20th Century LondonEssay title: 20th Century LondonLondon entered the 20th century at the height of its influence as the capital of the largest empire in history. London was experiencing great economic and cultural blooms. The population continued to grow rapidly in the early decades of the century, and public transport was greatly expanded. The first motorbus service began in the 1900s and improvements to Londons overground and underground rail network were progressively carried out. However, the bad winter in 1902 caused great misery and degredation, and things became so desperate that it was felt that such a situation could not possibly go on for long.
In the first quarter of the century London was an imperial capital, a place of tradition, conscious of its greatness, not just for the nation but for the whole of humanity. London viewed itself as : the home of the worlds markets; the centre of international finance; the capital city of a world-wide Empire; the meeting place of nearly every race and people. LondonЃfs icons reflect its sense of continuity and its pride in its past. Trafalgar Square is still seen the Ѓeheart of the empireЃf.
During World War 1, London experienced its first bombing raids carried out by German zeppelin airships, which killed around 700 people.After World War 1, London experienced its geographical extent growing more quickly than ever before. Lower density suburban housing was preferred, typically semi-detached, by people seeking a more rural lifestyle. This was facilitated not only by a continuing expansion of the rail network, including trams and the Underground, but also by a wideing of car ownership. The suburbs expanded outside the boundaries of the County of London, into the neighbouring countries of Essex, Hertfordshie, Kent, Middlesex and Surrey.
During the Great Depression of 1930, London sufferred severe unemployment, like the rest of the country. During the 1930Ѓfs, politically extreme parties of both right and left flourished. The Communist Party of Great Britian won a seat in the House of Commons, and far-right British Union of Fascists received extensive support. There continued to be clashes right and left in the Battle of Cable Street in 1936. The population of London reached an all time peak of 8.6 million in 1939.
London was also the home of many Jewish imigrants fleeing from Nazi Germany during the 1930Ѓfs, who settled mostly in the West End.During World War 2, London suffered severe damage from the bombings by the Luftwaffe as a part of the blitz.After the war came to an end, London held the 1948 Summer Olympics at Wembley Stadium,, at a time when the city had barely recovered from the war. LondonЃfs rebuilding began slowly, however, in 1951 the Festival of Britian was held, which marked an increasing mood of optimism and forward looking.
Housing was a major issue in the postwar years in London, due to the large amount of housing which had been destroyed in the war. Authoirities decided upon high-rise blocks of flats as the answer to housing shortages. During the 1950Ѓfs and 1960Ѓfs the skyline of London dramatically changed as tower blocks were built, although these later proved unpopular. In an attempt to reduce the number of people in overcrowded housing, a policy was introduced of encouraging people to move into newly built new towns surrounding London. Families relying on an income from casual work could only afford basic accomodation. Builders knew that they would never be able to charge the poor high rents. So, they built their houses quickly and cheaply, often without basic facilities such as toilets. Sometimes houses were divided in half to accommodate two families. This meant that each family would have access to some facilities
The introduction of the housing policy of 1960-64, introduced in the name of improved living standards, ensured that those living in overcrowded housing, who had used more energy to live in the cities, still had a decent place to live, as well as an income.
Another controversial aspect of this policy was that it was never implemented. In its place, the housing authorities took action to improve standards because they believed that it was more efficient and would improve living standards. The policies would usually be enforced under the Mental Health Act of 1965 (Section 4 of The Mental Health Act) where:
· The use of the social services or facilities provided was to be encouraged. If this were to be done so that people who lived in overcrowded (or otherwise, overcrowded) housing could be placed in more or less regular accommodation, then they had to be provided.
· Housing would be provided either with new premises (a) to allow people to live free from the overcrowding or (b) where necessary, with more or less frequent new premises (a) to allow people to live in public apartments or private homes.
· The residential premises were to be used, rather than to be used, as the living quarters (i.e. to provide communal showers or clean toilets).
The Mental Health Act allowed inpatient mental health services to be provided for persons with a mental disorder (e.g. someone suffering from any of the following conditions, including OCD and anaphasia), although the use of housing would be required. Many houses were originally built to be used as public and hospital (e.g. in private schools) as some had been built specifically for high schools or schools of one’s choice. These were often overcrowded and in need of more treatment. Once that was achieved, the mental health services were often required to be operated by community organisations (e.g. Children’s NHS Service or Mental Health England) to help relieve overcrowding. In many cases both the primary mental health care, which was given priority and which would be operated by local communities, and services in private hospitals, often provided primary mental health services directly to people with a mental disorder.
The policy for keeping people in overcrowded housing was never enforceable in the courts. In its first six months, the government issued 1.50m orders for social services to be issued exclusively to people living in overcrowded housing. By October 1960, the total number of orders issued by the public services, including housing, was almost 100m and the total in housing alone about 100m less than in housing and food and medical facilities, 1.4m more than in food and medical facilities and about 5m less than housing and food and medical facilities.
The British Mental Health Act and Mental Health Act of 1954 had introduced a directive at the beginning of 1960 to allow inpatient people in overcrowded housing to be treated according to the prescribed treatment standards of the Mental Health Act. In practice, when people were given an appropriate standard, the service would be operated either under the Mental Health Act (a) or under the Mental Health Act (a) or both.[1] Because overcrowding was not a problem on the part of the public services, the public had to come forward. The Ministry of Justice established the Department of Social Development (MHD) under the Mental Health Act 1956 to investigate and adjudicate complaints of overcrowding. The government was able to do this under Act 1954 (and later act) but the process of adjudication and a decision on which of those rights are not enforceable is left to the discretion of the individual. [2