Editing Silent Generation (section)

====Childhood and youth====
[[File:A group of smiling evacuees from Rotherhithe in Kent with gas mask boxes hold hands on a walk in Reading during 1940. D824.jpg|thumb|Child evacuees in [[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]] carrying [[gas mask]]s which were issued to British civilians in 1938 during the [[Munich Crisis]] (1940)<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 9, 2014 |title=On this day: Gas masks issued to British civilians |url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/day-gas-masks-issued-british-civilians-1532040 |website=[[The Scotsman]] |access-date=January 14, 2023 |archive-date=January 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114020607/https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/day-gas-masks-issued-british-civilians-1532040 |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
There was a slump in birth rates in the UK between the two major baby booms following each [[world war]]. This roughly correlated with the economic downturn in the 1930s and World War II.<ref>{{Cite web|date=March 27, 2020|title=Our population – Where are we? How did we get here? Where are we going?|url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/articles/ourpopulationwherearewehowdidwegetherewherearewegoing/2020-03-27#births-and-deaths-since-1901|access-date=November 18, 2021|website=Office for National Statistics|archive-date=November 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211118184424/https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/articles/ourpopulationwherearewehowdidwegetherewherearewegoing/2020-03-27#births-and-deaths-since-1901|url-status=live}}</ref> The era of the Great Depression was a time of deprivation for many children, unemployment was high and slum housing was common. However, education was compulsory from the age of five to fourteen years old. Gaining a place at grammar school was a way for young people whose families could not afford them to be privately educated to gain full access to secondary schooling. In a time before widespread car use, children commonly played outside in the street and further afield without adult supervision. Toys of this era were quite simple but examples included dolls, model aeroplanes, and trains. Other popular activities included reading [[British comics|comics]], playing board games, going to the cinema, and joining children's organizations such as the [[Scouting|scouts]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Childhood in the 1920s and 1930s|url=https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Childhood-In-The-1920s-And-1930s/|access-date=November 18, 2021|website=Historic UK|language=en-GB|archive-date=November 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211118184424/https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Childhood-In-The-1920s-And-1930s/|url-status=live}}</ref> It was estimated that more than 85% of British households owned a wireless (radio) by 1939.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Scott|first=Peter|title=The Market Makers: Creating Mass Markets for Consumer Durables in Inter-war Britain|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2017|pages=134}}</ref>

The Second World War impacted the lives of children in various ways. Significant numbers of schoolchildren were [[Evacuations of civilians in Britain during World War II|evacuated without their parents]] to the countryside to avoid the threat of bombing throughout the war years.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Evacuated Children Of The Second World War|url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-evacuated-children-of-the-second-world-war|access-date=November 18, 2021|website=Imperial War Museums|language=en|archive-date=November 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211118184422/https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-evacuated-children-of-the-second-world-war|url-status=live}}</ref> The quality of education fell everywhere but particularly in urban areas for various reasons, including a shortage of teachers and supplies, the distress pupils suffered from air raids and the disruption caused by evacuations.<ref>Eric Hopkins,  "Elementary education in Birmingham during the Second World War." ''History of education'' 18#3 (1989): 243–255.</ref><ref>Emma Lautman, "Educating Children on the British Home Front, 1939–1945: Oral History, Memory and Personal Narratives." ''History of education researcher'' 95 (2015): 13–26.</ref><ref>Roy Lowe,  "Education in England during the Second World War." in Roy Lowe, ed., ''Education and the Second World War: studies in schooling and social change'' (1992) pp 4–16.</ref> The degree of supervision children received also fell as fathers left to fight and mothers joined the workforce.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Khatkar |first=Perminder |date=May 26, 2010 |title=What's it like to be a latchkey child? |language=en-GB |work=BBC Magazine |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8704827.stm |access-date=January 12, 2023 |archive-date=January 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230112171956/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8704827.stm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Harris |first=Carol |date=February 17, 2011 |title=BBC – History – British History in depth: Women Under Fire in World War Two |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/women_at_war_01.shtml#:~:text=In%20December%201941,%20the%20National%20Service%20Act%20(no,employed%20in%20essential%20work%20for%20the%20war%20effort. |access-date=January 12, 2023 |website=www.bbc.co.uk |language=en-GB |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119150630/https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/women_at_war_01.shtml#:~:text=In%20December%201941,%20the%20National%20Service%20Act%20(no,employed%20in%20essential%20work%20for%20the%20war%20effort. |url-status=live }}</ref> However, [[Rationing in the United Kingdom|rationing during World War II and the years after]] improved the health of the population overall with one study conducted in the early 2000s suggesting that a typical 1940s child ate a healthier diet than their counterpart at the start of the 21st century.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Stormont|first=Brian|date=July 16, 2020|title=Healthy eating: What can we learn from wartime food rationing?|url=https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/lifestyle/food-drink/1442540/healthy-eating-what-can-we-learn-from-wartime-food-rationing/|access-date=November 18, 2021|newspaper=The Courier|language=en-GB|archive-date=November 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211118185926/https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/lifestyle/food-drink/1442540/healthy-eating-what-can-we-learn-from-wartime-food-rationing/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Townsend|first=Mark|date=January 4, 2004|title=Study shows wartime rations were better for children|url=http://www.theguardian.com/society/2004/jan/04/observerspecialbritainsschools.medicineandhealth|access-date=November 18, 2021|newspaper=The Guardian|language=en|archive-date=November 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211118191211/https://www.theguardian.com/society/2004/jan/04/observerspecialbritainsschools.medicineandhealth|url-status=live}}</ref> Following the Second World War, the school-leaving age was raised to 15 with every child being allocated to one of three types of school based on a [[Eleven-plus|test taken at the age of 11]] in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (selection between two types of school took place at age 12 in Scotland<ref name="Paterson2001pp566-9">L. Patterson, "Schools and schooling: 3. Mass education 1872–present", in M. Lynch, ed., ''The Oxford Companion to Scottish History'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), {{ISBN|0-19-211696-7}}, pp. 566–9.</ref>).<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Education Act of 1944|url=https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/livinglearning/school/overview/educationact1944/|access-date=November 18, 2021|website=www.parliament.uk|language=en|archive-date=November 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211118184422/https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/livinglearning/school/overview/educationact1944/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=August 7, 2017 |title=The 1947 Education Act – a landmark in Northern Ireland's history |url=http://qpol.qub.ac.uk/1947-education-act/ |access-date=March 23, 2022 |website=Queen's Policy Engagement |language=en-GB |archive-date=August 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813222633/http://qpol.qub.ac.uk/1947-education-act/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:1950 - 60 Television and lamp (5980295871).jpg|thumb|Early television, an example of mid-20th century consumer goods|left]]
The years after the Second World War saw a continuation of difficult social conditions; there was a serious housing shortage and rationing was at times more restrictive than it had been during the war. The late 1940s saw substantial social reforms and changes to the structure of the British economy.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Derek |date=March 14, 2001 |title=1945–51: Labour and the creation of the welfare state |url=http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/mar/14/past.education |access-date=January 13, 2023 |website=the Guardian |language=en |archive-date=January 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230113090317/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/mar/14/past.education |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="burnett">Burnett, ''A social history of housing: 1815–1985'' (1985) pp 278–330</ref> Economic conditions and living standards improved significantly during the 1950s and 60s.<ref name="BlackPemberton2017">{{cite book |last1=Black |first1=Lawrence |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CJkuDwAAQBAJ |title=An Affluent Society?: Britain's Post-War 'Golden Age' Revisited |last2=Pemberton |first2=Hugh |date=July 28, 2017 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-351-95917-9 |access-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-date=January 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114013316/https://books.google.com/books?id=CJkuDwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Gurney |first=Peter |year=2005 |title=The Battle of the Consumer in Postwar Britain |journal=Journal of Modern History |volume=77 |issue=4 |pages=956–987 |doi=10.1086/499831 |jstor=10.1086/499831 |s2cid=145257014}}</ref> Unemployment rested at roughly two percent during this period,{{sfn|Kynaston|2009}} much lower than it had been during the depression or would be later in the 20th century.<ref name="SlomanGarratt2015">{{cite book |last1=Sloman |first1=John |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=etWpBwAAQBAJ}|page=811}} |title=Economics |last2=Garratt |first2=Dean |author3=Alison Wride |date=January 6, 2015 |publisher=Pearson Education Limited |isbn=978-1-292-06484-0 |page=811}}</ref> Consumer goods such as televisions and household labour saving devices became increasingly common.{{sfn|Burnett|1986|p=302}} By the late 1950s, Britain was one of the most affluent societies anywhere in the world.<ref name="Hill1985">{{cite book |last=Hill |first=Charles Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jQyzQgAACAAJ |title=British Economic and Social History, 1700–1982 |publisher=E. Arnold |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-7131-7382-6 |access-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-date=January 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114013319/https://books.google.com/books?id=jQyzQgAACAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1957, 52%  of the British population described themselves as "very happy" in comparison to 36% in 2005.<ref>{{cite news |last=Easton |first=Mark |date=May 2, 2006 |title=Britain's happiness in decline |publisher=BBC |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/happiness_formula/4771908.stm |url-status=live |access-date=March 12, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090216012035/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/happiness_formula/4771908.stm |archive-date=February 16, 2009}}</ref><ref name="Healey2002">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WzKIAgAAQBAJ |title=Britain's Economic Miracle: Myth Or Reality? |date=September 26, 2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-89226-6 |editor-last=Healey |editor-first=Nigel |access-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-date=January 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114013327/https://books.google.com/books?id=WzKIAgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> That year, Prime Minister [[Harold Macmillan]] famously said:<ref>{{cite news |date=July 20, 1957 |title=1957: Britons 'have never had it so good' |publisher=BBC |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/20/newsid_3728000/3728225.stm |url-status=live |access-date=March 12, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107235938/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/20/newsid_3728000/3728225.stm |archive-date=November 7, 2017}}</ref>

{{quote|Let us be frank about it: most of our people have never had it so good. Go round the country, go to the industrial towns, go to the farms and you will see a state of prosperity such as we have never had in my lifetime – nor indeed in the history of this country.}}The idea of the "teenager" as a distinctive phase of life associated with rebellion against adult authority and older generations social norms became increasingly prominent in public discourse during the 1940s and 50s.<ref>David F. Smith, "Delinquency and welfare in London: 1939–1949". ''The London Journal'' 38#1 (2013): 67–87.</ref><ref>Melanie Tebbutt, ''Making Youth: A History of Youth in Modern Britain'' (2016).{{page needed|date=May 2018}}</ref><ref>David Fowler, ''Youth culture in modern Britain, c. 1920-c. 1970: from ivory tower to global movement-a new history'' (2008).{{page needed|date=May 2018}}</ref><ref>Bill Osgerby, ''Youth in Britain since 1945'' (1998).{{page needed|date=May 2018}}</ref> Though in many ways those reaching maturity in the years after the Second World War were quite traditionally conservative in experience and attitudes. [[Conscription in the United Kingdom|National service]] ([[Conscription|military conscription]]) was reintroduced after the war and continued throughout the 1950s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What was National Service? {{!}} National Army Museum |url=https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/what-was-national-service |access-date=January 14, 2023 |website=www.nam.ac.uk |language=en |archive-date=June 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200618025554/https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/what-was-national-service |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=National Service |url=https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/yourcountry/overview/nationalservice/ |website=UK Parliament |access-date=January 14, 2023 |archive-date=January 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114095948/https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/yourcountry/overview/nationalservice/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Young people would often attend ballroom dances to socialise and find potential romantic partners.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jack |first=Ian |date=January 23, 2016 |title=Dance halls were the Tinder of their day |url=http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/23/dance-halls-were-the-tinder-of-their-day |access-date=January 14, 2023 |website=the Guardian |language=en |archive-date=January 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114095950/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/23/dance-halls-were-the-tinder-of-their-day |url-status=live }}</ref> The average age of first marriage in England and Wales fell reaching its lowest level in more than a hundred years by the late 1960s of 27.2 and 24.7 years for men and women respectively.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Marriages in England and Wales |url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/marriagecohabitationandcivilpartnerships/bulletins/marriagesinenglandandwalesprovisional/2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200419083033/https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/marriagecohabitationandcivilpartnerships/bulletins/marriagesinenglandandwalesprovisional/2016 |archive-date=April 19, 2020 |access-date=August 7, 2020 |website=www.ons.gov.uk |publisher=Office for National Statistics}}</ref> Cultural norms<ref>{{Cite book |last=Simonton |first=Deborah |title=Women in European Culture and Society: Gender, Skill, and Identity from 1700 |publisher=Routledge |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-415-21308-0 |location=Abingdon, Oxon |pages=321–323}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Marriages in England and Wales |url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/marriagecohabitationandcivilpartnerships/bulletins/marriagesinenglandandwalesprovisional/2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200419083033/https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/marriagecohabitationandcivilpartnerships/bulletins/marriagesinenglandandwalesprovisional/2016 |archive-date=April 19, 2020 |access-date=August 7, 2020 |website=www.ons.gov.uk |publisher=Office for National Statistics}}</ref><ref>Phyllis Whiteman, ''Speaking as a Woman'' (1953) p 67</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=The Practical Home Handywoman: A Book of Basic Principles for the Self-Reliant Woman Dealing with All the Problems of Home-Making and Housekeeping |publisher=Odhams Press |year=1950 |location=London |pages=233}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gillis |first1=Stacy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aLeSAgAAQBAJ |title=Feminism, Domesticity and Popular Culture |last2=Hollows |first2=Joanne |date=September 7, 2008 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-89426-9 |access-date=August 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200820200620/https://books.google.com/books?id=aLeSAgAAQBAJ |archive-date=August 20, 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> and government policy<ref name="Smith1990">{{cite book |last=Pugh |first=Martin |title=British feminism in the twentieth century |publisher=Elgar |year=1990 |isbn=978-1-85278-096-8 |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=Harold L. |page=158 |chapter=Domesticity and the Decline of Feminism 1930–1950 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UmoFAQAAIAAJ |access-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-date=January 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114013318/https://books.google.com/books?id=UmoFAQAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}.</ref><ref>Martin Pugh, "Domesticity and the Decline of Feminism 1930–1950". p 158"</ref><ref>Bruley, ''Women in Britain since 1900'' p 118</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Beaumont |first=Caitríona |date=January 2, 2017 |title=What Do Women Want? Housewives' Associations, Activism and Changing Representations of Women in the 1950s |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09612025.2015.1123029 |url-status=live |journal=Women's History Review |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=147–162 |doi=10.1080/09612025.2015.1123029 |issn=0961-2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170213190119/http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09612025.2015.1123029 |archive-date=February 13, 2017 |access-date=August 8, 2020 |s2cid=148013595}}</ref> encouraged marriage and women to focus on their role as homemaker, wife and mother whilst their husband acted as the household's primary [[Breadwinner model|breadwinner]]. The treatment of those who did not meet society's expectations in their personal lives was often quite unsympathetic. Abortion<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |date=October 22, 2019 |title=What are the UK's laws on abortion? |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/health-19856314 |access-date=January 14, 2023 |archive-date=December 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221220160851/https://www.bbc.com/news/health-19856314 |url-status=live }}</ref> and homosexuality<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=A short history of LGBT rights in the UK |url=https://www.bl.uk/lgbtq-histories/articles/a-short-history-of-lgbt-rights-in-the-uk |access-date=January 14, 2023 |website=British Library |archive-date=May 13, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180513185442/https://www.bl.uk/lgbtq-histories/articles/a-short-history-of-lgbt-rights-in-the-uk |url-status=live }}</ref> were illegal whilst later investigations suggest that many women who gave birth out of wedlock had their babies forcibly removed from them.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC News Channel – If You Love Your Baby… The Story of Forced Adoptions |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000whlm |access-date=January 14, 2023 |website=BBC |language=en-GB |archive-date=January 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114102645/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000whlm |url-status=live }}</ref> Laws were liberalised significantly in the late 1960s,<ref name="Thorpe64702001">{{cite book |last1=Thorpe |first1=Andrew |title=A History of the British Labour Party |date=2001 |publisher=Palgrave |isbn=0-333-92908-X |pages=145–165}}</ref> but change was slower in certain areas in Scotland and Northern Ireland.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />