Chronology: Key Events in England and a New Century 1900–1924

1900: Labour Representation Committee (LRC) formed (1). LRC had 2 MPs elected in the General Election.
1902: Education Act.
1902–05: Tariff Reform controversy (2).
1906: Landslide victory for the Liberal Party in the General Election.
1908: Children’s Charter (3).
1909: People’s Budget (4).
1910: Liberal Party majority over the Conservative Party was greatly reduced in the General Election.
1911: National Insurance Act (Part I – health and Part II – unemployment) was introduced.
1912: Third Home Rule Bill was introduced.
1912–21: Problem of Home Rule and independence in Ireland (5).
1914: Third Home Rule Bill was eventually passed but quickly amended.
1914–18: First World War.
1916: Easter Rebellion in Ireland.
1918: Labour and Socialist Constitution was introduced. The Coupon Election (6), Reform of the Franchise. Fisher’s Education Act. Lloyd George Coalition government formed.
1919: Housing and Town Planning Act. Housing Act (Addison) (7). Start of Anglo–Irish War.
1920: Unemployment Insurance Act. ‘Bloody Sunday’ in Dublin.
1921: Unemployment Insurance Acts (Amendments I and II). End of Anglo–Irish War (Anglo–Irish Treaty).
1922–23: Civil War in Ireland.
1923: Housing Act.
1924: First Labour Government was elected. Housing (Financial Provisions) Act (Wheatley).

(1)      The LRC was the forerunner of the full-blown Labour Party. The LRC adopted the name Labour Party after the general election in 1906.

(2)      Joseph Chamberlain, a Conservative, campaigned for the abolition of free trade and the need for the imposition of tariffs to protect home industry. Chamberlain believed that tariffs on goods arriving from outside the Empire would have the added advantage of providing extra government income which could be spent on social reform. This was opposed by the Liberals who claimed that it would lead to price increases especially on foodstuffs. They believed the working classes on relatively fixed incomes would be the first to suffer.

(3)      The charter spelt out guidelines for how children should be treated. It said, for example, that there should be separate juvenile courts, remand homes for children awaiting trial, the banning of children under 16 in adult prisons and penalties for the neglect of children. Children were also banned from smoking in the street and it became illegal to sell them tobacco.

(4)      The People’s Budget was very controversial as it took substantial amounts of money from the very wealthy through special tax measures and redistributed it to the needy through social reforms; in particular, old age pensions which were introduced in 1908. It was initially rejected in the House of Lords which led to a constitutional crisis.

(5)      Home Rule was the term given to the idea of allowing Ireland to have more say in how it should be ruled. This was opposed by many politicians in England, especially those who sat in the House of Lords. A third Home Rule Bill was eventually passed in 1914 but its implementation was disrupted by the First World War. Redmond, the Irish Nationalist leader, angered some of his supporters by agreeing with the Liberals in London to suspend implementation until the War was over. The result was rebellion (The Easter Rising) and an Anglo–Irish War.

(6)      Politicians who stood for election as coalition candidates in 1918 were given a special piece of paper (‘coupon’) that spelt out the support they would receive from the prospective coalition government leaders, Lloyd George (Liberal) and Bonar Law (Conservative).

(7)      This act was framed by the president of the Local Government Board, Christopher Addison. It proved remarkable as it resulted in the building of 30,000 houses by private enterprise with government subsidy at a time when there was a shortage of building materials, building skills and local government experience in handling such a large scale project.