History

• The Depression


  A period of severe economic decline
• Main causes of the Depression

  • Decline of traditional industries
  • Impact of the Wall Street Crash
• Decline of traditional industries

  • Competition from abroad
  • New markets difficult to find
  • Obsolete production methods
• Britain relied on selling goods abroad
• Foreign countries like USA and Japan were producing goods for less money
• France favoured buying coal from the US
• Japan and the US could produce ships cheaper
• It was difficult to find new markets for British goods as products were more expensive
• The USA had developed mass-production methods to produce goods such as cars
• Britain was slow to move to new, quicker and more efficient methods of production
• British mines had not invested in up-to-date machinery so it was more difficult to mine
• This made British coal more expensive
• Wall Street Crash


  A major stock market crash that occurred on 29 October 1929 in the US
• When America sneezes, the whole world feels it

  The effects of the Wall Street Crash were felt across Europe
• In Britain, business confidence fell dramatically and international trade declined
• Between 1929 and 1931 exports from Britain fell by half
• Britain's balance of trade was badly affected and by 1931, it had a trade deficit of £114 million, compared to a trade surplus of £104 million in 1928
• Unemployment numbers increased rapidly (1930 - 2 million, 1932 - 3 million)
• Areas that suffered worst during the Depression

  • South Wales and North-East England
  • South-East England and the Midlands
• Dole


  Unemployment benefit
• Means Test


  Officials visited families to assess whether they were entitled to help, involving finding out how much the families earned or possessed
• Qualifying for dole


  1. Pass the Means Test

  2. Sum paid based on Means Test
• The Means Test created many problems for families and was extremely unpopular
• The dole was cut by 10 per cent in 1931
• Hunger Marches


  • From Jarrow and Rhondda
  • To highlight unemployment, poverty and hunger to the government
• Jarrow March of 1936

  200 men alongside their MP Ellen Wilkinson, walked 300 miles from Jarrow to London over 8 months, putting up in church halls and wearing their best clothes. Peaceful.
• The Prime minister and the government ignored the petition from the Jarrow March
• Rhondda March, 1932


  • 375 marchers set off from the Rhondda, heading for London to present the government with a petition to abolish the Means Test, end cuts to social services and end the 10% reduction in dole payments
  • The Metropolitan Police confiscated the petition and it was not delivered to Parliament
• The Depression led to high levels of unemployment in the centres of the old industries, the north-east of England, South Wales and central Scotland, often leading to a fall in the standard of living and health of the families of those out of work
• Making ends meet


  Families of the unemployed had less to spend and had to make whatever savings they could
• Diet during the Depression

  • Families ate a lot of bread, margarine, potato, sugar but little meat, fruit, vegetables and milk
  • One-tenth of the population was seriously undernourished, including one-fifth of all children
• Poor diet led to higher infant mortality rate and poor health of children in depressed areas
• Self-help by the unemployed


  • Women operated credit mechanisms
  • Neighbours rallied around during times of crisis
  • Communities would come down harshly on those who broke its unwritten conventions
  • Clubs for the unemployed were set up by the Church and Mayors' funds
• Thousands of unemployed workers and their families moved from Wales to the more prosperous of less affected areas, such as the Midlands and south-east England
• 10,000 people left Wales during the 1930s
• Around 430,000 left Wales during the 1920s and 1930s and Merthyr Tydfil lost
• People needed a distraction to help them cope with the effects of the Depression so they turned to accessible forms of entertainment
• These helped to raise the morale of many people, while also offering a sense of escapism
• Forms of entertainment

  • Radio
  • Cinema
  • Theatre
  • News
  • Music
• By 1937, half the households in Britain, even in the poorer areas of Wales, had a radio