Pte Thomas Jones snubs Prince of Wales 1920

[geraint]

On 30/04/2024 at 16:59, FROGSMILE said:

That is my understanding too.  It is worth cross referencing the Rowntree Report with the Army’s own review of the medical standard of recruits following the 2nd Anglo/Boer War (the Fitzroy Report).  Despite a decade to try and put things right the situation had changed little by the outbreak of war in 1914 and seemed to be the principal reason why apparently slightly less than a quarter of men of military age in the British population served in uniform during WW1.  See: https://history.port.ac.uk/?p=2264#:~:text=Following the end of the,known as the Fitzroy Report.

Thanks for the link Frogsmile. That's the military report that appeared roughly the same time as Rountree. I feel as if I'm a student back in 1975, and it's all coming back . 

What is also surprising to recall, is that the Liberal Government and specifically Lloyd George, looked to Germany as the ultimate government that supported its military needs through the public resources of the Germanic welfare state, to insure a healthy cohort of eligible, young, fighting men.

[michaeldr]

Following Frogsmile's lead on the Rowntree Report, I found the following remark by W. S. Churchill, which sadly, is still relevant today

“He had been much impressed by a book entitled Poverty: A Study of Town Life, by the social investigator, Seebohm Rowntree, published in 1901. He wrote to an official of the Midland Conservative Association in December 1901 of how much he had been “impressed” by Rowntree’s book, and declared, “I see little glory in an Empire which can rule the waves and is unable to flush its sewers”

[see para 9 here  https://journals.openedition.org/rfcb/10279 ] And para 10, with ref to the advance of Imperial Germany is also of interest

"The need for social reform was, Churchill wrote to Prime Minister, Asquith, in December 1908 “urgent and the moment ripe. Germany with a harder climate and far less accumulated wealth, has managed to establish tolerable basic conditions for her people. She is organised not only for war, but for peace. We are organised for nothing except party politics.""

 

[GWF TEAM]

Can we please keep this on topic. Several posts have been removed. 

[michaeldr]

My apologies to all concerned if I led anyone astray