British Depth StudyHow far did British society change, 1939-1975?

Key Ideas RevisionPost War Effects

Welfare State

Match the Key Ideas to their Definition

Welfare State

Equality of opportunity if you can afford it; people look after

themselves; individual over the group (associated with

Conservatives during this period).

Social Security

Financial assistance provided to those most in need

Where the government takes responsibility for the health and well

being of its people.

Left Wing

Equality of opportunity regardless of wealth; state looks after people;

group over the individual (associated with Labour during this period)

Right Wing

Summary of Post War Britain

• People’s Lives: significantly disrupted by the war, women forced to work, men undergone horrendous traumas, German bombs having destroyed cities, families torn apart- leading some to accuse youth of rising crime and delinquency.

• Impact on class relations: caused the middle classes to be increasingly aware of the condition of working-class children. Beveridge report began the welfare state.

Impact of the War on Women

1941: all women aged 20 and over had to work

1945 80% married women, 90% single in

industry/ armed forces

1943: 443,000 worked in armed forces

Women got help to juggle working in

factories and looking after families; flexible

working arrangements/ nurseries

BUT: war work stopped in 1945.

Work had been broken down

into simple tasks because it was

assumed women could not cope

Women in support roles in armed

forces not front lines

STILL: some women managed to

continue working.

Increase in women workers (18% 1947,

10% 1939)

Important (for when we look at women's’ roles)

• Many younger married women stopped working to have children. This was encouraged by the media and certain sections of society.

• In 1945, sudden increase in the number of marriages.

What can we see is happening to women’s roles in these sources?

British women at war“[British women] have stuck to their posts near burning ammunition dumps, delivered messages afoot after their

motorcycles have been blasted from under them. They have pulled aviators from burning planes. They have died at the gun posts and as they fell another girl has stepped directly into the position and ‘carried on’. There is not a

single record in this war of any British woman in uniformed service quitting her post or failing in her duty

under fire... they have won the right to the utmost respect. When you see a girl in khaki or air force blue with a bit of ribbon on her tunic- remember she didn’t

get it for knitting more socks than anyone else in Ipswich.”

Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain 1942.

How useful is this source to an historian studying the impact of WWII on women’s lives?

Impact of the war on Children

Schooling disrupted. Poor children not

evacuated turned to vandalism and petty

crime.

Shortage of teachers, much part time

schooling.

Health improved: fresh air, better diets,

balanced diets (rationing)

Psychological. emotional

suffering: split from families/ lost family members

Some evacuees treated badly.

Some homesick.

Roughly 50% never evacuated. Many died in air raids.

Some separated so young they didn’t

know their parents when they went

home. Scared and shocked by

conditions at home.

Does source A make source B surprising?

• “We may have been there three days to a week but I can't really remember although I know that I was terrified. I must have been screaming for help because some of my friends came to our aid and one girl found the end of a crayon and wrote a message for help to my mother on a piece of toilet paper

• As far as I can remember, the note said:

• 'Please help us, nobody wants us’”

• Auntie Vi was beautiful and took great care of us whilst she was there. Aunty and Uncle Chips (as we called Mr & Mrs Chipperfield ) looked after us very well; quite differently from how we were used to. Strict but in a different way from how our parents were strict. The first night we slept well in a huge double bed with a feather mattress – we had a lovely bedroom too. We found it peculiar at first as we had constant attention, which we weren’t used to coming from a big family, but soon settled down. No tantrums allowed there but no clips round the ear either.

A B

How to answer this question

• Identify similarities/ differences• Explain why the differences might make one

source seem surprising.• Explain why what you know (own knowledge)

means the source is not surprising.• You’re done!

Important general problems that had to be dealt with in Post War Britain

Issue Solution How this led to changes in Britain

The Blitz had led to substantial damage.

Rebuild Britain. Required workers and money.

Immigration encouraged.

Evacuation had revealed the poverty of working class children in the cities.

The Beveridge report make recommendations of universal health care, more social security to address poverty. Required workers and money.

The National Health Service introduced by Labour government in 1948. Immigration encouraged.

WW2 had led to large numbers of young men dying and shrinking birth rate.

Workers would need to be brought into Britain to fill the labour shortages.

Immigration encouraged. Some women invited back to work.

Post war consumer boom- more industries and products to buy.

More workers would be needed. Immigration encouraged.

What is the cartoonist’s message?

Cartoon first published in the Daily Express in October 1940.

•Identify what the cartoonist is talking about and whether it is being supportive or critical of the issue in the source.•Link to your knowledge: e.g. of the Blitz.•What in the source supports your opinion of what the source is about?

Caption: “O rare and refreshing Beveridge” cartoon from The Mirror, 1942

Link to knowledgeLink to

cartoonist’s details

Supportive or critical?

TIP: It is almost always worth

working out these details FIRST,

annotating your source (briefly) and then writing your

answer. It will help you start your

answer WITH the answer.

How specific problems were dealt with in post-war Britain

Problem Legislation (laws) ImpactRebuilding Town and Country Planning Act and New

Towns Act (1947)- clearance of slums, bomb damaged housing, relocation of many of the poorest to new towns.Housing Act 1949

Better homes for many. Improved health.

Protection for workers

National Insurance Act 1946, benefits for unemployed, injured, sick workers.

Better health care for many.

Protection for women and children

National Health Service Act, 1948 (NHS)Children Act, 1948.

Women: high quality maternity care- average life expectancy risen from 45-76. Infant mortality fell from 60,000 deaths of children under five in 1945 to 20,000 by 1975.The Beveridge report was

therefore important as it underpinned these acts

In 1942, William Beveridge, a civil servant, advised the government to set up a welfare state, including a free national health service, which was to give benefits ‘from the cradle to the grave’ for all.

The plans were passed by the post-war Labour government in 1946. Two years later the National Health Service (NHS) began. It was available free to everyone in the nation, and was to cover every aspect of health care.

The National Health Service (NHS)

So, what happened?

• British hospitals were nationalised, meaning taken over by the government.

• GPs encouraged to move from ‘over doctored’ areas to regions with a shortage.

• Private practice was allowed to continue (partly to pacify the doctors who were making a lot of money out of private practice and did not want to be involved in the NHS.

• The NHS came into operation in July 1948. Aneurin (Nye) Bevan was responsible for the Act though it came from the Beveridge Report.

What the NHS

provides

Hospitals and ambulance service

Medicines

GPs, surgeries, health clinics, district nurses.

Medical aids

Medical research

Training of doctors and

nurses

Consultants

Dentistry

Eye tests

Vaccination programmes

SurgeryMaternity care

The effect of the National Health Service on people’s health was dramatic. For the first time ever, everyone had the right to free health care. Before the NHS many could not afford to visit the doctor, let alone buy medicines or have regular treatment.

By the end of the 20th century, however, the NHS was facing one financial crisis after another. Prescription charges, introduced in the 1950s, rose steeply. Charges were introduced for dental treatment and eye tests. Unable to pay for the necessary staff, many beds remained empty while the waiting lists grew longer.

Despite the problems, anyone could be treated free when needed, regardless of their ability to pay or whether they had insurance.

Problems with the NHS

“I shudder to think of the never-ending

stream of medicines which is pouring down British throats at this

time”.

Aneurin Bevan, speaking at the end of

1948.

Are you surprised by this source?

• Explain why someone might be surprised by this source.

• Explain why what you know makes this source not surprising.

• Job done.

Bevan’s resignation from the Labour government

• April 1951, Korean war led to rising defence expenditure and new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Hugh Gaitskell decided to introduce charges for false teeth and spectacles.

• Bevan believed the socialist principle of a free health service was being compromised.

• He threatened to resign unless Gaitskell changed his mind.• Gaitskell refused.• Bevan resigned along with John Freeman and Harold

Wilson.

Why was this source published in 1951?

• Who is the source aimed at?

• What do they want the audience to do in response?

• Explain that using your own knowledge and what is in the cartoon.