1. How much did Edwardian Society change?
1901
Queen Victoria Dies. Edward becomes king
1903
The Women’s Social Political Union is set up
1906
The Liberal government introduce free school meals
1908
Old Age Pensions are introduced
1911
The National Insurance Act is passes
1912
The Titanic sinks
1913
Emily Davison dies at the Epsom Derby
Key word
Definition
Upper class
A social group of people who are born into wealth and status
Middle class
A social group of people who have professional jobs e.g. doctor, lawyer or run businesses
Working class
A social group of people who are employed in manual labour e.g. in factories or in the mines
Suffragette
A member of a group that fought for women to have the vote
Pension
Money given by the government to retired people
National Insurance
A tax working people pay to the government so if they are sick or unemployed, they have an income
Poverty line
The minimum income someone can live on
What do I need to know?
At the start of the C20th, Britain was one of the richest and most powerful countries in the world
Society in Britain was very unequal and approximately 15% of the working class lived below the poverty line
The Liberal government introduced reforms to help poorer people in society
The sinking of the Titanic made people challenged the idea that a person’s social class made them more or less important
Women could not vote in Britain
Groups of women protested for the right to vote