HOW WAS BRITISH SOCIETY CHANGED, 190618

1
HOW WAS BRITISH SOCIETY CHANGED, 1906-18?

• What was it like to be poor at the beginning of
  the century?

2
What do I need to know?

• Understand how poor people lived at the beginning
  of the twentieth century.
• Understand how these people were helped by
  charities.
• Learn about the poor law and use of workhouses.
• Understand why people feared the workhouses.

3
Background

• The beginning of the 20th century was a period of
  great contrasts between rich and poor, town and
  country, North and South.
• Some people went on holidays using the new
  railway networks others could just about afford
  to stay alive.

4
What was it like to be poor at the beginning of
the 20th century?
As you look at the sources write down words that
you think describe what life was like for the
poor at this time.
5
How were the poor helped at the start of the 20th
century?

• Charities e.g. Dr Barnardos
• Private charities gave help in the form of money,
  clothes, food and sometimes accommodation.
• By 1905 there were 700-800 private charities
  operating in London alone.
• In towns and cities throughout Britain there were
  thousands of abandoned children who lived by
  begging and thieving. Many of them died through
  starvation, disease and neglect.
• Dr Barnardos charity set up a network of
  childrens homes.

6
How were the poor helped at the start of the 20th
century?

• The Poor Law
• State support was provided by the Poor Law.
• Workhouses provided food and shelter for the poor
  but they were very grim places. Conditions were
  awful.
• Outdoor Relief (meaning outside the workhouse)
  was payments in the form of cash or goods to
  people in their homes. These people were
  labelled paupers which brought tremendous shame
  and disgrace to the family.

7
WORKHOUSES
8
Who did the Victorians blame for the poverty?

• Most people believed that the poor were somehow
  responsible for their own poverty.
• They blamed idleness, gambling and drinking for
  causing poverty and believed it was peoples own
  responsibility to look after themselves.
• However as the 20th century began peoples
  attitudes were beginning to changethe big
  question we have to ask is WHY?