1950s Britain

• Colonial developments

  - 1952: Start of Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya

  - Ghana gains independence
• Major nuclear bomb tests

  1954: First nuclear test

  1957: First H bomb test
• When was the Korean War?

  1950-53
• Notable youth groups

  Teddy boys, mods and rockers
• Who was Oswald Mosley?

  Leader of British fascist party who tried to use the Notting Hill Riots as a platform for the 1959 election
• What happened in the 1958 Notting Hill Riots?

  In late August 1958, violent outbreaks in Notting Hill, an area with a large African-Caribbean population and where landlords exploited competition between black and white tenants, violence broke out as large white youth mobs attacked African-Caribbeans. Some African-Caribbeans fought back, mostly in self-defence, but the police response reflected wider racial discrimination and further strained police-minority relations
• Immigration statistics during the 1950s

  - 676,000 immigrants came to the UK

  - 1.32 million Britons emigrated abroad
• How many women worked in 1951?


  1 in 5
• What was the average age of marriage for women and what % were married?

  Average age of marriage was 21 and 75% of all women were married
• When did the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) form?


  1958
• How did the % of car ownership change between 1957-59?

  It rose by 25%
• How many TV sets were in use by 1960?


  10 million
• How did the % of households owning a TV change between 1957-1959?

  It rose by 32%
• When was ITV launched?

  1955
• What were hire purchases?

  Purchases secured on credit paid back across multiple payments
• How much did men's weekly wages increase between 1951-1961?


  £8.30 in 1951 -> £15.35 in 1961
• What new towns were built in the 1950?

  Harlow in Essex, Kirkby in Merseyside
• 1959 April Budget


  Improvements in the value of the £ allowed for £370 million in tax cuts
• 1957 run on the pound


  The fallout from the Suez Canal Crisis started a run on the pound, but the pound would recover by 1959
• 1957 monetarism row

  Macmillan overruled Peter Thorneycroft, his chancellor who wanted to pursue monetarist policies and budget cuts. As a result, Thorneycroft, Enoch Powell and Nigel Birch resigned, but Macmillan played off the row well by quickly appointing replacements and going off on a planned Commonwealth trip according to schedule, describing the whole thing as 'a little local difficulty'.
• What is a run on the pound?

  A term describing a rapid fall in the value of the pound in international currency markets, especially in relation to the US dollar
• What is Monetarism?

  A theory that government should control the money supply to encourage economic growth and restrain inflation.
• Balance of payments

  Imports : Exports
• Comparison of world trade in percentages in 1959

  UK: 17

  USA: 21

  West Germany: 19

  Japan: 7
• Comparison of world trade shares in percentages in 1951

  UK: 22

  USA: 26

  West Germany: 10

  Japan: 4
• Comparison of world trade shares in percentages in 1950

  UK: 25

  USA: 27

  West Germany: 7

  Japan: 3
• Industrial production comparison with a baseline of 100 in 1959

  West Germany: 225

  France: 170

  Italy: 202

  Netherlands: 158

  USA: 133

  UK: 129
• Industrial production comparison with a baseline of 100 in 1957

  West Germany: 204

  France: 156

  Italy: 177

  Netherlands: 143

  USA: 127

  UK: 123
• Industrial production comparison with a baseline of 100 in 1955

  West Germany: 179

  France: 131

  Italy: 153

  Netherlands: 134

  USA: 124

  UK: 121
• Industrial production comparison with a baseline of 100 in 1952

  West Germany: 126

  France: 110

  Italy: 117

  Netherlands: 103

  USA: 111

  UK: 101
• Stop-go policies

  Stop phase: High interest rates and taxes to lower spending and slow inflation

  Go phase: Low interest rates and taxes to increase spending and increase growth
• Economic developments in the 1950s

  - Food rationing ended in 1954 and end of austerity

  - Acceleration in birth rate following Second World War

  - 51 million Brits in 1961 compared to 49 million in 1951

  - By 1955, 'full employment' was achieved with only 200,000 unemployed (less than 1% of the workforce)

  - Growth of service industries (1 in 5 workers were employed in this sector)

  - 1955 give-away budget gave the middle classes £134 million in tax cuts, but this was taken back after the election

  - Rise of consumerism
• Labour party divisions

  Hard Left

  - Figurehead was Aneurin Bevan, who had resigned from the Labour government in 1951 after the introduction of prescription charges

  - Popular with trade unions, unpopular with public

  - More nationalisation

  - Unilateral nuclear disarmament and no NATO

  
  

  Liberal Left

  - Figurehead was Hugh Gaitskell, party leader from 1955-63 and the chancellor who had introduced prescription charges in 1951

  - Pro-NATO and anti-UND
• Major conservative policies

  Housing:

  - 1951 Conservative manifesto promised 300,000 houses per year. Macmillan oversaw this as housing minister.

  
  

  Education:

  - Tripartite system of education (Grammar schools, technical schools and secondary moderns) which had developed after the Butler act of 1944.

  
  

  Social reforms:

  - The Clean Air Act 1956 aimed to prevent smog and Housing and Factory acts aimed to improve living and working conditions

  - Butler as home secretary was more liberal, with the Homicide Act 1957 restricting cases where the death penalty could be imposed and the 1957 Wolfenden Commission report that homosexuality should be decriminalised
• Fallout of Suez Canal Crisis

  - Resignation of Anthony Nutting, the colonial minister

  - Strong opposition from Chief Whip Edward Heath

  - Oil embargo by Gulf States

  - Loss of a strong ally in the region when the king of Iraq was killed shortly after

  - Resignation of Eden and his replacement by Macmillan

  - USA raised its oil prices and made the UK pay in $s, straining the UK's already weakening foreign currency reserves

  - Blockage of the Suez Canal caused a global trade block
• Suez Canal Crisis

  A joint Israeli-Franco-British invasion of Egypt following the nationalisation of the Suez Canal, resulting in widespread international condemnation resulting in British withdrawal
• Post-war consensus


  A period of broad agreement between the two main parties over issues such as nationalisation and the mixed economy, trade unions and the welfare state
• Affluent society


  The period during the 1950s under the Conservatives when there was meant to be more than enough for everybody
• Absentee Prime Minister


  A Prime Minister often absent from domestic affairs due to illness or foreign visits (e.g. Winston Churchill)
• Elections during the 1950s

  1950 - Narrow Labour victory

  1951 - Narrow Conservative victory

  1955 - Strong Conservative victory (influenced by RAB Butler's giveaway budget)

  1959 - Strong Conservative victory