University of Huddersfield Repository Bolam, Fiona Louise Working class life in Bradford 1900-1914 : the philanthropic, political and personal responses to poverty with particular reference to women and children Original Citation Bolam, Fiona Louise (2001) Working class life in Bradford 1900-1914 : the philanthropic, political and personal responses to poverty with particular reference to women and children. Doctoral thesis, University of Huddersfield. This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/4755/ The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of the University, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the items on this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners. 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THE PHILANTHROPIC, POLITICAL AND PERSONAL RESPONSES TO POVERTY WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIONA LOUISE BOLAM A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF HUDDERSFIELD IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE IN DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY April 2001 Table of Contents ABSTRACT iv .............................................................................................................................. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .........................................................................................................V LIST OF TABLES V .......................... ......................... LIST OF CHARTS ................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF DIAGRAMS ............................................................................................................... vii LIST OF CROSS TABULATIONS .......................................................................................... viii LIST OF FORMS .................................................................................................................... viii INTRODUCTION 1 ........................................................................................................................ CHAPTER 1- THE PHILANTHROPIC RESPONSES TO POVERTY - THE BRADFORD CITY GUILD OF HELP 29 ............................................................................................................ Objectives, Aims Philosophy the Bradford City Guild Help 38 and of of ................................... Structure Organisation the Guild 43 and of ............................................................................... Analysis of Casebooks the Bradford City Guild Help 52 of of ................................................... Survey Results 53 ..................................................................................................................... CHAPTER 2- THE PHILANTHROPICRESPONSES TO THE POVERTYOF WOMEN AND CHILDREN BRADFORD CITY GUILD OF HELP 84 -THE ........................................................ The Guild Help Working-ClassWomen 90 of and .................................................................... The Guild Help Working-ClassChildren 105 of and ................................................................. CHAPTER 3- POLITICAL RESPONSESTO POVERTY- THE INDEPENDENTLABOUR PARTY IN BRADFORD 118 ......................................................................................................... Context Local Political Position 122 and ................................................................................... Limitations the Bradford ILP 125 on .......................................................................................... A for did the ILP that different? 126 plan poverty - what offer was .......................................... How did the ILP to 128 respond poverty related problems? ..................................................... CHAPTER 4- POLITICAL RESPONSESTO POVERTY IN BRADFORD- WOMEN AND CHILDREN 153 ............................................................................................................................. Working-ClassWomen the Bradford ILP 155 and .................................................................... The Bradford ILP Working-ClassChildren 173 and .................................................................. CONCLUSIONS 190 ..................................................................................................................... APPENDICES 200 ........................................................................................................................ BIBLIOGRAPHY 232 .................................................................................................................... ABSTRACT The challenge that faced Edwardian Britain was how to respond to poverty and related social problems. The Victorian ideas on poverty and philanthropy were under attack by the beginning of the twentieth century and had not been replaced by those of the mid to late twentieth century, large-scale state welfare. This meant that the first twenty years of the twentieth century were a time when there was no consensus on how to respond to poverty. The concern about poverty with the lives of the working-class highlighted by Booth, Rowntree and the Boer War led to the development of new responses to poverty. Two groups who attracted attention at this time were working-class women and children whose poverty and related problems were highlighted during the first two decades of the twentieth century. In Bradford there were developments in both the political and philanthropic spheres in response to poverty. This thesis seeks to add to the knowledge of the early twentieth century through focusing on responses to poverty within one English town, Bradford, concentrating on both the philanthropic and political community. No study has investigated the work of both the Guild of Help and the ILP together and examined how their work and their policies impacted on poverty in Bradford. The Guild of Help looked to alleviate the poverty of those best placed to help themselves whereas the ILP aimed to alleviate, if not eliminate problems for all of those in poverty. The working class in Bradford responded to poverty largely through the development of practical strategies that enabled them and their families to survive. They were not able to alleviate their own poverty on a long-term basis and in some cases needed outside assistance in order to survive. The main response of the philanthropic community was the establishment of the Bradford City Guild of Help. It aimed to provide a community wide response to poverty in Bradford and to act as a clearing-house for charity in order to eliminate fraud. This response of the Bradford charitable elite aimed to investigate personal circumstances and provide help in the form of advice rather than money. The Guild of Help looked to alleviate rather than eliminate poverty and helped those in the best position to practice self-help. Although its acceptance of a role of the state in areas that had had been the traditional preserve of charity showed that the Guild of Help had moved on from Victorian charity, it still aimed to preserve the status quo and would not advocate any measures that would change this. The knowledge built up by the Guild of Help in relation to the problems of working-class women and children ensured that it was well placed to deal with these problems. However it preferred to deal with each case on an individual basis by individual Helpers which meant that there was no consistency in dealing with the poverty of working class women and children. The major response from the political community came from the Independent Labour Party. The ILP looked to eliminate poverty and the social ills associated with it and if poverty could not be eliminated without a change in society, then the ILP advocated that society should be fundamentally changed. The ILP lacked a coherent plan to tackle poverty and related problems in Bradford and had little success in responding to problems such as unemployment. However, the ILP did make the issue of education their own and built on the work of Margaret McMillan in Bradford. The ILP did challenge traditional views on responsibility for children and their policies made a difference to the lives of working-class children. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the staff at Bradford Archive and Library for their help and patience in finding material, some of it rather obscure, and in particular for finding the Case books of the Guild of Help, which were not catalogued. Professor Keith Laybourn and Professor David Taylor have provided so much good advice, valuable time, and patience in putting up with my efforts and excuses in submitting this thesis. They gave me the opportunity to pursue this study and the confidence to push through to completion. It is not possible to quantify the support and help they have given me over the years. After three years full-time