To what extent was the impact of social reformers the most important change for the people of Wales and England 1880 – 1929?

In the 1880s Britain was led by the Liberal leader Gladstone. He believed in laissez-faire meaning that people helped themselves rather than relying on the government for help. The poor were seen as either undeserving or deserving and upper class men were the only people who had the vote. There were only two political parties to vote for – the Conservatives and the Liberals, neither of which offered any help to the poor as they felt that they didn’t deserve help as it was their own fault for getting into poverty.

The first time that the government got involved in people’s lives was in 1906 with the Liberal Reforms, and was a direct result of the social reformers. In the 1880s, the settlement movement started where middle class citizens would go to areas of poverty to provide childcare and education, in order to try and improve the lives of the poor. The Social Reformers, Booth and Rowntree, published their findings and made an effect felt by many people in different ways. They conducted studies in London and York on poverty and published their findings and coined the term ‘poverty line’. They found that 30% of people lived in poverty and that it was a direct cause of poor health. They found that the primary causes of poverty were low wages, illness and age. No matter how hard someone worked, they could not lift themselves above the poverty line. These conditions the poor lived in could only be improved by direct intervention by the government into people’s lives. The spread of newspapers carried this information across the country and 'social explorers' found the same results in many other places. These caused change as when the upper class saw the findings in the newspapers, they were able to understand more about those living in poverty and could feel more sympathy towards the poor and began to accept government intervention was needed to solve poverty. However, unlike war, the social reformers did not bring in social change themselves, but they did raise awareness of the need for government to take action.

The findings of the social reformers caused the Liberal government to carry out 'The Liberal Reforms'. The Liberals had to make life easier for the poor or risk losing votes to Labour. In 1906 free school meals were provided and in 1907 free medical inspections at school for the poor. This caused social change as the health of many school children improved but weren’t these reforms weren’t made compulsory until 1912. In 1909, the 'Children's Act' was passed to ban the sale of alcohol and tobacco to children and they were sent to borstals instead of adult prisons when they committed a crime. This caused change as the government acknowledged that children had to be treated differently to adults as they are more vulnerable. The 'Old Age Pension Act' was passed in 1908 to provide a pension to those over 70 and then the 'National Insurance Act' was passed in 1911 to provide health care to and later insurance for workers. These laws caused an improvement in health in the working population. However, these laws only helped those in extreme poverty, and school meals and health inspections weren't made compulsory to start with so didn't create much of an impact.

Over the years, the government began to drift away from the policy of laissez-faire. During World War One, complete intervention was needed in people's lives to ensure the war was fought as efficiently as possible. World War One was a total war, meaning that it affected all aspects of society and the enabling act ‘Defence of the Realm Act’ (D.O.R.A) was brought in. D.O.R.A brought in laws such as 'British Summer Time' which sent the clocks forward an hour, changing pub opening hours and diluting beer and were put in place to make workers more productive for the war effort. The war was so devastating that it changed people's attitudes and they now saw war as a tragedy rather than a cause to celebrate. As a reward for the women's efforts on the Home Front, in 1918 women over the age of 30 were allowed to vote. However, those who were younger weren't given the vote until 1929 as the government feared the women may make too drastic a change to the government if they were all able to vote, as there were more females than males in the population at the time, due to the loss of men during the war. Total war changed lives positively such as the vote for women but also negatively such as the psychological trauma that many went through and the impact was felt by everyone.

Laws such as the 'National Insurance Act' were brought in to improve the already declining industries before the war. During the war these industries were very important to the war effort so the previous decline was forgotten when these industries were nationalised by the government. After the war and the demand for materials form the staple industries decreased, the industries went into decline. This was due to competition from the USA and Germany whose industries were more modern so they could produce goods quicker and cheaper. This meant Britain lost many of her customers. This change meant that many people lost their jobs and wages were decreased and hours lengthened to compete with other countries. So the decline of the staple industries caused negative social change, and deprived the government of income that could have been used to create more social change e.g. homes fit for heroes which had to be abandoned.

This decline and loss of jobs was one of the reasons for the General Strike. The government defeated the General Strike and this lead to the Trade Dispute Act being passed in 1927 which banned general strikes. However, this did lead to good change as workers put their faith in the Labour party to achieve social change through parliament and the Labour party won the 1929 election.

Total war was a very influential factor to the change that occurred between 1880 and 1929 but wasn't the only change that took place in British society. The decline of the staple industries was influential as it lead to the General Strike and the Social Reformers changed attitudes to those in extreme poverty which lead to the Liberal Reforms, making life a bit easier for those in poverty. However Total war had the biggest impact as it showed that the government could take on far more responsibility for people’s lives, and the increased taxes to pay for the war showed how change could be paid for in the future. The Victorian class structure was altered permanently by the classes fighting together and the experience of rationing which made society fairer. Total war is the only factor that affected all of the population whatever age or class they were and wherever they lived. By rewarding people for their effort in the war by giving all men and women over 30 the vote – extended to all women in 1929, total war also created democracy in Britain.