'Delicate duties': Issues of class and respectability in government policy towards the wives and widows of British soldiers in the era of the great war

Abstract

This article considers the position of war widows before the First World War and explores the changes which the requirements of an unprecedented scale of war brought. It also examines the persistence of negative attitudes towards working-class women and the way these were incorporated into state policies designed to ensure the good behaviour of women in receipt of a pension or allowance. The various ways this policy was implemented are described through an examination of the workings of the Special Grants Committee within the Ministry of Pensions.