BEVERIDGE WILLIAM HENRY 1879-1963BARON BEVERIDGE

Scope and Content

Situation in the USA, 1933. Memorials of a visit by Beveridge.

Administrative / Biographical History

William Beveridge 1879 - 1963

William Beveridge was educated at Charterhouse and Balliol College, Oxford.He was sub-warden of Toynbee Hall 1903 - 1905, and leader-writer on 'socialproblems' for the Morning Post 1906 - 1908. From 1905 to 1908 Beveridge wasa member of the Central (Unemployed) Body for London, and was also the firstChairman of the Employment Exchanges Committee. He was a member of the Boardof Trade 1908 - 1916 and Director of Labour Exchanges 1909 - 1916. DuringWorld War I he was Assistant General Secretary of the Ministry of Munitions(1915 - 1916) and Second Secretary in the Ministry of Food (1916 - 1918). In1919 Beveridge became Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Food. In thesame year he was knighted. He then retired from the civil service and wasappointed director of the London School of Economics (1919 - 1937). He thenmoved on to be Master of University College, Oxford (1937 - 1944).

During World War II he was Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Labour (1940)and was Chairman of the Social Service Inquiry (1941 - 1942) he producedSocial Insurance and Allied Services, a report prepared for governmentwhich proposed a social system 'from the cradle to the grave' for Britishcitizens. This report became known as the 'Beveridge Report' and became theblueprint for the welfare-state legislation of 1944 - 1948.

Beveridge was Liberal MP for Berwick on Tweed 1944 - 1945, and was made 1stBaron Beveridge of Tuggal in 1946.

His publications include:

  • Unemployment: A problem of industry (1909)
  • Prices and Wages in England from the Twelfth to the Nineteenth Century(1939)
  • Social Insurance and Allied Services (1942) (Beveridge Report)
  • Full Employment in a Free Society (1944)
  • The Economics of Full Employment (1944)
  • Report on the Methods of Social Advance (1948)
  • Voluntary Action (1948)
  • A Defence of Free Learning (1959)

Arrangement

7 volumes

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Beveridge, Sir William, BaronBeveridge

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