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74-465: 52°04′02″N 0°47′01″W  /  52.06731°N 0.78349°W  / 52.06731; -0.78349 New Bradwell is (mainly) an Edwardian era village, modern district and civil parish in north-west Milton Keynes , Buckinghamshire , England, about 2 miles (3.2 km) north-west of Central Milton Keynes . Together with Wolverton (on the other side of the West Coast Main Line ), it

148-548: A combined White population smaller than that of London would hold off the concentrated power of the British Empire for 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 years and take 400,000 Imperial troops to secure victory. The war split the Liberal Party into anti- and pro-war factions. Great orators, such as Liberal David Lloyd George , who spoke against the war, became increasingly influential. Nevertheless, Liberal Unionist Joseph Chamberlain , who

222-564: A determination to retain a strong naval advantage, the British lacked a military strategy or plans for a major war. The Edwardian era stands out as a time of peace and prosperity. Britain's growth rate, manufacturing output and GDP (but not GDP per capita) fell behind its rivals, the United States and Germany, though the nation still led the world in trade, finance and shipping, and had strong bases in manufacturing and mining. The industrial sector

296-576: A dozen scattered houses. By an Order in Council, dated 16 July 1857, a new parish was formed by adding to the old one the hamlet of New Bradwell. The area of the newly formed parish was 904 acres (3.66 km). There was a ceremony of laying the foundations for the Church of St. James and other buildings such as the church schoolhouse on Monday 24 May 1858, which may mark the foundation of the village of New Bradwell as an entity in its own right. The church of St. James

370-546: A form of rebellion against the child-bearing role women were expected to assume. Many considered abortion to be a selfish act that allowed a woman to avoid personal responsibility, contributing to a decline in moral values. Abortion was often a solution for women who already had children and did not want more. Consequently, the size of families decreased drastically. The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 defined who could receive monetary relief. The Act reflected and perpetuated prevailing gender conditions. In Edwardian society, men were

444-434: A local industry of stone quarrying and lime kilns. The first purpose built houses were constructed in 1854 – 1856 as dwellings for workers in the nearby Wolverton works. By 1861 the village had 1,658 inhabitants and over 4,000 by 1906. Perhaps the most significant date was the expansion of the parish of Stantonbury on 16 July 1857. The old parish of Stanton Barry, or Stantonbury, contained but 750 acres (3.0 km), and about

518-543: A man was physically disabled, his wife was also treated as disabled under the coverture laws, even though coverture was fast becoming outmoded in the Edwardian era. Unmarried mothers were sent to the workhouse, receiving unfair social treatment such as being restricted from attending church on Sundays. Newport Pagnell Rural District Newport Pagnell was a rural district in the administrative county of Buckinghamshire , England, from 1894 to 1974, covering an area in

592-619: A policy of using the European balance of power to keep the peace. There were no wars. Bismarck was removed by an aggressive young Kaiser Wilhelm in 1890, effectively decentralizing the Bismarckian Order that had been shrewdly managed, and empowering French efforts to isolate Germany. With the formation of the Triple Entente , Germany began to feel encircled: to the West lay France, with whom rivalry

666-501: A political voice. There was significant support for woman suffrage in all the parties, but the Liberal Party was in control after 1906 and a handful of its leaders, especially H. H. Asquith , blocked it. There were numerous organisations which did their work quietly. After 1897, they were increasingly linked together by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) led by Millicent Fawcett . However, front page publicity

740-524: A quick victory for the side that was better-prepared, better armed, and faster to move. No one saw that the innovations of recent decades—high explosives, long-range artillery and machine guns—were defensive weapons that practically guaranteed defeat of massed infantry attacks with very high casualties. After 1805 the dominance of Britain's Royal Navy was unchallenged; in the 1890s Germany decided to match it. Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz (1849–1930) dominated German naval policy from 1897 until 1916. Before

814-516: A senior official of the new government and even became a top British official in the World War. In 1901, the six British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia united to form the Commonwealth of Australia, with almost complete control of its internal affairs, but with foreign policy and defence handled by London. Edmund Barton

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888-442: A woman's life. Because abortion was illegal and physicians refused to perform the procedure, local women provided abortions, often using crochet hooks or similar instruments. Feminists of the era focused on educating and finding jobs for women, leaving aside the controversial issues of contraceptives and abortion, which in popular opinion were often related to promiscuity and prostitution. The Church condemned abortion as immoral and

962-579: Is Philip Webster, the successor to John White. [REDACTED] Media related to New Bradwell at Wikimedia Commons Edwardian era In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King George V . The era

1036-601: Is bounded to the north by the Great Ouse , to the west by V6 Grafton Street, to the south by the route of the former Wolverton/Newport Pagnell railway line (now a redway ) and to the east by a short stretch of the Grand Union Canal . At the 2011 census , the population of the parish was 3,109, compared with 2,990 in 2001. New Bradwell has a Non-League football team New Bradwell St Peter F.C. who play at The Recreation Ground. It also has two cricket teams. New Bradwell

1110-535: Is dated from the death of Queen Victoria in January 1901, which marked the end of the Victorian era . Her son and successor, Edward VII, was already the leader of a fashionable elite that set a style influenced by the art and fashions of continental Europe . Samuel Hynes described the Edwardian era as a "leisurely time when women wore picture hats and did not vote, when the rich were not ashamed to live conspicuously, and

1184-477: Is known in Milton Keynes for its silver band . The band has been in existence for over 100 years and is famous locally for waking the residents of New Bradwell on Christmas morning, playing carols in the street. New Bradwell School is situated on Bounty Street and is just to the side of Grafton Street and Spencer Street, an off-road street with some historic houses named 'Railway Cottages'. The current headteacher

1258-474: Is sometimes portrayed as a romantic golden age of long summer days and garden parties, basking in a sun that never set on the British Empire . This perception was created in the 1920s and later by those who remembered the Edwardian age with nostalgia, looking back to their childhoods across the abyss of the Great War . The Edwardian age was also seen as a mediocre period of pleasure between the great achievements of

1332-527: The Franco-Russian Alliance of 1894, the 1904 Entente Cordiale linking France and Great Britain, and finally the Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907 which became the Triple Entente . France thus had a formal alliance with Russia, and an informal alignment with Britain, against Germany and Austria. By 1903 good relations had been established with the United States and Japan. Britain abandoned

1406-460: The 1910-1911 Tonypandy riots ; the 1911 Liverpool general transport strike ; the National coal strike of 1912 ; and the 1913 Dublin lockout . It was modern Britain's worst labour unrest and compares with the 1926 general strike . The period of unrest was labelled "great" not because of its scale, but due to the level of violence employed by both the state and labourers; including deaths of strikers at

1480-527: The Anglican fold – were a powerful element, dedicated to opposing the established church in the fields of education and taxation. However, the Dissenters were losing support and played a lesser and lesser role in party affairs after 1900. The party also included Roman Catholics, including the notable Catholic intellectual Hilaire Belloc , who sat as a Liberal MP between 1906 and 1910. They included secularists from

1554-544: The Clyde River, marked as it was by the emergence of independent locally based unions among both dockers and seamen. By the late-1880s, the Industrial Revolution had created new technologies that changed the way people lived. The growth of industry shifts in manufacturing factories, special-purpose machinery and technological innovations, which led to increased productivity. Gender roles shifted as women made use of

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1628-475: The Conservative government, with Arthur Balfour as Prime Minister , had numerous successes in foreign policy, defence, and education, as well as solutions for the issues of alcohol licensing and land ownership for the tenant farmers of Ireland. Nevertheless, the weaknesses were accumulating, and proved so overwhelming in 1906 that the party did not return to complete power until 1922 . The Conservative Party

1702-631: The German Empire formed in 1871, Prussia never had a real navy, nor did the other German states. Tirpitz turned a modest fleet into a world-class one that could threaten the British Royal Navy. The British responded with new technology typified by the Dreadnought . It made every other class of battleship obsolete and, supported by a global network of coaling stations and telegraph cables, enabled Britain to stay well ahead in naval affairs. Apart from

1776-593: The House of Lords, the Liberals lost most of their members, who in the 1890s "became Conservative in all but name." The government could force the unwilling king to create new Liberal peers, and that threat did prove decisive in the battle for dominance of Commons over Lords in 1911. The government entered the Second Boer War with great confidence, little expecting that the two small rural Boer republics in southern Africa with

1850-455: The Liberal MPs elected in 1906 were supportive of the " new liberalism ", which advocated government action to improve people's lives. Liberals in 1906–1911 passed major legislation designed to reform politics and society, such as the regulation of working hours, National Insurance and the beginnings of the welfare state, as well as curtailing the power of the House of Lords. Women's suffrage

1924-530: The Liberals, allowing for cross-party support in elections, and the emergence of a small Labour contingent in Parliament. It was a temporary arrangement until the 1920s, when the Labour Party was strong enough to act on its own, and the Liberals were in an irreversible decline. Subtle social changes in the working-class were producing a younger generation that wanted to act independently. Michael Childs argues that

1998-482: The United States, especially in railways. These assets proved vital in paying for supplies in the first years of the World War. Amenities, especially in urban life, were accumulating—prosperity was highly visible. The working classes were beginning to protest politically for a greater voice in government, especially after 1908, reaching a crescendo known as the Great Unrest in 1910-1914. The extreme agitation included

2072-656: The War Office and David Lloyd George at the Board of Trade . Campbell-Bannerman retired in 1908 and was succeeded by Asquith. He stepped up the government's radicalism, especially in the " People's Budget " of 1909 that proposed to fund expanded social welfare programmes with new taxes on land and high incomes. It was blocked by the Conservative-dominated House of Lords , but eventually became law in April 1910. Almost half of

2146-403: The better-off element of traditional working-class Britons in the larger cities. In rural areas, the national headquarters made highly effective use of paid travelling lecturers, with pamphlets, posters, and especially lantern slides, who were able to communicate effectively with rural voters – particularly the newly enfranchised agricultural workers. In the first years of the twentieth century,

2220-545: The build-up of its navy from 1898 which led to the Anglo-German naval arms race . British diplomat Arthur Nicolson argued it was "far more disadvantageous to us to have an unfriendly France and Russia than an unfriendly Germany". The impact of the Triple Entente was to improve British relations with France and its ally Russia and to demote the importance to Britain of good relations with Germany. After 1905, foreign policy

2294-430: The district's creation, efforts began to create separate urban district councils for the main two towns in the district: Fenny Stratford and Newport Pagnell itself. The Fenny Stratford Urban District was created on 1 July 1895, removing the parishes of Fenny Stratford and Simpson from the district. The parish of Newport Pagnell similarly became Newport Pagnell Urban District on 1 October 1897. The parish of Bletchley

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2368-614: The end of Bridge Street, landing on the allotments, now the school playing fields. An unconfirmed theory surmises that the bombs may have been aimed at the Wolverton railway works , then engaged in war work. Then the two bombs were dropped on the western end of the high street, the first landing on the road outside "the Laurels", creating a 30 feet (9.1 m) crater, the second at the end of the high street, demolishing numbers 71, 73 and 75, killing five people and injuring 20 more. The "Bradwell Blitz"

2442-432: The hands of police and sabotage on the part of the workers. The Great Unrest saw an enormous increase in trade union membership, which affected all industries to varying extents. The militants were most active in coal mining, textiles and transportation. Much of the militancy emerged from grassroots protests against falling real wages, with union leadership scrambling to catch up. The new unions of semiskilled workers were

2516-641: The incomes of households and increases in town tax revenues helped cause the decline of mortality. The new money permitted higher spending on food, and also on a wide range of health-enhancing goods and services such as medical care. The major improvement in the physical environment was the quality of the housing stock, which rose faster than the population; its quality was increasingly regulated by central and local government. Infant mortality fell faster in England and Wales than in Scotland. Clive Lee argues that one factor

2590-585: The internees died. Emily Hobhouse visited the camps and was appalled at the living conditions, which she brought to the attention of the British public. Public outcry resulted in the Fawcett Commission which corroborated Hobhouse's report and eventually led to improved conditions. The Boers surrendered, and the Boer Republics were annexed by the British Empire. Jan Smuts —a leading Boer general—became

2664-817: The issue, with a large faction strongly opposed to the war in Africa. The Triple Entente between Britain, France and Russia is often compared to the Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria–Hungary and Italy, but historians caution against the comparison. The Entente, in contrast to the Triple Alliance or the Franco-Russian Alliance , was not an alliance of mutual defence, and Britain therefore felt free to make her own foreign policy decisions in 1914. The Liberals were highly moralistic, and by 1914 they were increasingly convinced that German aggression violated international norms, and specifically that its invasion of neutral Belgium

2738-431: The labour movement. The middle-class business, professional and intellectual communities were generally strongholds, although some old aristocratic families played important roles as well. The working-class element was moving rapidly toward the newly emerging Labour Party . One unifying element was widespread agreement on the use of politics and Parliament as a means to upgrade and improve society and to reform politics. In

2812-588: The machine-made lace and finishing trade. It was later expanded to coal mining and then to other industries with preponderance of unskilled manual labour by the Trade Boards Act 1918 . Under the leadership of David Lloyd George Liberals extended minimum wages to farm workers. Conservative peers in the House of Lords tried to stop the People's Budget . The Liberals passed the Parliament Act 1911 to sharply reduce

2886-502: The most militant. The National Sailors' and Firemen's Union directed strike activities in many port cities across Britain. The national leadership was strongly supported by local leaders, for example the Glasgow Trades Council. In Glasgow and other major cities there were distinctive local variations. Glasgow was more unified and coherent than most centres. The long-term result was seen in the strength of waterfront organisation on

2960-516: The new technology to upgrade their lifestyle and their career opportunities. Mortality declined steadily in urban England and Wales 1870–1917. Robert Millward and Frances N. Bell looked statistically at those factors in the physical environment (especially population density and overcrowding) that raised death rates directly, as well as indirect factors such as price and income movements that affected expenditures on sewers, water supplies, food, and medical staff. The statistical data show that increases in

3034-710: The new town, and Newport Pagnell Rural District Council lost its town planning responsibilities in that area to the development corporation. Until the 1920s the council met at the Newport Pagnell Union Workhouse, with administrative functions carried out at the offices of the solicitor who acted as clerk to the council. In 1926 the council bought a large house at 7 Station Road in Newport Pagnell for £1,000, converting it to become its offices and meeting place. The council remained based at 7 Station Road until its abolition in 1974. Newport Pagnell Rural District

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3108-498: The north-east of the county. The district had its origins in the Newport Pagnell Poor Law Union , which had been created in 1835, covering Newport Pagnell itself and several surrounding parishes. In 1872 sanitary districts were established, giving public health and local government responsibilities for rural areas to the existing boards of guardians of poor law unions. The Newport Pagnell Rural Sanitary District

3182-486: The older generation of Liberal voters. The Liberal Party lacked a unified ideological base in 1906. It contained numerous contradictory and hostile factions, such as imperialists and supporters of the Boers; near-socialists and laissez-faire classical liberals ; suffragettes and opponents of women's suffrage; antiwar elements and supporters of the military alliance with France. Nonconformist Dissenters – Protestants outside

3256-511: The policy of holding aloof from the continental powers, so called " Splendid Isolation ", in the 1900s after being isolated during the Boer War . Britain concluded agreements, limited to colonial affairs, with her two major colonial rivals: the Entente Cordiale with France in 1904 and the Anglo-Russian Entente of 1907. Britain's alignment was a reaction to an assertive German foreign policy and

3330-520: The power of the House of Lords to block legislation. The cost was high, however, as the government was required by the King to call two general elections in 1910 to validate its position and ended up frittering away most of its large majority, with the balance of power held by Labour and Irish Parliamentary Party members. Germany's Chancellor Otto von Bismarck dominated European diplomacy from 1872 to 1890, with

3404-414: The preceding Victorian age and the catastrophe of the following war. Recent assessments emphasise the great differences between the wealthy and the poor during this period and describe the age as heralding great changes in political and social life. Historian Lawrence James argued that the leaders felt increasingly threatened by rival powers such as Germany, Russia, and the United States. Nevertheless,

3478-450: The procedure was used not only as a means of terminating pregnancy, but also to prevent poverty and unemployment. Those who transported contraceptives could be legally punished. Contraceptives became more expensive over time and had a high failure rate. Unlike contraceptives, abortion did not need any prior planning and was less expensive. Newspaper advertisements were used to promote and sell abortifacients indirectly. Not all of society

3552-543: The rapid expansion of the school system, and the emergence of the new profession of nursing. Education and status led to demands for female roles in the rapidly expanding world of sports. Women were very active in church affairs, including attendance at services, Sunday school teaching, fund raising, pastoral care, social work and support for international missionary activities. They were almost completely excluded from practically all leadership roles. As middle-class women rose in status, they increasingly supported demands for

3626-459: The source of wealth. The law restricted relief for unemployed, able-bodied male workers, due to the prevailing view that they would find work in the absence of financial assistance. However, women were treated differently. After the Poor Law was passed, women and children received most of the aid. The law did not recognise single independent women, and put women and children into the same category. If

3700-516: The sudden arrival of World War I in the summer of 1914 was largely unexpected, except by the Royal Navy, because it had been prepared and readied for war . There was a growing political awareness among the working class, leading to a rise in trade unions, the Labour movement and demands for better working conditions. The aristocracy remained in control of top government offices. The Conservatives – at

3774-411: The sun never set on the British flag." The Liberals returned to power in 1906 and made significant reforms . Below the upper class, the era was marked by significant shifts in politics among sections of society that had largely been excluded from power, such as labourers , servants , and the industrial working class . Women started (again) to play more of a role in politics. The Edwardian period

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3848-640: The time called "Unionists" – were the dominant political party from the 1890s until 1906 . The party had many strengths, appealing to voters supportive of imperialism , tariffs, the Church of England , a powerful Royal Navy , and traditional hierarchical society. There was a powerful leadership base in the landed aristocracy and landed gentry in rural England, plus strong support from the Church of England and military interests. Historians have used election returns to demonstrate that Conservatives did surprisingly well in working-class districts. They had an appeal as well to

3922-483: The top tier of the working-class and lower middle-class, and there was dissatisfaction among intellectuals. The 1906 general election was a landslide victory for the Liberal Party, which saw its total vote share increase by 25%, while the Conservative total vote held steady. The Labour Party was emerging from the rapidly growing trade union movement after 1890. In 1903 it entered the Gladstone–MacDonald pact with

3996-441: The younger generation had reason to prefer Labour over Liberal political styles. Social factors included secularised elementary education (with a disappearing role for Dissenting schools that inculcated Liberal viewpoints); the "New Unionism" after 1890 brought unskilled workers into a movement previously dominated by the skilled workers; and new leisure activities, especially the music hall and sports, involved youth while repelling

4070-462: Was a majority of support for suffrage in Parliament, the ruling Liberal Party refused to allow a vote on the issue; the result of which was an escalation in the suffragette campaign. The WSPU, in dramatic contrast to its allies, embarked on a campaign of violence to publicise the issue, even to the detriment of its own aims. Although abortion was illegal, it was nevertheless a widespread form of birth control. Used predominantly by working-class women,

4144-458: Was accepting of contraceptives or abortion, and opponents viewed both as part of one and the same sin. Abortion was much more common among the middle classes than among those living in rural areas, where the procedure was not readily available. Women were often tricked into purchasing ineffective pills. In addition to fearing legal reprimands, many physicians did not condone abortion because they viewed it as an immoral procedure potentially endangering

4218-487: Was administered from Newport Pagnell Union Workhouse, which had been built in 1836 at 1 London Road in Newport Pagnell. Under the Local Government Act 1894 , rural sanitary districts became rural districts from 28 December 1894. The Newport Pagnell Rural District Council held its first meeting on 2 January 1895 at the workhouse, when John Robert Wilmer was appointed the first chairman of the council. Shortly after

4292-627: Was awakening after a generation of dormancy following the Franco-Prussian War , to the East sat Russia, whose rapid industrialization worried Berlin and Vienna. Joseph Chamberlain , who played a major role in foreign policy in the late 1890s under the Salisbury government, repeatedly tried to open talks with Germany about some sort of alliance. Berlin was not interested. Meanwhile, Paris went to great pains to woo Russia and Great Britain. Key markers were

4366-420: Was built primarily to house the workers on the Wolverton railway works . The original village of Bradwell lies south of New Bradwell. New Bradwell is roughly 150 years old. Exact dates are hard to figure, as buildings such as mill houses and farm houses existed on the site of what is now the village of New Bradwell, long before then. Around 1851 the area was little more than a hamlet, with 381 inhabitants and

4440-519: Was completed in 1860. Originally this new village was called Stantonbury after the name of the parish. From 1867 to 1964 the village was served by Bradwell railway station on the now defunct Wolverton to Newport Pagnell line . The line has been repurposed as a rail path , part of the Milton Keynes redway network . The Grand Union Canal passes between Bradwell and New Bradwell, providing boating and fishing facilities. The modern Bradwell Aqueduct

4514-498: Was completely unacceptable in terms of morality, of Britain and Germany's obligations under the Treaty of London , and of British policy against any one power controlling the continent of Europe. Until the last few weeks before it started in August 1914, almost no one saw a world war coming. The expectation among the generals was that because of industrial advances any future war would produce

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4588-619: Was created in 1919 from part of the Bradwell parish, and formed part of the Wolverton Urban District urban district (with the rest of the Bradwell parish remaining in Newport Pagnell Rural District ). The parish continued to exist as part of Wolverton UD until 1934, when it was absorbed into Wolverton CP. It was re-established in 2001 as part of a general parishing of all the unparished areas of Milton Keynes. The parish

4662-561: Was largely in charge of the war, maintained his hold on power. When General Kitchener took command in 1900, he initiated a scorched earth policy to foil Boer guerrilla tactics. Captured Boer combatants were transported overseas to other British possessions as prisoners of war. However, he relocated non-combatant Boers—mostly women and children—into heavily guarded internment camps. The internment camps were overcrowded with bad sanitation and meagre food rations. Contagious diseases such as measles, typhoid and dysentery were endemic. Many of

4736-449: Was losing its drive and enthusiasm, especially after the retirement of the charismatic Joseph Chamberlain . There was a bitter split on "tariff reform" (that is, imposing tariffs or taxes on all imports), that drove many of the free traders over to the Liberal camp. Tariff reform was a losing issue that the Conservative leadership inexplicably clung to. Conservative support weakened among

4810-484: Was not on the Liberal agenda. There were numerous major reforms helping labour, typified by the Trade Boards Act 1909 that set minimum wages in certain trades with the history of "sweated" or "sweatshop" rates of especially low wages, because of surplus of available workers, the presence of women workers, or the lack of skills. At first it applied to four industries: chain-making, ready-made tailoring, paper-box making, and

4884-578: Was one of the more dramatic events in this part of North Buckinghamshire. (The activities at Bletchley Park a few miles south were top secret. Nevertheless, Old Bletchley was hit by four bombs – one of which hit the Park's main gate without exploding). The Bradwell Blitz was so-called because it happened during the Blitz , the fourth and last phase of the Battle of Britain . The civil parish of New Bradwell

4958-466: Was seized by the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). Founded in 1903, it was tightly controlled by the three Pankhursts, Emmeline Pankhurst (1858–1928), and her daughters Christabel Pankhurst (1880–1958) and Sylvia Pankhurst (1882–1960). It specialised in highly visible publicity campaigns such as large parades. This had the effect of energising all dimensions of the suffrage movement. While there

5032-486: Was slow to adjust to global changes, and there was a striking preference for leisure over entrepreneurship among the elite. However, London was the financial centre of the world—far more efficient and wide-ranging than New York, Paris or Berlin. Britain had built up a vast reserve of overseas credits in its formal Empire, as well as in an informal empire in Latin America and other nations. It had huge financial holdings in

5106-501: Was subsequently transferred in 1898 from Newport Pagnell Rural District to the Fenny Stratford Urban District (which was renamed Bletchley Urban District in 1911). In 1967 the new town of Milton Keynes was designated, with a significant portion of the south-west of Newport Pagnell Rural District falling within its designated area . The Milton Keynes Development Corporation was established to oversee construction of

5180-420: Was sustained as an important aid for women negotiating wider social shifts and tensions in their lives." Increased literacy in the middle class gave women wider access to information and ideas. Numerous new magazines appealed to their tastes and helped define femininity. The inventions of the typewriter, telephone, and new filing systems offered middle-class women increased employment opportunities. So too did

5254-478: Was the continued overcrowding in Scotland's housing. During the First World War, infant mortality fell sharply across the country. J. M. Winter attributes this to the full employment and higher wages paid to war workers. For housewives, sewing machines enabled the production of ready-made clothing and made it easier for women to sew their own clothes; more generally, argues Barbara Burman, "home dressmaking

5328-827: Was the first of its kind to be constructed over the Grand Union in over 100 years New Bradwell has one Grade II* listed building (the Church of St James) and a further eight grade II (where 57–59 Spencer Street have a single listing). When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, blackout precautions were immediately put into effect, due to the dangers of night time bombing raids. Ironically, New Bradwell's new electric street lights, which had only been completed two weeks previously, were switched off and not used again for six years. Bradwell's Blitz consisted of two bombs on Sunday 20 October 1940. First, two flares were dropped at

5402-523: Was the first prime minister. The Liberal Party under Henry Campbell-Bannerman rallied Liberals around the traditional platform of free trade and land reform and led them to the greatest electoral victory in Liberal Party history. The Prime Minister was overshadowed by his frontbench, most notably H. H. Asquith at the Exchequer, Edward Grey at the Foreign Office, Richard Burdon Haldane at

5476-547: Was tightly controlled by the Liberal Foreign Secretary Edward Grey (1862–1933), who seldom consulted with his party leadership. Grey shared the strong Liberal policy against all wars and against military alliances that would force Britain to take a side in war. However, in the case of the Boer War, Grey held that the Boers had committed an aggression that it was necessary to repulse. The Liberal party split on

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