THEME 4: THE CHANGING QUALITY OF LIFE, 1918-79
4a: Changing Living Standards
1918- ECONOMY POST-WWI
31 1918-20 → post-war boom – prices rose, soldiers returned
to work
o However, short-lived → failed to generate sufficient
employment for soldiers (1mil unemployed by 1920 –
1/3 = ex-servicemen)
o Resulted in economic crisis + decline in living
standards → exacerbated by Great Depression –
however, effects inconsistent
1931- REGIONAL DISPARITIES
39 1930s – Unemployment >1mil → regional differences:
o 1932 unemployment rates: London/ S.E = 11% vs.
Wales = 40%
1933 – ‘light industries’ (e.g., household appliances,
electrics) grew in S.E = consumer boom
EFFECTS OF UNEMPLOYMENT
Hunger/ nutrient deficiencies – 1933 survey →
unemployment benefits = insufficient to provide minimum
diet recommended by Ministry of Health
o Food, although insufficient, was prioritised → lack of
spending for other things
1930s CONSUMER BOOM
Buying on credit (HP) → enabled consumer goods to be
purchased
o 1930: 200,000 vacuum sales/ year → 400,000 in
1938
Chains like M&S and Sainsbury’s popularised through
growing advertising
More food choice due to imports + basic food prices
dropped
o By late 1920s, ~20,000 fish n chip shops (+
affordable – fish= 2p)
HOUSING
No. of owner-occupiers: 1914 = 10% of pop. → 1938 =
32%
1939- ‘TOTAL WAR’
45 Gov controlled essentials (e.g., food, clothes, etc)
, THEME 4: THE CHANGING QUALITY OF LIFE, 1918-79
o Rationing books + encouragement of thriftiness →
‘make do and mend’
o 1942 restaurants subject to rationing
Health improved during war → infant mortality decreased
WARTIME WORKING CONDITIONS
New jobs created → good pay + conditions
o Avg. wages increased
o Crèches established in factories → to accommodate
for female munitions workers
WARTIME HOUSING
2 mil houses = destroyed (in towns/ cities)
1944 Housing Act → emergency law to address housing
shortages
o Authorised £150 mil to build ‘prefabs’
Post-war reconstruction (e.g., in Coventry) → allowed for
more modern designs
1945- 1945-46 EXCALIBUR ESTATE BUILT
64 Built in Catford, S.E London – Prefab estate
o Designed to last ~10 years – however many lasted
longer
o Problems with cold and damp – however, many v.
satisfied with them
AUSTERITY
Rationing continued (e.g., clothing until 1949), because:
o Britain was bankrupted by war:
Lacked foreign currency reserves to pay for
imports after war
1945 – USA ended Lend-Lease Agreement
(wartime financial support)
Labour rationed bread 1946-48 (not rationed during war)
o Daily Mail – “the most hated measure ever”
(1942-52) furniture used limited wood = ‘utility furniture’
+ prioritised for newlyweds/ those whose houses had
been bombed
1946 NEW TOWNS ACT
Prompted by homelessness post-WWII + increased sense
of social responsibility
Created 14 new towns (e.g., Stevenage + Crawley)
o Designed to relieve overcrowding in WC districts of
big cities
4a: Changing Living Standards
1918- ECONOMY POST-WWI
31 1918-20 → post-war boom – prices rose, soldiers returned
to work
o However, short-lived → failed to generate sufficient
employment for soldiers (1mil unemployed by 1920 –
1/3 = ex-servicemen)
o Resulted in economic crisis + decline in living
standards → exacerbated by Great Depression –
however, effects inconsistent
1931- REGIONAL DISPARITIES
39 1930s – Unemployment >1mil → regional differences:
o 1932 unemployment rates: London/ S.E = 11% vs.
Wales = 40%
1933 – ‘light industries’ (e.g., household appliances,
electrics) grew in S.E = consumer boom
EFFECTS OF UNEMPLOYMENT
Hunger/ nutrient deficiencies – 1933 survey →
unemployment benefits = insufficient to provide minimum
diet recommended by Ministry of Health
o Food, although insufficient, was prioritised → lack of
spending for other things
1930s CONSUMER BOOM
Buying on credit (HP) → enabled consumer goods to be
purchased
o 1930: 200,000 vacuum sales/ year → 400,000 in
1938
Chains like M&S and Sainsbury’s popularised through
growing advertising
More food choice due to imports + basic food prices
dropped
o By late 1920s, ~20,000 fish n chip shops (+
affordable – fish= 2p)
HOUSING
No. of owner-occupiers: 1914 = 10% of pop. → 1938 =
32%
1939- ‘TOTAL WAR’
45 Gov controlled essentials (e.g., food, clothes, etc)
, THEME 4: THE CHANGING QUALITY OF LIFE, 1918-79
o Rationing books + encouragement of thriftiness →
‘make do and mend’
o 1942 restaurants subject to rationing
Health improved during war → infant mortality decreased
WARTIME WORKING CONDITIONS
New jobs created → good pay + conditions
o Avg. wages increased
o Crèches established in factories → to accommodate
for female munitions workers
WARTIME HOUSING
2 mil houses = destroyed (in towns/ cities)
1944 Housing Act → emergency law to address housing
shortages
o Authorised £150 mil to build ‘prefabs’
Post-war reconstruction (e.g., in Coventry) → allowed for
more modern designs
1945- 1945-46 EXCALIBUR ESTATE BUILT
64 Built in Catford, S.E London – Prefab estate
o Designed to last ~10 years – however many lasted
longer
o Problems with cold and damp – however, many v.
satisfied with them
AUSTERITY
Rationing continued (e.g., clothing until 1949), because:
o Britain was bankrupted by war:
Lacked foreign currency reserves to pay for
imports after war
1945 – USA ended Lend-Lease Agreement
(wartime financial support)
Labour rationed bread 1946-48 (not rationed during war)
o Daily Mail – “the most hated measure ever”
(1942-52) furniture used limited wood = ‘utility furniture’
+ prioritised for newlyweds/ those whose houses had
been bombed
1946 NEW TOWNS ACT
Prompted by homelessness post-WWII + increased sense
of social responsibility
Created 14 new towns (e.g., Stevenage + Crawley)
o Designed to relieve overcrowding in WC districts of
big cities
