It is an obvious statement to make that not all experiences of the Depression were the same. The 1930's are usually seen as a time of great suffering and poverty. In fact, an overview of the time in terms of economics shows a time of relative prosperity and this is especially true when compared to other nations such as the USA and Germany, who for a time suffered much greater problems than Britain did.
The first image that springs to most people's minds when they think of the Depression is the Jarrow marches. Jarrow is a useful case study. The town, which now lies in the county of Tyne and Wear was predominantly a shipping area before 1929. The Wall Street crash caused a ripple effect all over the world, and it eventually hit Jarrow. In her book "The Town That Was Murdered" Ellen Wilkinson tells of one of the main shipyards Palmer's and its closure.
This image was selected as a picture of the week o...
Britains Floral Garden ~ memories from my childhoo...
Britains Floral Garden ~ memories from my childhoo...She puts forward the idea that it was "Financial weakness not technical inefficiency" that caused the closure of Palmer's. The closure caused 8000 redundancies! This area of the north suffered huge poverty, resulting in the march. It was a demand for something to be done by the government.
The north was not the only place that saw social issues develop as a result of the Depression. In London, out of work Welshmen were seen in the streets entertaining Londoners in order to make ends meet. On the whole there was a clear increase in the amount of begging and the level of crime in the major cities. The men that were unemployed were often employed for a long time. This caused a different problem. Many firms, even when they were recovering, would ideally not want to employ a man who had been out...