What Was ‘national Efficiency’?

  • After the Boer War, Britain’s lack of ‘national efficiency’ was exposed. 30,000 Boers held out against British for 2.5 years and though troops from India, Australia and Canada helped, ‘home-grown’ soldiers proved hard to come by. Poor diet and living conditions had weakened Britain’s manpower → threat to imperial supremacy and industrial strength as decline in British industrial production relative to USA and Germany.
    • Up to 40% of British recruits had been tested and found unfit for military service and in Manchester, 8000/11000 would-be volunteers were turned away.
  • In 1902, talks of need for ‘national efficiency’ became common amongst journalists, fears of Britain being eclipsed by other powers. Measures were taken to improve national efficiency such as:
    • 1902 Education Act (Conservative) which raised school standards and led to opening of 1000 secondary schools over next decade.
    • Modernisation of Royal Navy by committing to Dreadnought battleship first launched in 1906 in wake of German naval laws and expansion of German fleet.
    • Opening of Imperial College in 1907, centre of scientific excellence.

Liberal social reforms including free school meals in 1906, medical inspections in 1907, children’s welfare charter in 1908, pensions in 1908, a trade boards act in 1909 and National Insurance in 1911.