William Beveridge
KCB | |
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Member of Parliament for Berwick-upon-Tweed | |
In office 17 October 1944 – 15 June 1945 | |
Preceded by | George Charles Grey |
Succeeded by | Robert Thorp |
Majority | 7,523 (74.8%) |
Personal details | |
Born | |
Died | 16 March 1963 Oxford, England | (aged 84)
Nationality | British |
Political party | Liberal |
Spouse | |
Parents |
|
Education | Charterhouse School |
Alma mater | Balliol College, Oxford |
Occupation |
|
Known for | Work towards founding the welfare state in the United Kingdom |
William Henry Beveridge, 1st Baron Beveridge,
He built his career as an expert on
Beveridge published widely on unemployment and
Early life and education
Beveridge, the eldest son of
Beveridge's mother had, with
While Beveridge's mother had been a member of the
Life and career
After leaving university, Beveridge initially became a lawyer. He became interested in the
In 1908, now considered to be Britain's leading authority on
In 1919, he left the civil service to become director of the London School of Economics. Over the next few years he served on several commissions and committees on social policy. He was so highly influenced by the Fabian Society socialists – in particular by Beatrice Webb, with whom he worked on the 1909 Poor Laws report – that he could be considered one of their number. He published academic economic works including his early work on unemployment (1909). The Fabians made him director of the LSE in 1919, a post he retained until 1937. During his time as director, he jousted with Edwin Cannan and Lionel Robbins, who were trying to steer the LSE away from its Fabian roots.[8] From 1929 he led the International scientific committee on price history, contributing a large historical study, Prices and Wages in England from the Twelfth to the Nineteenth Century (1939).
In 1933, he helped set up the
Wartime work
Three years later, Ernest Bevin, Minister of Labour in the wartime National government, invited Beveridge to take charge of the Welfare department of his Ministry. Beveridge refused, but declared an interest in organising British manpower in wartime (Beveridge had come to favour a strong system of centralised planning). Bevin was reluctant to let Beveridge have his way but did commission him to work on a relatively unimportant manpower survey from June 1940, and so Beveridge became a temporary civil servant. Neither Bevin nor the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry Sir Thomas Phillips liked working with Beveridge as both found him conceited.[9]
His work on manpower culminated in his chairmanship of the Committee on Skilled Men in the Services which reported to the War Cabinet in August and October 1941.
Report on social insurance and views on full employment
An opportunity for Bevin to ease Beveridge out presented itself in May 1941 when Minister of Health
The report to Parliament on
Beveridge's arguments were widely accepted. He appealed to conservatives and other sceptics by arguing that welfare institutions would increase the competitiveness of British industry in the post-war period, not only by shifting labour costs like healthcare and pensions out of corporate ledgers and onto the public account but also by producing healthier, wealthier and thus more motivated and productive workers who would also serve as a great source of demand for British goods.
Beveridge saw full employment (defined as unemployment of no more than 3%) as the pivot of the social welfare programme he expressed in the 1942 report.
Global policy
Along with
He was also one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a
Later career
Later in 1944, Beveridge, who had recently joined the
Clement Attlee and the Labour Party defeated Winston Churchill's Conservative Party in that election and the new Labour Government began the process of implementing Beveridge's proposals that provided the basis of the modern Welfare State. Attlee announced he would introduce the Welfare State outlined in the 1942 Beveridge Report. This included the establishment of a National Health Service in 1948 with taxpayer funded medical treatment for all. A national system of benefits was also introduced to provide "social security" so that the population would be protected from the "cradle to the grave". The new system was partly built upon the National Insurance scheme set up by then-Chancellor of the Exchequer and future Liberal Prime Minister David Lloyd George in 1911.
In 1946, Beveridge was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Beveridge, of Tuggal in the County of Northumberland,[20] and eventually became leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Lords. He was the author of Power and Influence (1953). He was the President of the charity Attend (then the National Association of Leagues of Hospital Friends) from 1952 to 1962.[21]
Eugenics
Beveridge was a member of the
In the 1940s, Beveridge credited the Eugenics Society with promoting the children's allowance, which was incorporated into his 1942 report. However, whilst he held views in support of eugenics, he did not believe the report had any overall "eugenic value".[27] Professor Danny Dorling said that "there is not even the faintest hint" of eugenic thought in the report.[28]
Dennis Sewell states that "On the day the House of Commons met to debate the Beveridge Report in 1943, its author slipped out of the gallery early in the evening to address a meeting of the Eugenics Society at the Mansion House. ... His report he was keen to reassure them, was eugenic in intent and would prove so in effect. ... The idea of child allowances had been developed within the society with the twin aims of encouraging the educated professional classes to have more children than they currently did and, at the same time, to limit the number of children born to poor households. For both effects to be properly stimulated, the allowance needed to be graded: middle-class parents receiving more generous payments than working-class parents. ... The Home Secretary had that very day signalled that the government planned a flat rate of child allowance. But Beveridge, alluding to the problem of an overall declining birth rate, argued that even the flat rate would be eugenic. Nevertheless, he held out hope for the purists."
Personal life
Beveridge married the mathematician
He died at his home on 16 March 1963, aged 84,[2] and was buried in Thockrington churchyard, on the Northumbrian moors. His barony became extinct upon his death. His last words were "I have a thousand things to do".[32]
Commemoration
Beveridge Street in the Christchurch Central City was named for William Beveridge. It was one of 120 streets that were renamed in 1948 by Peter Fraser's Labour Government of New Zealand.[33][34]
In November 2018, English Heritage unveiled a blue plaque commemorating Beveridge at 27 Bedford Gardens in Campden Hill, London W8 7EF where he lived from 1914 until 1921.[35]
Works
- Unemployment: A problem of industry, 1909. online (Archive.org)
- 'Wages in the Winchester Manors', Economic History Review, Vol. VII, 1936–37.
- Prices and Wages in England from the Twelfth to the Nineteenth Century, 1939.
- Social Insurance and Allied Services, 1942. (The Beveridge Report)[36]
- The Pillars of Security and Other War-Time Essays and Addresses, 1943, republished 2014.[11]
- Full Employment in a Free Society, 1944.
- The Economics of Full Employment, 1944.
- Why I am a Liberal, 1945.
- The Price of Peace, 1945.
- Power and Influence, 1953.
- "India Called Them," George Allen & Unwin, 1947
- Plan for Britain: A Collection of Essays prepared for the Fabian Society by G. D. H. Cole, Aneurin Bevan, Jim Griffiths, L. F. Easterbrook, Sir William Beveridge, and Harold J. Laski (Not illustrated with 127 text pages).[37]
- 'Westminster Wages in the Manorial Era', Economic History Review, 2nd Series, Vol. VIII, 1955.
See also
- Aneurin Bevan, Clement Attlee's Health Minister
- Beveridge curve – the relationship between unemployment and the job vacancy rate
- List of liberal theorists
- List of British university chancellors and vice-chancellors
- List of United Kingdom MPs with the shortest service
- List of Vice-Chancellors of the University of London
Resources
- Jose Harris, William Beveridge: A Biography, ISBN 0-19-820685-2.
- Julien Demade, Produire un fait scientifique. Beveridge et le Comité international d'histoire des prix, Paris, Publications de la Sorbonne, 2018. ISBN 979-10-351-0058-2.
- William Beveridge's archives are held at the London School of Economics.
- Photographs of William Beveridge held by LSE Archives
- Donald Markwell, John Maynard Keynes and International Relations: Economic Paths to War and Peace, Oxford University Press, 2006.
References
- ^ James Midgley, "Beveridge, Lord William", Encyclopedia of Social Work (19th ed. NASW Press:Washington DC. 1995) Vol. 3. p. 2574.
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/31871. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ a b Jose Harris, William Beveridge: a biography (1997) pp 43-78.
- ^ "Who Was William Beveridge". Fabian Society. 21 December 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
- ^ Jose Harris, William Beveridge: a biography (1997) pp 1, 323.
- ^ Harris, William Beveridge: a biography (1997) pp 98-117.
- ^ Harris, William Beveridge: a biography (1997) pp 196-227.
- ^ Harris, William Beveridge: a biography (1997) pp 257-76.
- ^ Paul Addison, The Road to 1945, Jonathan Cape, 1975, p. 117.
- ^ Secretary of State for War (29 January 1942). "Cabinet memorandum: The Committee on Skilled Men in the Services" (PDF). The National Archives. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-317-57304-3.
- ^ Paul Addison, "The Road to 1945", Jonathan Cape, 1975, p. 169.
- ^ Paul Addison, "The Road to 1945", Jonathan Cape, 1975, pp. 169–70.
- ^ According to Nobel Laureate Friedrich Hayek, this book was ghostwritten by Nicholas Kaldor. Hayek said that Beveridge "wasn't the least interested in economics. He knew no economics whatever." Cf. Kresge, Stephan, and Wenar, Leif, Hayek on Hayek, (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1994), p. 86.
- ^ Einstein, Albert; Nathan, Otto; Norden, Heinz (1968). Einstein on peace. Internet Archive. New York, Schocken Books. pp. 539, 670, 676.
- ^ "[Carta] 1950 oct. 12, Genève, [Suiza] [a] Gabriela Mistral, Santiago, Chile [manuscrito] Gerry Kraus". BND: Archivo del Escritor. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
- ^ "Letters from Thane Read asking Helen Keller to sign the World Constitution for world peace. 1961". Helen Keller Archive. American Foundation for the Blind. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
- ^ "Letter from World Constitution Coordinating Committee to Helen, enclosing current materials". Helen Keller Archive. American Foundation for the Blind. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
- ^ "Preparing earth constitution | Global Strategies & Solutions | The Encyclopedia of World Problems". The Encyclopedia of World Problems | Union of International Associations (UIA). Retrieved 15 July 2023.
- ^ "No. 37627". The London Gazette. 25 June 1946. p. 3229.
- ^ "Attend VIPs". attend.org.uk. Retrieved on 29 November 2015.
- ^ Brignell, Victoria (9 December 2010). "The eugenics movement Britain wants to forget". New Statesman. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
- ISBN 9780415806985– via Google Books.
- ^ "About – The Galton Institute". galtoninstitute.org.uk.
- ^ Sewell, Dennis (November 2009), "How eugenics poisoned the welfare state", The Spectator, archived from the original on 28 November 2010, retrieved 6 December 2009
- ^ "Five years of Darwin seminars: a paradigm shift? | General". Times Higher Education. 12 March 1999. Retrieved 29 March 2013.(subscription required)
- ^ Eugenics Review 1944 April; 36(1): pp. 17–24.
- ^ "ARTICLES". www.rofea.org. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
- ISBN 978-0-330-42744-9.
- ^ Eugenics Review 1943; vol. 35, p. 23.
- ISBN 978-1-4473-5584-7.
- ISBN 0198206852.
- ISBN 978-0-473-44506-5.
- ^ Harper, Margaret (February 2016). "Christchurch Street Names B" (PDF). Christchurch City Libraries. pp. 73–74. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
- ^ "Blue Plaques: Sir William Beveridge". English Heritage. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
- ^ Excerpts available from Modern History Sourcebook
- ^ Detail taken from Plan for Britain published by George Routledge with a date of 1943 and no ISBN
Further reading
- Abel‐Smith, Brian. "The Beveridge Report: its origins and outcomes." International Social Security Review 45.1‐2 (1992): 5-16.
- Addison, Paul. The Road To 1945: British Politics and the Second World War (1977) pp 211–28.
- Fraser, Derek. The Beveridge Report: blueprint for the welfare state (Routledge, 2022). arguwes Beveridge deserves the full credit.
- Harris, Jose. William Beveridge: a biography (1997) online
- Hills, John et al. eds. Beveridge and Social Security: an International Retrospective (1994)
- Jones, Margaret, and Rodney Lowe, eds. From Beveridge to Blair: the first fifty years of Britain's welfare state, 1948-1998 ( Manchester University Press, 2002) online
- Lynes, Tony. "William Beveridge." in Founders of the welfare state ed. Gower (1984). online
- Powell, Martin. "Framing Beveridge." Social Policy & Administration 56.2 (2022): 217-229.
- Robertson, David Brian. "Policy entrepreneurs and policy divergence: John R. Commons and William Beveridge." Social Service Review 62.3 (1988): 504–531.
- Sugita, Yoneyuki. "The Beveridge Report and Japan." Social work in public health 29.2 (2014): 148–161.
- Timmins, Nicholas. The Five Giants: A Biography of the Welfare State (3rd ed. 2012)
- Whiteside, Noel. "The Beveridge Report and its implementation: A revolutionary project?." Histoire@ Politique 3 (2014): 24–37. online
Primary sources
- Beveridge, Sir William. Full Employment in a Free Society, George (Allen & Unwin, 1944)
- Williams, Ioan, and Karel Williams, eds. A Beveridge Reader (2014); (Works of William H. Beveridge). online
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by William Beveridge
- Sir William Beveridge Foundation
- Spartacus Educational on William Beveridge and The Beveridge Report
- Full text of the report
- BBC information
- BBC Radio 4, Great Lives – Downloadable 30 minute discussion of William Beveridge
- Catalogue of William Beveridge's papers at the London School of Economics (LSE Archives)
- Cataloguing the Beveridge papers at LSE Archives
- Newspaper clippings about William Beveridge in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW