When doing any type of genealogy it is important to put your ancestors life’s into context for example by looking at the politics and social issues of the times. The first major changes in the twentieth century were the Liberal reforms that began in 1906, under the guidance of Prime Minister Henry Campbell-Bannerman as well as his successor after his death in 1908, Herbert Henry Asquith. Their main aim was to address the issue of poverty which had been made apparent after two poverty studies conducted by Charles Booth in London and Seebohm Rowntree in York. Astonishingly, both studies concluded a third of the population were living below the poverty line.
These changes would have had a big impact on your family; for poorer families it may have helped them survive, whereas rich families disagreed with the reforms and will have lost money in the higher taxation.
1906 Free School Meals Act
* Not all local authorities took part in the act – it was a permissive act.
* Over 180,000 ‘needy’ children were provided with free school meals to help their concentration levels and to help them learn more effectively.
* In 1914, over 14 million free school meals were being provided despite only ½ of the local authorities providing the meals.
1907 School Medical Inspections Act
* Set up the School Medical Service.
* Established the medical department in the Board of Education
* Made health checks compulsory for children at school
* In 1914, three out of four LEAs were providing the checks and two out of three children were given treatment.
* Not everyone was given treatment, mainly due to the prohibitive cost.
1908 Children's Act (or Charter)
* Made parental neglect illegal, by making them responsible for the child's welfare.
* Set up borstals and juvenile courts for young offenders.
* Made it illegal for children to be sold alcohol or tobacco.
* Most of the legislation was already in place - the bulk of it was simply re-written.
* The reform ensured at least a minimum standard for children's care and allowed adults and children to be treated differently
1908 Old Age Pensions Act
* Provided a pension of 5 shillings a week for singles and 7s and 6d a week for married couples.
* Full payment was approximately £21-£31 a week.
* Paid out of general taxation, not by recipient contributions.
* Provided a regular income for those who qualified – examples of conditions were being over 70 and ‘of good character’.
* There were approximately 1 million people qualifying by 1915 with more women eligible than men
1909 Trade Boards Act
* Boards were set up to improve the working lives of employers and employees by introducing fixed minimum wages and setting minimum working conditions
* Initially covered 200,000 mostly women workers in trades such as tailoring and lace-making where there were long hours, low wages and no trade unions
* By 1913, this was extended to 6 trades and included coal miners
* The reform was continued in a second act where further trade boards were set up
1909 Labour Exchanges Act
* Set up places where workers could look for a job and meet employers and vice versa
* By 1914, over 2 million workers had registered and 430 exchanges were finding over 3,000 jobs a day
* It was estimated that for every worker who found a job, 3 didn’t
* Also didn't cure the unemployment problem and merely made the market easier to operate
1911 National Insurance (Unemployment) Act
* Workers and employers in certain trades gave a weekly contribution to a national insurance fund which was topped-up by taxation
* Enabled workers to receive a weekly benefit if they became unemployed
* It covered 2.25 million workers and gave a weekly benefit of 7 shillings a week for 15 weeks giving families a regular income to avoid destitution
* Only applied to ‘insured trades’ where there was regular or seasonal unemployment i.e. shipbuilding
* Most workers were also not covered and had to rely on their own savings
1911 National Insurance (Sickness) Act
* Workers and employers gave a weekly contribution to a national fund which was topped-up by taxation
* Covered 13 million people
* Paid out a weekly benefit of 10 shillings a week for 13 weeks followed by 5 shillings a week for a further 13 weeks
* No more benefit could be claimed after the 26 week/6 month period
* Also available: maternity grants, a disability benefit and free medical treatment with an approved doctor available.
* Only covered workers earning below £160 pa and only covered people aged 16-60, leaving a gap of 10 years before the old age pension could be claimed
* It also only covered the contributor and not the whole family
1911 Shops Act
* Provided a weekly half-day holiday for workers and introduced a maximum working week, limited to 60 hours
* Washing facilities in shops were also introduced
* However, employers could make up the ‘lost time’ with longer hours on other days
1908 & 1911 Coal Mines Acts
* Fixed the length of a working day underground to 8 hours
* Improved safety regulations but still a dangerous occupation with long hours and low pay
* Also didn’t take into account the time it would take to get to the mines
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