OPTION 3a: WAR & THE TRANSFORMATION OF BRITISH SOCIETY 1903-28

Key Topic 1: The Liberals, votes for women and social reform

At the beginning of the twentieth century women did not have the right to vote and stand for parliament. This was for several reasons.

Many opposed votes for women. Queen Victoria called giving women the vote a ‘mad, wicked folly.

Some men claimed that women were emotionally unsound and would be unable to vote sensibly.

Others said that as women could not fight for their country, they should not be allowed to vote.

The main legal argument was that voting in 1900 was according to the household franchise. As only men were regarded as the head of a family, women were not allowed to vote.

Many arguments came from men who simply wanted to keep women in their place. They argued that the sexes were different and had different roles in society.

Women’s role was to look after children and the home, men’s was to take decisions.

Women in Britain were encouraged because they were allowed to vote in local council elections from 1889 and in 1893 women in New Zealand were allowed to vote for the first time.

The response of women to these arguments was to point out that women had to pay taxes just like men, but had no say in how the taxes were spent.

They also explained that many women were also highly educated, but were denied the vote, while the most uneducated man could vote.

Men were quite prepared to trust a woman doctor with their lives, but would not trust them to vote.

When women in Australia were allowed to vote in 1904, the arguments became even stronger.

The Suffragists – the NUWSS

In 1897 the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies had been formed. This brought together 500 local organisations with more than 50,000 members, many of them men.

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Millicent Fawcett became the President of the NUWSS and remained so until 1919.

The NUWSS used peaceful and constitutional methods to try to win the vote for women. Its campaign was summed in its address for telegraphs: ‘Voiceless London’.

This organised marches, posters and petitions. They tried to demonstrate that women were sensible enough for the vote.

Suffragettes – the WSPU

The most important figure in the creation of the WSPU (Women’s Social and Political Union) was Emmeline Pankhurst. She decided in 1903 to form an organisation for women within the Labour Party.

From 1903 to 1905 the members of the WSPU spoke at many Labour Party meetings in Lancashire. The main speakers were Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Sylvia and Christabel.

In 1905 the WSPU began to use more militant or extreme methods to campaign. One important reason was the failure to make any progress using peaceful and legal methods.

Another reason was Emmeline Pankhurst’s growing disappointment with the Labour Party.

The first act of militancy was on 13 October 1905, at a Liberal Party election meeting for Winston Churchill in the Free Trade Hall in Manchester.

Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney attended the meeting and when questions were invited, Annie stood up and asked Churchill: ‘If you are elected, will you do your best to make Women’s Suffrage a government measure?’

Churchill did not answer the question. Christabel and Annie forced out of the meeting. Outside, they tried to speak to the crowd as it left the hall, but were arrested.

On the following day, 13 October, Christabel was fined 10 shillings, with the alternative of seven days in jail and Annie was fined 5 shillings, or three days in jail. Both refused to pay.

From early 1906 the WSPU declared war on the Liberal government for failing to do anything about votes for women, targeting leading Liberals such as Asquith and Lloyd George.

One woman, Edith New, chained herself to railings outside and shouted ‘Votes for Women’ until the chains were removed.

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In 1908 two women adopted a tactic that became one of the Suffragettes’ main weapons, stone throwing. They managed to break several of the windows of 10 Downing Street before they were arrested.

Asquith became prime minister in 1908 and became an even greater target for the militant members of the WSPU.

Hunger strikes

In 1909, the WSPU introduced a new weapon in its fight against the government. In prison, Suffragettes refused to eat and were released within a few days.

In September, the Liberals Mary Leigh was force fed through a two metre long rubber tube. Meat juice and lime juice cordial were dripped into her stomach through her throat.

The WSPU was able to use forced feeding in its propaganda campaign. Posters showing Suffragettes being held down were very effective and even King George V suggested that the government should discontinue it.

The Conciliation Bill, 1910 and greater militancy

In 1910 MPs from all parties joined the ‘Conciliation Committee’, which then produced the Conciliation Bill.

This was a compromise that was intended to give some women the vote. The Bill would give the vote to all women who owned a house, part of a house or just a room.

The Conciliation Bill was supported by the WSPU. The Bill, and a second Bill, were unsuccessful as leading Liberals such as Lloyd George and Churchill feared it would create too many female Conservative voters.

The result was a new outbreak of violence by the Suffragettes. Only a few days later, the WSPU organised a rally outside the Houses of Parliament, which ended in a fight with the police.

Emily Wilding Davison set light to letterboxes by dropping rags soaked with paraffin into them. But the real campaign began in the New Year.

On 1 March 1912, at 4.00 pm, Suffragettes broke almost every shop window in Piccadilly Circus, Regent Street and Oxford Street.

At the same time Emmeline Pankhurst threw stones at the windows of 10 Downing Street.

The greens on golf courses were attacked with acid and many had the slogan ‘Votes for Women’ burnt into them.

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The orchid house and tea-rooms at Kew Gardens were wrecked and two railway stations, Saunderton and Croxley Green were burned down.

Suffragettes managed to plant two bombs in a house belonging to Lloyd George and destroyed part of it.

On 4 June 1913, without the knowledge of WSPU headquarters, Emily Wilding Davison ran onto the Derby course at Tattenham Corner and stood in front of the King’s horse Anmer.

Suffragettes also began to attack art galleries. A painting in the National Gallery was slashed in June 1913.

The Cat and Mouse Act

The government tried to find a way of dealing with the increased violence. Eventually the government decided on the Prisoners (Temporary Discharge) Bill.

At first, the ‘Cat and Mouse Act’ appeared to solve the problem. But Suffragettes soon began to feign illness in order to get themselves released.

Why did women not have the vote by 1914?

The Liberal Government saw other issues, especially Ireland and social reform, as much more of a priority.

The extreme activities of the suffragettes convinced many men, including members of the government and parliament, that women were not sensible enough for the vote.

The women’s movement was weakened by divisions. The NUWSS had co-operated with the WSPU at first but Millicent Fawcett disapproved of the extreme militancy used by the suffragettes after 1911.

Children’s welfare measures, old age pensions

Booth and Rowntree

In 1886 Charles Booth, a wealthy shipping line owner, began a survey of life in the East End of London.

He showed how many people lived in dreadful conditions, with families squashed into one room in damp tenement blocks.

Seebohm Rowntree was doing almost exactly the same in York. Rowntree was a member of the family that made chocolates and other sweets.

Both found that about 30% of the population lived in poverty. That meant that they had too little money to buy food and pay for other essentials each week.

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Rowntree found that the most common reason was low pay, which accounted for 52% of the families. The other reasons were: unemployment, sickness, death of the main wage earner, large families and old age.

In 1899 Britain went to war with the Boers. For the first time, however, volunteers had to take a medical and many failed. They were simply too unhealthy to join the Army.

Overall, about 37% of volunteers were rejected, but in some inner city areas of Britain, the figure was as high as 90%.

The Government became worried that there would not be enough men fit enough to fight in a war in the future.

This concern for the health of the people of Britain became known as National Efficiency.

Some of the Liberal leaders decided that changes had to be made to help the poorest people of Britain.

The most important figure was David Lloyd George. He helped to develop the idea of ‘New Liberalism’, which was aimed at working people.

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.

Child welfare measures

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. About 100,000 children benefited.

In 1907 the government began school medical inspections and dental checks.

The medical inspections soon revealed startling facts. Children who lived in poor inner city areas could be up to 10 cm shorter than children in other areas.

In 1908 the Liberals passed the Children’s Act, which became known as the Children’s Charter. This set up juvenile courts and juvenile prisons called ‘Borstals’.

These allowed children to be treated differently from criminals. Children were also banned from buying tobacco and alcohol.

In 1912 the Liberals set up children’s clinics.

Old Age Pensions

Having dealt with children, the Liberals moved on to tackle the problems of the elderly.

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The Pensions Act was passed in 1908 and pensions were paid for the first time at the age of 70 in 1909. A single person received 25 pence a week and a married couple received 37 1/2 pence.

These pensions were non-contributory, which meant that people did not have to make any payments for them

The amounts paid were not high and were only available for old people with an income of less than £26 a year, or £39 for a married couple.

Labour Exchanges, 1909, the National Insurance Act

In 1910 the Liberals set up a network if more than 400 Labour Exchanges (Job centres). These advertised jobs in one place.

The National Insurance Act

The Act covered about 14,000,000 workers in industries such as building, shipbuilding and engineering who earned less than £160 a year.

Every week the worker had to buy a stamp costing 4d (about one and a half pence) and stick it on to his insurance card. His employer added a further 3d and the government contributed 2d.

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, disabled payments and maternity benefit.

Medical treatment was provided by doctors who agreed to be ‘on the panel’.

The second part of the National Insurance Act came into force in 1912. This extended insurance to 2,500,000 workers in seasonal employment. This meant that they would only be able to work for part of the year.

The worker, the government and the employer all paid two and a half pence and the worker could receive unemployment benefit of 7 shillings (35p) a week for fifteen weeks in any year.

How successful were the Liberal Reforms?

The Liberal reforms were a very important step forward. For the first time the government accepted responsibility for the well-being of some of the people of Britain.

Old Age Pensions were only paid at the age of 70, when average life expectancy was about forty-nine. This meant that the great majority of British people would never live long enough to draw their pensions.

The Liberals did not introduce a National Health Service which meant that many of the population did not have access to free medical treatment.

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National Insurance against unemployment was criticised by the Labour Party because it only applied to three million and workers, who were often low paid, had to make a contribution.

National Insurance against health did not apply to the self-employed, wives, farmworkers, domestic servants or women workers. Moreover, 10 shillings a week did not seem enough.

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Key Topic 2: the part played by the British on the Western Front

The BEF and 1914

The BEF, under the command of Sir John French, started to arrive in France on 18 August, much more quickly than the Germans had expected.

It was a small but excellently trained force. Moltke had to transfer troops from the eastern front to face the BEF.

On 23 August the BEF stumbled into the Germans near the mining town of Mons. The BEF were heavily outnumbered and had to retreat.

Three days later there was a further battle at Le Cateau. Again the British retreated but the Germans were slowed down.

The Battle of the Marne

On 5 September 1914, the German armies had reached the river Marne, just 40 miles to the north-east of Paris. Many Parisian grabbed what belongings they could and fled he city.

British reconnaissance balloons spotted the gap between the two German armies. Cautiously, at first, the BEF advanced into the gap, supported by the French. The ensuing battle lasted for over a week across a front of 200 kilometres.

The race for the Channel Ports

The Germans also hoped to reach the English Channel and seize the ports. This would cut off the retreat of the BEF and prevent further British reinforcements.

The BEF was sent north to plug the gap between the French and German armies at the city of Ypres.

The British made their stand in hastily dug trench positions at the Belgian town of Ypres where 13,000 of the best German soldiers attacked the British and were massacred. The battle raged for a month.

The British had 50,000 casualties and the BEF was more or less destroyed. However, the Germans suffered about double the casualties, with 20,000 deaths and the German advance was halted and the Channel ports saved

Britain’s contribution to the Western Front, 1915-17

The Trench system

Although initially each side dug one line of the trenches, during the course of the next three years the trench systems became stronger and more sophisticated,

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with as many as four lines of trenches with dug outs thirty feet below ground level.

Behind the front line were the reserve trenches in case the front line should be captured. Running across these lines were communication trenches.

Each side protected itself with rows of barbed wire, secretly erected or improved at night. This was often several feet high and deep

No-man’s-land was a desolate area between the two trench systems which could be as little as one hundred metres.

The trenches were constructed to give the maximum protection to the defenders. Dug outs could be thirty feet below ground level.

Machine guns were eventually housed in concrete shelters. They could fire 600 bullets per second, killing large numbers of attacking infantry.

Life in the trenches

Soldiers not only fought but also lived in the trenches. Most days were very monotonous and boring and seemed to pass very slowly.

Troops did not often go hungry although there was little variety in their diet. They often ate ‘bully’ or corned beef with ten men sharing a loaf of bread.

Water was generally brought in petrol cans to the front, where chloride of lime was added to kill the germs.

Diseases were common in the trenches where men crowded together in unhygienic conditions.

There were rats everywhere, feeding on rotting bodies and horse carcasses.

The soldiers also had to put up with the extremes of weather. There was snow and frost in the winter and rain on a regular basis. The bottom of the trenches was frequently under at least a foot of water.

There were many dangers including enemy marksmen known as snipers waited for the sudden head that popped over the parapet. Many unsuspecting new arrivals were killed this way.

Enemy bombardment, which happened most days, could lead to injury or death from flying splinters and debris.

New weapons and methods

The Germans were the first to use poisonous gas at the 2nd Battle of Ypres, April 1915.

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Other gases attacked the nervous system or caused various degrees of paralysis. Then in 1917, the Germans used mustard gas, an acid which burnt the skin and caused blisters.

Gas was unsuccessful because the wind in France generally blew in the direction of the Germans, which prevented them using it very often.

Both sides developed and employed bigger and more destructive field guns. On land they were used to maintain a constant bombardment of enemy positions before an attack.

During the Battle of the Somme, in September 1916, the British tried a new tactic, the creeping barrage.

The artillery would fire in front of soldiers as they crossed no-man’s land. Such a tactic required extreme accuracy but proved very successful in 1918.

The most effective new weapon was the tank, the original invention of Ernest Swinton, an army officer and engineer.

They were first used during the Battle of the Somme, in July 1916, but were too slow and unreliable with many breaking down.

Tanks achieved great success at the Battle of Cambrai, November 1917, when 378 tanks broke through the German trenches and into open country.

They proved decisive in the Allied success of July-November 1918.

Why was there no breakthrough, 1915-17?

Commanders on both sides lacked the imagination to break this deadlock. Cavalry attacks were totally ineffective.

The trench system proved too strong. Soldiers or infantrymen were supposed to attack quickly through gaps in the enemy trenches.

Machine-guns were ideal defensive weapons. They could fire up to 600 rounds a minute and were able to cut down the lines of attackers.

The Battle of the Somme, 1916

The British commander, Sir Douglas Haig believed in a policy of attrition or wearing down the Germans by constantly attacking.

The Germans had attacked the French fortress system at Verdun in February and were desperate for help. They suggested a joint Anglo-French offensive to take the pressure off Verdun.

The offensive was preceded by a week long bombardment with 1500 guns shelling the German lines continuously.

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The first men went over the top at 7.30 am. They had been told to form ‘waves’ and walk slowly across no-man’s-land as there would be no German survivors of the bombardment.

In fact they went into the worst slaughter ever suffered by the British army – nearly 20,000 killed and 40,000 wounded on the first day.

Despite the losses Haig, under pressure from the French, continued the offensive. Bad weather finally brought an end to the battle in November.

The Germans had been pushed back a little but there was no breakthrough. By November 1916 the British had lost over 400,000 men.

The role of Haig

Sir Douglas Haig was appointed commander of the British forces on the Western Front in December 1915.

He has come in for much criticism for his leadership during the Somme and was nicknamed the ‘Butcher of the Somme’.

Haig believed in a policy of attrition which meant wearing the enemy down with constant attacks even if it meant heavy casualties.

Haig faced a difficult task. Trench warfare was a new kind of fighting.

Haig had no choice about the location of the offensive. The Somme was the junction of the two Allied armies and he wanted and needed the support of the French armies in this area.

Haig’s leadership proved to be much more effective in 1918. He refused to panic during the German attacks of March April and gave his famous ‘backs to the walls’ orders which helped to prevent a German breakthrough.

He made effective use of tanks and the creeping barrage during the British counter-attacks of August-October 1918.

He was also prepared to accept the overall command of the French Marshal Foch in the interests of Allied success.

Ludendorff’s Spring Offensives, 1918

The British played in key role in the failure of the German offensives of spring 1918.

Ludendorff, the German commander on the Western Front, decided on one last offensive.

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In addition the British naval blockade of the German coast was having serious effects on the German war effort.

Ludendorff deliberately concentrated his attacks on the British, believing they had been weakened by the events of 1917, especially the Third Battle of Ypres.

The attack began on 21 March 1918 in the area between Arras and Amiens and took the British completely by surprise.

Despite the confusion, the British forces were not destroyed. A new defence line was hastily formed and reinforcements were rushed in.

In April the Germans attacked again in the Ypres area, hoping to force their way through to the Channel ports. Once again they achieved early success. However, the British did not panic and built new defences.

Ludendorff’s offensives had not achieved a breakthrough. Instead they had seriously weakened the German armies which had suffered appalling casualties. The German troops were exhausted and low in morale.

Furthermore, the Germans had a much greater area to defend with a makeshift, hastily assembled trench system.

The Allied drive to victory, July-November 1918

In August 1918 the Allies launched a series of offensives which eventually defeated the Germans.

On 8 August the Canadian, Australian, Belgian, French, American and British troops attacked and burst through the German defences, forcing the Germans to retreat all along the Western Front.

Ludendorff described it as the as ‘the black day of the German army’. At Amiens an attack in thick fog by 456 British tanks captured about 30,000 Germans and 400 field guns.

By October the coast of Belgium had been liberated. In a single day the Allies advanced 13 kilometres from Ypres.

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Key Topic 3: The home front and social change

Dora, censorship and propaganda

Censorship

The Defence of the Realm Act was passed in August 1914. This gave the government the powers of censorship throughout the war. Only news issued by GHQ (army headquarters) or government departments could be published.

A newspaper could be taken to court if it used unauthorised material. Letters written by soldiers from the battle front, especially the Western Front, were censored by officials in the armed forces.

This censorship was to ensure that the public did not find out about the worst features of the Western Front, especially the heavy casualties and often poor living conditions.

In addition, the government did not want the British people exposed to the enemy to the German view of the war.

This was the belief that Germany was in the right, as they were fighting a war of self defence.

It believed it could not tell people the whole truth because people might begin to question whether it was worth fighting at all.

Furthermore, letters or newspaper articles might give classified military information so this information needed to be deleted.

Propaganda

The government used propaganda in the early months of the war to ensure support for the war effort and to encourage young men to volunteer for the war effort.

Often stories were wildly exaggerated to make the enemy appear even worse. One common theme was ‘Stand by Belgium’. These whipped up a feeling of hysteria in Britain.

Once war broke out, new stories began to appear in the press. After the initial campaign against the Germans, propaganda became slightly more subtle.

The main method of propaganda was still posters, which publicised so-called German atrocities.

From 1915 films were made to encourage support for the war effort, and in 1916 the Battle of the Somme film was shown in cinemas all over Britain.

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It was watched by more than 20,000,000 people, still a record for any film in Britain.

Unfortunately for the government, the film did not have the desired effect. Instead of encouraging support for the war, it actually produced anti-war feelings, because it showed pictures of British wounded.

In 1917 the Ministry of Information was set up to produce films.

The Defence of the Realm Act

The Defence of the Realm Act (DORA) was passed in August 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War.

It gave the government extensive powers: writing letters in code, using a camera without a permit, lighting bonfires, ringing church bells, buying binoculars, feeding bread to dogs and horses.

More serious were restrictions on hoarding food and profiteering and the fact that suspected spies could be held without trial.

Trade Union rights were limited and the government took the power to control rents and prices and seize land and horses.

To increase the hours available for work, British Summer Time was introduced in 1916 for the first time.

Recruitment and rationing

Volunteers

Kitchener, the Minister of War, decided on the outbreak of war to rely on volunteers to increase the size of the army.

Recruiting offices were besieged and by the end of August 300,000 men had volunteered. Recruiting was most successful, however, in areas of high unemployment.

Many men volunteered out of a sense of honour and often these were the most highly educated.

These were to be the ‘lost generation’, as they became called after the war. By December an army of 4,000,000 was planned.

Others joined to get away from the boredom of their daily job or because they believed that the war would be over by Christmas.

The simplest method was by propaganda posters, which in August and September were usually very straightforward.

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After the initial months of the war, the numbers of volunteers slackened off very quickly. By December 1914 the number of volunteers had fallen to 117,000 and by February 1915 to 88,000.

So in 1915 recruitment tactics changed. Posters became more strident and pointed, with slogans such as ‘What did you do in the Great War Daddy?’

In August 1915, all single men, and later married men, had to give their names in as part of National Registration. This was to make it possible for them to be called upon if necessary.

New recruits were placed in units with their friends. All the men from one area of a town would often be in the same battalion. The idea of these ‘Pals’ Battalions’ was to make the men feel at home.

Conscription

Conscription is compulsory military service and it was introduced in Britain for the first time by the Military Service Act of January 1916.

The Military Service Act of January 1916 made all unmarried men between the ages of eighteen and forty-one liable for service in the armed forces.

In May 1916 the Act was extended to include married men. However, Conscripts could claim exemption on any one of four grounds.

Ill health Reserved occupation, this meant that they were employed in an industry of

national importance. Family responsibility, this meant that they had dependants who would suffer if

they were conscripted. Conscientious objection

Anyone who claimed exemption had to go before a Military Tribunal and prove that they deserved to be exempt from service. The Tribunals could reach any one of four decisions.

Absolute exemption, which meant that the individual was declared to unconditionally exempt from service.

Conditional exemption, which meant that the individual was exempted providing that he undertook work of national importance.

Exemption from combatant duties, which meant that the individual had to join the armed forces but would not be required to be part of a fighting unit. This usually entailed joining something like an ambulance unit.

Rejection, which meant that the individual had to join the army and be subject to normal military discipline.

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Conscientious Objectors

Conscientious objectors appeared in Britain for the first time in January 1916, when the Military Service Act was passed.

Non-combatants were not a major problem. They served in hospitals, drove ambulances and were even forced to dig trenches for fighting soldiers.

Absolutists were ordered to join the army, where they were subject to military discipline.

They would be left in a cell with army uniform and if they refused to put it on, they were deemed to have disobeyed orders.

They could then be court-martialled and even shot. Other absolutists were sent to prison, where they could be sentenced to hard labour.

The part played by women

Women’s employment before the war

In 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War there were nearly 5,900,000 women working in Britain. About 1,500,000 women worked as Domestic Servants.

About 900,000 women also worked in Textiles and another 500,000 in the Sweated Trades.

There were, by 1914, women working in almost all of the professions.

The impact of war

About 1,200,000 women began to work for the first time. Many middle class women took jobs. But this did not happen immediately

The event that brought women into the war effort in large numbers was the Great Shell Shortage of May 1915.

Lloyd George’s efforts to expand the industry coincided with the ‘Right to Work March’ organised by the Suffragettes in London in July 1915. It was led by Christabel Pankhurst and 30,000 women took part.

Munitions

New factories were opened to produce planes, weapons and ammunition. Many women began to work in these.

The work in the new munitions factories could be very dangerous and very unpleasant. Some women were nicknamed ‘canaries’, or ‘munitionettes’.

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Hundreds of thousands of women worked in these factories for the high wages, £3.00 a week.

Many women gave up their jobs as domestic servants for the freedom that the wages in munitions factories gave them.

In 1915 there were strikes against women workers and the government was forced to sign agreements with unions to the effect that women would not keep their jobs at the end of the war.

One complaint of male workers was against ‘dilution’. They were afraid that the employment of unskilled women would lead to lower wages because the women would be doing the same work as skilled men.

Other employment

In 1916 the need for women workers became even greater after the passing of the Military Service Acts. These introduced conscription into Britain for the first time.

By 1917, one third of women in work had replaced a man since the beginning of the war

Two industries that expanded very rapidly during the war were motor car manufacture and aeroplane construction.

Altogether about 13,000 women volunteered to work on the land. However, they faced very stiff resistance from many farmers who did not like Land Girls.

By 1917 there were hundreds of women doctors and thousands of nurses treating wounded servicemen both in France and Britain.

Women also began to be accepted into the professions. Many women had worked as primary schoolteachers before 1914, but by 1919 they occupied more than half of all posts.

Women also began to be accepted in the legal professions. In 1916 banks began to use women to collect money from branches in the city and Reuters used women as messengers. In 1917 the first woman diplomat was appointed by the British government

For the first time women began to be recruited into the armed services. The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) was used as nurses, by 1918 there were about 45,000, and the Voluntary Aid Detachments (VAD) were used as drivers and secretaries.

In January 1917 the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps was set up, followed by the Women’s Royal Naval Service and the Women’s Royal Air Force.

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How did the war change the role and status of women in Britain?

Although many women found themselves earning good wages for the first time during the war, women were always paid less than men, and were not promoted as often as their male colleagues.

There was a big campaign to persuade women to give up their jobs and go back to being housewives.

Women who refused to give up their jobs were sometimes attacked. The phrase 'Heroines to Scroungers' was used to describe them.

Women had more freedom after the war. Their clothing became much simpler, with shorter skirts and sleeves. Hairstyles changed and trousers became acceptable for the first time.

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Key Topic 4: Economic and Social Change, 1918-29

The changing role of women, 1918-28

The vote

It soon became obvious that many men who had been entitled to vote in 1914 had now lost the vote. The reason was their service in the army, which meant that they were no longer qualified under the household franchise.

The Representation of the People Act gave the government the opportunity to give the vote to women at the same time.

There was just one other concern, however. Emmeline Pankhurst had called off Suffragette actions in August 1914, but there was nothing to stop them starting them again when the war was over.

Christabel Pankhurst was still editing the WSPU newspaper The Suffragette and she could easily have called for renewed action.

The Act did however have sting in the tail. Although men were given the vote at the age of twenty-one in 1918, women were not.

Not only did they have to wait until they were thirty, but they also had to be house-holders or married to householders as well.

The main reason for this rather strange situation was that Parliament did not want women voters to outnumber men.

Legal changes

Equally important were the legal changes that came about. In 1919 the Sex Disqualification Act made discrimination against women in some professions illegal.

In 1922 The Law of Property Act gave husbands and wives equal rights to inherit each other’s property. In 1923 divorce became easier for women.

Women also gained more control over their lives in the 1920s because contraception became available for the first time through the work of Marie Stopes.

Industrial Unrest, 1918-27

The General Strike of 1926 was due to trade union militancy and the problems of the coal industry.

During the war membership of trade unions doubled. Workers felt threatened by the employment of women in 1915 and by the use of Directed Labour in 1917. This allowed the government to dictate where people worked.

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There were a great number of strikes in the period 1919-20 and the Triple Alliance was revived in 1919.

Problems in the coal industry

In 1917 the government took over some industries to help the war effort. The most important was coalmining.

Before the war miners had been low-paid and faced great dangers. 1,000 miners were killed every year. Under government control, safety in mines improved and wages rose.

However, the coal industry began to decline in the years after the First World War. British coal was unable to compete with cheaper coal mined in the USA, Poland and Germany and exports fell.

Black Friday 1921

In 1919 the government set up the Sankey Commission to decide what should be done with the coalmines.

The Commission recommended Nationalisation, keeping the mines in government control, but the government, which was dominated by Conservatives, decided to give the mines back to their former owners in 1921.

The owners announced an immediate wage cut, because the price of coal had fallen by more than 50%. Britain could now import cheap coal from Germany and Poland.

The miners retaliated by calling on the Triple Alliance to back them in a strike.

The strike was fixed for Friday 15th April 1921, but at the last moment the Transport Workers and railwaymen backed out.

The miners had to accept wage cuts. This became known as 'Black Friday'.

Red Friday 1925

The price of coal began to rise from 1922 to 1925, wages also rose, but from 1925, when the price began to fall again.

The mine owners announced plans to cut pay and increase the working day from seven hours to eight hours.

The miners called for a general strike at midnight on 31st July and this time the Triple Alliance stood firm.

At the last moment the government stepped in with two offers: subsidy of £23,000,000 to keep miners' wages up for nine months; the Samuel Commission to investigate the problem and then report.

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The Unions believed that they had won and this became known as 'Red Friday'.

Why did the government step in?

It wanted to build up coal stocks so that it could defeat the strike. By April 1926 there was nine months supply of coal in Britain.

It wanted the strike to take place in the spring, when heating would not be important.

It wanted to lay plans to deal with the strike and move soldiers to important places in the country.

It set up the O.M.S., the Organisation for the Maintenance of Supplies, and called for volunteers to help keep the country running.

The immediate causes

The government suddenly announced that the subsidy was coming to an end on 30 April 1926. The mine owners announced wage cuts and longer hours. The miners went on strike on 1st May.

The General Strike of 1926

Workers came out on strike in two waves, on 4th and 11th May. On 4th May printers, transport workers, iron and steel, gas, electricity and building workers were called out.

On 11th May engineers and shipbuilders were called out.

At first the atmosphere was calm, even friendly, but after a few days there was growing violence.

Buses were attacked and volunteer drivers heckled. Some trains were derailed.

This disturbed the TUC leaders, who had expected an easy victory. They were also not ready for the attacks that were made on them in the British Gazette.

On 12th May, the TUC announced that the strike was over. It believed that the miners would get a fair deal from the government, but the government had made no promises and regarded the end of the strike as surrender.

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Why did the General Strike fail?

Government preparations and organisation

The O.M.S. proved very successful. Many students and middle class people volunteered. They were not able to replace the strikers, but they managed to keep services running.

The police were used to protect volunteer bus-drivers and the army protected convoys of lorries moving in and out of the docks. The navy patrolled waters of the main seaports.

The government set up a huge prefabricated village in Hyde Park, which was to be used as a distribution centre for food and other essentials.

In fact this was hardly used, because by the time it was built the strike was over.

The propaganda published by the British Gazette proved very effective. It was edited by Winston Churchill, who decided to attack the strikers as being unconstitutional.

Churchill accused the strikers of trying to overthrow the government and bring about a revolution.

The government was able to make broadcasts on the BBC radio. The Chairman of the BBC, Sir John Reith, refused to allow the TUC to broadcast.

The government placed loudspeakers in many streets to ensure most people heard the government version.

Baldwin led the government well. He refused to talk to the TUC or miners’ leaders until the strike was called off.

In addition, he spoke very calmly but firmly on the radio and impressed people with his attitude.

TUC mistakes

The TUC was not ready for action and was taken by surprise by the government’s plans.

Many of the TUC leaders were unhappy with the idea of a general strike and refused to call out essential workers such as in electricity, health, water and sewerage.

The ‘British Worker’ was not well distributed and did not reach the north-east until 12 May, the last day of the Strike.

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The TUC had no answer to these attacks. The TUC leaders were divided. Many were reluctant to strike in favour of the miners and looked for a way to bring the strike to an end as soon as possible.

What happened after the end of the General Strike?

The miners stayed out on strike for another six months, but then went back and had to accept lower pay and longer hours. The coal industry continued to decline.

The Trade Disputes Act was passed in 1927; this made sympathy strikes illegal. This meant that a general strike could never be held again.

The Trade Union Act stated that in future trade unions could only collect money from their members to support the Labour Party if the members agreed individually.

The number of people contributing to the Labour Party fell by 35%. Trade Union membership fell by 30%.

Many strikers, particularly railwaymen, were victimised by their employers. They lost their jobs, or were demoted.

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