William Beveridge -

The Beveridge Report

William Henry Beveridge (1879-1963), 1st Baron Beveridge of Tuggal, KCB a renowned British economist, social reformer, civil servant and later Liberal MP. Best known for the 1942 Beveridge Report, the foundation on which Britain's Welfare State was built.

"An intellectual giant." Harold Wilson working as Beveridge's research assistant.

Born in Bengal, India in 1879, where his Scottish father was a judge in the Indian Civil Service. He had a lonely childhood, before attending public school and Oxford University. Destined for a life as an academic or the bar when his career took an unexpected turn. In the face of fierce parental objection, Beveridge would go on to become an expert in social policy and unemployment.

"A fascinating and emblematic figure of his age."

Geoffrey Wheatcroft, The Guardian.

Beveridge was 63 years old when his groundbreaking report was published. He had been a senior civil servant before and during the First World War and was one of the main architects of labour exchanges and wartime rationing. in the 1920s and 1930s, he was director of the London School of Economics. When the Second World War broke out he was desperate to return to the Civil Service to work on manpower issues. Instead, in 1941, the coalition government appointed Beveridge chair of an obscure Interdepartmental Committee on Social Insurance and Allied Services.

In 1942, eighteen months later, within weeks of victory at Alamein, the Social Insurance and Allied Services Report was published. It quickly became known as the Beveridge Report. His ideas, and the language he used to express them, provided a much needed morale boost during the dark days of war. It captivated the nation and became an instant best-seller.

William Beveridge was made a Life Peer in 1946, and later became Leader of the Liberals in the House of Lords. He retired from public life in 1954 and moved, with his wife, Janet (Jessy) Mair, to Oxford. He died at his home on 16 March 1963 and was buried in Throckington churchyard, on the Northumbrian moors. His barony became extinct upon his death. His last words were: ‘I have a thousand things to do’.

What a legacy, today his report continues to be referred to by politicians, journalists, economists and historians across the world.

Interdepartmental Committee - The Job.

Image is in the public domain.

The Beveridge Report - The Proposal.