79, 105, 184, 186
Hills, John, 301
Himmelfarb, Gertrude, 21
Hogg, Margaret H., 228, 231, 249–51
Hohman, Helen Fisher, 239
Hokayem, Charles, 8n17
Hopkins, Eric, 45n16, 97n37, 303
Horner, Leonard, 49
Housing and Town Planning Act (1919), 296
Howarth, Edward G., 116n15
Hughes, J. R. T., 12
hungry 1840s: charitable assistance during, 56–58; distress in the manufacturing districts during, 49–50; funding of the Poor Law during, 47–48, 52–57; per capita relief expenditures during, 40, 52; poor relief during, 51–56; population receiving relief during, percentage of, 17, 40, 52; self-help during, 50–51; test of the New Poor Law during, 38–39
Hunt, E. H., 134n, 156, 162n60
Hurren, Elizabeth T., 292
Hutt, Allen, 247
income. See wages
income fluctuations/shocks: causes of, 11–14; difficulties in protecting against, 5–6
income insecurity. See economic insecurity
Independent Labour Party (ILP), 206–7, 291
Independent Order of Oddfellows, Manchester Unity (IOOMU), 42, 45, 93, 96, 98n39
Independent Order of Rechabites, 45
inequality, 307
infant mortality rates, 243–44, 246–49
information: impact of new, public opinion and, 26, 216, 294–95; on pre-World War I working-class living standards, 170–77, 205
Interdepartmental Committee on Physical Deterioration, 178–79, 183, 194
Inter-departmental Committee on Social Insurance and Allied Services, 259. See also Beveridge Report
interwar period, the: beneficial effects of social policies during, 248–49; economic distress and living standards, 217–18; economic insecurity reduced during, 307; generosity of social security benefits during, 228–31; health insurance during, 226–27; living standards during, 241–49; old age pensions during, 227, 231; Poor Law relief during, 231–41; poverty surveys completed during, 249–58; sickness benefits during, 230–31; social welfare system during, 258–59; unemployment during, 218–21; unemployment insurance during, 222–26, 228–30
IOOMU. See Independent Order of Oddfellows, Manchester Unity
Irremovable Poor Act (1861), 84, 297
Iyigun, Murat, 15n33
Jackson, Cyril, 127–28, 187–88, 189n52
Johnson, Lyndon, 23
Johnson, Paul, 43n11–12, 45n17, 98n40–41, 99, 102n51, 156
Jones, D. Caradog, 229, 235n30, 249, 254
Jones, Gareth Stedman, 116n14
Kato, Junko, 301
Kelly, Morgan, 15n33
Keynes, John Maynard, 270–71, 277, 309
Kidd, Alan, 58n54
King, Steven, 162–63
Kiniria, Maxwell, 89n26
kinship networks, 303
Knowles, K. G. J. C., 242
Kochin, Levis, 228
Labour Exchanges Act (1909), 200
Labour Party: electoral success in 1945, 278, 292, 296, 301; implementation of the welfare state, 279–81; the Liberal Party and, 206–8; Manifesto for the election of 1945, 278; political voice and electoral success, gradual growth of, 292. See also Independent Labour Party
Lancashire and Cheshire Operatives Relief Fund (Mansion House Fund), 62
Lancashire cotton famine: appeal to the rest of Britain for help, 62; economic origins of, 59; extent of distress, variation across Poor Law unions in, 60; friction between local authorities, relief committees, and manufacturers, 62–63; Parliament, action by, 63–64; poor relief during, demand and expenditure for, 59–62; private relief committees, formation and activities of, 60, 62; relief benefits, generosity of, 64–65
Lansbury, George, 186
Laski, Harold, 262
Lavers, G. R., 281–83
Lee, C. H., 108
Lees, Lynn Hollen, 41n, 45n14, 91
Liberal Party: Churchill’s move to, 181; electoral results for, 205–6; the Labour Party and, 207–8; Rowntree as supporter of, 282n60; welfare reform as appeal to the working class, 292 (see also Liberal Welfare Reforms)
Liberal Welfare Reforms: adoption of, 193–205; advances and limitation of, 204–5; children’s health, 194; cost of social welfare, shifting of, 216, 297–98, 300; Crusade Against Outrelief, as moving away from, 16; debates preceding, 183–93; health insurance, 202–4; the interwar period, changes during (see interwar period, the); labor exchanges, 199–200; as a major watershed in British social welfare policy, 25; national unemployment insurance, 200–202; old age pensions, 194–97; political voice, role of, 205–8; reasons for, 105, 169–70; significance of, 28; social policy in other European countries, comparisons to, 211–16; as a social welfare system, 222; timing of, political economy and, 205; trade boards and minimum wages, 197–99
life expectancy, 14, 135–36, 209–10, 243, 246
Lindert, Peter H.: adult men with the vote, estimated increase in 1866–1868, 206n95; on the benefits outweighing the costs of the welfare state, 22; Bismarckian social insurance, lack of redistribution from, 214; economic insecurity, estimates of households experiencing, 9, 30; political voice and social welfare spending, relationship of, 205, 289; poor relief spending reported by, 14, 287n3; social affinity, concept of, 290; spread of social welfare programs documented by, 212; taxation of labor in European welfare states, 301
Linsley, Christine L., 253
Linsley, Colin A., 253
living standards: biological measures of, 243–49; British compared to other European countries, 209–11; the “condition of England” question, debate on, 179–83; 1899–1914, 170–77; the fall in pauperism and, 92; interwar period, during the, 217–18, 241–49; social welfare policy and, intertwining of, 24. See also poverty; poverty line/standard; wages
Lloyd George, David: Beveridge proposals, vote on, 273n38; 1909 Finance Bill, battle over, 201; Germany, visit to, 214; health insurance proposal by, 202–4; Liberal Welfare Reforms promoted by, 16; old age pension scheme proposed by, 194, 197; sickness insurance benefits compared to contributions, 215; social welfare concerns, need to address, 206–8, 296; speech introducing the People’s Budget in Parliament, 23, 310; stigma attached to the Poor Law, evidence of, 304
Local Authorities (Financial Provisions) Act (1921), 240n41
Local Government Act (1894), 291
Local Government Act (1929), 240, 299
Local Government Board (LGB): aged paupers, data regarding, 135–36; Crusade Against Outrelief initiated by, 15, 76; outdoor relief, opposition to, 76–77, 81, 84–85, 89, 123–24, 141; self-help, the workhouse test and predictions of increases in, 92; the Unemployed Workmen Act and, 129; work relief projects for the unemployed, encouragement of, 28, 107, 117, 125–28, 133
Loch, C. S.: Charity Organisation Society, as leader of, 78; old age pauperism, on the extent of, 138, 139n7, 142n10; Rowntree’s Poverty, reaction to, 180; on the Royal Commission on the Aged Poor, 184; on the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress, 186
London, crises of the 1860s in: business-cycle downturn and increased demand for relief, 1866–1869, 67–69; criticism of relief efforts during, 70–72; number of paupers relieved and relief expenditures in East London Unions, 1859–1868, 69; poor rates in metropolitan unions, variation in, 65–66, 68, 71–72; winter of 1860–1861, distress and the demand for assistance in, 65, 67
London Central (Unemployed) Body, 128, 131, 188
London Manufacturers’ Relief Committee, 57
Long, Walter, 128n42
Loyal Order of Ancient Shepherds, 45
Lucas, Robert, 309
Mackay, Thomas, 60n59, 184, 292
MacKinnon, Mary: Crusade Against Outrelief, impact of, 85, 142; occasional and permanent relief for the aged, 138; pauperism among the aged, estimates of, 139–40; unemployment data for unskilled workers, 111; the workhouse test and acceptance of inrelief by the very poor, 165n70; working-class percentage of persons age 65 and older, 143; working-class perceptions of the Poor Law, 91
Macnicol, John, 156
Malthus, Thomas, 38
Manchester and Salford District Provident Society, 124
Manchester Times, 49
Manchester Unity Oddfellows. See Independent Order of Oddfellows, Manchester Unity (IOOMU)
Mann, P. H., 173n7
Mansion House Fund of 1886, 124–25
Mansion House Relief Fund, 68
Marshall, T. H., 21
Marson, Charles, 85
Martin, Richard M., 246
Marx, Ive, 307
Masterman, Charles, 180, 205, 295
Matthews, R. C. O., 280
McGill, Rev. George Henry, 67
MCPF. See Metropolitan Common Poor Fund
Meade, James, 276
Mearns, Andrew, 294
Metropolitan Common Poor Fund (MCPF), 71–72, 76, 82
Metropolitan Poor Act (1867), 76, 82
Meyer, Bruce D., 8n17
minimum wage(s): call for a legal, 182n33, 197; Liberal Welfare Reforms and, 197–99
Mitchell, Brian R., 34
Morrison, Herbert, 272–73
Municipal Reform Act (1869), 290
Murray, Charles, 20–21
mutual insurance: benefit levels and total spending on, 102–3; through friendly societies (see friendly societies); through trade unions (see trade unions)
National Anti-Sweating League, 197
National Assistance Act (1948), 279–80, 299
National Assistance Board, 279, 299
National Committee for the Break-Up of the Poor Law, 193
National Committee of Organized Labour for the Promotion of Old Age Pensions, 185
National Health Insurance Act (1920), 226, 296
National Health Insurance (Prolongation of Insurance) Act (1921), 227
National Health Service, 266, 281
National Health Service, A (White Paper), 274, 278
National Health Service Act (1946), 279
National Insurance, 281
National Insurance Act (1911): adoption of, 16; as a foundation of interwar social welfare policy and the welfare state, 289; tripartite scheme of contribution instituted by, 25, 267, 300; unemployment insurance system of, 222
National Insurance Act (1946), 25, 279, 300
National Insurance Bill: Part I, health insurance, 203–4; Part II, compulsory unemployment insurance, 201–2
National Poor Law Reform Association, 193
Newell, Andrew, 173–74
New Model unionism, 118
New Poor Law: flaws of, 38–39, 72–73; funding of, 47–48, 52–57, 68, 71–72; hungry 1840s, during the (see hungry 1840s); Lancashire cotton famine, during the (see Lancashire cotton famine); legislation establishing (see Poor Law Amendment Act (1834)); London crises of the 1860s, during the (see London, crises of the 1860s in); reduced public assistance under, 39–41, 74; regional and demographic variations in decline of relief spending, 40–41; working-class self-help, impact on, 46
New Survey of London Life and Labour (NSLLL), 239, 257–58
Nolan, Brian, 307
NSLLL. See New Survey of London Life and Labour
Ó Gráda, Cormac, 15n33
old age: economic insecurity and, 134–35, 144, 166; employment opportunities in, 156; life-cycle deskilling for older workers, 146; living expenses, estimate of, 144; number of people surviving to, 135–36
old age paupers/pauperism: extent of, 1861–1908, 135–43; gender differences among, 150–54; percentage of working-class among, 143; Poor Law assistance for, 14, 26, 149–50; rates of after 1892, 165; reasons for, 144; self-help and sources of assistance, 144–46; sources of maintenance for, 146–49; before the welfare state, 166
old age paupers/pauperism in 1891–1892, cross-sectional analysis of, 154–55; quantitative analysis of differences across unions, 158–62; rates across unions, contemporaries’ explanations for differences in, 155–58; regional welfare cultures among, 162–64
Old Age Pension Act (1908): adjustments to, 227; adoption of, 16, 26; funding of, 297, 299; limited coverage under, 204; passage of, 166, 194; political appeal of, 207–8; provisions and number of pensioners, 194–97; social insurance coverage in Britain compared to other European countries, 213; social welfare policies, laying the foundation for, 289; stigmatization of the Poor Law and, 304
old age pensions: conditions leading to the Old Age Pension Act, 164–66; data on, 33; debates and proposals for, 183–86; interwar period, during the, 227, 231, 239; Liberal Welfare Reforms addressing, 194–97
Old Poor Law: criticism of, 37–38; generosity of public assistance under, 14, 37, 39–40, 73–74; regional welfare cultures, possible cause of, 163–64; as a “welfare state in miniature,” 14–15
Olivera, Javier, 307
Ormerod, Paul A., 228
Osberg, Lars, 4
Outdoor Labour Test Order of 1842, 41, 51
Outdoor Relief Prohibitory Order of 1844, 41
Outdoor Relief Regulation Order of 1852, 41
Owen, A. D. K., 235n30
Owen, Sir Hugh, 149, 150n33, 155, 249, 254
Patterson, James, 24
pauperism: causes of, 192n61; definition of, 7–8; gender of the elderly and, 150–54; maladministration of the Poor Law and, 77; old age and (see old age paupers/pauperism); rate of, 77, 81–82, 287–88; rate of, constructing the, 287n2; rate of, effect of Crusade Against Outrelief on, 86–92; regional nature of, 157–58, 162–64; self-help and, 78–79
Peacock, Alan T., 34
Peel, Robert, 57
Pensions Act (1919), 239
Perkin, Harold, 45n16
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, 24
Picture Post, 262
Political and Economic Planning, 259, 263
political voice: extension of the franchise and social welfare reforms, 26, 289–92, 296; the Liberal Welfare Reforms and, 205–8
Pollitt, Harry, 247
Poor Law Amendment Act (1834): effects of, 25, 39–40, 46, 48, 286, 288; expansion of the franchise and adoption of, 290; funding concerns and, 297; government’s role in protecting the poor and, debate over, 18–19; law of settlement and, 83; as a major shift in social welfare policy, 15, 37; Poor Law unions, establishment of, 82–83
Poor Law Board (1847–1871): able-bodied males, efforts to regulate granting of relief to, 40–41, 76–77; aged paupers, lack of data collection regarding, 135; local taxation in 1866–1867, insufficiency of, 68
Poor Law Commission (1834–1847): able-bodied males, efforts to regulate granting of relief to, 40–41, 43, 45, 51; creation of, 15, 39; effects of, 288–89; proposal for, 38; working-class self-help, New Poor Law credited for increase in, 46
Poor Law relief: abolishment of, 279; democratization of administration of, 291–92; expenditures on, 1871–1881, 88–89; funding of, 25, 39, 47–48, 52–57, 68, 71–72, 82–84, 296–301; interwar period, during the, 231–41; old age and (see old age); under the Old Poor Law (see Old Poor Law); pauperism distinguished from poverty in relation to, 7–8; percentage of population receiving, changes over time in, 16–18, 31–33, 39–40, 73–74; Royal Commission and the debate over, 190–93; skilled vs. low-skilled workers’ use of, 98; spending on, 286–89; spending on as a percentage of GDP, changes over time in, 17–18, 33–34, 74; stigmatization of, 303–4; under the system initiated in 1834 (see New Poor Law); for those in old age, 14; workhouse test and the crusade against outrelief, 76–82. See also social welfare policy/social safety net
Poor Law unions: able-bodied males, evasion of orders attempting to regulate granting of relief to, 41, 51–52; able-bodied males, orders attempting to regulate granting of relief to, 40–41; abolishment of, 299; funding of poor law relief and, 82–84; funding of poor law relief during the interwar period, 239–41; implementation of, 39; old age pauperism rates across, 154–64; outdoor relief in 1878–1879, 124; outdoor relief restricted by, the Crusade Against Outrelief and, 76, 106–7
Poor Rate Assessment and Collection Act (1869), 48
Poor Removal Act (1846), 83
Post Office Savings Banks, 51n35, 94, 97–98, 104
poverty: causes of, Beveridge Report conclusions on, 264; the “condition of England” question, debate on, 179–83; dynamic nature/fluidity of, 6–7, 104–5; effectiveness of Labour’s welfare policies in reducing, 281–83; health consequences of living in, 177–79; intensity of, 305–7; life-cycle periods of, 7, 174; low wages as a cause of, 174–77, 211; pauperism and Poor Law relief distinguished from, 7–8; rediscovery of, 283, 285, 295; self-help efforts of workers and, 103–5; share of households/adult males in poverty and share economically insecure, relationship of, 9–11; share of households/workers living in, 10, 30–31; social income and, 256–58; studies of interwar, 249–58; studies of pre-World War I, 170–77
poverty line/standard: definitions of, 6, 171, 251, 253; earnings levels and, 175–77; estimates of, 80–81, 171, 175–76, 228–29, 249–50; for a family of five, 8n16, 104n58; human needs standard, 175–76, 250–53, 255, 257, 269; poverty head counts, inadequacy of, 305–7
Pratt, Tidd, 46
Priestley, J. B., 262
Pringle, Rev. J. C., 127–28, 187
private charity. See charitable relief
public opinion: outdoor relief, middle-class taxpayers’ crusade against, 76–82; of the poor, changes in, 26, 292–96; pre-Beveridge Report calls for social welfare policy extensions, 262–63; social policy and, 292–93; stigmatization of Poor Law relief, 303–4; timing of the Liberal Welfare Reforms and, 205 (see also political voice); unemployment, increased public awareness of, 128; on unemployment, 107; on unskilled wages at the end of World War I, 242; working-class attitudes toward the Poor Law, 91
Public Works (Manufacturing Districts) Act (1863), 64
Rank, Mark R., 8n17
Ransom, Roger L., 146n23
Reagan, Ronald, 23
Redistribution of Seats Act (1885), 206, 291
Reeves, Maud Pember: on economic insecurity, 1, 3; new information provided by, impact of, 26; poverty and health, relationship of, 178; urban working-class communities, studies of, 181–82, 295
Reform Act (1832), 289
Reform Act, Second (1867), 205–6, 211, 289
Reform Act, Third (1884), 206, 211, 290–91
removal, power of, 83–84
Representation of the People Act (1918), 296
Riley, James C., 97n37, 98n39, 102n51
Ritchie, Charles, 184
Roberts, R., 125
Robertson, D. J., 242
Rodgers, Daniel, 214
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, 21
Rose, Michael E., 25, 29, 45n14, 51, 289
Routh, Guy, 31
Rowntree, Benjamin Seebohm: average weekly working-class rent, 229; economic insecurity, writings about, 3; expenditure, estimates of minimum necessary, 103n53, 104n58, 145; health-based rejection rates for military service, reason for decline of, 178n21; life-cycle poverty, periods of, 7; new information provided by, impact of, 26; poverty and health, relationship of, 178–79; poverty and low wages, relationship of, 211n109; poverty line, definitions of/standards for, 6, 81n12, 175–76, 250–53, 255, 257, 269–70; poverty reduction, welfare state policies and, 281–83; poverty surveys by, 15, 171–72, 174–76, 249–50, 253, 255–56, 281–82, 295, 305n37; poverty surveys by, responses to, 179–81, 282–83; sickness insurance, men with multiple sources of, 103; sources of maintenance for the elderly, 146, 148–49; stigmatization revealed by poverty estimates of, 303–4; wages for unskilled labor, insufficiency of, 177; weekly incomes of working-class households in York, calculation of, 9n21; on working-class mutual self-help, 146; York population living in primary poverty, 1899 estimate of, 105
Royal Commission on Friendly Societies, 93
Royal Commission on National Health Insurance, Report of, 230–31
Royal Commission on the Aged Poor, 144, 145n21, 149–50, 155, 183–84, 295
Royal Commission on the Aged Poor, Report of the, 164–65, 171, 184–85
Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress (1905–1909): appointment of, 132, 186; economic insecurity examined by, 3; Ghent System for unemployment insurance proposed by, 215; increase in benefits, absence of called-for, 165; information collected by, 170; labor exchanges, testimony on the need for, 199–200; on the material condition of workers, 112n10; testimony before and Reports of, 186–94
Royal Commission on Unemployment Insurance, 235–38
Royal Commission to Investigate the Poor Laws (1832–1834), 15, 38, 46, 163n66–67, 288, 290, 293, 296
Royal Poor Law Commission. See Royal Commission to Investigate the Poor Laws
savings banks: economic insecurity and working-class deposits in, 5; growth of working-class deposits in, 1850–1913, 93–94, 96–98; post-1834 working-class deposits in, 44–46; pre-1834 working-class deposits in, 43; withdrawals during the hungry 1840s, 50–51; working-class deposits in, adequacy for old age of, 144–47, 302. See also self-help, working-class
Second Reform Act (1867), 205–6, 211, 289
Select Committee on Distress from Want of Employment, 128
Select Committee on Homework, 197
Select Committee on Metropolitan Local Government, 68
Select Committee on Poor Law Relief, 67, 71
Select Committee on the Aged Deserving Poor, 144, 185–86, 194
Select Committees on Poor Removal, 83
self-help, working-class: economic insecurity and, 5; growth in, 1850–1913, 93–99; during the hungry 1840s, 50–51; insufficiency of under the New Poor Law, 72, 302–3; middle-class taxpayers’ belief in the potential of, 76–82, 302; old age, insufficiency for, 144–47; post-1834 increases in, 43–46; pre-1834 data regarding, 42–43; predictions of increases in during the late nineteenth-century, 92; public opinion of the poor and, 293–94; success of, earnings levels and, 103–5. See also friendly societies; savings banks; trade unions
Sells, Dorothy M., 242–43
settlement, law of, 83–84
Shapely, Peter, 58n54
Sharpe, Andrew, 4
sickness benefits: during the interwar period, 230–31; levels of, 102–3; membership in friendly societies paying, 44–45, 96–99; Poor Law relief as a supplement to during the interwar period, 238–39; recipients of, 33; trade unions paying, 101–2. See also health
Smiles, Samuel, 5–6, 19–20, 78, 105, 293, 302–3
Smith, Richard M., 134n1
Smith, Sir Hubert Llewellyn, 3, 189, 200–201, 231, 256
social affinity, 290–91
Social Democratic Federation, 128
Social Insurance and Allied Services. See Beveridge Report
Social Insurance (White Paper), 274–75, 278
social welfare policy/social safety net: changes over time of, 14–18, 31–34; debating the proper role of, 18–24, 37–38, 70–71, 76–82, 183–93; funding of (see funding); inequality and, 307; interwar period, during the (see interwar period, the); Liberal Welfare Reforms (see Liberal Welfare Reforms); literature on, correction to, 25; living standards and, intertwining of, 24; scope of in the twentieth century, increasing, 307–8; spending on, 298; the welfare state as (see welfare state, the). See also Poor Law relief
Society for the Equalization of the Poor Rates, 71
Solar, Peter, 15n33
Spender, Harold, 214
Spender, J. A., 145n19, 146n23, 156n47
Sullivan, James X., 8n17
Supple, Barry, 45n16
Sutch, Richard, 146n23
Tanner, J. M., 244
Tawney, R. H.: economic insecurity, contrasts of, ix; insecure peasant, weather cursed by, 309; moral argument for social welfare policies, 21; new forms of insecurity in the urban industrial economy, 3; Trade Boards Act, impact of the, 198–99; war effort, goals of, 263, 296
Taylor, Sir William, 178–79
Taylor-Gooby, Peter, 291n9
Temple, William (Archbishop of Canterbury), 262
Thane, Pat, 134, 154, 156, 292
Third Reform Act (1884), 206, 211, 290–91
Thomas, Mark, 33, 112n11, 220–21n6
Thomas, Ryland, 34
Thompson, E. P., 294n18
Thompson, F. M. L., 91
Thompson, Flora, 195
Times, the, 261
Timmins, Nicholas, 269n27
Tocqueville, Alexis de, 19–20
Toynbee, Arnold, 262
Trade Boards Act (1909), 197–99, 204–5
Trade Boards Act (1918), 242, 296
Trades Union Congress, 99, 101, 229, 262–63
trade unions: membership in, 99, 101; mutual insurance benefit expenditures, 100, 102–3; mutual insurance benefits for members of, 101–2; mutual insurance benefits paid by, levels of, 102–3; superannuation benefits paid by, 145; unemployment insurance, 188–90; unemployment relief, 113–14, 118–23
Trevelyan, Sir Charles, 70
Trustee Savings Banks, 43, 45n18, 94, 97–98
UI. See unemployment insurance
Unemployed Workers’ Dependents (Temporary Provisions) Act (1921), 223
Unemployed Workmen Act (1905), 28, 118, 128–33, 186
unemployment, 106–7; annual rates and data, 1870–1913, 11–12, 107–12; Beveridge Report proposal regarding, 266; Beveridge’s goal for, 277; casual/temporary employment and, 116–17; children’s height and, relationship of, 248; cyclical, 86, 112–14, 125, 190; data on, 33; distress committees established in response to, 128–30; economic insecurity, as a cause of, 133; income fluctuations due to, 11–12; interwar period, during the, 218–21; labor exchanges addressing, 199–200; in Manchester cotton mills during the hungry 1840s, 49–50; post-World War II, Labour’s responsibility for, 280–81; seasonal, 114–16
Unemployment Act (1934), 235, 299
Unemployment Assistance Board, 235
unemployment insurance, compulsory: adoption of, 132; argument against, 188
Unemployment Insurance Act (1920), 222, 296
Unemployment Insurance Act (1921), 223, 226
Unemployment Insurance (No. 2) Act (1921), 223n11
Unemployment Insurance (Agriculture) Act (1936), 235n29
unemployment insurance (UI): adequacy of benefits, 228–30; high unemployment rates of the interwar period, problems created by, 218, 226; incidence of unemployment and, 228; during the interwar period, changes in, 222–26; Liberal Welfare Reforms and, 200–202; Poor Law relief during the interwar period and, 233–38; trade union, 188–90
unemployment relief: compulsory unemployment insurance (see unemployment insurance, compulsory); following the Crusade Against Outrelief, 117–18; levels of compared to wage rates, 123; for low-skilled workers, 123–28; Royal Commission and the debate over, 186–90; from trade unions, 101–2, 118–23; the Unemployed Workmen Act (1905) and, 128–32
Union Chargeability Act (1865), 64n67, 76, 82, 84, 297
Union Relief Aid Act (1862), 63
United States: debating the proper role of social welfare policy in, 20–21, 23–24
vagrants, 111–12
Veit-Wilson, John, 269–71
Victoria (queen of the United Kingdom and Ireland), 57
wages: earnings, average full-time, 3–4; earnings of manual workers, 79–80; German and British, comparison of, 211, 212n109; inadequacy of low, 182; interwar period, during the, 241–43; late nineteenth-century slowdown in the growth of, 92–93; Liberal Welfare Reforms and, 197–99; living standards and, 209; low as a cause of poverty, 174–77, 211; minimum (see minimum wage(s)); poor health and low, relationship of, 179; poverty line, close to, 81; slowing rate of increases in, 165; Trade Boards and, 242–43; unemployment benefits, compared to, 123; volatility in, 12
Warwick, Robert, 71
Watson, Alfred, 222–23
Watts, Harold, 257n78
Webb, Beatrice: on the Barnetts, 79n7; on the bias behind opposition to poor relief, 19–20; bias of ‘Haves’ against taxing themselves, acceptance of arguments against outdoor relief and, 85; economic insecurity, writings on, 3; legal minimum wage, call for, 197; Liberal health insurance scheme, objections to, 202–3; middle-class attitudes, reason for change in, 294; National Committee for the Break-Up of the Poor Law, establishment of, 193; on the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress, 186; on trade union administration of unemployment benefits, 118; on the unsatisfactory provision for the aged and infirm, 166; upper-class obsession with Poor Law relief, 77
Webb, Sidney: economic insecurity, writings on, 3; legal minimum wage, call for, 197; Liberal health insurance scheme, objections to, 202–3; National Committee for the Break-Up of the Poor Law, establishment of, 193; testimony before the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress, 187–88; on trade union administration of unemployment benefits, 118; on the unsatisfactory provision for the aged and infirm, 166
Webster, Charles, 247
welfare state, the: the Beveridge Report (see Beveridge Report); Britain after 1948 as, 284; consumption-smoothing, not redistribution, 301; current debates regarding, 308; forms of, 307–8; implementation of, Labour’s 1945 electoral victory and, 278–81; poverty, effectiveness in reducing, 281–83; White Papers, proposals of the government in, 274–78; the winding road to, 286–89. See also social welfare policy/social safety net
Western, Bruce, 4
Widows’, Orphans’, and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act (1925), 227
Wilkinson, Rev. J. Frome, 99n41–42, 144
Williams, Gertrude, 256
Williams, Karel, 32, 34, 45n14
Williamson, Jeffrey G., 9, 30, 212n109
Williamson, Samuel H., 34
Wilson, Henry, 179
Wilson, Mona, 116n15
Winter, J. M., 248
Wiseman, Jack, 34
Wodehouse, Edmond, 85
Women’s Trade Union League, 197
Wood, Sir Kingsley, 271–73
workhouses: capacity of East End, the distress of 1866–1868 and, 70; cost of, 297n; cyclically unemployed, unsuitability for, 38–39; demographic makeup of inmates, effect of Crusade Against Outrelief on, 89–90; gender differences among the elderly in, 153–54; improve the poor, projected as a means to, 38; medical facilities in, improvements to, 165; old age paupers in, 141, 155; substitution for outdoor relief, claims regarding, 84–85; union rateability and the construction of new, 84
workhouse test: controversy over outdoor relief and use of, 25, 27, 41, 51, 70; Crusade Against Outrelief and, 76; old age pauperism rates and, 150, 165; pauperism rates and, 86
work relief projects, 107, 117, 125–28, 187
Worswick, G. D. N., 228