The Liberals passed their reform acts by 1906-1914 mainly because of the social reports written by Booth and Rowntree. Discuss
This essay will discuss the main reasons why the Liberals passed their reform acts between 1906-1914. One of the main factors was Booth and Rowntree’s social reports on poverty which revealed the extent of poverty in Britain to the general public. However there are other factors to consider such as the threat of the Labour party, the Boer war and the growth of New Liberalism in Britain.
Both Charles Booth and Seebohm Rowntree’s reports set out to research the findings in previous government reports on poverty in Britain and show the public how bad poverty was in Britain. Booth and Rowntree had carried out major investigations into the extent of poverty in east London and York. Booth and Rowntree’s findings agreed with each other, even though they were in separate cities. Booth and Rowntree’s social reports agreed with each other stating approximately 30% of the populations of London and York were living in poverty; Rowntree’s report was shocking because it was based in York which was believed to be a wealthier city than London. Both their reports stated that most of people in poverty were in such a bad condition and they could not get out of poverty without the help of others. Booth and Rowntree’s reports also stated that the main causes of people going into poverty was due to the lack of employment and the diseases in Britain at the time and that it was due to their age (both old and young) and that it was not due to laziness or bad habits. Booth and Rowntree’s reports also agreed that most of the people living in poverty was not due to their own fault, but of the community and government not supporting them when times were tough. Historian John Kerr stated that “The reports provided politicians with evidence that no matter how hard certain people tried they could not lift themselves out of poverty.” When people saw these reports,...