Source E is a cartoon published in Britain in 1942. This was called ‘The Beveridge Report’. This poster is of five giants being, defeated the first giant is called ‘Want’ and then ‘Ignorance’, ‘Disease’, ‘Squalor’, and ‘Idleness’. These were the five major problems faced by the British government and it is their duty to rectify this problem. The first giant that was being tackled was ‘Want’ this is tackling poverty, the second giant was ‘Ignorance’ this due to the lack of education. The third giant was ‘Disease’ this was tackling major health issues, the fourth giant was ‘Squalor’ this was to show people living in dirty, unhealthy environment, the last one was ‘Idleness’ this giant was made up of sheer laziness and not having the desire to work. Both Sources are linked as source D (health issue based) faces one of the issues in source E which is also health related. Also in source D there are indications of people working for the factories as which again is addressed in source E. This report was made to have an understanding of what problems they are faced with after the War; their aim was to defeat these problems which would put Britain in a good position as they needed people to stay in good conditions in order for these people to provide efficient support towards the Britain and war. War material was in great demand factories continuously needed determined workers who were in good health. Government needed to rebuild the country so they had to find a way of tackling the issues highlighted in the posters.
- Use sources F and G, and your own knowledge, to explain the impact of evacuation upon people in Britain.
There was a major impact on the people of Britain throughout the evacuation and also after.
Various types of people had been evacuated, for example elderly people, disabled people, pregnant women, working class children middleclass children and teachers. These evacuations were made from London to the countryside to host families. There were 827,000 school children who were evacuated. Also 524,000 mothers and children, 7,000 blind and disabled and 103,000 teachers who were evacuated. There were a total of 1,474,000 evacuees. These evacuations had taken place when the government had realised that Britain having large industrial areas were heading for heavy bombing, and so the evacuees were sent to a countryside area where they would stay with the local families.
There was major shock to everyone when the evacuees had reached the countryside. The hosts were absolutely taken aback when they came across such anorexic and dirty children. ‘The state of children was such that the school had to be fumigated.’ This quote was taken from source F, this source was an extract from reports on evacuees published by the national federation of women’s institutes in 1941. Some hosts found it impossible to believe that there may be some children who hadn’t had a bath in two months or more, they also found that a few children didn’t even know how to use a toilet properly. The children were so badly clothed when they arrived and very dirty. Some children also have difficulty keeping themselves clean. Many children had lice and other hygiene related diseases. This subject of filthiness had a major impact on both hosts and evacuees, host had trouble teaching evacuees the right way of things and evacuees found it difficult to lead a different lifestyle.
Some of the evacuees had a major culture shock when they saw how the hosts live in a much cleaner environment the fact that there was clean running water had amazed many evacuees. This was going to be a very exciting.
Source G has positive impacts of the evacuation “one small girl was so chubby that she needed a larger size of gas mask”. This was very interesting because there were only bones when they had been evacuated and this was an absolute transformation “some children from poor areas have become unrecognisable within a few weeks”. This quote is also from source G, this source is a part of a letter written during the war by a woman who accepted evacuees.
This evacuation did have quite a few advantages for example the children had come to know more about nature and were taught how to live the right way, this had also made them much more healthier than before and the fresh air was very good for their health.
There was a major clash in the social classes but they managed to mix. Some extremely poor children had ended up staying with a generally wealthy family and some maybe vice versa but they were never really organised on whom who goes to they were just given houses, this was a good experience for both host and evacuee, they came to learn how they both live and socialize.
Some families had taken in children because they had to but the allowance had not covered for when the food prices rose which meant they were in a lot of struggle, and faced quite a lot of difficulties. Some families found the way they could pay could pay for more is too make the children work this quite a good opportunity for the hosts.
On the whole evacuation helped people realise the different conditions people were living in. this led to a charge in attitude, and was also a key factor in helping the welfare state being created.
5. The introduction of the Welfare State was a major improvement in the lives of working people in Britain
The Welfare is the government’s system in which it has responsibility for the well-being of its citizens. The Welfare State developed in the UK from the 1942 Beveridge report, proposed by William Beveridge. It consisted of the five main ‘giants’ of problems the country was suffering from. These problems were: Want (desire for money and out of poverty); Squalor (Poor housing facilities); Ignorance (lack of education); Idleness (unemployment), and Disease (poor health).
Firstly, Want is some ways did improve the lives of working people in Britain. Ways that showed that the government were taking action in getting people out of poverty were by introducing the Family allowance, National insurance, and the National Assistance Acts. In Source A, if the benefits were given then the pregnant lady would be able to buy essentials like a pair of ‘Shoes’. In Source the man suffering from cancer would have not died from cancer as he would have received sickness benefits.
However, in some ways ‘Want’ was not an improvement such as from ‘The Social Services’ by David Whittaker written in 1975. He stated that the “Welfare state did not abolish poverty and hardship. It was estimated that in 1954, 8% of the population were living below the poverty line” This suggests that poverty still existed even though action was taken from the government. Therefore, in an attempt to tackle poverty was a failure.
‘Squalor’, or housing in some ways was an improvement, such as when the government introduced the Town and Country Planning Acts and the New Towns Acts, which provided shelter for the poor. In Source H it clearly states that the amount of money spent on housing has increased, from 42.3 million pounds in 1935 to 83.5 in 1955. However, the houses built were poorly built according to ‘Towards Prosperity’ by BBC Publications in 1970 which stated that “ families lived in crowded and out-of-date conditions; over a third in houses classified as ‘unfit’ because of disrepair, damp, vermin, lack of ventilation or sanitation...”
This suggests that even though the government provided shelter, the sheltering was inadequate and ‘unfit’. Therefore, Squalor was not an improvement for the Welfare State, let alone a ‘major’ improvement.
Ignorance or education proved to be the only positive improvement from the 5 giants. The government introduced the Education Act in which poor children enrolled in Free State Secondary schools. This improved children’s lives because they were taught skills which would become useful for future jobs.
Idleness or unemployment was another problem that the government needed to tackle. They introduced Various Acts to reduce the number of unemployment. In some ways it was an improvement for example from the Guardian newspaper in 1988 shows a map showing the rates of unemployment in each district of Britain. Every statistic decreased so it must have been an improvement. Also in Source H, the amount of money the government spent on tackling unemployment in 1935 was 73.9 million pounds, whereas, in 1955, the government spent 114.4 million pounds.
However, fro m ‘ The problems of the distressed areas’ by Wal Hannington in 1937, wrote that the “the unemployed are fighting with their backs to the wall, literally fighting to live” means the unemployed were struggling to find jobs to support their families. However, Ernst Macer a farmer wrote that “From 1936, however, life was splendid...” this working man’s life was an improvement due to the Welfare being introduced “government was paying subsidies”. If the farmer’s life improved so may have other farmers across the country because they will also be receiving benefits and subsidies from the government. Overall, the number of unemployment decreased and did improve lives of working people compared to before the Welfare States was introduced.
Disease, in some ways did improve the lives of people. Firstly the government set up the NHS. The pregnant woman from Source A would not have suffered from giving birth to her child if the NHS was set up. In Source C, the man would have been cured of cancer if the NHS was set up. The government was also spending a large amount of money on the NHS, such as in 1935, they spent 25.7 million pounds, whereas in 1955, they spent 445.5 million pounds.
However, for working people, which included rich entrepreneurs and capitalists will have to pay more tax than others even though they received free health care. Moreover, dental treatment was not free so people had to pay for them, the poor disapproved of this decision.
‘The introduction of the Welfare State was a major improvement in the lives of working people in Britain’. In some ways the Welfare State was an improvement and in some others wasn’t, but whether it was a major improvement is debatable. In the government’s attempt to tackle poverty failed because poverty still existed within society. The Housing provided by the government was extremely poor with terrible conditions and described as ‘unfit’ suggests that ‘Squalor’ was not an improvement. Education however, was an improvement because it befitted children. Tackling unemployment was an improvement because the numbers had fallen. ‘Disease’ is some ways was and was not an improvement. However, in my opinion, the NHS improved everyone’s lives and their health because before medical treatment was not free and poor people could not afford it. Now it is free even though for some certain reasons medical care needs to be paid.
Overall, the Welfare State was an improvement but not an improvement because if the Welfare State did not exist, society would still be suffering from the ‘Giants’. Welfare State helped move society on to a more beneficial one. Moreover, if the Welfare State was a major improvement then statistics would dramatically change for the better and people would be living prosperous lives. Therefore, the Welfare State was an improvement even though there were drawbacks to it.
