England - housing shortage? - 1919

[PRR]

I'm reading this 1919 book from England and it says "The country... needs, and needs at once, a million new houses...", and says it not only lacks the materials, it lacks "...the plant {factories} by which that material can be rapidly created".

https://archive.org/details/cottagebuildingi00willrich

The book goes on to describe experiments in what we now call "rammed earth". Put up forms (shutters), fill with dirt, stomp hard. Some such buildings were constructed to house "soldiers", apparently wounded, unable to do hard labor, so this is The War years.

WHY did England need a million new houses so urgently??

The German army never landed. I know the Zeppelins did much damage but I *thought* more to warehouses (and a cathedral) than to housing stock. Meanwhile many men died across the channel and no longer needed housing.

Other historic tidbits. "No wood to be procured." (England was already wood-short, and much must have gone into the war effort.) "No coal, no quicklime {mortar}" and "No coal, no cement", suggesting disruption in coal supply (some of those miners may have been sent across and never returned). Tiles, slates, corrugated iron, every legitimate roofing "none to be had". Sure, much building supplies must have been sent across to house soldiers near the battlefields and trenches; also to shore trenches.

I do know some parallel in my life. In WWII in the US all housing construction stopped. It was re-starting in 1947 but I had a 1947 house and you could see they built the house around what they could get (no long or deep sticks). This does not begin to compare to the problems in Europe's saturation bombings, of course.

 

[ruffrecords]

Fascinating. I do know there was a severe housing shortage after WWII because of the extensive bombing. One solution was prefabricated houses. Some of these were built surprisingly well. My daughter lives in an Airey house  made of concrete reinforced with old jeep hoods apparently.

Victorian and Edwardian houses are still common in England, as are 1930s style  ones. They all have their distinctive features as do houses from every decade from the 50's onwards, but post Great War houses are not really known of as a distinct group.

I have Jeremey Paxman's book about life in Britian during WWI. When hostilities ceased in November 1916 there were millions of British soldiers in France. Never before had so many men had to be demobbed. Also the British government felt troops should remain there until the completion of peace treaty negotiations in the summer of 1919. They were concerned if they all returned home at once there would be mass unemployment. Rather than discharging whole units, men were discharged individually based on if they had a job to go to or were jusdged vital to the business of reconstruction. In January 1919 soldiers began to protest about the slowness of discharge. In March 9119 at a camp in Wales, some Canadian soldiers rioted and five people were killed. Wiston Churchill stepped in with a new policy - first in first out. Within a year the 4 million strong British army had been reduced to less than one million. By 1922 it was down to 230,000.

The goverment passed a housing act promising half a million new homes in three years but delivered less than half that. Apparently many demobbed soldiers found it hard to get work. There were said to be colonenls running fruit and veg stalls, captains working as cabbies and 'gently born lieutenenats labouring as porters. Many men returned home to find their jobs taken by women. Parliament passed a 'Restoration of Pre-War Practices' bill which gave men priority over women for jobs. By 1921 there were fewer women employed than in 1911.

Quite why the government did not connect the shortage of houses and materials with a shortage of work I do not know.

In an article on Thetford Forest, Wikipaedia says 'By the end of the First World War the economic position of the large landed estates in England were bleak and particularly acute in areas of poor soil like Breckland. Farms were left untenanted and land became derelict' So although there was little bomb damage, a lot of the infrastructure of England was severely damaged. Britain was also bankrupt. As one commentator put it 'The world's largest creditor now had massive debts'

By the way, Cob bilding is undergoing a minor revival here in Norfolk. A friend of my daughter built herself a cob shed in her back garden and now buils cob bildings all over the county.

Cheers

Ian

 

[DaveP]

I've looked this up and the reason it needed new houses was this:-

Practically the whole population rented at this time, home ownership was very rare in the working classes.  When the war started the government introduced rent control to stop profiteering by unscrupulous landlords.  As a result they neglected the housing stock and the shortage of building materials and labour meant that lots of houses fell into disrepair.  After the war, private landlords had problems finding mortgages to build new houses, due to the money shortage.

To tackle the problem (which it had never had to be involved with before) the government authorised local councils to build council houses for rent, a novel development.

Incidentally,  My house here in France is 200 years old and built of stones held together with mud mortar with lime mortar pointing, the walls are two feet thick.  I wonder whether our modern houses will last that long.

Glad to see you taking an interest in the old country PRR

DaveP

 

[JohnRoberts]

Home ownership in UK is down to 58% (2016). It was over 70% (2003).

Apparently housing prices are a leading indicator for consumer sentiment (spending/borrowing) and economists are worried about a decline that started before the Brexit vote. (I literally saw an article about this in yesterday's newspaper).

I had heard about Council houses on visits over there, but never knew the history behind their widespread development.

JR

 

[ruffrecords]

My father was born in 1916. He told me that up until he was called up in 1940,  most people where he lived (London) lived several families to a property and they were all rented. The seeds of socialism were sown in WWI and the social upheaval was enromous. The government for the first time felt responsible for housing the population and also for their health (although it was not until after WWII that the National Health was introduced providing free healthcare for all). In the election after WWI, the wartime coalition was returned after giving the vote to most working class men and to many women. Then death rate amongst officers was huge which meant that much of the aristocracy was wiped out. It was so bad that many were promorted from the ranks during hostilities. After WWI the War Office found that over 1000 miners had been promoted to officers. There were still cafes that had signs saying 'Officers oOnly' and many of the posher officers complained about the riff raff that were now officers.

Cheers

Ian

 

[PRR]

Millions of men were kept in Europe for 2-1/2 years?

(And Canadians, who had housing and jobs to return to?)

> did not connect the shortage of houses and materials with a shortage of work

{sigh} Yes, the narrow vision of Our Leaders is the same all over.

(In my town, now, a $5M investment in internet would quickly reap a $50M rise in property values in retirement housing, but the town Selectmen dicker about the cost of speed signs on the 2 miles of non-county road they control.)

> so many men had to be demobbed

I once read a book which argued that one reason a small spat escalated to a "World" War is that the generals had detailed plans to get TO the border, but no clue how to move BACK. There were moments when both sides could have walked away. Except it was too far to walk, while carrying food, and staggering trainloads of men and turnips so nobody starved in the going-back was too complicated when all plans and key tracks were one-way. At least the Generals felt it was easier to stay in place than to try to turn around. (Fat book and there is much more detail.)

> 1000 miners had been promoted to officers.

Wow! In the US, the status of coal miners was often lower than the lowest soldier, and not much different than a slave. (Except the mine owners didn't own labor, they rented low-bid *and* profited on housing and groceries.) While I am sure many US miners did become military officers, in class-conscious England this must have been upsetting.
_______________
> 200 years old and built of stones held together with mud mortar

We had a circa 1834 house where the cellar was boulders mortared with what was probably the local dirt with a trace of lime. Was holding up fine. Unlike long-populated Europe, it was all wood above, since this was forest being cleared for farm. Sills were massive sawn locust. Joists were trees with the bark still on, adzed flat on top for sawn floorboards. Upstairs "plaster" was mostly local dirt with not quite enough lime or horsehair added to keep it together (it became problematic). All of this is very telling of the history of the place. Before 1850, lime had to be brought a long way by ox-cart from the falls of the river, precious. There was a small sawmill in town by 1850 but I think the oldest sticks were hand-sawn or merely flatened just enough to fit. The coming of the rich-man's railroad late in the century changed things a lot, even for farmers.

Then there are the "upgrades". The 1880 sun-room was balloon framed and let yellow-jackets (stinging wasps) nest from cellar to attic. Some time in there someone cut THROUGH the main beam for a hot-air floor furnace. Ends propped on fence-poles on rocks on dirt floor. OK, but then someone poured a cement floor, over the rocks, trapping damp in the foot of the posts. All the door-jambs above showed that the house was sagging as the posts rotted. I contrived a load-spreading "T", and moved out soon after. Not to mention the 20th century curse: electricity. The house had "charm galore" but 20 years made me tired of idiot past owners.

 

[JohnRoberts]

(In my town, now, a $5M investment in internet would quickly reap a $50M rise in property values in retirement housing, but the town Selectmen dicker about the cost of speed signs on the 2 miles of non-county road they control.)

An old friend of mine (in PA) grew tired of publicly arguing with local politicians, and decided to run for office. He was easily elected and now argues with them privately. He shared some incredible stories about how little basic economics they understand (time value of money for investment analysis, etc).  So far he has saved them from a few embarrassing deals (one involved solar power street lights)..  While being equally unsuccessful with promoting his good ideas, like connecting into a natural gas pipeline that could reduce local home heating costs and likewise raise property values from cheap energy. (while NG prices will eventually normalize).

I once read a book which argued that one reason a small spat escalated to a "World" War is that the generals had detailed plans to get TO the border, but no clue how to move BACK. There were moments when both sides could have walked away. Except it was too far to walk, while carrying food, and staggering trainloads of men and turnips so nobody starved in the going-back was too complicated when all plans and key tracks were one-way. At least the Generals felt it was easier to stay in place than to try to turn around. (Fat book and there is much more detail.)

That sounds a little like old school (the art of war)...  Generals would burn the soldier's boats after crossing a river, so they have no way to retreat. Generals are supposed to figure ways to win, not plan how to retreat, while I am not saying war is ever an optimal way to resolve issues. 

> 1000 miners had been promoted to officers.

Wow! In the US, the status of coal miners was often lower than the lowest soldier, and not much different than a slave. (Except the mine owners didn't own labor, they rented low-bid *and* profited on housing and groceries.) While I am sure many US miners did become military officers, in class-conscious England this must have been upsetting.
_______________

Another event around the same time was the 1918-1919 flu pandemic (spanish flu) that killed more people than the great war, 20-40 million souls world wide.

The house had "charm galore" but 20 years made me tired of idiot past owners.

or idiot (more like cheap) builders over a century later.    :'(

JR

 

[DaveP]

I once read a book which argued that one reason a small spat escalated to a "World" War is that the generals had detailed plans to get TO the border, but no clue how to move BACK. There were moments when both sides could have walked away. Except it was too far to walk, while carrying food, and staggering trainloads of men and turnips so nobody starved in the going-back was too complicated when all plans and key tracks were one-way. At least the Generals felt it was easier to stay in place than to try to turn around. (Fat book and there is much more detail.)

Another reason that it started when it did, was that Czarist Russia was modernising it's army and railroad system.  The Germans needed to finish them on the eastern front before that was complete to avoid extended fighting on two fronts.  The Communist revolution of 1917 enabled them to concentrate on the western front and the British and French nearly collapsed when the combined weight of Germany was brought to bear in the spring offensive of 1918.  Fortunately the American intervention  and the naval blockade of Germany saved the day.  The Americans wanted to go on to Berlin but the British and French were exhausted by then and settled for an armistice instead.

DaveP

 

[Winston OBoogie]

Millions of men were kept in Europe for 2-1/2 years?

My Grandfather (who signed up within a month of the outbreak of war in 1914) was transfered in 1917 from the Manchester Regiment, 18th Batallion to the Machine-Gun Corp and was kept in France through most of 1919...

"Homes Fit For Heroes" was the slogan at the time, the aim being to provide working-class housing for the returning soldiers as a national responsibility rather than via private landlords.

As Dave said, a lot of the existing housing stock had fallen into disrepair.  A lot had also been thrown up rather quickly in the mid 19th C.  as worker's cottages during the Industrial Revolution and the local bylaws at the time as far as building regulations were concerned had been haphazard and not really fit for ongoing purpose.

Post 1919 working-class housing sees the more widespread use of 2 brick wythes seperated by a 2" wind and rain cavity rather than the prior solid 9" brick walls.  Portand Cement was also starting to be used in certain areas of construction rather than exclusively lime mortars. 

P.S.  I've read a good bit of that book you linked to myself,  I have an ongoing interest in those construction techniques.

 

[Winston OBoogie]

> 1000 miners had been promoted to officers.

Wow! In the US, the status of coal miners was often lower than the lowest soldier, and not much different than a slave. (Except the mine owners didn't own labor, they rented low-bid *and* profited on housing and groceries.) While I am sure many US miners did become military officers, in class-conscious England this must have been upsetting.

At the onset of the conflict, each officer was required to provide his own uniform and "kit", this even included purchasing his own revolver.  The only items provided "gratis" were a pair of trench waders (see attached picture).
Later, as men of very modest means were promoted to fill the voids in the officer ranks,  the War Department was forced to write contracts for the procurement of uniforms, revolvers, trench watches, compasses etc.   

 

[ruffrecords]

At the end of WWI there were four million soldiers, 200,000 airmen and 500,000 sailors at large in and around France. The only ones able to tranport themselves home in their entirelt was the navy. I have no idea of the nationality split but I cannot see the Americans standing for hanging around too long once it was all over.

Regarding officers, it is reckoned that by 1919 40% of officers came from working or lower middle class backgrounds. apart from the 1000 miners ther were 266 wharehousemen and porters and 638 fishermen.

Cheers

Ian