Figure 1.--Here children are queuing for Salvation Army 'Farthing Breakfasts' about 1900. The location is not uidentified, but it would hzave been in an inner-city neighborhood klike England's East End. A farthing was a quarter of a penny.

We believe that morning milk for the school children was fairly widespread before the War, but we do not yet have any details. We do not know when the school milk program was intriduced and if the children had to pay. There was no government school feeding program. Some charities were ffering feeding programs. Here we see a Salvation Army program (figure 1). Most children brought their lunch or went home for lunch. Children lived close to their primary schools snd most mothers did not work. Britain had made great strudes in public health during the Victorian era. At the turn of the 20th century, British leaders were shocked as they fought the Bohr War b to see the numbre of young men rejected for military service for a range of reasons, but basicallhy poor physical condition. [Finch] This would lead Lord Baden Powell to found the Boy Scout movement to improve the health of Brtiush boys. Other authoritis were also concerned. It was found that despite the achievement of the Victorians, many children were still no more healthy than had been the case at mid-century. A new Liberal Government was elected (1905). This led to the premiershiop of Herbert Asquith and ax remarable era of reform. Asquith oversaw domestic reforms, including social insurance, icluding Old Age Pensions (1908) and National Insurance Act (1911). They formulated a range of reforms to address the issduie of childfren's health. A law was passed to ensure midwives were notified of each birth. Another reform was School Medical Examinations A law was passed tompermit schools to offer meals. This only involved permission, no porogram was enacted or funding provided. It was all up to local authorities. local school boards began experimenting with the idea, both school breakfasts and dinners (lunch). They found that the weight of children did increase with school meals. 【City of Bradford】 Children underweight was a orimary sign iof poor health. There was no problem of childhood obesity at the time. Local school authorities began adopting school dinner (lunch) programs. Gradually the school meal problem was expabded. The need during the Deoression increased. As a result, at the time Britain was plunged into War (1939), about half of all locsl educationasl authiorities (LEAs) had scghool feeding prograsms. 【Finch】 A Ministry of Education publication reports the 'provision of a mid-day meal for all children whose parents wanted them to have it, on payment of approximately the cost of the food, or free of charge in cases of hardship, became national policy." 【MOE]

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Sources

City of Bradford Education Committee. Report Overssen by the Medical Superintendent, Ralph H Crowley MD, MRCP in conjunction with the Superintendent of Domestic Subjects, Marian E Cuff. Course of Meals given to Necessitous Children (from April to July, 1907).

Finch, Alan. "The provision of school meals since 1906: progress or a recipe for disaster?" History and Policy (January 14, 2019).

Mimistry of Educatuiion, Cmd. 8244. (1951).

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Created: 10:10 PM 1/28/2023
Last updated: 10:10 PM 1/28/2023