The Bournemouth Lady Killer

The people

England of the 1920s was adapting to the changes brought by the First World War.

Many workers had been needed in factories, and others were obliged to do what were deemed essential jobs, such as munitions manufacture. These moves were unpopular because they were seen as reducing work conditions and wages. Trade unions grew from a membership of four million in 1913 to eight million in 1919.

Heavy losses in the fighting had brought conscription — Britain had lost 60,000 soldiers in the first day in the Somme alone. As a result of the movement of men to the war, women had been increasingly employed to do what had previously been men’s work. Some 150,000 had also joined the armed forces. The thrust of women into centre stage for the war effort meant that the government felt that it was no longer possible to stand against the suffragettes' demand for the vote. The Representation of the Peoples Act of 1918, which gave the vote to majority of men over 21 years, also extended to women, albeit only to those over 30 and occupants or owners of property with at least a £5 annual value or married to men in the same position.

The diversion of resources to the war effort had bled the infrastructure dry of investment. Few houses had been built, for example, and it was estimated that nearly a million were needed. Many of its traditional foreign markets had been cut off by the conflict and exports had dropped significantly.

The wartime prime minister Lloyd George had talked of building a ‘fit country for heroes’, but living up to this promise proved difficult. Initially the many new building projects brought a boom in both inflation and wages but the optimism came quickly to an end, and the economy began a long downturn. Early in the 20s the number of unemployed reached two million, and was not to fall below one million before 1939.

Despite these problems, the British motor industry, previously a poor relation of the American counterpart, began to take off by adopting the mass production techniques that had helped manufacturers across the Atlantic. Car production in 1920 was around 30,000 vehicles, but by the late 30s this had risen to nearly 350,000. The main centre for production was the west Midlands.

As mechanisation did away with many farm labourers' jobs, there was a great influx of people from rural areas to towns. House building schemes that had been accelerated in the 20s (there were three housing acts in the period from 1919 to 1924) were expanded further with ambitious council programmes. With clearance of slums, a new town shape emerged that lifted the scourge of overcrowding. The population rose by little more than a few hundred thousand between 1921 and 1939, while the number of houses rose from 7,979 million to 11,263 million.

The power of the unions was also riding high. In 1921 the Railway Rates Tribunal moved to fix rates and fares, reflecting rail's growing importance. Train speeds were improving (more than 100 were running at over 60mph), more powerful engines were being used and electrification was taking off on the main lines as well as the London Underground.

The General Council of the Trades Union Congress was formed and quickly became a political force to be reckoned with. There were astounding successes, such as the 1920 striking dockers refusing to load the Jolly George with arms against their comrades in Soviet Russia. But the failures of the 1926 general strike and Ramsey MacDonald's National Government of 1931 were to follow.

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