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The First World War and working-class food consumption in Britain

Author

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  • Ian Gazeley
  • Andrew Newell

Abstract

We reassess the changes in British working-class diets through the First World War. The 1918 Sumner Committee's work on this was limited by a lack of consistency across household surveys. Our rediscovered 1904 data allow a cleaner comparison. Although calorie intake was maintained, we find a closing of the nutritional gap between skilled and unskilled workers. We also find reductions in intakes of several key vitamins. These were possibly side effects of the food control system. For many unregulated foodstuffs, such as fruit and vegetables, prices rose dramatically as production fell, and this may have been what caused the fall in vitamin C intake among skilled workers. Copyright , Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Ian Gazeley & Andrew Newell, 2013. "The First World War and working-class food consumption in Britain," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 17(1), pages 71-94, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:ereveh:v:17:y:2013:i:1:p:71-94
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ereh/hes018
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    Cited by:

    1. Kota Ogasawara & Ian Gazeley & Eric B. Schneider, 2020. "Nutrition, Crowding, And Disease Among Low‐Income Households In Tokyo In 1930," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(1), pages 73-104, March.
    2. Ian Gazeley & Andrew Newell, 2015. "Urban working-class food consumption and nutrition in Britain in 1904," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(1), pages 101-122, February.
    3. Floris, Joël & Müller, Consuela & Woitek, Ulrich, 2015. "The Biological Standard of Living in Zurich during WWI," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 112909, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    4. Pei Gao & Eric B. Schneider, 2021. "The growth pattern of British children, 1850–1975," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 74(2), pages 341-371, May.
    5. Neil Chalmers & Stacia Stetkiewicz & Padhmanand Sudhakar & Hibbah Osei-Kwasi & Christian J Reynolds, 2019. "Impacts of Reducing UK Beef Consumption Using a Revised Sustainable Diets Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-20, December.
    6. Mark Harrison, 2016. "Myths of the Great War," Studies in Economic History, in: Jari Eloranta & Eric Golson & Andrei Markevich & Nikolaus Wolf (ed.), Economic History of Warfare and State Formation, pages 135-158, Springer.
    7. Joël Floris & Kaspar Staub & Ulrich Woitek, 2016. "The benefits of intervention: birth weights in Basle 1912-1920," ECON - Working Papers 236, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • N34 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: 1913-
    • N44 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Europe: 1913-

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