history DWR KQ2

• what areas were worst hit


  south Wales + north east england

  according to 1921 census 54% male population of Wales dependent on old industry

  unemployment = 25% in merthyr + Swansea
• Means Test


  unemployed had to prove need for benefits

  put strain on family life

  County Durham refused to carry it out

  PACs had lots of power - caused fear, were invasive

  negative view on gov
• the Dole


  unemployed could claim benefits under the unemployment insurance scheme for 6 months

  usual rate = 75p for man + wife, 25p for each child

  1931 cut by 10%
• UAB


  unemployment assistance boards

  manage the means test under the unemployment act of 1934

  applied it more rigorously in some areas

  gov decided to set benefit rates nationally instead of locally
• DIET


  5 million suffering from deficiency

  poor family spend 3 shillings a week on food, rich spend at least 6
• COPING


  72% living below poverty line during the Depression
• women


  1931 - 35 death rate for women age 15-35 x2 in areas of high unemployment

  1933 - 5 dead for 1000 born

  1st to be laid off, men = sole breadwinner
• children


  1/5 malnourished

  poor children x10 likely to catch bronchitis
• Jarrow March


  October 1936

  in response to unemployment crisis in N.E. england

  >1200 volunteered, 207 selected to go
• how long was the march from jarrow to Westminster? who walked with them?

  300 miles, 25 days

  MP ellen wilkinson 'red ellen' walked with hem
• causes behind the jarrow march


  decline + close of palmers shipyard caused unemployment to reach 80%

  death rate per 1000 in 1936 in jarrow = 15, national = 9
• who opposed the jarrow march


  police: fear of communism

  TUC (trade union congress) + labour: bad publicity

  NUWM (national unemployed workers movement): objection to non-political nature
• impact of Jarrow march


  the men returned as heroes

  PM stanley Baldwin refused to see representatives

  received sympathy from public - people gave them shelter and food

  ship industry stayed shut

  men given £1 to get the train home
• welsh hunger marches


  5th sep 1931 - 122 march to Bristol "struggle or starve"

  oct 1936 - 504 marchers from south Wales with backing from the labour party - achieved little
• rhondda hunger march


  14th oct 1932 375 people from rhondda, total of 2,500 from other parts of Britain headed for LND demanding the abolition of the means test and the anomalies ect.
• what did king Edward VIII say?


  tour of Wales 1936

  "something must be done"
• gov response to hunger marches

  they were worried

  deployed spies + the met police to watch

  force was used to confiscate
• Emigration from Wales


  44,000 left Wales 1921 - 38

  85% left SW valleys of glamorgan + Monmouthshire

  1920 rhondda population fell by 13%
• push and pull factors for emigration


  Push = low wages, poor conditions, unemployment

  pull = jobs, ministry of labour scheme to help those willing to move to areas e.g London, coventry, oxford

  morris motor car company in Oxford employed many welsh workers
• Radio Escapism


  1922 wireless comes to GB

  1926 BBC established

  1929 - 33 sale of radio licences x2

  by 1939 75% families have a radio

  listen to the news, sport, music

  mass production meant families could afford radios
• Cinema Escapism


  1934 >320 cinemas in wales

  1935 first welsh talkie "how green was my valley"

  1939 - 4776 cinemas in GB selling 23m tickets per week
• Light Industry


  provided more jobs

  concentrate on consumer goods - cookers, cars, fridges, radios

  mass produced - affordable

  1938 = 2m cars sold in GB

  1923 - popular car Austin seven sold for £225, 1936 sold for £125

  electricity = clean, cheap, efficient - replace coal
• making ends meet and self help


  maintain home on a limited budget

  self help = local community action e.g. clubs to look after each other rather than rely on gov

  women get credit to pay for food + rent

  YMCA encouraged this
• Special Areas Act 1934


  Legislation offering grants of £2m to companies to relocate to special areas

  44,000 workers encouraged to move, 30,000 unem. men put on retraining courses
• Treforest Industrial Estate


  aim to provide alt jobs to iron + steel

  by end 1937, 3 factories employing 69 people

  by 1945 - 16,000 people working here