The impact of air raid precautions in Britain and Germany has received little scholarly attention since the end of the Second World War. Of the protective measures brought about as a result of the invention of the bomber, the blackout was by far the most intrusive and extensive form of civil defence. Yet the historiography of the home front and the bombing war in Britain and Germany has tended to sideline the blackout, or else ignore it entirely. The lack of study given to the blackout is at odds with the scale of its impact across wartime society. This thesis furthers understanding of the blackout and the social history of the British and German home fronts by contextualising the blackout within the development of aviation, and its social and economic effects. It also examines the impact technology could have on the relationship between state and citizens, and addresses the lack of comparative research on Britain and Germany during the Second World War. The thesis draws on extensive research conducted in local and national government archives in Britain and Germany, as well as a wide range of secondary literature on the war and inter-war period. It argues that the blackout was a profound expansion of the state into the lives of each nation’s citizens, and though it was set within two politically very different states, it brought with it similar practical and social problems. The blackout, as the most ‘social’ form of civil defence, is an ideal aspect of the war by which to compare the British and German home fronts. Ultimately, the differences between the two countries were less important than the shared sense of obligation that the blackout principle was intended to foster within the wartime community.

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This thesis argues that although the need for Amy Reform is often revealed by wartime disaster, the content and purpose of that Reform Is determined by a more complicated process than simply 'learning the lessons' of a previous defeat. To examine that process, the first section of the thesis recounts the shortcomings of the late Victorian Army - the exclusive focus on structural reform, the neglect of modem weapons in tactical thought and the complacency derived from continual success in mail colonial wars. The second section analyses the reaction of the Army, Government, and Opposition to the reverses in South Africa and maintains that their spokesmen were highly selective in interpreting these events. The third section reviews the post-war structural reforms and claims that economic and imperial considerations were as important in reform as the requirements of Continental strategy. The fourth and fifth sections describe the social origins of the officers and the rank-and-file in the dwardian Amy and argue that there was little interest, especially at Governmental level, in altering the traditional patterns of social recruitment. Finally, the sixth section claims that the essence of post-v/ar reform was the perfection of basic military skills by the Front-Line Forces, which enabled them to exploit, in attack and defence, the advantages of recent developments in modem weaponry.

Before 1914 the German university system and German scholarship occupied a position of special prestige. The outbreak of the First World War not only severed ties of friendship and common endeavour between British and German scholars, but also seriously undermined the reputation of German Wissenschaft* British academics, hitherto admirers of German achievements, now claimed to have long harboured doubts as to the tone of German academic life. Others, like Lord Bryce, who had worked to promote Anglo- German understanding now joined the propaganda battle against Germany. Intellectuals in all belligerent states saw the war as a great ideological contest. British philosophers provided an ideo¬ logical exegesis for German policy, although the legacy of Hegel gave considerable difficulties for the neo-Xdealist school then dominant in British universities. The historian's traditional explanation of Britain's role in the world was given greater impor¬ tance by the German claim that the war was a contest for world empire. The war also posed an intellectual problem for academics. Before 1914 there had been little discussion of the questions of war and peace amongst British academics. When war forced liberal academics to face moral issues, only Bertrand Russell stood out in total opposition to government policy. Gilbert Murray and Lowes Dickinson provide more typical examples of the behaviour of liberal intellectuals under the stress of war. In Britain the eulogy of war may have been more muted than it was in Germany or France, the persecution of academic "dissenters" less intense than in the United States, but the involvement of academics as publicists and propagandists of the national cause was not less marked than in other belligerent states. However, the theme is not one of "betrayal". The commitment of British academics to value-free objective enquiry before the war was, in reality, as illusory as the similar claims of their German colleagues.

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No description available.

This thesis studies the phenomenon of low fertility amongst mid to late- nineteenth century textile workers by examining fertility behaviour in the context of one contemporary textile town; the worsted centre of Keighley, in Yorkshire's West Riding. The high level of women's work, both before and after marriage, to be found in the textile districts has long been said to lie behind the low levels of fertility there. Using the census enumerators' books returned for Keighley in 1851,1861,1871 and 1881 the fertility levels and patterns of various occupational and class groups were calculated in order to assess the effects of the town's high level of female employment on its inhabitants' marital fertility. The measures used, however, are shown to give a distorted impression of fertility behaviour due to the point-in-time nature of the census data. With the aid of a computer Nominal Record Linkage was undertaken to gain a clearer picture of the family building strategies of different individuals, and various groups, over time. The patterns which emerge from the two types of analysis suggest that women in Keighley could, or would, not work when they had several children. They further suggest that the low fertility levels in the town during the early years of the study period were the result of younger married women not achieving a normal fertility potential, rather than older women limiting the number of their children in a parity specific way, which became an increasingly common practice by the 1880s. A debate is conducted as to whether the lack of fertility amongst young married women was deliberate in order that they might elongate their work-span, or whether it was the result of long years of work having adverse consequences for the female textile workers' reproductive systems.

This thesis sets out to explore the links between the women's movement and the housing reform movement in Britain in the period 1860 to 1914. Both these movements have been well-documented, but the role which women played in housing has received little attention from historians of housing, and conversely, the issue of housing has largely been overlooked by historians of the women's movement. Definitions of home and housing are explored, together with the way in which the dominant ideology of the home, and women's role within it, was constructed in the period. The Victorian housing problem, and the housing reform movement which arose in response to this, are outlined in order to set the context within which women activists worked. A statistical analysis is made, on a national scale, of the types of accommodation in which single working women lived and a description given of their living conditions. The extent of women's homelessness, and the provision made for this group, are also discussed. Three groups of women active in housing are investigated: Octavia Hill and her fellow workers who managed housing schemes for the working-classes, the Girls' Friendly Society which provided a national network of accommodation lodges for single women, and the National Association for Women's Lodging Homes, which campaigned for the provision of municipal lodging houses for women. Among the questions investigated are the extent of the work of the women involved in these areas, the different ways in which they perceived, and responded to, the housing needs of women, and how this may have changed over time. The feminist dimensions of women's work in housing are also explored: The work carried out has shown that women were active in housing on a scale which has not previously been recognised, and that the women involved exemplified many of the traits of the early women's movement.

This thesis takes up the call of historiographers for further and detailed studies into the workings of both the Old and the New Poor Law at the local level. By a close examination of three townships of an ancient Fylde, Lancashire, parish and of its successor union it seeks to answer three questions. Firstly, whilst it is accepted that there were differences in the operation of the Old Poor Law between the north and west and south and east of the country, the question is asked as to how far down the relief chain did the differences penetrate. Was their uniformity at Regional, sub-regional or county level or did the divergence penetrate to parish or even township level. The assertion here is that even the smallest townships looked after their poor as they saw fit and that there was no over-arching parish policy let alone one at county or sub-region. Secondly, to what extent did the introduction of the New Poor Law affect the poor themselves. Did they notice any difference or did they not. This thesis suggests that certainly in the Fylde they would have noticed some differences but these were more in the administration of relief rather than in the relief itself. Here again there was diversity of practice. Thirdly, the question of the alleged cruelty of the Workhouses under the New Poor Law as it operated in the Fylde is briefly considered and it is shown that inmates of the Fylde Union Workhouse were relatively fortunate as far as living conditions were concerned and that the ‘less eligibility’ arose not from these but from the fact of their being deprived of their independence. The cruelty, if there were any, was largely psychological than physical.

This thesis addresses the dearth of published scholarship relating to the effect of ill health upon the late Georgian family. While historians of medicine have failed to adequately address questions relating to the family, so family historians have not fully considered the effects that ill health had upon family life. To deal with such intimate questions about the person, the individual voices of the dead must be heard through the manuscripts and memorials that have been left. Critically, the integrity of such extant material needs to be debated and confirmed. Rationally, therefore, this thesis seeks to conflate the histories of medicine and the family while comprehending critical subtexts that emerge on gender and intergenerational relationships. Such a micro-research study demands a broad spectrum of archival material, by region, class, age and family member, from which the single voice may be heard. Axiomatically, cognisance has been taken of relevant debates regarding the integrity of such material, diaries, journals and correspondence, while ensuring that the emerging evidence may be perceived as representative, relevant and reliable. From such diverse sources, rigorously analysed and synthesised, this thesis presents new perspectives on the manner in which indisposition within the household was managed, practitioner and family relationships across the generations evolved and behaviours were effected by the diverse exigencies of sickness, accident, childbirth and death. Such original insights into the medical landscape within the close bounds of the sick household are essential if the lack of published scholarship on the effect of ill health on the late Georgian family is to be rectified.