The great depression

[Rosie Knees]

If someone was receiving some sort of financial assistance during the 1930s what would it have been?

I have looked in the wiki and can only find that "Further Poor relief was administered in the Parish until the 1870s, after which time the focus of relief was firmly Workhouse based. The Workhouse system continued right up to the formation of the Welfare State in 1948." Would he have had to apply to the local workhouse for assistance? We are talking Lincoln, England here.

Thanks

[Olde Crone Holden]

There was someone called the Parish Relief Officer. He came round and assessed what you had and after you had sold everything in the house, you might either be admitted to the Workhouse, or occasionally, given out-relief. This was fairly exceptional I think, and appears to have been at the whim of the Guardians of the Poor.

For example, an elderly clergyman fallen on hard times might get out relief (and not need to sell his bits and bobs) whereas a drunken ne-er-do-well wouldn't get an ounce of leeway.

Money was very rarely given - it would be bread from the workhouse bakery, soup from a charitable soup kitchen etc.

My grandmother brought up eight children in the depression of the 20s and 30s. Grandad liked a little drinky and on the odd occasion he got a day's work casual labouring, she would hang around the job site waiting for him to be paid so she could get the money off him before he spent it. She didn't always succeed. She took in washing and the children gathered winkles on the beach to eat. Mum remembers a pile of boiled potatoes tipped out onto the table they still had - no plates, no cutlery.

My mother suffered severely from rickets and was hospitalised in the 30s to have her legs straightened. I have never found out who paid for this, but they also paid for my mother to have a pint of CREAM, lol, every day and she had to drink this in the coalhouse so the other children didn't see.

Eldest boy aged about 8, worked for a greengrocer and was paid ha'pennies, and a bag of rotting fruit and veg on a Saturday night. Gran used to get cross if there was too much fruit because you couldn't put fruit in a soup!

Women were allowed to keep their wedding rings and most pawned them. If the relieving officer saw you without your wedding ring, you were refused assistance for that week.

All this is simply incredible in comparison to our modern welfare system and belongs more like 500 years ago than within living memory.

OC

[keldon]

This page may be of assistance (pardon the pun) and as a starting point.
BBC NEWS | Programmes | Inside Money | The welfare state 1832 - 1945

[Little Nell]

Its possible that people would have got assistance from various welfare charities, and certainly in villages people would help eachother, ie with 2nd hand clothing, or any surplus veg from their garden etc.

My Mum was brought up in the 1930s in a series of Kentish villages. They were poor, but grew their own veg so had a plentiful supply of vitamins. They only had meat on Sundays and it would often be a rabbit Grandad had poached, or leftover scraps from the butcher.

When the school did school dinners, my Mum and her siblings would often be allowed seconds of any leftover food as the cook knew they were the poorest children in the village.

My Mum was well prepared for "make do and mend" in WW2 and said she actually had better food when rationing came in!

As OC says, its hard to believe this was in living memory. I was appalled to read that people were still dying of starvation during WW1. Absolutely disgusting. I don't understand why this country hasn't had a proper revolution *gets off soapbox*

[Janet in Yorkshire]

There was some system of "dole" in the 1930's, but what WAS doled out was literally a pittance - not adequate for supporting oneself.
I think you had to present yourself for work selection every day (half day in some jobs) and there was SOME relief for those not selected.

[Olde Crone Holden]

Nell

The High and Mighty were also appalled, and the government very embarrassed, when one third of men conscripted for WW1 were rejected on grounds of ill health, mostly due to poor nutrition.

Of course, as WW1 progressed, the standards were lowered to scoop up all but the absolutely handicapped, but even so, the discovery of the state of health of the poor led directly to the formation of the welfare state (eventually) - and to the British Standard Loaf, with added vitamins and iron, specified ingredients and a fixed price within the reach of the poor.

My late MIL, grew up at a similar time and in equal poverty to my mother, but was a country child and had fresh veg from the allotment and, as you say, rabbits. They never claimed poor relif, but my MIL and her sister were (illegally) sent off to be housemaids to an elderly lady in the village, at the ages of 10 and 13. MIL said it was the best thing that ever happened to her in her life.

OC

[Rosie Knees]

Thanks each.

I am hoping to gather some members' tales for an articule for the mag (a bit like the spooky one this month). I was prompted by a talk I had today with my dad and my starting point is his childhood in the depression. Need to get my facts right regarding the relief me granddad got. Thanks for that link Phil, I will try googling to see if I can expand on the 1930s changes in the poor law act.

[Little Nell]

OC

What is so appalling is that the high and mighty didn't know what was going on - there are dreadful reports of the plight of poor people listed in The Times, I found an article about a woman who starved to death in Wales in the 1920s. She was lying on sacking and the only item of furniture in the room was a table.

My Mum started working when she was 11 too. She went to do housework at weekends for two old ladies, who gave her tea. They were always surprised that she only ate bread with butter, not jam. She was used to marg or dripping, so butter was a luxury to her, that you wouldn't spoil with jam! They also gave her carroway seed cake, which she took, to be polite, though she didn't like it. Of course every week they gave her the cake and every week she had to eat it!

Later, my Grandmother's uncle's Will was finally settled and she got a lump sum which enabled her to pay off a vast amount of rent arrears (Mum found out later they were about to be evicted!) and for Granddad to buy a car and do some chauffeuring. He also taught 3 villagers to drive, they all passed their test first go, but Granddad never took it.

[Olde Crone Holden]

Granny was pregnant with her sixth or seventh child, and delivering a bag-wash to some posh house. She was left to wait in the kitchen and spotted a bowl of fruit on the table. She had never even SEEN an orange in her life, but picked one up and bit into it, skin and all.

She was caught red-handed by the Lady of the House, who could have called the police I suppose, but gran was in such a state of shame and embarrassment, the woman took pity on her and gave her some food to take home, wrapped in a piece of old sacking.

The sacking became a vest for my mother.....

OC

[Rosie Knees]

There was some system of "dole" in the 1930's, but what WAS doled out was literally a pittance - not adequate for supporting oneself.
I think you had to present yourself for work selection every day (half day in some jobs) and there was SOME relief for those not selected.

Thanks Janet, off to google that now. My granddad used to present himself 'at the factory gates' each morning but being a small man would get bustled away by the bigger, stronger men who, being at the front, would get chosen for any work going that day.

[Little Nell]

Doesn't it make your blood boil!

[Rosie Knees]

It certainly does.

Granddad managed to get some financial assistance from somewhere; then when my dad's oldest brother found work he (uncle Bill) moved out of the family home so that the assistance wouldn't be stopped. He still gave his mum some money though.

[Peppie]

I'm still trying to work out why two great uncles went to live in NY AMrtica in 1928 and 1930, when everything was crashing Did they still think there would be more opportunities than staying in Cavan?

[Little Nell]

Well, things didn't go bad until 1929, so maybe the chap who went in 1928 was just before it all and his brother went to join him. I am sure there were more opportunities in the US than there were in Ireland.

[Janet in Yorkshire]

My granddad used to present himself 'at the factory gates' each morning but being a small man would get bustled away by the bigger, stronger men who, being at the front, would get chosen for any work going that day.

What part of the country, Rose?
My Dad left some reminiscences, which I only found when both parents had died. He grew up in Northumberland, but it sounds a similar set up to your grandad:

“....I worked in the shipyard as a painter, when I could get work there. Painting wasn’t a permanent job. They just took you on when painters were needed. You went down to the shipyard gates and a foreman came out, looked you all over and selected men for that shift, couple of days or maybe a week. If Jim heard that there was likely to be any painters taken on, he always gave me word, so I could get down there in plenty of time and get near the front of the line......"

(Jim was an elder brother, who had started his apprenticeship before WW1 broke out and as ship building was a reserved occupation, he'd been able to serve his time and had a trade. Consequently, Jim was never without work, even during the great depression.)

Jay

[Liz from Lancs]

Interesting thread. Nell - I thought the reason we didn't have a revolution was because of the charitable institutions and charitable giving. I seem to remember that from a very distant sociology lecture...

[Olde Crone Holden]

But we sort of did have a revolution after WW1 and elected a labour government!

OC

[Rosie Knees]

What part of the country, Rose?
My Dad left some reminiscences, which I only found when both parents had died. He grew up in Northumberland, but it sounds a similar set up to your grandad:

Jay

Granddad was in Lincoln, but I think being selected at the factory gates was the usual situation during the depression, throughout the country.