Lesson video

Hello, I'm Mr. Marchant, and I'll be your history teacher for today's lesson.

I'm really excited to have you joining me as we explore today's subject and my number one priority will be to help ensure that you can meet our lesson objective for today.

Welcome to today's lesson which is part of our AQA Unit on health and the people.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain the impact of the Liberal reforms on public health in Britain.

There are four key words which will help us navigate our way through today's lesson.

Those are public health, laissez-faire, malnutrition, and slum.

Public health refers city actions and systems intended to prevent disease and maintain good health within communities.

Laissez-faire is the belief that government should not interfere in people's daily lives.

Malnutrition is a serious condition that happens when a person's diet does not contain the right amount of nutrients.

And a slum is a poor and crowded area of a city where the buildings are in a very bad condition.

Today's lesson will be split into three parts, and we'll begin by focusing on pressures for reform.

In the early 20th century, the British government introduced a number of reforms intended to improve public health.

Because these reforms were introduced by the Liberal Party, they became known as the Liberal reforms. New revelations about the poor state of public health in Britain persuaded the Liberals that these reforms were necessary.

In the years before and after 1900, new studies were released which revealed how poor standards of public health were in Britain.

In particular, these studies highlighted how millions of people lived in poverty and how they therefore suffered from poor housing, hunger, and malnutrition.

The first of these new studies was Charles Booth's "Life and Labour of the People in London," which was published in 1886.

Amongst Booth's shocking findings was that 30% of Londoners working in full-time jobs still weren't earning enough to avoid hunger and malnutrition.

The health of these workers and their families began to suffer as a result.

These findings highlighted that poverty was a threat to people's health, and that hard work alone was not enough for millions of people to avoid poverty.

Booth's findings were supported by another study published by Seebohm Rowntree in 1901.

Based on his research in York, Rowntree reported high levels of poverty in York, even amongst workers.

Rowntree also made it clear that this situation affected public health.

For instance, he reported that many children in York suffered from puny and feeble bodies, filthy heads, cases of hip disease, and swollen glands.

Traditionally, laissez-faire attitudes prevented British governments from doing much to combat problems caused by poverty.

However, Booth and Rowntree both suggested that public health would only improve if the government accepted greater responsibility.

So thinking about what we've just heard, I want you to write the missing word from the following sentence.

Charles Booth revealed that 30% of full-time workers in London did not earn enough to avoid hunger and blank.

So what's the missing word? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct answer was malnutrition.

Charles Booth revealed that 30% of full-time workers in London did not earn enough to avoid hunger and malnutrition.

International developments also highlighted the poor state of public health in Britain.

From 1899 to 1902, Britain fought in the Boer War.

To fight this war, it was necessary for the army to recruit more soldiers.

However, due to widespread poverty and its impact on public health, the army found that it had to reject many recruits.

In fact, 40 out of every a hundred recruits were not fit enough to become soldiers.

Many recruits suffered from conditions like tuberculosis and rickets, which are common amongst those who live in poor housing and suffer from malnutrition.

Not only did this hurt Britain's ability to fight in the Boer War, but it also raised fears amongst those in power that Britain would not be strong or fit enough to compete with rival powers like Germany or the USA in future.

So let's make sure we have a secure understanding of what we've just heard.

Out of every hundred recruits for the Boer War, how many did the Army reject because of their fitness level? Was it 5, 10, 20, or 40? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that The correct answer was D.

40 out of every hundred recruits for the Boer War had to be rejected by the army because they were not fit enough.

And this time we have a statement on the screen which reads, "Before 1900, British governments traditionally took an active role in protecting public health." Is that statement true or false? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that that statement was false, but we need to be to justify our response.

So why is it that that original statement was incorrect? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to check your answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said, traditionally, British governments held laissez-faire attitudes and so did little to resolve the problems created by poverty.

So we are now in a good position to put our knowledge of pressures for reform into practise.

We have four statements.

I want you to identify whether each statement is true or false, and then I want you to correct any of the false statements.

You should provide extra details to support any corrections which you do make.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your responses.

Okay, well done for all of your hard work on that task.

So I ask you to identify whether each statement was true or false.

He should have said that for our first statement, poverty was a problem across many parts of Britain, that it was true.

For our second statement that poverty only affected those who were not working should have said that was false.

For our third statement, traditionally, British governments did little to fight poverty because of laissez-faire attitudes.

You should have said that was true.

And for the final statement during the Boer War, 20 out every hundred recruits were rejected, you should have said that that was false.

So I then asked you to correct any of the false statements and to provide extra details to support those corrections.

Your answers may have included poverty affected many people who were in work.

Charles Booth revealed that 30% of full-time workers in London still lived in poverty.

And during the Boer War, 40 out of every hundred recruits were rejected because they were not fit enough.

Many suffered from conditions like tuberculosis and rickets.

So well done if your own responses looked something similar to those models, which we've just seen.

And so now we're ready to move on to the second part of our lesson for today where we are going to think about the Liberal reforms. In 1905, the Liberal Party came to power in Britain.

Over the next few years, the Liberals introduced a range of reforms to improve public health.

These measures aim to improve public health by addressing so many issues caused by poverty.

The Liberal government passed two reforms intended to protect the health of children from poor families, the 1906 School Meals Act and the 1907 Education Act.

The School Meals Act provided free school meals for children who were in need.

This was important as many children from poor families suffered from hunger and malnutrition.

By 1914, 14 million free school meals were being provided to children across Britain every year.

Meanwhile, the 1907 Education Act introduced compulsory medical inspections of school children.

This was intended to overcome the problem that many poor families could not afford to send their children to see a doctor.

In 1908, the Liberal government also began funding school clinics, which provided free treatments to children with health issues.

So thinking about what we've just heard, we have a statement on the screen which reads the 1906 School Meals Act had a widespread impact.

But is that statement true or false? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that that statement was true, but we need to be able to justify our response.

So why is it that that original statement was correct? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to check your answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said.

By 1914, 14 million free school meals were being provided to children from poor families.

Let's try another question.

Why did the Liberals provide extra funding for the 1907 Education Act after a year? Was it to fund free treatments as well as inspections to fund medical training for teachers or to fund more time in schools for pupils? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct answer was A.

After just one year, the Liberals provided extra funding to support the 1907 Education Act to ensure that free treatments could be provided for school children as well as inspections.

The Liberal government also acted to help adults who suffered from poverty.

It was noted that many adults couldn't afford to meet their basic needs at times when they were out of work.

Thus, similar Liberal reforms aim to provide support to groups like the unemployed and the elderly.

In 1908, the Old Age Pensions Act was passed.

This meant that the government began to provide regular payments to some of the poorest people aged over 70 who could no longer work.

Similarly, in 1911, a system of national insurance was introduced for workers.

National insurance allowed workers to receive payments from the government at times when they were out to work, either due to unemployment or sickness.

It was intended that this would ensure that workers could still meet their own and their family's basic needs, thereby protecting their health even if they were temporarily out of work.

The Liberals also introduced laws which focused on combating slum conditions many poor people lived in back-to-back houses where there was overcrowding, a lack of light, and little access to washing facilities.

This all contributed to problems such as the spread of tuberculosis amongst the poor.

The 1909 Housing and Town Planning Act attempted to address this situation by banning the construction of any new back-to-back houses.

So let's make sure we've understood everything we just heard.

Which Liberal reform targeted support at sick and unemployed workers? Was it the 1908 Old Age Pensions Act, the 1909 Housing and Town Planning Act, or the 1911 National Insurance Act? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the correct answer was C.

The 1911 National Insurance Act targeted support at sick and unemployed Workers.

So we're now in a good position to put all of our knowledge about the Liberal reforms into practise.

I want you to complete the table by completing the missing information in each row.

So the table provides several reforms passed by the Liberals and asks who benefited from them and details about the reforms themselves.

You can see in the first row that for the Housing and Town Planning Act, we've been told that poor families benefited from this reform.

And that for details, it banned construction of back-to-back houses.

You need to fill in the remaining empty spaces in the table in a similar way for the other four reforms. So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your responses.

Okay, well done For all of your effort on that task.

So I ask you to complete the table by completing the missing information in each row, and your answers may have included, for the School Meals Act, that it benefited poor children, and that this was because it provided free school meals to children from poor families.

For the Education Act of 1907, you may have said that it benefited poor children again because free medical inspections were conducted at schools and later free treatments were provided too.

For the Old Age Pensions Act, you should have said that it benefited the elderly because payments were provided to poor over 70s to meet their basic needs.

And for the National Insurance Act of 1911, you should have said that it benefited workers and their families because payments were provided to the sick and unemployed to meet their basic needs.

So really well done if your own responses look something like those answers which we've just seen.

And so now we're ready to move on to the third and final part of our lesson for today where we are going to think about the impact of the Liberal reforms. There were both immediate and long-term impacts of the Liberal reforms. These ranged from falling death rates for some diseases through to broader changes in government attitudes towards public health.

The Liberal reforms helped address some of the problems created by poverty, helping many people living in poverty to meet their basic needs.

The reforms helped more people secure the food they needed, improved access to healthcare, and provided more protections against poor housing.

As a result, standards of public health began to improve, life expectancy for both men and women increased between 1901 and 1921.

Furthermore, there was a significant decline in levels of infant mortality in Britain, whereas 163 out of every thousand children had died before they were born in 1900.

This rate had already fallen to 110 by 1910, and had more than halved by 1920.

So thinking about everything that we've just heard, which statistics suggest the Liberal reforms benefited public health? Is it that female life expectancy fell by seven years between 1901 and 1921? That female life expectancy rose by seven years between 1901 and 1921, that infant mortality rates doubled between 1900 and 1920, or their infant mortality rates halved between 1900 and 1920.

You should select all answers which you think are relevant.

So pause the video here and press play when you are ready to check your answers.

Okay, so welcome to everybody who said the correct answers were B and D.

Female life expectancy rose by seven years between 1901 and 1921, showing that people were living longer and infant mortality rates halving between 1900 and 1920 suggests the health of infant children was improving as less were dying early.

So all of this suggests the Liberal reforms benefited public health.

The Liberal reforms represented an important step away from laissez-faire attitudes and meant that the national government began to take on greater responsibility for managing public health.

This was important because the national government had far more power and wealth than either individuals or even local authorities.

And so it could oversee major changes to improve public health.

In the decades after the Liberal reforms, the national government continued to take a more active role in protecting people's wellbeing in Britain.

In 1919, a Ministry of Health was established for the first time as part of the national government.

The first minister of health was Christopher Addison, a trained doctor who used his role to oversee many changes, including improvements to housing.

For instance, rather than just banning the construction of new back-to-back houses, programmes of slum clearance began, demolishing slum houses, and building new higher quality ones in their place.

By the end of 1936, 25,000 people were being rehoused from slums into new homes each year.

These changes helped combat infectious diseases such as tuberculosis.

The number of tuberculosis cases in Britain halved between 1913 and 1941.

Despite the fact that no antibiotics or effective vaccines were in widespread use to fight the disease at the time.

This shows the benefits for public health, which government backed improvements to housing, were able to achieve.

So, thinking about what we've just heard, what new government department was set up in 1919? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the correct answer was the Ministry of Health.

This was set up as part of the national government for the very first time in 1919.

And let's write another question.

Which at the following contributed most to falling tuberculosis cases between 1913 and 1941? Was it increased antibiotic use, slum clearances, or vaccinations for children? Pause video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the correct answer was B.

Between 1913 and 1941, rates of tuberculosis fell in Britain, and this was mainly because of slum clearances.

We can tell this because whilst antibiotics and vaccinations can help combat the disease, these weren't available at the time, whereas slum clearances were taking place.

So we're now in a good position to put all of our knowledge about the impact of the Liberal reforms into practise.

I want you to explain two reasons why the Liberal reforms benefited public health in Britain.

You may consider both short and long-term benefits of these reforms. So pause the video here and press play when you are ready to reflect on your responses.

Okay, well done for all of your effort on that task.

So I asked you to explain two reasons why the Liberal reforms benefited public health in Britain, and your answer may have included.

One reason why the Liberal reforms benefited public health was because they helped address some of the problems created by poverty.

For example, one Liberal reform was the introduction of free school meals for poor children under the School Meals Act of 1906.

This was important because many families living in poverty suffered from malnutrition as they did not have enough money to meet their basic food needs.

By giving children free school meals, the Liberal reforms ensured they had an improved diet which would benefit their health.

National insurance payments introduced in 1911 also helped some poor families to meet their basic food needs, and therefore helped to fight problems associated with malnutrition.

Another reason why the Liberal reforms benefited public health was because they encouraged future governments to accept more responsibility for protecting public health.

For example, in 1919, a Ministry of Health was set up for the first time as part of the national government.

This was important because the Ministry of Health had the power and money to oversee changes on a large scale search as the clearance of slum houses and construction of new higher quality homes.

By 1936, 25,000 people in slums were being rehoused each year.

Without the involvement of the national government, it's likely that far fewer people would've benefited from new housing or health benefits such as a reduction in tuberculosis cases.

So really well done if your own response looks something like those models, which we've just seen, and that means we've reached the end of today's lesson, which puts us in a good position to summarise our learning about the Liberal reforms and public health.

We've seen that poverty threatens people's health as they often cannot afford to meet their basic needs.

The Booth and Rowntree reports and Boer War revealed how bad public health was amongst Britain's poor.

Between 1906 and 1911, the Liberals passed a series of reforms including free school meals and national insurance.

The Liberal reforms helped ensure groups threatened by poverty, such as poor children and workers, could still meet their basic needs.

And after the Liberal reforms, the national government became less laissez-faire, and a Ministry of Health was even created in 1919.

So really well done for all of your hard work during today's lesson.

It's been a pleasure to help guide you through our resources today, and I look forward to seeing you again in the future as we continue to think about health and the people.