Assess The Causes Of Poverty In The 19th Century

In the 19th century the attitude of the British Governments towards poverty was ‘laissez-faire’ meaning that the government did not interfere with people’s lives. They believed that people were ‘’too lazy’’ to work therefore they should look after themselves. Booth and Rowntree did surveys in the 19th century about the causes of poverty in the British cities such as London and York. Booth and Rowntree were not the main reason for the Liberal Government of 1906-1914 introducing their social welfare since the Boer War was more important as it made the government aware of the unfit population across Britain. However, there were also other factors that had an influence in the reforms introduced such as New Liberalism, Political Advantage, Municipal
Socialism and National Efficiency.

In 1899 Britain became involved in a war with the South Africa Boers meaning that volunteers were needed to fight in the war. However, this was impossible as almost 25% to 69% were too unfit to fight which alarmed the government that the British Army should have been able to protect its country against a far stronger enemy than the Boers. These concerns resulted in making suggestions about improving people’s diet and recommendations about free school meals and free medical examinations for school children. This makes this factor majorly important reason why Liberals introduced reforms as it helped to improve the quality of the ‘fighting stock’ to protect the British Empire. However, it could be argued that if the War did not happen the government would not be aware of the problems that Booth and Rowntree has highlighted. This evidence shows that the fears about National Security influenced British politicians to improve the quality of life of British people since it was found out that in Manchester alone, out of 8,000 men who registered to fight, only 1200 was not born with an illness such as eyesight. Historian Eric Evans has argued that the ‘’fear of the consequences of an unfit and debilitated population’’ have paved the way for the Liberal reforms. (The Shaping of Modern Britain: Identity, Industry and Empire, 1780-1914, Hodder Education (1999))

Booth and Rowntree both did surveys about the causes of poverty in British cities, they both found out that there was a huge level of poverty and both showed that poverty was not simply the fault of the individuals.
Charles Booth found out that over 35% of the population of the city of London were living in poverty. Also, he published ‘’Labour and Life of the People’’ in which he argued, that poverty was such a big problem that only government could really help. Whereas Seebohm Rowntree found out that 30% of people from York live in poverty and they needed 21 shillings to stay out of poverty. This was important because their surveys identified the percentage of people that were living below the poverty line, mainly due to illness or unemployment. However, some MP’s still challenged their surveys and argued that poor people wasted their money on insufficient items such as alcohol so they did not do much change. Booth and Rowntree were only responsible for the Liberal reform to an extent, as there were other significant motives such as the national security. Britain was involved in the Boer War and many soldiers/individuals were rejected by doctors, which caused a major concern for the government as it signified the lack of good health in the population, however, national efficiency was more influential as it challenged Britain’s position. Peter Murray also points out that concerns over national efficiency were reinforced by the findings of Booth and Rowntree. (Poverty
Welfare, 1830-1914, Hodder Education (1999)).

By the end of the 19th century, Britain was no longer the strongest industrial power facing serious competition from new industrial countries such as Germany.
Also, in 1880’s Germany’s system of welfare benefits and old age pensions had already been set up. This was important because Germany was seen as a threat due to its healthier and better educated population therefore it may have influenced the introduction of the reforms because it made Britain lag behind other countries therefore if Britain wanted to keep its position as a world power it had to be run efficiently with a strong, healthy and well-educated workforce. However, some historians argued that politicians have passed the reforms mainly for the political advantage as the Liberal party wanted to gain working class votes over Labours. Even though, the Liberals showed that they were trying to improve the standards of living. They operated the First Labour Exchanges and have minimised the time a worker was unemployed, thereby increasing the efficiency of the Labour Market and therefore allowing people to get more money making this factor more important than the surveys of Booth and Rowntree. Historian Andre Marr argues that “Rowntree had begun to show that the condition of the poor was not simply a matter of their moral failure” (BBC The Making of Modern Britain from Queen Victoria to V.E.
Day).

In the 1880’s the Old Liberals believed in the old ideas of ‘’Laissez Faire’’ meaning that poverty was due to the personal effects. When the new definition of Liberalism developed, the New Liberals had different opinions as they have acted against the ‘’Laissez Faire’’ and inspired the reforms, those included people such as Lloyd George, Winston Churchill and Herbert Asquith. They argued that it is right to engage in people’s lives and help those who are in poverty therefore these reformers represented the poorer areas such as Wales. This was important because they have introduced many acts such as The National Insurance Act and were happy to use the governments money and money to tackle poverty. However, some historians argue that reforms introduced were the result of the opposition from the rising Labour Party and the amounts of votes they were getting started to increase making Liberals feel threatened. Even though, New Liberals are the key to changing attitudes within the Liberal Party and driving reforms, the Political Advantage is more important as the parties wanted to attract working class man to vote for them, which resulted in the party trying to appeal to mean. Lloyd George’s personal experience of living in poverty also had an impact as he knew what living in poverty feels like.

Before 1900 poor people had to either vote Liberal or not at all, as the Conservatives were not seen as sympathetic to their situation. From 1906 the new Labour Party started to compete for the same votes, which made a competition for the Liberals. The Labour Party was winning public support with its campaign for social welfare reform, including old age pensions and unemployment benefits. This was important because the Liberals realised that they had to introduce social reforms or risk losing political support from the working classes. Historian Derek Fraser and Richard Staton argue that ‘some reforms … can be directly traced to Labour Party pressure. Fear os ‘socialism’ may well have encouraged the Liberals to bring forward their own reforms, so that there would be no need for the masses to turn to Labour’. (Flagship History: Britain 1861-1881, Routledge (1994))