BEVERIDGE, William Henry, 1879-1963, 1st Baron Beveridge of Tuggal, economist: Munitions Labour Papers

This material is held atLSE Library Archives and Special Collections

Scope and Content

Papers concerning the control of munitions labour, collected by Beveridge while Assistant General Secretary of the Ministry of Munitions. The material has been arranged into eight sections, including:
Section 1: Papers dating from early 1915 to the date of the Munitions of War Act, Jul 1915.
Section 2: Organisation and history of the Ministry of Munitions of War.
Section 3: Papers from Jul 1916 to the date of the Munitions of War Act, 1916.
Section 4: Central Munitions Labour Supply Committee: memoranda.
Section 5: Papers dating form after 27 Jan 1916, including document relating to Demobilisation and conscientious objectors.
Section 6: Papers relating to The Labour Exchanges and National Insurance.

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 "social problems" for the "Morning Post" 1906-1908. From 1905 to 1908 Beveridge was a member of the Central (Unemployed) Body for London, and was also the first Chairman of the Employment Exchanges Committee. He was a member of the Board of Trade 1908-1916 and Director of Labour Exchanges 1909-1916. During World War I he was Assistant General Secretary of the Ministry of Munitions (1915 - 1916) and Second Secretary in the Ministry of Food (1916-1918). In 1919 Beveridge became Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Food. In the same year he was knighted. He then retired from the civil service and was appointed director of the London School of Economics (1919-1937). He then moved 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 produced 'Social Insurance and Allied Services', a report prepared for government which proposed a social system 'from the cradle to the grave' for British citizens. This report became known as the 'Beveridge Report' and became the blueprint for the welfare-state legislation of 1944-1948. Beveridge was Liberal MP for Berwick on Tweed 1944-1945, and was made 1st Baron 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

The material has been arranged into eight sections.

Access Information

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Other Finding Aids

Printed handlist available

Archivist's Note

Output from CAIRS using template 14 and checked by hand on May 8, 2002

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