(History) life during depression -2

• Dole payments


  Payments given out for unemployed workers until they found a new job
• The dole payments were expensive as unemployment rose
• Means test


  Carried out by the public assistance committee (PAC) to check if the family had any other source of income, with deductions made from payments if they did
• The means test was unpopular as it was humiliating for families to show their earnings and savings
• People disliked the means test as they thought the government cared more about saving money than helping the unemployed
• National Unemployed Workers' Movement (NUWM)


  Set up in 1932 to protest against the government's treatment of the unemployed
• Hunger marches


  1. Unemployed men marched around the country to bring attention to their plight

  2. Started in 1931

  3. Polititions refused to meet the leaders
• Hunger marches


  • The Jarrow Crusade in 1936 was the most famous
• Jarrow


  • The town was the worst affected by the depression
  • Palmers shipyard, which the town depended on, was bought and scrapped by the National Shipbuilders Security
• Unemployment in Jarrow reached 30%
• Malnutrition and poor health were major issues in Jarrow during the depression
• Jarrow Crusade


  1. 200 men marched to London, led by the mayor and MP Ellen Wilkinson

  2. Received great public support and sympathy

  3. Given some limited support like free meals and shoe repairs in London
• The Jarrow Crusade petition was presented to the House of Commons but the Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin ignored it
• The Rhondda Hunger March in 1932 was another major hunger march, with 12,500 marchers from all over Wales
• In 1936, 4.3 million people in Britain were undernourished due to poverty and poor diets
• Women were the first to be laid off work, especially in the cotton industry
• National insurance only covered the worker (men) for medical insurance, so families had to pay for any treatment, resulting in poor health for children
• Self-help by the unemployed

  • Women operated credit mechanisms for food and other essentials
  • Unemployed clubs were set up with support from local authorities
  • Educational programs were provided for the unemployed
• Between 1921 and 1938, 440,000 people emigrated from Wales to find work, causing the population to drop by 15%
• New industries


  • The car industry, especially the Morris Motor Company, provided work for Welsh migrants
  • The car industry had an impact on Welsh culture and language
• Radio and cinema provided a distraction from the harsh realities of the depression, with 79% of British families having a radio by 1935
• The government encouraged the growth of new industries like aircraft and chemicals by offering grants and allowing land to be used for electric power
• The Special Areas Act of 1934 offered grants to companies to move to areas of high unemployment, but only 121 firms set up as a result
• The government investment in the Free Forest industrial estate in South Wales led to employment growing from 60 workers in 1937 to 16,000 by 1945