POVERTY IN BRITAIN, 1900–1965 Social History in Perspective General Editor: Jeremy Black Social History in Perspective is a series of in-depth studies of the many topics in social, cultural and religious history. PUBLISHED John Belchem Popular Radicalism in Nineteenth-Century Britain Sue Bruley Women in Britain Since 1900 Anthony Brundage The English Poor Laws, 1700–1930 Simon Denith Society and Cultural Forms in Nineteenth-Century England Joyce M. Ellis The Georgian Town, 1680–1840 Peter Fleming Family and Household in Medieval England Ian Gazeley Poverty in Britain, 1900–1965 Kathryn Gleadle British Women in the Nineteenth Century Harry Goulbourne Race Relations in Britain since 1945 Anne Hardy Health and Medicine in Britain since 1860 Tim Hitchcock English Sexualities, 1700–1800 Sybil M. Jack Towns in Tudor and Stuart Britain Helen M. Jewell Education in Early Modern England Alan Kidd State, Society and the Poor in Nineteenth-Century England Arthur J. McIvor A History of Work in Britain, 1880–1950 Hugh McLeod Religion and Society in England, 1850–1914 Donald M. MacRaild Irish Migrants in Modern Britain, 1750–1922 Donald M. MacRaild and David E. Martin Labour in Britain, 1830–1914 Christopher Marsh Popular Religion in the Sixteenth Century Michael A. Mullett Catholics in Britain and Ireland, 1558–1829 Richard Rex The Lollards George Robb British Culture and the First World War R. Malcolm Smuts Culture and Power in England, 1585–1685 John Spurr English Puritanism, 1603–1689 W.B. Stephens Education in Britain, 1750–1914 Heather Swanson Medieval British Towns David Taylor Crime, Policing and Punishment in England, 1750–1914 N.L. Tranter British Population in the Twentieth Century Ian D. Whyte Migration and Society in Britain, 1550–1830 Ian D. Whyte Scotland’s Society and Economy in Transition, c.1500–c.1760 Andy Wood Riot, Rebellion and Popular Politics in Early Modern England Please note that a sister series, British History in Perspective, is available, covering key topics in British political history. Social History in Perspective Series Standing Order (cid:44)(cid:54)(cid:37)(cid:49)(cid:3)(cid:28)(cid:26)(cid:27)(cid:16)(cid:19)(cid:16)(cid:22)(cid:22)(cid:22)(cid:16)(cid:26)(cid:20)(cid:25)(cid:28)(cid:23)(cid:16)(cid:25)(cid:3)(cid:75)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:71)(cid:70)(cid:82)(cid:89)(cid:72)(cid:85) (cid:44)(cid:54)(cid:37)(cid:49)(cid:3)(cid:28)(cid:26)(cid:27)(cid:16)(cid:19)(cid:16)(cid:22)(cid:22)(cid:22)(cid:16)(cid:25)(cid:28)(cid:22)(cid:22)(cid:25)(cid:19)(cid:3)(cid:83)(cid:68)(cid:83)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:69)(cid:68)(cid:70)(cid:78) (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England Poverty in Britain, 1900–1965 Ian Gazeley © Ian Gazeley 2003 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2003 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-0-333-71619-9 ISBN 978-0-230-80217-9 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-0-230-80217-9 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Gazeley, Ian. Poverty in Britain, 1900–1965/Ian Gazeley. p. cm. — (Social history in perspective) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Poverty—Great Britain—History—20th century. 2. Poor—Great Britain—History—20th century. I. Title. II. Social history in perspective (Palgrave (Firm)) HC260.P6 G39 2003 339.4′6′094109041—dc21 2002035693 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 For Karen CONTENTS List of Tables ix Acknowledgements xiii Introduction 1 1 Victorian Legacy 7 Introduction 7 1.1 Occupational Class 8 1.2 State Provision 10 1.3 Real Wages 14 1.4 Family Expenditure 20 1.5 Social Surveys and Poverty 22 1.6 Rowntree’s Concept(s) of Poverty 24 1.7 Bowley’s ‘New Standard’ 30 Summary 32 2 The Nature and Causes of Poverty, 1900–18 34 Introduction 34 2.1 The Causes of Urban Poverty prior to the First World War 35 2.2 Dietary Surveys 43 2.3 Rural Poor 49 2.4 Poverty and Health 56 2.5 Impact of the War on Civilian Health 58 Summary 64 3 Poverty and Progress, 1920–38 65 Introduction 65 3.1 Occupation and Class 65 3.2 Wages, Earnings and Prices, 1920–38 66 3.3 Nutritional Adequacy of Diets 72 vii viii Contents 3.4 Bowley and the Town Surveys 77 3.5 A New Calculation of the Poverty Line 89 3.6 Rowntree’s Human Needs of Labour 90 Summary 97 4 Unemployment and Poverty in Britain between the Wars 100 Introduction 100 4.1 Interwar Unemployment 101 4.2 The Characteristics of Interwar Unemployment 103 4.3 The Health Consequences of Unemployment 111 4.4 Unemployment and the State 123 Summary 128 5 1940s Britain 129 Introduction 129 5.1 Wages, Earnings and Prices 130 5.2 Nutrition in Wartime 134 5.3 The ‘Human Needs’ Index 139 5.4 Poverty and the Second World War 142 5.5 Poverty and the State 146 Summary 157 6 Post-war Poverty, 1950–65 158 Introduction 158 6.1 Occupation and Class 159 6.2 Wages, Earnings and Prices, 1948–65 160 6.3 Food, Nutrition and the ‘Human Needs’ Index, 1950–9 162 6.4 Rowntree’s Third Survey of York 168 6.5 Old Age and Poverty 173 6.6 The Rediscovery of Poverty 178 6.7 Changes in Poverty 182 Summary 185 7 Concluding Remarks 186 Notes 191 Bibliography 222 Index 232 LIST OF TABLES 1.1 Distribution of economically active population in 1911 9 1.2 Numbers of people receiving poor relief prior to the First World War 12 1.3 Estimates of the growth in nominal wages, prices and real wages, 1882–1913 15 1.4 Real earnings of general labourers and agricultural labourers, 1900–13 16 1.5 Distribution of men’s earnings for full normal week, 1906 and 1914 17 1.6 Frequency distribution of male earnings, 1911 18 1.7 Women’s labour force participation in Birmingham, 1905 18 1.8 Patterns of household expenditure, 1904–14 21 1.9 Rowntree’s food equivalence scale, based on Atwater 28 1.10 Rowntree’s primary poverty-line weekly expenditures 29 1.11 Percentage in poverty in northern towns in 1912–13 31 1.12 ‘Minimum needs’ equivalence scales compared 31 2.1 Pre-war causes of primary poverty 35 2.2 Duration of unemployment, 1910: length of time unemployed 42 2.3 Nutritional content of labourers’ diets, 1900–12 45 2.4 Changes in the energy value of diets, 1880–1914 46 2.5 Daily nutrient intake of working-class families, 1887–1913 47 2.6 Age distribution of villagers in primary poverty, 1903 50 2.7 The social structure and housing in Corsley, 1905–7 50 2.8 Infant mortality per 1000 legitimate live births based on father’s occupation, 1911 57 2.9 Infant mortality in England and Wales, 1905–25 59 2.10 Wages, earnings and prices, 1913–20 61 2.11 Average energy value of UK food supply, 1909–18 63 ix x List of Tables 3.1 Distribution of economically active population by occupational category, 1931 66 3.2 Average wages, earnings and prices, 1920–38 67 3.3 Average earnings by industry, 1906–35 69 3.4 Nutritional composition of Boyd Orr diets by income group 75 3.5 Bowley’s ‘New Standard’ equivalence scale, 1924 78 3.6 Working-class families classified in poverty, 1912–24 78 3.7 Persons in poverty in London, 1929 81 3.8 Families in poverty in London, 1929 81 3.9 Causes of poverty with full-time earnings, 1929 82 3.10 Jones’s Merseyside survey equivalence scale, 1929–30 83 3.11 Overall expenditure equivalence scales, Sheffield survey 1931–2 85 3.12 Relationship of working-class households to the poverty line, 1931–2 86 3.13 Causes of poverty in Southampton, November–December 1931 87 3.14 Breadwinning and the composition of family income in Southampton, 1931 88 3.15 ‘New calculations’ of interwar poverty lines at 1936 prices 90 3.16 1933 BMA equivalence scale 92 3.17 Causes of primary poverty in York, 1899 and 1936 94 3.18 Causes of poverty in Bristol, summer 1937 96 3.19 Summary of interwar poverty results, percentage of working-class families in poverty 98 3.20 Bowley’s and Rowntree’s poverty line compared 99 4.1 Unemployment rates, 1913–26 102 4.2 Employment and unemployment, 1921–38 102 4.3 Regional and industrial variations in interwar unemployment 104 4.4 Disaggregated statistics on duration of male unemployment, February 1938 107 4.5 Unemployment rates by age and sex 110 4.6 Unemployment by occupational class, 1931 111 4.7 Infant mortality rates by socio-economic class, 1911–39 117 4.8 Index of infant mortality rates in England and Wales and selected urban districts, 1926–39 118 4.9 Age-standardised mortality ratios for England and Wales, 1921–32 120