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Glasgow and the Great War: a Study of Health and Wealth in an Industrial City

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Glasgow and the Great War: a Study of Health and Wealth in an Industrial City 1 Glasgow and the Great War: A Study of Health and Wealth in an Industrial City Graham MacSporran (BA Hons) Division of History and Politics University of Stirling Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy November 2018 I confirm that the word count of this thesis is less than 80,000 words 2 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 3 Summary 4 Abbreviations 5 List of Tables, Maps and Figures 6 Declaration 8 Chapter 1 Introduction 9 Chapter 2 Poverty Eliminated or Alleviated? 41 Chapter 3 Living Standards: The Escape from Poverty 79 Chapter 4 Health: Winter’s Paradox 119 Chapter 5 Children at War 158 Chapter 6 Influenza: A Consequence of War? 197 Chapter 7 Conclusion 235 Appendices 249 Bibliography 261 3 Acknowledgements A part-time PhD is a long haul. The support and encouragement of my two supervisors has been very important to me in completing the process. Dr Jacqueline Jenkinson, my lead supervisor, bore the brunt of wading through my, sometimes lengthy, drafts and I was always guided with patience and constructive comments. It is not always easy to combine the duties of a lecturer with supervising post-graduate researchers but I was always given prompt feedback and carefully considered guidance. I would not have been able to complete this thesis without her support. Dr Jim Smyth was also an important part of this process. Some years ago, it was his vision that allowed mature students, such as myself, to study for a first degree on a part-time basis. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience; so much so, that I wanted to continue to research and write afterwards. Good advice is a precious commodity and I have appreciated Jim’s sage advice over the years. I would also like to thank the staff of the Glasgow City Archives in the Mitchell Library. It is a fantastic source for primary material and the staff were very helpful in suggesting possible sources for information. Thanks also to the porters who went into the depths of the archives and retrieved all the files that I requested. It has also been a long haul for my wife, Irene, who has had to live with Glasgow and the Great War for many years – and, previously, a bewildering array of undergraduate courses for an even longer time. It is much easier to undertake this task with support from the Home Front! Thanks for never complaining and always encouraging. Perhaps my wife deserves another exotic holiday…. My research has been informed and motivated by the shadows of past generations – Bella and Jimmy who lost both sons but never thought it a pointless war, the MacDonalds who were Independent Labour Party and pacifists, Bob McKend who drove ammunition trucks on the front line for three years, John Dunlop who was a trench runner at 15 years of age and died within the year, grave unknown, Granny Varney who lived with the uncertainty of having three sons and a son-in law at the Front, and William Graham who enlisted after his brother died of wounds and only lasted a month in Ypres. Perhaps in some small way this thesis honours the memory of those who lived in Glasgow during the First World War; a period with opportunities, privations and many uncertainties. 4 Summary Glasgow experienced significant industrial expansion in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries which brought wealth to the city but also structural social problems, such as poor housing, widespread poverty, and low life expectancy. During the First World War, Glasgow’s industrial base was re- directed towards the manufacture of war materials. This led to a buoyant labour market with opportunities for regular and well-paid work in the war industries. This study of Glasgow seeks to provide a new perspective on the impact of the war on the well-being of the civilian population of a regional industrial city. It will be argued that the war had, overall, a positive impact on social conditions. However, not all benefited from these positive changes. The principal beneficiaries were unskilled and casual workers, both male and female, who found work in the war industries thus improving the social conditions for a third of the families in Glasgow. This was contingent on wives and older children, as well as main wage earners, being able to undertake war-work. A further third of families in Glasgow suffered increasing hardship during the war. These were families reliant on fixed incomes, such as soldiers’ dependants, whose income was progressively eroded by price inflation. The remaining third of families, skilled workers on time rates and the middle classes, either maintained their standard of living or suffered some erosion with little change in their health. It will be concluded that the overall improvement in health in Glasgow during the war resulted from the marked improvement in the standard of living, and health, among the poorest families who could secure work in the war industries. The war economy benefited the areas of greatest deprivation and lowest life expectancy and halved the health penalty of being poor. 5 Abbreviations GCA Glasgow City Archives PRO Public Record Office TNA The National Archives TNT Trinitrotoluene 6 Tables, Figures and Maps The references for the Tables, Maps and Figures show the chapter number followed by the item sequence within the chapter. Tables Table 2.1. Pauperism in the Parish of Glasgow. 64 Table 3.1. Income and expenditure: General labourer. 104 Table 3.2 Household income: Unskilled worker with older children. 106 Table 3.3. Household income: Skilled worker with young children. 107 Table 3.4. Household income: Widow with young children. 108 Table 4.1. Underlying mortality rates in Glasgow, 1914-1918. 131 Table 4.2. Mortality rates for Municipal Ward Groups, 1914 and 1918. 148 Table 4.3. Underlying mortality rates, 1918-1925. 151 Table 4.4. Mortality rates for Municipal Ward Groups, 1918 and 1925. 153 Table 5.1. Govan Parish School Board: Average heights and weights. 172 Table 6.1. Mortality rates within Municipal Wards, 1917-1919. 220 Appendix A. Mortality (All Ages). 250 Appendix B. Mortality (Infants). 254 Maps Map 2.1. Parish boundaries. 52 Appendix C. Municipal District Boundaries, 1911-12 259 Appendix C. Mortality Rates by Municipal Districts, 1914 260 Figures Figure 2.1. Poor Relief Applications to Govan Parish, September 1914. 53 Figure 2.2. Poor Relief Applications to Govan Parish, 1913-1918. 58 Figure 2.3. Govan Parish: Reasons for Poor Relief Applications. 59 Figure 2.4. Govan Poor Relief Applications, 1909-1925 (incl. 1921). 73 Figure 2.5. Govan Poor Relief Applications, 1909-1925 (excl. 1921). 74 7 Figure 3.1. Changes in retail prices, 1914-1918. 85 Figure 3.2. War bread – and very good, too. 89 Figure 3.3. Increase in the price of bread, 1914-1918. 90 Figure 3.4. Forty-hour week dispute, 1919 113 Figure 4.1. Woman and Child in a Slum Tenement, c. 1910. 123 Figure 4.2. Mortality rates in Glasgow, 1908-1918. 127 Figure 4.3. Underlying mortality rates in Glasgow, 1913-1918. 130 Figure 4.4. Mortality rates in Glasgow, 1914-1925. 149 Figure 5.1. Infant mortality rates, 1900-1925. 165 Figure 5.2. Infant mortality by Municipal District. 166 Figure 6.1 Deaths from respiratory diseases, 1917 and 1918. 200 Figure 6.2. Respiratory deaths during first and second waves of influenza. 203 Figure 6.3. Respiratory deaths during the three waves of influenza. 205 Figure 6.4. Influenza deaths in Scotland by age group, 1918-1919. 217 8 Declaration I wish to submit the thesis detailed above in according with the University of Stirling research degree regulations. I declare that the thesis embodies the results of my own research and was composed by me. Where appropriate I have acknowledged the nature and extent of work carried out in collaboration with others included in the thesis. 9 Chapter One Introduction The concentration of the working population on the relatively highly paid war industries prevented any general suffering. Money was plentiful and employment was available for all.1 I am a soldier’s wife which is a pity seeing the miserable pittance we get to keep body and soul together. If my husband had stayed at home and gone to some of the shipyards or munitions works then we would be getting pounds more per week.2 The First World War changed the lives of civilians in Glasgow. Employment opportunities in the war industries lifted many out of poverty whilst the less fortunate on fixed incomes, such as soldiers’ families, suffered hardship due to the inexorable rise in prices. The war created new divisions in a society already one of contrasts. The rapid industrialisation of Glasgow during the nineteenth century had created wealth for the few but this came at the social cost of urban squalor, poverty and poor health for many. The war added a new dimension of opportunities and threats to this established, but polarised, social fabric. This study will consider whether, on balance, the war had a positive or negative impact on the well-being of the civilian population of Glasgow and whether this was a lasting legacy. For the purposes of this study, well-being is defined as a good or satisfactory condition of existence which reflects the social conditions of a populace; these conditions are determined by a number of factors such as housing, occupational earnings, standards of living, and diet. Well-being assumes a positive relationship between benign social conditions and good health and the converse if social conditions are less favourable. In this study, changes in civilian health will be regarded as a key indicator of social conditions in Glasgow during the war.
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