Victorian reform and challenge, c.1851–1886
In 1851 the Great Exhibition showed off Britain as the "workshop of the world". Politics was led by two parties: Liberals (Gladstone) and Conservatives (Disraeli). Only about 1 man in 5 could vote.
- Second Reform Act (1867): gave the vote to many skilled working men in towns.
- Secret Ballot Act (1872): voters could no longer be bullied by landlords or employers.
- Third Reform Act (1884): extended the vote to many men in the countryside, about 60% of adult men.
- Education Act (1870): board schools so every child could get elementary education.
Britain also faced the "Irish question": demands for Home Rule (Ireland running its own affairs) split the Liberals in 1886.
Challenges to the status quo, 1886–1914
The "status quo" means the existing order. It was challenged from several sides:
- Labour: "new unions" of unskilled workers (dock strike 1889) and the Labour Party (formed 1900, 29 MPs in 1906).
- Women: suffragists (peaceful, NUWSS) and suffragettes (militant, WSPU, from 1903) demanded the vote.
- Poverty studies: Booth in London and Rowntree in York showed about a quarter to a third of people lived in poverty.
The Liberal government (1906–14) answered with welfare reforms: free school meals (1906), old-age pensions (1908), labour exchanges (1909) and National Insurance for sickness and some unemployment (1911). The "People's Budget" (1909) taxed the rich, the House of Lords blocked it, and the Parliament Act 1911 limited the Lords' power. By 1914 the Liberals also faced strikes, suffragette violence and a crisis over Irish Home Rule.
The Great War and the interwar years, 1914–1939
Total war (1914–18) meant the whole country worked for victory. The state controlled railways, mines and food (rationing from 1918) and brought in conscription (1916). Women worked in munitions factories. Around 750,000 British soldiers died.
Results: the Representation of the People Act 1918 gave the vote to all men over 21 and women over 30; equal voting at 21 came in 1928. Labour replaced the Liberals as the main opposition and formed its first (minority) government in 1924. Most of Ireland became self-governing in 1922.
The 1920s were unstable: old industries (coal, cotton, shipbuilding) declined and the General Strike (1926) lasted nine days. After the 1929 world crash, unemployment passed 3 million (1932). Areas like the north of England, Scotland and Wales suffered (the Jarrow March, 1936) while the south-east grew with new industries such as cars and electrical goods. A National Government (1931) cut spending and brought in the means test.
War, welfare and affluence, 1939–1964
The Second World War was a "People's War": evacuation, the Blitz, rationing and full employment. The Beveridge Report (1942) named five "giants" to defeat: Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness.
Labour under Attlee won in 1945 and built the welfare state: National Insurance (1946), the NHS (1948), council housing, and nationalisation of coal, rail and steel.
From 1951 Conservatives governed. Living standards rose: cars, televisions, washing machines. Harold Macmillan said in 1957 that most people had "never had it so good". Yet there were worries: slow growth, the Suez crisis (1956), and the end of empire as India (1947), Ghana (1957) and others became independent. New migrants from the Caribbean and South Asia (from 1948) helped rebuild Britain but also faced discrimination.
Key formulas and definitions
- Reform Acts: 1832 → 1867 → 1884 → 1918 → 1928 (equal votes at 21)
- Liberal reforms 1906–1911: school meals, pensions, labour exchanges, National Insurance
- Total war = the whole society and economy mobilised
- Beveridge's five giants: Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor, Idleness
- NHS 1948 = health care free at the point of use
Worked examples
1. Explain one cause and one consequence of the Liberal reforms of 1906–1914.
Cause: social surveys by Booth and Rowntree showed poverty was often not the fault of the poor (old age, illness, low wages); also fear of losing votes to Labour. Consequence: the state began to take responsibility for welfare (pensions 1908, insurance 1911), the first step toward the welfare state.
2. How did the First World War help women gain the vote in 1918?
Step 1: women did vital war work (munitions, transport), which weakened the argument that they did not contribute. Step 2: the voting rules had to change anyway, because many soldiers had lost the vote by living away from home. Step 3: parliament passed one act (1918) giving votes to men 21+ and women 30+. Pre-war campaigning by suffragists also mattered.
3. "The 1930s were the Hungry Thirties." How far is this true?
True for the old industrial areas: unemployment in some towns passed 60% and hunger marches took place. Less true for the south and Midlands: new industries grew, prices fell, and those in work had higher real wages, more homes and cars. So it was a decade of two Britains, depending on region and job.
Common mistakes
- Saying all women got the vote in 1918 (only women over 30 with property rules; equal votes came in 1928).
- Thinking the welfare state began in 1945; the Liberal reforms of 1906–11 were an earlier start.
- Mixing up suffragists (peaceful) and suffragettes (militant).
- Treating the 1930s as equally bad everywhere; the south-east grew.