UNITED KINGDOM

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

CAPITAL: London

FLAG: The Union Jack, adopted in 1800, is a combination of the banners of England (St. George's flag: a red cross with extended horizontals on a white field), Scotland (St. Andrew's flag: a white saltire cross on a blue field), and Ireland (St. Patrick's flag: a red saltire cross on a white field). The arms of the saltire crosses do not meet at the center.

ANTHEM: God Save the Queen.

MONETARY UNIT: The pound sterling (£) is a paper currency of 100 pence. Before decimal coinage was introduced on 15 February 1971, the pound had been divided into 20 shillings, each shilling representing 12 pennies (p) or pence; some old-style coins are still in circulation. Under the new system, there are coins of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 pence and 1 and 2 pounds, and notes of 5, 10, 20, and 50 pounds. £1 = $1.85185 (or $1 = £0.54) as of 2005.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES: Although the traditional imperial system of weights and measures is still in use (sample units: of weight, the stone of 14 pounds equivalent to 6.35 kilograms; of length, the yard equivalent to 0.914 meter; of capacity, a bushel equivalent to 36.37 liters), a changeover to the metric system is in progress.

HOLIDAYS: New Year's Day, 1 January; Good Friday; Easter Monday (except Scotland); Late Summer Holiday, last Monday in August or 1st in September (except Scotland); Christmas, 25 December; and Boxing Day, 1st weekday after Christmas. Also observed in Scotland are bank holidays on 2 January and on the 1st Monday in August. Northern Ireland observes St. Patrick's Day, 17 March; and Orangeman's Day, 12 July, commemorating the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.

TIME: GMT.

LOCATION, SIZE, AND EXTENT

The United Kingdom is situated off the northwest coast of Europe between the Atlantic Ocean on the n and nw and the North Sea on the e, separated from the Continent by the Strait of Dover and the English Channel, 34 km (21 mi) wide at its narrowest point, and from the Irish Republic by the Irish Sea and St. George's Channel. Its total area of 244,820 sq km (94,526 sq mi) consists of the island of Great Britain—formed by England, 130,439 sq km (50,363 sq mi); Wales, 20,768 sq km (8,018 sq mi); and Scotland, 78,783 sq km (30,418 sq mi)—and Northern Ireland, 14,120 sq km (5,452 sq mi), on the island of Ireland, separated from Great Britain by the North Channel. Comparatively, the area occupied by the United Kingdom is slightly smaller than the state of Oregon.

There are also several island groups and hundreds of small single islands, most of them administratively part of the mainland units. The United Kingdom extends about 965 km (600 mi) n–s and about 485 km (300 mi) e–w. Its total boundary length is 12,789 km (7,947 mi), of which 12,429 km (7,723 mi) is coastline. The Isle of Man, 588 sq km (227 sq mi), and the Channel Islands, comprising Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark, with a combined area of 194 sq km (75 sq mi), are not part of the United Kingdom but are dependencies of the crown. The 0° meridian of longitude passes through the old Royal Observatory, located at Greenwich in Greater London. The United Kingdom's capital city, London, is located in the southeast part of Great Britain.

TOPOGRAPHY

England is divided into the hill regions of the north, west, and southwest and the rolling downs and low plains of the east and southeast. Running from east to west on the extreme north Scottish border are the Cheviot Hills. The Pennine Range runs north and south from the Scottish border to Derbyshire in central England. The rest of the countryside consists mainly of rich agricultural lands, occasional moors, and plains. South of the Pennines lie the Midlands (East and West), a plains region with low, rolling hills and fertile valleys. The eastern coast is low-lying, much of it less than 5 m (15 ft) above sea level; for centuries parts of it have been protected by embankments against inundation from gales and unusually high tides. Little of the south and east rises to higher than 300 m (1,000 ft).

The highest point in England is Scafell Pike (978 m/3,210 ft) in the famed Lake District of the northwest. The longest of the rivers flowing from the central highlands to the sea are the Severn (about 340 km/210 mi) in the west and the Thames (about 320 km/200 mi) in the southeast. Other rivers include the Humber, the Tees, the Tyne, and the Tweed in the east, the Avon and Exe in the south, and the Mersey in the west.

Scotland has three distinct topographical regions: the Northern Highlands, occupying almost the entire northern half of the country and containing the highest point in the British Isles, Ben Nevis (1,343 m/4,406 ft), as well as Loch Ness, site of a fabled "monster"; the Central Lowlands, with an average elevation of about 150 m (500 ft) and containing the valleys of the Tay, Forth, and Clyde rivers, as well as Loch Lomond, Scotland's largest lake; and the Southern Uplands, rising to their peak at Merrick (843 m/2,766 ft), with moorland cut by many valleys and rivers.

Wales is largely mountainous and bleak, with much of the land suitable only for pasture. The Cambrian Mountains occupy almost the entire area and include Wales's highest point, Mt. Snowdon (1,086 m/3,563 ft). There are narrow coastal plains in the south and west and small lowland areas in the north, including the valley of the Dee.

Northern Ireland consists mainly of low-lying plateaus and hills, generally about 150 to 180 m (500–600 ft) high. The Mourne Mountains in the southeast include Slieve Donard (852 m/2,796 ft), the highest point in Northern Ireland. In a central depression lies Lough Neagh, the largest lake in the United Kingdom.

The United Kingdom's long and rugged coastline, heavily indented, has towering cliffs and headlands and numerous bays and inlets, among them the deep and narrow lochs and the wide firths of Scotland. Many river estuaries serve as fine harbors.

CLIMATE

Despite its northern latitude, the United Kingdom generally enjoys a temperate climate, warmed by the North Atlantic Drift, a continuation of the Gulf Stream, and by southwest winds. Mean monthly temperatures range (north to south) from 3°c to 5°c (37–41°f) in winter and from 12°c to 16°c (54–61°f) in summer. The mean annual temperature in the west near sea level ranges from 8°c (46°f) in the Hebrides to 11°c (52°f) in the far southwest of England. Rarely do temperatures rise in summer to over 32°c (90°f) or drop in winter below -10°c (14°f).

Rainfall, averaging more than 100 cm (40 in) throughout the United Kingdom, is heaviest on the western and northern heights (over 380 cm/150 in), lowest along the eastern and southeastern coasts. Fairly even distribution of rain throughout the year, together with the prevalence of mists and fogs, results in scanty sunshine—averaging from half an hour to two hours a day in winter and from five to eight hours in summer.

In the spring of 1997 there was an intense drought in southern and western England; the previous two years were the driest in England and Wales since reliable record-keeping began in 1767.

FLORA AND FAUNA

With its mild climate and varied soils, the United Kingdom has a diverse pattern of natural vegetation. Originally, oak forests probably covered the lowland, except for the fens and marsh areas, while pine forests and patches of moorland covered the higher or sandy ground. Over the centuries, much of the forest area, especially on the lowlands, was cleared for cultivation. Fairly extensive forests remain in east and north Scotland and in southeast England. Oak, elm, ash, and beech are the most common trees in England. Pine and birch are most common in Scotland. Almost all the lowland outside the industrial centers is farmland, with a varied seminatural vegetation of grasses and flowering plants. Wild vegetation consists of the natural flora of woods, fens and marshes, cliffs, chalk downs, and mountain slopes, the most widespread being the heather, grasses, gorse, and bracken of the moorlands. There are over 1,600 plant species in the country.

The fauna is similar to that of northwestern continental Europe, although there are fewer species. Some of the larger mammals—wolf, bear, boar, and reindeer—are extinct, but red and roe deer are protected for sport. Common smaller mammals are foxes, hares, hedgehogs, rabbits, weasels, stoats, shrews, rats, and mice; otters are found in many rivers, and seals frequently appear along the coast. There are at least 50 species of mammal native to the region. There are few reptiles and amphibians. Roughly 230 species of birds reside in the United Kingdom, and another 200 are migratory. Most numerous are the chaffinch, blackbird, sparrow, and starling. The number of large birds is declining, however, except for game birds—pheasant, partridge, and red grouse—which are protected. With the reclamation of the marshlands, waterfowl are moving to the many bird sanctuaries. The rivers and lakes abound in salmon, trout, perch, pike, roach, dace, and grayling. There are more than 21,000 species of insects.

ENVIRONMENT

Government officials and agencies with principal responsibility for environmental protection are the Department of the Environment, the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland, and the secretaries of state for Scotland and Wales. The National Trust (for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty), an organization of more than 1.3 million members, has acquired some 750 km (466 mi) of coastline in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales. In addition, 127 km (79 mi) of coastline in Scotland are protected under agreement with the National Trust of Scotland. Two countryside commissions, one for England and Wales and one for Scotland, are charged with conserving the beauty and amenities of rural areas. By 1982, the former had designated 10 national parks, covering 13,600 sq km (5,250 sq mi), or 9% of the area of England and Wales. An additional 36 areas of outstanding beauty have been designated, covering 17,000 sq km (6,600 sq mi). Scotland has 40 national scenic areas, with more than 98% of all Scottish lands under the commission's jurisdiction. Northern Ireland has eight designated areas of outstanding natural beauty, seven country parks, and one regional park. There are also seven forest parks in Great Britain and nine in Northern Ireland. England and Wales have 600,000 hectares (1,500,000 acres) of common land, much of which is open to the public. The Nature Conservancy Council manages 214 national nature reserves in Great Britain and 41 in Northern Ireland.

Air pollution is a significant environmental concern for the United Kingdom. In 1992 the nation had the world's eighth-highest level of industrial carbon dioxide emissions, which totaled 566.2 million metric tons, a per capita level of 9.78 metric tons. In 2000, the total of carbon dioxide emissions was at 567.8 million metric tons. In addition, its sulphur contributes to the formation of acid rain in the surrounding countries of Western Europe. Air quality abatement has improved greatly in the United Kingdom as a result of the Control of Pollution Act of 1974 and other legislation. London is no longer densely smog-ridden, and winter sunlight has been increasing in various industrial cities.

Water pollution from agricultural sources is also a problem. The nation has 145 cubic km of water of which 3% of annual withdrawals is used for farming activity and 77% for industrial purposes. The United Kingdom's cities produce an average of 22 million tons of solid waste per year. Pollution of the Thames has been reduced to one-quarter of its level in the 1950s, and more than 80% of the population is served by sewage treatment plants.

The Food and Environment Protection Act of 1985 introduced special controls over dumping and marine incineration in response to the problems of regulation of oil and gas development and of large-scale dumping at sea.

As of 2003, 20.9% of the United Kingdom's total land area is protected, including 163 Ramsar wetland sites and 5 natural UNESCO World Heritage Sites. According to a 2006 report issued by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), threatened species included 10 types of mammals, 10 species of birds, 12 species of fish, 2 types of mollusks, 8 species of other invertebrates, and 13 species of plants. The European otter, Atlantic sturgeon, Atlantic ridley, Eskimo curlew, and Spengler's freshwater mussel are classified as endangered. The great auk has become extinct.

POPULATION

The population of United Kingdom in 2005 was estimated by the United Nations (UN) at 60,068,000, which placed it at number 22 in population among the 193 nations of the world. In 2005, approximately 16% of the population was over 65 years of age, with another 18% of the population under 15 years of age. There were 96 males for every 100 females in the country. According to the UN, the annual population rate of change for 2005–10 was expected to be 0.2%, a rate the government viewed as satisfactory. The projected population for the year 2025 was 64,687,000. The overall population density was 245 per sq km (635 per sq mi); in England there were 371 persons per sq km (961 per sq mi), with 4,233 persons per sq km (10,968 per sq mi) in Greater London.

The UN estimated that 89% of the population lived in urban areas in 2005, and that urban areas were growing at an annual rate of 0.36%. The capital city, London, had a population of 7,619,000 in that year. Other major metropolitan areas in England, with estimated populations, were Birmingham, 2,215,000; Manchester, 2,193,000; Leeds, 1,402,000; and Liverpool, 975,000. Other large English towns include Sheffield, 516,000; Bradford, 478,800; Bristol, 406,500; and Coventry, 300,844. The major cities in Scotland are Glasgow (1,099,400) and Edinburgh (460,000). Belfast, the major city in Northern Ireland, had a population of 287,500; and Cardiff, in Wales, 305,000.

MIGRATION

From 1815–1930, the balance of migration was markedly outward, and well over 20 million persons left Britain, settling mainly within the British Empire and in the United States. Since 1931, however, the flow has largely been inward. From 1931–40, when emigration was very low, there was extensive immigration from Europe, including a quarter of a million refugees seeking sanctuary; during the 1950s, immigration from the Commonwealth, especially from the Caribbean countries, India, and Pakistan, steadily increased. The net influx of some 388,000 people (chiefly from the Commonwealth) during 1960–62 led to the introduction of the Commonwealth Immigrants Act of 1962, giving the government power to restrict the entry of Commonwealth citizens lacking adequate prospects of employment or means of self-support. Effective 1 January 1983, a new law further restricted entry by creating three categories of citizenship, two of which—citizens of British Dependent Territories and "British overseas citizens"—entail no right to live in the United Kingdom. Those in the last category, consisting of an estimated 1.5 million members of Asian minorities who chose to retain British passports when Malaysia and Britain's East African lands became independent, may not pass their British citizenship to their children without UK government approval.

Immigration is now on a quota basis. From 1986–91, 1,334,000 persons left the United Kingdom to live abroad, and 1,461,000 came from overseas to live in the United Kingdom, resulting in a net in-migration of 127,000. The total number of foreign residents in the United Kingdom was about 1,875,000 in 1990. Of these, more than one-third were Irish (638,000). Indians were second (155,000) and Americans third (102,000). Between the 1990s and 2002, net migration in the United Kingdom rose from 50,000 per year to 172,000. In spite of guest worker programs, the number of unauthorized foreigners grew to around 500,000 in 2003. In addition to these increases, "failed" asylum seekers who were subject to "removal" were a burden, with estimates at 155,000 to 283,000 in the United Kingdom in 2004. In that same year, Prime Minister Tony Blair declared that immigration had reached a "crunch point." Migration became a political issue of the 5 May 2005 elections. Conservative Party leader Michael Howard declared that if he were elected the United Kingdom would stop recognizing the 1951 UN Conventions on Refugees and an annual limit of 20,000 would be placed on immigration. The Labour Party stayed in power and Prime Minister Tony Blair proposed a tiered point system to control immigration. In July 2005 the Home Office estimated that there were 570,000 unauthorized foreigners. A five-tiered guest worker system was introduced: tier one, for highly skilled migrants and investors; tier two, for skilled workers in shortage occupations; tier three, for unskilled workers via accredited recruiters, and tier four, for foreign students, and tier five, for cultural exchange workers. After the death of 52 people in the 2 July 2005 bombings in London tubes and buses by British-born South Asians, tension increased and the far-right British National Party called for revamped laws to restrict immigration.

In response to the Kosovo crisis in 1999, the United Kingdom received 4,346 Kosovar refugees from Macedonia under the UNHCR/IOM Humanitarian Evacuation Programme. As of 1999, the United Kingdom had the second-largest number of asylum applications in Europe, but by 2004 it ranked seventh. In 2004, there were 9,800 asylum seekers. Main countries of origin among 47 countries included Somalia, India, Sri Lanka, Eritrea, Afghanistan, and the DROC. However, in 2004 the United Kingdom hosted refugees in larger numbers, 289,059 refugees from, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Serbia and Montenegro, Iran, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and DROC. The net migration rate in 2005 was estimated as 2.18 migrants per 1,000 population.

ETHNIC GROUPS

The present-day English, Welsh, Scots, and Irish are descended from a long succession of early peoples, including Iberians, Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Danes, and Normans, the last of whom invaded and conquered England in 1066–70. According to the 2001 census, about 83.6% of UK residents are English. The Scottish form about 8.6% of the population, Welsh account for 4.9%, and the Northern Irish make up 2.9%. About 1.8% of the population are Indian, and 1.3% are Pakistani. There are about 300,000 persons who belong to a group known as Travellers, a blend of Roma, Irish, and other ethnic groups who maintain an itinerant lifestyle.

LANGUAGES

Spoken throughout the United Kingdom and by over 456 million people throughout the world, English is second only to Mandarin Chinese in the number of speakers in the world. It is taught extensively as a second language and is used worldwide as a language of commerce, diplomacy, and scientific discourse. In northwestern Wales, Welsh, a form of Brythonic Celtic, is the first language of most of the inhabitants.

Approximately 26% of those living in Wales speak Welsh (up from 19% in 1991). Some 60,000 or so persons in western Scotland speak the Scottish form of Gaelic (down from 80,000 in 1991), and a few families in Northern Ireland speak Irish Gaelic. On the Isle of Man, the Manx variety of Celtic is used in official pronouncements; in the Channel Islands some persons still speak a Norman-French dialect. French remains the language of Jersey for official ceremonies.

RELIGIONS

There is complete religious freedom in the United Kingdom. All churches and religious societies may own property and conduct schools. Established churches are the Church of England (Anglican) and the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian). The former is uniquely related to the crown in that the sovereign must be a member and, on accession, promise to uphold the faith; it is also linked with the state through the House of Lords, where the archbishops of Canterbury and York have seats. The archbishop of Canterbury is primate of all England. The monarch appoints all officials of the Church of England. The established Church of Scotland has a Presbyterian form of government: all ministers are of equal status and each of the congregations is locally governed by its minister and elected elders.

About 71.6% of the population belong to one of the four largest Christian denominations in the country: the Church of England, the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of Scotland, and the Methodist Church in Britain (originally established as a type of revival movement by the Church of England minister John Wesley, 1703–91). Many immigrants have established community religious centers in the United Kingdom. Such Christian groups include Greek, Russian, Polish, Serb-Orthodox, Estonian and Latvian Orthodox, and the Armenian Church; Lutheran churches from various parts of Europe are also represented. A total of about 2% of the population are Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Christian Scientists, or Unitarians. The Anglo-Jewish community, with an estimated 300,000 members, is the second-largest group of Jews in Western Europe. There are also sizable communities of Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, and Buddhists.

In Northern Ireland, about 53% of the population are nominally Protestants and 44% are nominally Catholics; only about 30–35% of all Northern Irish are active participants in religious services. The Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland tend to live in self-segregated communities.

TRANSPORTATION

In Great Britain, railways, railway-owned steamships, docks, hotels, road transport, canals, and the entire London passenger transport system—the largest urban transport system in the world—were nationalized on 1 January 1948 under the control of the British Transport Commission (BTC). In 1962, the BTC was replaced by the British Railways Board, the London Transport Board, the British Transport Docks Board, and the British Waterways Board. Under the 1968 Transport Act, national transport operations were reorganized, with the creation of the National Freight Corp., the Freight Integration Council, and the National Bus Co. Organization of public transport in Northern Ireland is autonomous.

In 2003, Great Britain had 392,931 km (244,403 mi) roadway, all of it paved, including 3,431 km (2,134 mi) of express motorways. Licensed motor vehicles in Great Britain numbered 32,576,891 as of 2003, including 29,007,820 passenger cars and 3,569,071 commercial vehicles. The Humber Bridge, the world's longest singlespan suspension bridge, with a center span of 1,410 m (4,626 ft), links the city of Hull with a less developed region to the south. Eurotunnel, a British-French consortium, recently built two high-speed 50-km (31-mi) rail tunnels beneath the seabed of the English Channel. The project, referred to as the "Chunnel," links points near Folkestone, England (near Dover), and Calais, France. The Channel Tunnel is the largest privately financed construction project to date, with an estimated cost (in 1991) of $15 billion; it also has the longest tunnel system (38 km/24 mi) ever built under water. In November 1996, a truck aboard a freighter entering the tunnel caught fire, causing serious damage to the tunnel but no loss of life. Partial operations were resumed within a few weeks, and all repairs were completed by May 1997.

There were 17,274 km (10,727 mi) of standard and narrow gauge railway in Great Britain in 2004, including 5,296 km (3,289 mi) of electrified track. Standard gauge accounts for nearly all of the nation's railway system at 16,814 km (10,441 mi). Underground railway systems operate in London, Glasgow, and Liverpool. In London, the Underground consists of some 3,875 cars that operate over about 408 km (254 mi) of track, 167 km (104 mi) of which is underground. The Underground, the oldest part of which dates to 1863, operates 20 hours per day and is comprised of 248 stations on 11 lines that provide 2.7 million rides per day. In early 1997 the government proposed privatizing London's subway system because of lack of funds needed to restore the aging network. Capital investment has been diminished since the 1960s, resulting in increasing failures of signals and rolling stock and the deterioration of stations and track.

Great Britain has about 3,200 km (1,988 mi) of navigable inland waterways, mainly canals dating back to the pre-railroad age, of which as of 2004, some 620 km (386 mi) are still in commercial use. Great Britain has some 300 ports, including the Port of London, one of the largest in the world. Other major ports are Liverpool, Southampton, Hull, Clydeport (near Glasgow), the inland port of Manchester, and Bristol. The British merchant fleet, privately owned and operated, consists of 429 ships of 1,000 GRT or more, totaled 9,181,284 GRT in 2005. In an effort to curb the flagging of British merchant ships to less regulatory foreign nations, a British offshore registry program was initiated in the late 1980s. Under this program, merchant ships registered to the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, the Cayman Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands are entitled to fly the Red Ensign as if under the administration of the United Kingdom.

The Civil Aviation Authority was created in 1971 as an independent body responsible for national airline operations, traffic control, and air safety. In 2004, there were an estimated 471 airports. As of 2005 a total of 334 had paved runways, and there were also 11 heliports. International flights operate from London's Heathrow; Gatwick, London's second airport; Glasgow, in Scotland; Ringway (for Manchester); Aldergrove (for Belfast); and Elmdon (for Birmingham). The two government-owned airlines, British European Airways and British Overseas Airways Corp., were amalgamated in 1974 to form British Airways (BA). In 1984, BA was reestablished as British Airways PLC, a public limited company under government ownership, soon thereafter to be sold wholly to the public. There are a number of privately operated airlines, some of which operate air taxi services. British Caledonian, which maintained scheduled flights on both domestic and international routes, merged with British Airways in 1988. The Concorde, a supersonic jetliner developed jointly in the 1960s by the United Kingdom and France at a cost exceeding £1 billion, entered service between Heathrow and the United States in 1976. In 2003, the United Kingdom's airlines performed 5,251 million freight ton-km of freight service, and carried 76.377 million passengers on domestic and international flights.

HISTORY

The earliest people to occupy Britain are of unknown origin. Remains of these early inhabitants include the stone circles of Avebury and Stonehenge in Wiltshire. Celtic tribes from the Continent, the first known settlers in historical times, invaded before the 6th century bc. The islands were visited in ancient times by Mediterranean traders seeking jet, gold, pearls, and tin, which were being mined in Cornwall. Julius Caesar invaded in 55 bc but soon withdrew. In the 1st century ad, the Romans occupied most of the present-day area of England, remaining until the 5th century.

With the decline of the Roman Empire and the withdrawal of Roman troops (although many Romans had become Britonized and remained on the islands), Celtic tribes fought among themselves, and Scots and Picts raided from the north and from Ireland. Early raids by Angles, Saxons, and Jutes from the Continent soon swelled into invasions, and the leaders established kingdoms in the conquered territory while the native Celts retreated into the mountains of Wales and Cornwall. Although the Welsh were split into a northern and a southern group, they were not permanently subdued. In the 10th century, a Welsh king, Howel the Good (Hywel Dda), united Wales, codified the laws, and encouraged the Welsh bards.

Among the new English kingdoms, that of the West Saxons (Wessex) became predominant, chiefly through the leadership of Alfred the Great, who also had to fight a new wave of invasions by the Danes and other Norsemen. Alfred's successors were able to unify the country, but eventually the Danes completed their conquest, and King Canute (II) of Denmark became ruler of England by 1017. In 1042, with the expiration of the Scandinavian line, Edward the Confessor of Wessex became king. At his death in 1066, both Harold the Saxon and William, duke of Normandy, claimed the throne. William invaded England and defeated Harold in the Battle of Hastings, beginning the Norman Conquest (1066–70).

William I instituted a strong government, which lasted through the reigns of his sons William II and Henry I. The latter's death in 1135 brought a period of civil war and anarchy, which ended with the accession of Henry II (1154), who instituted notable constitutional and legal reforms. He and succeeding English kings expanded their holdings in France, touching off a long series of struggles between the two countries.

The Magna Carta

Long-standing conflict between the nobles and the kings reached a climax in the reign of King John with the victory of the barons, who at Runnymede in 1215 compelled the king to grant the Magna Carta. This marked a major advance toward the parliamentary system. Just half a century later, in 1265, Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, leader of the barons in their opposition to Henry III, summoned the first Parliament, with representatives not only of the rural nobility but also of the boroughs and towns. In the late 13th century, Edward I expanded the royal courts and reformed the legal system; he also began the first systematic attempts to conquer Wales and Scotland. In 1282, the last Welsh king, Llewellyn ap Gruffydd, was killed in battle, and Edward I completed the conquest of Wales. Two years later, the Statute of Rhuddlan established English rule. The spirit of resistance survived, however, and a last great uprising against England came in the early 15th century, when Owen Glendower (Owain ap Gruffydd) led a briefly successful revolt.

Scotland was inhabited in early historic times by the Picts and by roaming bands of Gaels, or Celts, from Ireland. Before the Romans left Britain in the 5th century, Scotland had been converted to Christianity by St. Ninian and his disciples. By the end of the following century, four separate kingdoms had been established in Scotland. Norsemen raided Scotland from the 8th to the 12th century, and some settled there. Most of the country was unified under Duncan I (r.1034–40). His son, Malcolm III (r.1059–93), who gained the throne after defeating Macbeth, the murderer of his father, married an English princess, Margaret (later sainted), and began to anglicize and modernize the lowlands.

Scotland United

Under David I (r.1124–53), Scotland was united, responsible government was established, walled towns (known as burghs) were developed, and foreign trade was encouraged. William the Lion (r.1165–1214) was captured by Henry II of England in 1174 and forced to accept the Treaty of Falaise, by which Scotland became an English fief. Although Scotland purchased its freedom from Richard I, the ambiguous wording of the agreement allowed later English kings to revive their claim.

When Alexander III died in 1286, Edward I of England, who claimed overlordship of Scotland, supported the claims of John Baliol, who was crowned in 1293. Edward began a war with Philip of France and demanded Scottish troops, but the Scots allied themselves with Philip, beginning the long relationship with France that distinguishes Scottish history. Edward subdued the Scots, put down an uprising led by William Wallace, executed Wallace in 1305, and established English rule. Baliol's heir was killed by Robert the Bruce, another claimant, who had himself crowned (1309), captured Edinburgh, and defeated Edward II of England decisively at Bannockburn in 1314. In 1328, Edward III signed a treaty acknowledging Scotland's freedom.

Under Edward III, the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) with France was begun. Notable victories by Edward the Black Prince (son of Edward III), Henry IV, and Henry V led to no permanent gains for England, and ultimately the English were driven out of France. The plague, known as the Black Death, broke out in England in 1348, wiping out a third of the population; it hastened the breakdown of the feudal system and the rise of towns. The 14th century was for England a time of confusion and change. John Wycliffe led a movement of reform in religion, spreading radical ideas about the need for churchly poverty and criticizing many established doctrines and practices. A peasant rebellion led by Wat Tyler in 1381 demanded the abolition of serfdom, monopolies, and the many restrictions on buying and selling.

In 1399, after 22 years of rule, Richard II was deposed and was succeeded by Henry IV, the first king of the house of Lancaster. The war with France continued, commerce flourished, and the wool trade became important. The Wars of the Roses (1455–85), in which the houses of Lancaster and York fought for the throne, ended with the accession of Henry VII, a member of the Tudor family, marking the beginning of the modern history of England.

The Tudors

Under the Tudors, commerce was expanded, English seamen ranged far and wide, and clashes with Spain (accelerated by religious differences) intensified. Earlier English dominance had not had much effect on Wales, but the Tudors followed a policy of assimilation, anglicizing Welsh laws and practices. Finally, under Henry VIII, the Act of Union (1536) made English the legal language and abolished all Welsh laws "at variance with those of England." In 1531, Henry separated the Anglican Church from Rome and proclaimed himself its head. After his death (1547), the succession to the throne became a major issue during the reigns of Edward VI (1547–53), Mary I (1553–58), and Elizabeth I (1558–1603).

In Scotland, James I (r.1406–37) had done much to regulate Scottish law and improve foreign relations. His murder in 1437 began a century of civil conflict. James IV (r.1488–1513) married Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VII of England, a marriage that was ultimately to unite the crowns of England and Scotland.

French influence in Scotland grew under James V (r.1513–42), who married Mary of Guise, but the Scottish people and nobility became favorably inclined toward the Reformation, championed by John Knox. After James's death, Mary ruled as regent for her daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots, who had married the dauphin of France, where she lived as dauphiness and later as queen. By the time Mary returned to Scotland (1561), after the death of her husband, most of the Scots were Protestants. A pro-English faction had the support of Queen Elizabeth I against the pro-French faction, and Mary, who claimed the throne of England, was imprisoned and executed (1587) by Elizabeth. Under Elizabeth, England in 1583 acquired its first colony, Newfoundland, and in 1588 defeated the Spanish Armada; it also experienced the beginning of a golden age of drama, literature, and music, among whose towering achievements are the plays of William Shakespeare.

Oliver Cromwell and the Commonwealth

Elizabeth was succeeded by Mary's son, James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England (r.1603–25), establishing the Stuart line. Under James and his son, Charles I (r.1625–49), the rising middle classes (mainly Puritan in religion) sought to make Parliament superior to the king. In the English Civil War, which broke out in 1642, Charles was supported by the Welsh, who had remained overwhelmingly Catholic in feeling, but most Scots opposed him. Charles was tried and executed in 1649, and Oliver Cromwell as Protector ruled the new Commonwealth until his death in 1658. Cromwell ruthlessly crushed uprisings in Ireland and suppressed the Welsh. In 1660, Charles II, eldest son of the executed king, regained the throne. The Restoration was marked by a reaction against Puritanism, by persecution of the Scottish Covenanters (Presbyterians), by increased prosperity, and by intensified political activity; during this period, Parliament managed to maintain many of its gains. Charles II's younger brother, James II (r.1685–88), who vainly attempted to restore Roman Catholicism, was overthrown in 1688 and was succeeded by his daughter, Mary II, and her Dutch husband, William III, who were invited to rule by Parliament. By this transfer of power, known to English history as the Glorious Revolution, the final supremacy of Parliament was established. Supporters of James II (Jacobites) in Scotland and Ireland, aided by France, sought to restore the deposed Stuart line, but their insurrection was suppressed in 1690 at the Battle of the Boyne, fought on the banks of the Irish river of that name.

In Wales, after Cromwell and the Commonwealth, the people began to turn to Calvinism; dissent grew, and such ministers as Griffith Jones, a pioneer in popular education, became national leaders. Most Welsh were won to the Calvinistic Methodist Church, which played a large part in fostering a nonpolitical Welsh nationalism. A long struggle to disestablish the Church of England in Wales culminated successfully in a 1914 act of Parliament.

Colonial Expansion

English colonial expansion developed further in the 17th and 18th centuries, in competition with France and the Netherlands, while at the same time the English merchant marine gained commercial supremacy over the Dutch. The wars of the Grand Alliance (1688–97) and of the Spanish Succession (1701–14) consolidated Britain's overseas possessions. At home, to ensure Scottish allegiance to England and prevent possible alliances with inimical countries, the Act of Union of Scotland and England was voted by the two parliaments in 1707, thereby formally creating the kingdom of Great Britain under one crown and with a single Parliament composed of representatives of both countries. This union held, despite Jacobite uprisings in 1715 and 1745–46, the latter under Prince Charles (Bonnie Prince Charlie, or the Young Pretender, grandson of James II); his defeat at Culloden Moor was the last land battle fought in Great Britain. Scottish affairs eventually became the province of the secretary of state for Scotland, a member of the British cabinet. Nevertheless, a nationalist movement demanding independence for Scotland persists to this day.

The accession of George I of the House of Hanover in 1714 (a great-grandson of James I) saw the beginning of the modern cabinet system, with the king leaving much of the governing to his ministers. The 18th century was a time of rapid colonial and mercantile expansion abroad and internal stability and literary and artistic achievement at home. Britain won control of North America and India in the Seven Years' War (ended in 1763 by the Treaty of Paris), which also established British supremacy over the seas; however, the American Revolution (1775–83) cost Britain its most important group of colonies. A few years later, British settlement of Australia and then of New Zealand became key elements in the spreading British Empire. Britain increased its power further by its leading role in the French Revolutionary Wars and in the defeat of Napoleon and French expansionist aims.

Birth of the United Kingdom

In 1800, with the Act of Union of Great Britain and Ireland, the United Kingdom formally came into being. The conquest of Ireland had never been consolidated; the Act of Union followed an Irish rebellion in 1798 after the failure of a demand for parliamentary reform. But although the act established Irish representation in Parliament, the Irish question continued to cause trouble throughout the 19th century. Absentee landlordism, particularly in the 26 southern counties, fostered poverty and hatred of the English. Moreover, there was a growing division of interest between these counties and the six counties of the north, popularly called Ulster, where, early in the 17th century, Protestant Scots and English had settled on land confiscated by the British crown after a rebellion. While the north gradually became Protestant and industrial, the rest of Ireland remained Catholic and rural. With the introduction of the first Home Rule Bill in 1886, the northern Irish, fearing domination by the southern Catholic majority, began a campaign that ended in the 1920 Government of Ireland Act, which established separate domestic legislatures for the north and south, as well as continued representation in the UK Parliament. The six northern counties accepted the act and became Northern Ireland. The 26 southern counties, however, did not accept it; in 1921, the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed, by which these counties left the United Kingdom to become the Irish Free State (now the Irish Republic, or Éire), which was officially established in 1922.

Queen Victoria's Reign

The Industrial Revolution, beginning in the second half of the 18th century, provided the economic underpinning for British colonial and military expansion throughout the 1800s. However, the growth of the factory system and of urbanization also brought grave new social problems. The enclosure of grazing land in the Scottish highlands and the industrialization of southern Wales were accompanied by extensive population shifts and led to largescale emigration to the United States, Canada, and Australia. Reform legislation came slowly, although the spirit of reform and social justice was in the air. Slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire in 1834. The great Reform Acts of 1832, 1867, and 1884 enfranchised the new middle class and the working class. Factory acts, poor laws, and other humanitarian legislation did away with some of the worst abuses, and pressure mounted for eliminating others. The long reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901) saw an unprecedented commercial and industrial prosperity. This was a period of great imperial expansion, especially in Africa, where at the end of the century Britain fought settlers of predominantly Dutch origin in the South African (or Boer) War. Toward the end of the century, also, the labor movement grew strong, education was developed along national lines, and a regular civil service was finally established.

The 20th Century

The vast economic and human losses of World War I, in which nearly 800,000 Britons were killed, brought on serious disturbances in the United Kingdom as elsewhere, and the economic depression of the 1930s resulted in the unemployment of millions of workers. In 1931, the Statute of Westminster granted the status of equality to the self-governing British dominions and created the concept of a British Commonwealth of Nations. During the late 1930s, the government of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sought to avoid war by appeasing Nazi Germany, but after Hitler invaded Poland, the United Kingdom declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939. Prime Minister Winston Churchill led the United Kingdom during World War II in a full mobilization of the population in the armed services, in home defense, and in war production. Although victorious, the United Kingdom suffered much destruction from massive German air attacks, and the military and civilian death toll exceeded 900,000. At war's end, a Labour government was elected; it pledged to carry out a full program of social welfare "from the cradle to the grave," coupled with the nationalization of industry. Medicine was socialized, other social services were expanded, and several industries were put under public ownership. Complete nationalization of industry, however, was halted with the return to power of the Conservatives in 1951. During Labour's subsequent terms in office, from 1964 to 1970 and from 1974 to 1979, little further nationalization was attempted.

Post-World War II Era

To a large extent, the United Kingdom's postwar history can be characterized as a prolonged effort to put the faltering economy on its feet and to cope with the economic, social, and political consequences of the disbandment of its empire. By early 1988, all that remained of what had been the largest empire in the world were 14 dependencies, many of them small islands with tiny populations and few economic resources. The United Kingdom has remained firmly within the Atlantic alliance since World War II. A founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA), the United Kingdom overcame years of domestic qualms and French opposition when it entered the European Community (EC) on 1 January 1973. After a Labour government replaced the Conservatives in March 1974, the membership terms were renegotiated, and United Kingdom voters approved continued British participation by a 67.2% majority in an unprecedented national referendum.

The principal domestic problems in the 1970s were rapid inflation, labor disputes, and the protracted conflict in Northern Ireland. Long-smoldering tensions between Protestants and Catholics erupted into open warfare after civil rights protests in 1969 by Catholics claiming discrimination and insufficient representation in the government. The Protestant reaction was violent, and the Irish Republican Army (IRA), seeking the union of Ulster with the Irish Republic, escalated the conflict by committing terrorist acts in both Northern Ireland and England. British troops, first dispatched to Belfast and Londonderry in August 1969, have remained there since.

On 30 March 1972, Northern Ireland's parliament (Stormont) was prorogued, and direct rule was imposed from London. Numerous attempts to devise a new constitution failed, as did other proposals for power sharing. In 1982, legislation establishing a new 78-member Northern Ireland Assembly was enacted. Elections were held that October, but the 19 Catholic members chosen refused to claim their seats. Meanwhile, the violence continued, one of the victims being the British war hero Earl Mountbatten of Burma, who was murdered while vacationing in Ireland on 27 August 1979. In October 1980, IRA members imprisoned in Ulster began a series of hunger strikes; by the time the strikes ended the following October 10 men had died. In November 1985, the United Kingdom and the Irish Republic signed an agreement committing both governments to recognition of Northern Ireland as part of the United Kingdom and to cooperation between the two governments by establishing an intergovernmental conference concerned with Northern Ireland and with relations between the two parts of Ireland.

The "Downing Street Declaration" of December 1993 between British Prime Minister John Major and Irish Prime Minister Albert Reynolds over the future of Northern Ireland suggested that undisclosed contacts had been maintained for some time between the Irish Republican Army (IRA), Sinn Feìn (the political wing of the IRA), and the British government. Tony Blair, who became prime minister in May 1997, also invested in normalization of relations between Ireland and the United Kingdom and in a longterm solution to the sectarian strife in Northern Ireland. In 1998, Ireland and the United Kingdom signed a peace agreement (Good Friday agreement) in which Ireland pledged to amend Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish constitution, which lay claim to the territory in the North. In return, the United Kingdom promised to amend the Government of Ireland Act.

In 1979, a Conservative government, headed by Margaret Thatcher, came to power with a program of income tax cuts and reduced government spending. Thatcher, who won reelection in 1983 and 1987, embarked on a policy of "privatizing"—selling to the private sector—many of the UK's nationalized businesses. In foreign policy, the government's most dramatic action was sending a naval task force to the Falkland Islands following Argentina's occupation of the islands on 2 April 1982. After intense fighting, British administration was restored to the Falklands on 14 June.

Thatcher's leadership was challenged by Conservative MPs in November 1990, and she failed to win the necessary absolute majority. Thatcher withdrew and was replaced by John Major. The Conservatives were returned to power in April 1992 with a reduced majority. Major's government sought to redefine Conservative values with a renewed emphasis on law and order.

Labour Party leader Tony Blair was elected prime minister on 2 May 1997, ending 18 years of Conservative Party rule and signaling a major shift in British domestic policy (he was reelected in 2001 and 2005). Blair, who moved his party to the center of the political spectrum during the campaign, pledged initiatives to modernize Britain's political structures. To that effect, he organized the creation of regional assemblies for Scotland and Wales and a municipal government for London. The regional parliaments were ratified by a referendum in late 1997 and began their first session in 1998. The city council for greater London came into being in mid-2000 and London's first mayor in 15 years was Ken Livingstone (reelected 2004), a left-wing Labourite not much liked by the middle-of-the-road Blairites.

As promised, Blair's government also restructured the House of Lords to do away with the large number of hereditary peers. Only 75 of the 650 hereditary peers now sit in the House of Lords alongside 500 life peers, several senior judges, 26 bishops of the Church of England, and 15 deputy speakers.

The Blair government has also spent much time in tackling the Northern Ireland problem. The Good Friday Accord of 1998 envisioned a Catholic-Protestant administration and the gradual decommissioning of the IRA. The power-sharing government came into being in December 1999, but was suspended 11 weeks later because the IRA refused to make any disarmament commitments. A breakthrough occurred in May 2000 when the IRA agreed to allow leading international figures to inspect arms dumps and to begin the process of complete and verifiable disarmament. The Protestant party voted to revive the power-sharing arrangements on 27 May 2000 and the UK government promised to restore substantial authority to the new Northern Irish cabinet (this was accomplished on 29 May). However, decommissioning of the IRA did not progress in early 2001. In October 2002, Sinn Feìn's offices at Stormont (the Northern Ireland Assembly) were raided due to a large police investigation into intelligence-gathering operations on behalf of Irish republicans. On 14 October, devolution was suspended due to the spying allegations and direct rule from London was reimposed on Northern Ireland. Blair announced in May 2003 elections for the National Assembly would be postponed, due to the lack of evidence of peaceful intentions on behalf of the IRA. Elections were held on 26 November 2003, however, with the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Feìn forming the two largest parties. On 28 July 2005, the IRA announced it would halt its armed campaign to oust British rule. The statement was received with skepticism by the DUP.

Prime Minister Blair offered strong support for the US-led war on terrorism begun after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States; British forces took part in the campaign in Afghanistan to oust the Taliban regime. The United Kingdom in 2002–03 also stood with the United States in its diplomatic and military efforts to force Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq to disarm itself of any weapons of mass destruction it might possess. The war in Iraq began on 19 March 2003. British forces fought side-by-side with US forces, especially in southern Iraq. In the aftermath of the war, Blair indicated a central role must be played by the UN in the reconstruction of Iraq; in this he stood with other European leaders. In October 2004, the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) concluded there had been no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq for some time before the war. British intelligence withdrew a controversial claim that Saddam Hussein could have used WMD with 45 minutes' notice. Blair acknowledged that the intelligence had been flawed, but denied having misrepresented it in making the case for war. Another controversy related to the Iraq War was the publication by The London Times on 1 May 2005 of a memo (subsequently labeled the "Downing Street memo") containing an overview of a secret 23 July 2002 meeting among British intelligence, government, and defense leaders discussing the build-up to the Iraq War. The memo included direct reference to classified US policy of the time and indicated that "intelligence and facts were being fixed" around the policy of removing Saddam Hussein from power. This was taken to show that US intelligence prior to the war had been deliberately falsified, and not just mistaken. The memo suggested that the UN weapons inspections that began after 8 November 2002 were manipulated to provide a legal pretext for the war, and that the removal by force of the Iraq regime had been planned prior to the date of the secret British meeting. In the United States, demands for an explanation of the revelations contained in the memo and calls for a formal Congressional inquiry were ignored by the Bush administration.

In mid-2005 the United Kingdom was wracked by terrorist violence. On 7 July 2005 four suicide bombers struck London's transit system, killing 52 people and injuring more than 700. Three underground trains were bombed, as was one double-decker bus. Two weeks later, on 21 July, bombings of three underground trains and one bus were attempted, but the suicide bombers' bombs failed to fully detonate. On 22 July, a Brazilian man, Jean Charles de Menezes, was shot to death at the Stockwell underground station by British police who believed him to be implicated in the bombing attempts. He was found not to have played any role in the 21 July attacks.

The United Kingdom remains one of three European Union (EU) members not adopting European economic and monetary union and embracing the euro as its currency. The other two nations are Denmark and Sweden.

GOVERNMENT

The United Kingdom is a monarchy in form but a parliamentary democracy in substance. The sovereign—Elizabeth II since 1952—is head of state and as such is head of the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary, commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and temporal head of the established Church of England. In practice, however, gradually evolving restrictions have transmuted the sovereign's legal powers into instruments for affecting the popular will as expressed through Parliament. In the British formulation, the sovereign reigns but does not rule, for the sovereign is under the law and not above it, ruling only by approval of Parliament and acting only on the advice of her ministers.

The United Kingdom is governed, in the name of the sovereign, by Her Majesty's Government—a body of ministers who are the leading members of whichever political party the electorate has voted into office and who are responsible to Parliament. Parliament itself, the supreme legislative authority in the realm, consists of the sovereign, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. Northern Ireland had its own parliament (Stormont) subordinate to Westminster; however, because of civil strife in Ulster, the Stormont was prorogued on 30 March 1972, and direct rule was imposed from Westminster. After several abortive attempts over the next decade to devise a system of home-rule government acceptable to both Protestant and Catholic leaders, the 78-member Northern Ireland Assembly was established in 1982, but it was dissolved in 1986. As a result of the 1998 "Good Friday Agreement," a Catholic-Protestant power-sharing government came into being in 1999. It was suspended in October 2002, and direct rule from London returned.

In 1979, proposals for the establishment of elected legislatures in Wales and Scotland failed in the former and, though winning a bare plurality, fell short of the required margin for approval (40% of all eligible voters) in the latter. Regional parliaments for Scotland and Wales were ratified by referendum in 1997, however, and they began their first sessions in 1998.

The sovereign formally summons and dissolves Parliament. The House of Lords, whose size has been greatly reduced, used to count about 1,200 peers, including hereditary peers, spiritual peers (archbishops and bishops of the Church of England), and life peers (eminent persons unwilling to accept a hereditary peerage). Over the centuries, its powers have gradually been reduced; today, its main function is to bring the wide experience of its members into the process of lawmaking. As of 2005, the House of Commons had 646 members. A general election must be held every five years but is often held sooner. All British subjects 18 years old and over may vote in national elections; women won equal franchise with men in 1922. Citizens of Ireland resident in Britain may also vote, as may British subjects abroad for a period of five years after leaving the United Kingdom.

Each Parliament may during its lifetime make or unmake any law. Parliamentary bills may be introduced by either house, unless they deal with finance or representation; these are always introduced in the Commons, which has ultimate authority for lawmaking. The House of Lords may not alter a financial measure or delay for longer than a year any bill passed by the Commons in two successive sessions. Bills passed by both houses receive the traditional royal assent and become law as acts of Parliament; no bill has received a royal veto for more than 200 years. The Speaker of the Parliament is the chief officer of the House of Commons. The Speaker is nonpartisan and functions impartially. The first female Speaker was elected in 1992.

Executive power is vested in the prime minister, who, though nominally appointed by the sovereign, is traditionally the leader of the majority party in Parliament. The prime minister is assisted by ministers, also nominally appointed by the sovereign, who are chosen from the majority party and mostly from the Commons, which must approve the government's general policy and the more important of its specific measures. The most senior ministers, about 20, compose the cabinet, which meets regularly to decide policy on major issues. Ministers are responsible collectively to Parliament for all cabinet decisions; individual ministers are responsible to Parliament for the work of their departments. There are around 30 major central government departments, each staffed by members of the permanent civil service.

The British constitution is made up of parliamentary statutes, common law, and traditional precepts and practices known as conventions, all evolved through the centuries. Largely unwritten, it has never been codified and is constantly evolving.

POLITICAL PARTIES

UK parliamentary government based on the party system has evolved only during the past 100 years. Although the 18th-century terms "Whig" and "Tory" indicated certain political leanings, there was no clear-cut division in Parliament and no comprehensive party organization. Not until the 19th-century Reform Acts enfranchised millions of new voters did the modern party system develop. The British party system is based on the assumption that there are at least two parties in the Commons, each with a sufficiently united following to be able to form an alternative government at any time. This assumption is recognized in the fact that the largest minority party is officially designated as Her Majesty's Opposition; its leader, who designates a "shadow government," is paid a salary from public funds.

The main political parties represented in Parliament today are the Labour Party, the Conservative Party, and the Liberal Democrats (a coalition of the Liberal and Social Democratic parties, which voted in favor of a formal merger in 1988). From time to time during the past 50 years, other parties have arisen or have splintered off from the main groups, only to disappear or to become reabsorbed. Thus, the Fascists, who were of some significance before World War II, no longer put up candidates for elections. The British Communist Party has not elected a candidate to Parliament since 1950.

Since World War I, the Labour Party has replaced the Liberal Party, a major force during the late 19th century, as the official opposition to a Conservative government. Founded in 1900 as the political arm of the already powerful trade union movement, the Labour Party was until 1918 a federation of trade unions and socialist groups and had no individual members. Today, its constituent associations consist of affiliated organizations (such as trade unions, cooperative societies, branches of socialist societies, and trade councils), as well as individual members organized into wards. Its program calls for public ownership of the means of production, improvement of the social and economic conditions of the people, defense of human rights, cooperation with labor and socialist organizations of other countries, and peaceful adjustment of international disputes. Between the world wars, it established two short-lived Labour governments while still a minority party, and then joined Churchill's coalition government in World War II. Returned to power with a huge majority in 1945, Labour instituted a program of full employment through planned production; established social services to provide adequate medical care, old age care, nutrition, and educational opportunities for all; began the nationalization of basic industries; and started to disband the empire by granting independence to India, Pakistan, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and Burma (Myanmar).

If the rapid rise of the Labour Party has been an outstanding feature of 20th-century British politics, the continuing vitality and adaptability of the Conservative Party, successor of the 18th-century Tories, has been no less remarkable. In foreign affairs, there has been little difference between the parties since World War II. Both have generally been firm allies of the United States, and both are pledged to the maintenance of NATO. The two parties have also been in general agreement about the country's social and economic needs. They differ mainly on the degree of state control to be applied to industry and commerce and on practical methods of application. Conservative emphasis is on free enterprise, individual initiative, and restraining the power of the unions. Even on these matters, however, pragmatism is the norm. In office, the Conservatives have let stand much of Labour's social program, and Labour, during Britain's economic difficulties in the late 1970s, imposed its own policy of wage restraints.

After World War II, Labour was in power during 1945–51, 1964–70, 1974–79, and since 1997; the Conservatives have held office during 1951–64, 1970–74, and 1979–97. Scottish National Party members were decisive in the fall of the Labour government in March 1979, after Labour was unable to enact its program for limited home rule (including elected legislatures) in Scotland and Wales. In elections of 3 May 1979, after a campaign fought mainly on economic grounds, Conservatives won 339 seats, with 43.9% of the vote, to Labour's 268 seats, with 36.9%, and Margaret Thatcher replaced James Callaghan as prime minister. Amid growing dissension, the Labour Party moved leftward in the early 1980s and broke with the Conservatives over defense policy, committing itself to the removal of all nuclear weapons from the United Kingdom and, in 1986, to the removal of US nuclear bases. The Social Democratic Party, founded in 1981 by moderate former Labour ministers, had by 30 September 1982 obtained 30 seats in Parliament, 27 of whose occupants were breakaway Labour members. In the elections of 9 June 1983, the Conservatives increased their parliamentary majority, winning 397 seats and about 42% of the vote. The Labour Party captured 209 seats and 28% of the vote, its poorest showing in more than five decades. The Alliance of Liberals and Social Democrats won 25% of the vote but only 23 seats (Liberals 17, Social Democrats 6). Minor parties took 5% of the vote and 21 seats.

In the elections of 11 June 1987, the Conservatives won 376 seats and about 42% of the vote. The Labour Party won 229 seats and 31% of the vote. The Liberal-Social Democratic Alliance won nearly 23% of the vote but only 22 seats (Liberals 17, Social Democrats 5). Minor parties took about 4% of the vote and 23 seats: Ulster Unionist (Northern Ireland), 9; Democratic Unionist (Northern Ireland), 3; Scottish National Party, 3; Plaid Cymru (Welsh Nationalist), 3; Social Democratic and Labour Party (Northern Ireland), 3; Sinn Feìn (Northern Ireland), 1; and Popular Unionist (Northern Ireland), 1.

The general election of 9 April 1992 resulted in a continuation of Conservative government under John Major with 42% of the vote and 336 seats. Labour followed with 34% of the vote and 271 seats. The Liberal Democrats took almost 18% of the vote, which netted 20 seats. Minor parties received 3% of the vote and 17 seats.

The Labour Party, under the leadership of Tony Blair, won a landslide victory in the general election of 1 May 1997, restoring it to power for the first time in 18 years. Of 659 possible seats, the Labour Party won 418 (43.1%), gaining 146 seats; the Conservative Party won only 165 seats (30.6%), losing 178 seats. The Liberal Democrats won 46 seats (16.7%), a gain of 26 seats since 1992 and the most seats held by the party since the 1920s. Other parties received 9.6% of vote, with the following representation after the 1997 elections: Ulster Unionist, 10; Scottish National, 6; Plaid Cymru, 4; Social Democrat and Labour, 3; Democratic Unionist, 2; Sinn Feìn, 2; Independent, 2; and United Kingdom Unionist, 1.

The June 2001 election was called "the quiet landslide" following the major victory of the Labour Party in the 1997 election. Labour won 40.7% of the vote and secured 413 seats; the Conservative Party gained only one seat (166) and registered 31.7% of the vote. The Liberal Democrats gained six seats (52; 18.3% of the vote) from their historic high in 1997. Other parties received 9.3% of the vote, with the following representation after the 2001 election: Ulster Unionist, 6; Scottish National, 5; Democratic Unionist, 5; Plaid Cymru, 4; Sinn Feìn, 4; Social Democrat and Labour, 3; and Independent, 1.

In the general election held on 5 May 2005, Labour lost 47 seats but retained its majority with 356 seats in Parliament (35.3% of the vote); the Conservatives gained 33 seats to end up with 198 (32.3% of the vote). The Liberal Democrats held 62 seats after gaining 11 (22.1% of the vote). Other parties garnered 10.3% of the vote, with the following representation in Parliament after the election: Democratic Unionist Party, 9; Scottish National Party, 6; Sinn Feìn, 5; Plaid Cymru, 3; Social Democrat and Labour Party, 3; Ulster Unionist Party, 1; Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern, 1; and others, 2. The next parliamentary election was to be held in May 2010.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The scope of local governing bodies is defined and limited by acts of Parliament, which also makes certain ministers responsible for the efficient functioning of local services. In England, local government is supervised by the Department of the Environment; the regional parliaments supervise local governments in Wales and Scotland; and Northern Ireland, which was supposed to also have devolved powers, was placed back under the supervision of the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland.

From 1965 to 1985, Greater London, the nation's largest metropolitan area, was subdivided into 32 London boroughs; the Greater London Council was the chief administrative authority. Under the Local Government Act of 1985, however, the Greater London Council was abolished and its functions were transferred to London borough and metropolitan district councils, excepting certain services (such as police and fire services and public transport) now administered by joint borough and council authorities. The Labour Party government returned local government to London. However, the mayor's office has a limited budget and few policy powers. The mayor's office coordinates relationship among the different boroughs and controls local transport (Underground).

Under the Local Government Act of 1972, the county system that had prevailed throughout the rest of England and Wales was replaced by a two-tier structure of counties and districts. In the 1990s, local governmental structures were reorganized, and single-tier administrations with responsibility for all areas of local government were reestablished. There are currently 46 unitary authorities in England, and 34 shire counties split into 238 nonmetropolitan districts. These in turn are subdivided into electoral wards and districts. In 2000, a two-tier structure was reestablished for London; it has 32 boroughs and the City of London. Scotland is subject to the administration of both the UK government in Westminster and the Scottish executive in Edinburgh, and Wales is subject to the administration of Westminster and the National Assembly for Wales in Cardiff. Scotland is divided into 32 council areas, which in turn are divided into electoral wards and communities. Wales is subdivided into 22 unitary authorities, which in turn are divided into electoral divisions and communities. Northern Ireland is subject to the administration of both the UK government and the Northern Ireland Executive in Belfast. It is divided into 26 districts, which in turn are divided into electoral wards. The United Kingdom has more than 10,000 electoral wards/divisions. The minimum voting age in local elections is 18.

JUDICIAL SYSTEM

The United Kingdom does not have a single body of law applicable throughout the realm. Scotland has its own distinctive system and courts; in Northern Ireland, certain spheres of law differ in substance from those operating in England and Wales. A feature common to all UK legal systems, however—and one that distinguishes them from many continental systems—is the absence of a complete code, since legislation and unwritten or common law are all part of the "constitution."

The main civil courts in England and Wales are 218 county courts for small cases and the High Court, which is divided into the chancery division, the family division, and the Queen's Bench division (including the maritime and commercial courts), for the more important cases. Appeals from the county courts may also be heard in the High Court, though the more important ones come before the Court of Appeal; a few appeals are heard before the House of Lords, which is the ultimate court of appeal for civil cases throughout the United Kingdom. In Scotland, civil cases are heard at the sheriff courts (corresponding roughly to the English county courts) and in the Outer House of the Court of Session, which is the supreme civil court in Scotland; appeals are heard by the Inner House of the Court of Session. Trial by jury in civil cases is common in Scotland but rare in the rest of the United Kingdom.

Criminal courts in England and Wales include magistrates' courts, which try less serious offenses (some 96% of all criminal cases) and consist most often of three unpaid magistrates known as justices of the peace, and 78 centers of the Crown Court, presided over by a bench of justices or, in the most serious cases, by a High Court judge sitting alone. All contested cases receive a jury trial. Cases involving persons under 17 years of age are heard by justices of the peace in specially constituted juvenile courts. Appeals may be heard successively by the Crown Court, the High Court, the Court of Criminal Appeal, and in certain cases by the House of Lords. In Scotland, minor criminal cases are tried without jury in the sheriff courts and district courts, and more serious cases with a jury in the sheriff courts. The supreme criminal court is the High Court of the Justiciary, where cases are heard by a judge sitting with a jury; this is also the ultimate appeals court.

All criminal trials are held in open court. In England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, 12-citizen juries must unanimously decide the verdict unless, with no more than two jurors dissenting, the judge directs them to return a majority verdict. Scottish juries of 15 persons are permitted to reach a majority decision and, if warranted, a verdict of "not proven." Among temporary emergency measures passed with the aim of controlling terrorism in Northern Ireland are those empowering ministers to order the search, arrest, and detention of suspected terrorists and permitting juryless trials for terrorist acts in Northern Ireland.

Central responsibility for the administration of the judicial system lies with the lord chancellor (who heads the judiciary and also serves as a cabinet minister and as speaker of the House of Lords) and the home secretary (and the secretaries of state for Scotland and for Northern Ireland). Judges are appointed by the crown, on the advice of the prime minister, lord chancellor, or the appropriate cabinet ministries.

In 2005 Parliament passed the Constitutional Reform Act of 2005, which provides for a Supreme Court of the United Kingdom to abolish the appellate jurisdiction of the House of Lords and to reduce the role of the lord chancellor, among other changes.

The United Kingdom accepts the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice with reservations.

ARMED FORCES

After the general demobilization that followed World War II, compulsory national service for all eligible males over 19 years of age was introduced. Call-ups of national servicemen ceased in 1960, but those who had been trained formed part of the general reserve until June 1974, when the national service legislation expired. Reserves now form part of the long-term reserve established in 1964, composed of all men under 45 years of age who have served in the regular army since 28 February 1964, plus the highly trained units of the territorial army volunteer reserve. Home service forces are stationed in Northern Ireland, Gibraltar, and the Falkland Islands.

Total active army strength in 2005 was 116,760. Equipment included 543 main battle tanks, 475 reconnaissance vehicles, 575 armored infantry fighting vehicles, 2,503 armored personnel carriers, and 877 artillery pieces. The navy had 26,430 personnel including 7,000 Royal Marines and 6,200 naval aviation personnel. Major units of the British fleet included 15 nuclear submarines (four SSBNs; 11 SSNs), three aircraft carriers, 11 destroyers, 20 frigates, 24 coastal/patrol, 22 mine warfare, and three amphibious and 26 logistical/support ships. The Royal Air Force had a strength of 48,140 active personnel, with 339 combat capable aircraft, including 128 fighters, 117 strike/fighter ground attack, and 74 pure fighter ground attack aircraft. As of 2005, the United Kingdom's strategic missile force was based on 58 submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with fewer than 200 operational warheads.

Basing its defense policy on NATO, the British government in the 1970s reduced its overseas commitments. The defense budget for 2005 was $51.1 billion. British troops participate in a number of peacekeeping missions. The United States has 9,800 military personnel stationed in the United Kingdom.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

The United Kingdom became a charter member of the United Nations on 24 October 1945; it participates in the ECE, ECLAC, and ESCAP, as well as in all the nonregional specialized agencies. The United Kingdom is a permanent member of the UN Security Council. The United Kingdom is also a member of the Council of Europe, the European Union, NATO, OECD, OSCE, the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Caribbean Development Bank, G-5. G-7, G-8, the Paris Club (G-10), and the WTO. The headquarters of the IMO is in London. The country holds observer status in the OAS.

The Commonwealth of Nations, an organization of 49 states, provides a means for consultation and cooperation, especially on economic matters, between the United Kingdom and its former colonies. Its main coordinating organ is the Commonwealth Secretariat, which was established in London in 1965 and is headed by a secretary-general appointed by the heads of the member governments. The heads of governments hold biennial meetings; meetings also are held by diplomatic representatives known as high commissioners and among other ministers, officials, and experts.

Despite controversy within the nation itself, the United Kingdom has been a strong supporter of the US-led international war on terrorism. The country has support UN missions and operations in Kosovo (est. 1999), Liberia (est. 2003), Sierra Leone (est. 1999), Georgia (est. 1993), the DROC (est. 1999), and Cyprus (est. 1964), among others. The United Kingdom is part of the Australia Group, the Zangger Committee, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the Nuclear Suppliers Group (London Group), the Nuclear Energy Agency, and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The nation holds guest status in the Nonaligned Movement.

In environmental cooperation, the United Kingdom is part of the Antarctic Treaty; the Basel Convention; Conventions on Biological Diversity, Whaling, and Air Pollution; Ramsar; CITES; the London Convention; International Tropical Timber Agreements; the Kyoto Protocol; the Montréal Protocol; MARPOL; the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty; and the UN Conventions on the Law of the Sea, Climate Change and Desertification.

ECONOMY

The United Kingdom—one of the most highly industrialized countries in the world, with the world's fourth-largest economy, and one of four countries in Western Europe with a trillion dollar economy (the others are Germany, France, and Italy)—lives by manufacture, trade, and financial and commercial services. Apart from coal and low-grade iron ore, some timber, building materials, and natural gas and North Sea oil, it has few natural resources. Agriculture provides 60% of the food needed with only about 2% of the labor force. The remainder of the United Kingdom's food supply and most raw materials for its industries have to be imported and paid for largely through exports of manufactures and services. The United Kingdom is in fact one of the world's largest markets for food and agricultural products and the fifth-largest trading nation. Vast quantities of imported wheat, meat, butter, livestock feeds, tea, tobacco, wool, and timber have been balanced by exports of machinery, ships, locomotives, aircraft, and motor vehicles. The pattern of exports is gradually changing, however. Post World War II reduction in output of textiles—once a leading British export—due to competition from Asia, and in coal output, because of competition from oil and mines in Europe, has been offset by industries such as electronics and chemicals. A major source of earnings is the variety of commercial services that stem from the United Kingdom's role as central banker of the sterling area. Shipping, income from overseas investment, insurance, and tourism also make up an important part of the economy.

The British economy is one of the strongest in Europe: as of the early 2000s, inflation, interest rates, and unemployment remained low. Since the 1979–81 recession, the British economy has posted steady gains. Between 1983 and 1990, real GDP increased by nearly 25%. Individual productivity increased by 14% during the 1980–85 period and another 25% during 1985–90. In less than a decade, the United Kingdom went from heavy dependence on imported oil to energy self-sufficiency, but this ended in 1989, although the United Kingdom's dependence on energy imports in the 1990s was far lower than in the past. Inflation fell from 18% in 1980 to an annual rate of 1.9% by July 1987. However, it averaged 6.3% a year during 1988–92 before falling to 1.6% in 1993. From 1994 to 1997, annual growth was over 3% (3.125%), but fell an average 2.5% from 1998 to 1999. An increase to 3.1% in 2000 was slowed to 2% and 1.6% in the global economic slowdown of 2001–03, exacerbated by the high value of the pound and the bursting of the "new economy" bubble, which hurt manufacturing and exports. Inflation, which stood at 2.7% in 1998, had fallen to 2.2% in 2002. After falling to 5.8% in 1990, the unemployment rate crept up to 10.4% in 1993 but declined to 8% in 1995, and 7.5% in 1998. In 2002, recorded unemployment was 5.1%. The estimated unemployment rate in 2004 was 4.8%. Real GDP growth stood at an average 2.3% from 2001–05. Inflation during that period averaged 1.5%. Real GDP grew by 1.8% in 2005, and was forecast to expand by just 1.6% in 2006, before rebounding to 2.1% in 2007.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the government privatized many major companies, as well as a number of subsidiaries of nationalized industries and other businesses. Among the major companies privatized were British Telecom, British Gas, British Steel, British Airways, British Aerospace, Rolls-Royce, Austin Rover, Cable and Wireless, ICL, British water utilities, British Coal, and British Rail.

INCOME

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reports that in 2005 the United Kingdom's gross domestic product (GDP) was estimated at $1.9 trillion. The CIA defines GDP as the value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year and computed on the basis of purchasing power parity (PPP) rather than value as measured on the basis of the rate of exchange based on current dollars. The per capita GDP was estimated at $30,900. The annual growth rate of GDP was estimated at 1.8%. The average inflation rate in 2005 was 3.2%. It was estimated that agriculture accounted for 1.1% of GDP, industry 26%, and services 72.9%.

According to the World Bank, in 2003 remittances from citizens working abroad totaled $5.029 billion or about $85 per capita and accounted for approximately 0.3% of GDP.

The World Bank reports that in 2003 household consumption in United Kingdom totaled $1.174 trillion or about $19,814 per capita based on a GDP of $1.8 trillion, measured in current dollars rather than PPP. Household consumption includes expenditures of individuals, households, and nongovernmental organizations on goods and services, excluding purchases of dwellings. It was estimated that for the period 1990 to 2003 household consumption grew at an average annual rate of 3.1%. In 2001 it was estimated that approximately 14% of household consumption was spent on food, 9% on fuel, 3% on health care, and 3% on education. It was estimated that in 2002 about 17% of the population had incomes below the poverty line.

LABOR

The total workforce of the United Kingdom in 2005 was estimated at 30.07 million. As of 2004, the services sector accounted for 79.5% of the labor force, with industry at 19.1% and agriculture only 1.5%. Between 1983 and 1992 there was a substantial shift in employment from previously dominant manufacturing to service industries. Employment in industry, which had been 7,788,000 in 1983, was down to 4,986,000 in 1998. The unemployment rate in 2005 was estimated at 4.7%.

The Employment Relations Act protects union organization, the statutory right to strike, and minimum employment standards. Nearly all trade unions of any size are affiliated with the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the national center of the trade union movement. There is also a separate Scottish Trades Union Congress. The legal status of the trade unions is defined by the Trade Union and Labor Relations Act of 1974. Restrictions on the power of the trade unions are embodied in the Employment Acts of 1980 and 1982 and in the Trade Union Act of 1984. As of 2005, about 29% of Britain's workforce was unionized. In the public sector, 57% of the labor force belongs to a union, while in the private sector only 17% are union members.

The standard workweek is limited to 48 hours, which is averaged over a period of 17 to 26 weeks. Besides the statutory public holidays, most employees have at least four weeks' annual vacation with pay. Children under the age of 16 are not permitted to work unless it is part of an educational experience. Children under age 13 are prohibited from working in any capacity. As of 2005, the national minimum wage rate varied from $7.45 per hour to $8.82 per hour depending upon the employee's age. Although these rates are insufficient to provide a decent living standard, the gap is filled by a range of government benefits, which includes free medical care under the National Health Service.

AGRICULTURE

Agriculture is intensive and highly mechanized, producing about 60% of the United Kingdom's food needs. Agriculture's importance has declined in recent years; including forestry and fishing, it contributed about 1% to the GDP in 2003, down from 2.3% in 1971. In 2003, agricultural products accounted for 4.9% of exports and there was an agricultural trade deficit of almost $20.2 billion (second after Japan). Agriculture engages 1% of the labor force.

Nearly 24% of Great Britain's land area was devoted to crops in 2003. There were about 280,600 holdings, down from 422,000 in the late 1960s. In Great Britain roughly 70% of the farms are primarily or entirely owner-occupied, but in Northern Ireland nearly all are.

Most British farms produce a variety of products. The type of farming varies with the soil and climate. The better farming land is generally in the lowlands. The eastern areas are predominantly arable, and the western predominantly for grazing. Chief crops (with estimated 2004 production in tons) were barley, 5,860,000; wheat, 15,706,000; potatoes, 6,000,000; sugar beets, 7,600,000; oats, 652,000; and oilseed rape, 1,600,000. Mechanization and research have greatly increased agricultural productivity; between 1989 and 1999, for example, production of wheat per hectare rose 12%; of barley, 7%; and of sugar beets, 32%. The yield of cereal crops increased by almost 10% between 1992–94 and 2002–04. Consequently, the United Kingdom now produces about 60% of its total food needs, whereas prior to World War II (1939–45), it produced only about 33%, and in 1960, less than half. The estimated number of tractors in the United Kingdom in 2003 was 500,000, as against 55,000 in 1939; some 47,000 combines were also in use.

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

Livestock continues to be the largest sector of the farming industry. The United Kingdom raises some of the world's finest pedigreed livestock and is the leading exporter of pedigreed breeding animals. Most of the internationally famous breeds of cattle, sheep, hogs, and farm horses originated in the United Kingdom. In England and Wales, fattening of animals for food is the pre-dominant activity in the southeast, the east, and the Midlands, while stock rearing is widespread in northern England and in Wales. In Scotland, dairying predominates in the southwest, cropping and fattening in the east, and sheep raising in the hilly regions. Northern Ireland's livestock industry provides 90% of its agricultural income.

In 2005, there were about 10,378,000 head of cattle (including two million dairy cows), 35,253,000 sheep and goats, and 4,851,000 hogs. There are also an estimated 157 million chickens. Output of livestock products for 2005 included 747,000 tons of beef and veal, 310,000 tons of mutton and lamb, 704,000 tons of pork, 1,573,000 tons of poultry, 14,577,000 tons of milk, 133,000 tons of butter, and 399,000 tons of cheese.

The most highly reputed beef breeds are Hereford and Aberdeen Angus; distinguished dairy breeds are Guernsey, Jersey, and Ayrshire. To ensure sound breeding, there is compulsory licensing of bulls. On 20 March 1996 the British government reported concern over a possible link between bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or the so-called "Mad Cow" disease) in cattle and a new variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. BSE was first identified in the United Kingdom in 1986. Transmission of BSE to cattle occurs from contaminated meat and bone meal in concentrate feed, with sheep or cattle as the original source. The United Kingdom is the only country with a high incidence of the disease, and the epidemic was mainly due to recycling affected bovine material back to cattle before a ban on ruminant feed began in July 1988. As a result, consumption of beef dropped and many countries banned imports of British cattle and beef.

FISHING

Lying on the continental shelf, the British Isles are surrounded by waters mainly less than 90 m (300 ft) deep, which serve as excellent fishing grounds and breeding grounds for fish. Small fishing villages are found all along the coast, but the modern large-scale industry is concentrated at Hull, Grimsby, Fleetwood, Yarmouth, and Lowestoft in England. The major herring landings are made at numerous east coast ports of Scotland, notably Aberdeen. The fishing industry has been declining, but it remains important to Scotland, which accounts for 67% by weight of all fish landings in the United Kingdom; England and Wales account for 30% and Northern Ireland for 3%.

The deep-sea fleet has declined in recent years, primarily because the adoption by most nations, including the United Kingdom, of a 200-mi fishery limit decreased the opportunity to fish in distant waters. Some of the larger vessels have, instead, turned to fishing for mackerel and herring off the west coast. The British fishing fleet had a capacity of 223,039 gross tons in 2004, about 12% of EU capacity. Landings of all types of fish by UK fishing vessels totaled 457,712 tons in 2004 (27% shellfish). Leading species caught that year were mackerel (115,299 tons), herring (56,214 tons), and haddock (45,384 tons). The United Kingdom exported $1,669 million in fishery products in 2003, while imports were valued at $2,507 million.

Salmon farming takes place primarily in Scotland; total UK production of farmed salmon in 2003 was around 145,600 tons. Domestic demand for seafood grew during the late 1990s due to public concerns over beef tainted by bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or Mad Cow disease).

FORESTRY

The estimated total area of woodland in 2002 was 2.8 million hectares (6.89 million acres), or over 10% of Great Britain's land area. Roughly 40% of the area is in England, 49% in Scotland, and 11% in Wales. State-owned forests cover 33% of the forest area, and 67% are in the private sector. The principal species in the forest area are spruces (34%), pines (22%), oak (9%) and larch (8%), with smaller amounts of beech, ash, birch, and fir. The lumber industry employs about 55,000, and supplies the United Kingdom with 13% of its timber demand. Because of the high proportion of unproductive woodland, largely a legacy of overfelling during the two world wars, major efforts have been directed toward rehabilitation.

The timber cut in 2004 yielded an estimated 8.1 million cu m (286 million cu ft) of roundwood. In 2004, UK sawmills cut 4.93 million cu m (174 million cu ft) of logs to produce 2.76 million cu m (97.4 million cu ft) of sawn lumber. Except for the two wartime periods, home woodlands have made only a limited contribution in this century to the national requirements in wood and wood products, almost 90% of which are met by imports. The United Kingdom imports softwood lumber from Canada, hardwood lumber and softwood plywood from the United States, hardwood veneer from Germany, hardwood plywood from Russia, and particleboard from Belgium.

The Forestry Commission promotes development of afforestation and increased timber production. Clearance of forests for agriculture began in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, so that by the time of the Domesday survey in 1086, only 15% of England was forested. There was a considerable degree of reforestation in the second half of the 20th century. During 1990–2000, the total forest area increased by 0.6%.

MINING

Although the United Kingdom had comparatively few mineral resources (except for North Sea oil), it was a significant player in the world mining and mineral-processing industries, because of the extensive range of UK companies that had interests in the international mineral industry. An organized coal-mining industry has been in existence for over 300 years, 200 years longer than in any other country, and has traditionally been by far the most important mineral industry. Mine production of ferrous and nonferrous metals has been declining for more than 30 years, as reserves became depleted, necessitating imports for the large and important metal processing industry. Metals, chemicals, coal, and petroleum were among the country's leading industries in 2003, and fuels and chemicals ranked second and third, respectively, among export commodities. The industrial minerals sector has provided a significant base for expanding the extractive industries, and companies had a substantial interest in the production of domestic and foreign aggregates, ball clay, kaolin (china clay), and gypsum. The United Kingdom was a leading world producer and exporter of ball clay and kaolin; operations were mainly in Dorsetshire and Devonshire.

Other minerals extracted in 2003 included: common sand and gravel, 91 million tons (estimated); crushed limestone, 82 million tons (estimated); crushed dolomite, 12.950 million tons (reported); crushed igneous rock, 50.4 million tons (estimated); china clay kaolin (dry weight sales), 2.097 million tons (reported); ball and pottery clay (dry weight sales), 885,000 tons (reported); potash, 621,000 tons (reported); dimension sandstone, 250,000 tons (estimated); gypsum and anhydrite, 1.7 million tons (estimated); fluorspar (all grades), 56,000 tons (estimated); and crushed chalk, 8.5 million tons (estimated). Lead and hematite iron ore were worked on a small scale. The output of iron ore (gross weight) dropped from an estimated 1,000 metric tons in 1999, to 500 metric tons in 2003. Alumina was produced from imported bauxite. Zinc and tungsten are no longer mined. In 2003, the United Kingdom also produced barite and witherite, bromine, hydraulic cement, clays (including fire clay, fuller's earth, and shale), feldspar (china stone), quicklime and hydrated lime, nitrogen, rock and brine salt, sodium compounds, slate, sulfur, pyrophyllite and soapstone talc, and titania. Most slate mining was in northern Wales, and the Penrhyn quarry, at Bethesda, was considered the world's largest, and has been in operation for more than 400 years. Small amounts of calcite stone were produced from 1999 through 2003.

Most nonfuel mineral rights in the United Kingdom were privately owned, except gold and silver, the rights to which were vested in the royal family and were known as Crown Rights. Onshore exploration activities were to be directed mainly toward precious metals, mainly gold. In Northern Ireland, the rights to license and to work minerals were vested in the state.

ENERGY AND POWER

The United Kingdom (UK) is the European Union's (EU) largest petroleum and natural gas producer, thanks to its offshore oil reserves in the North Sea. It is also one of Europe's largest consumers of energy.

The United Kingdom, as of 1 January 2005 had proven oil reserves estimated at 4.49 billion barrels, according to the Oil and Gas Journal. The bulk of these reserves are located in the North Sea, on the UK Continental Shelf. Sizable reserves also are located north of the Shetland Islands, with smaller amounts located in the North Atlantic. The United Kingdom also has Europe's largest onshore oil field, the Wytch Farm field. In 2004, oil production averaged an estimated 2.08 million barrels per day, with domestic consumption that year estimated at 1.86 million barrels per day. Net exports that same year averaged an estimated 0.22 million barrels per day. The United Kingdom's crude oil refining capacity, as of 1 January 2003 totaled an estimated 1.8 million barrels per day. British Petroleum (BP) has the most refining capacity in the United Kingdom, operating a 196,000 barrel-per-day facility in Grangemouth, Scotland, and a 163,000-barrel-per-day facility in Coryton, England. The largest refinery in the United Kingdom is the 321,000 barrel per day Fawley facility, operated by ExxonMobil. The United Kingdom is simultaneously a major importer and exporter of oil. Since North Sea oil is a light, high-quality oil, the United Kingdom exports this oil and imports crude oils of various qualities. In 2002, imports of petroleum, including crude oil, averaged 1,439,900 barrels per day, of which crude oil accounted for 1,060,110 barrels per day. In 2002, imports of dry natural gas totaled 180.11 billion cu ft.

As of 1 January 2005, the United Kingdom's proven natural gas reserves were estimated at 20.8 trillion cu ft. In 2002, natural gas production totaled an estimated 3.6 trillion cu ft, of which an estimated 3.3 trillion cu ft was consumed domestically. Net exports of natural gas that year were estimated at 0.3 trillion cu ft.

The United Kingdom is the fifth-largest producer of coal in the EU. In 2001, the country had recoverable coal reserves estimated at 1.65 billion short tons. According to the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), a total of 31.1 million short tons were produced in 2003. However, this figure is down by 82% from the early 1970s. In addition, demand for coal has also dwindled. In 1970, according to the DTI, consumption fell from 175.9 million short tons to 68.7 million short tons in 2003. Falling domestic demand and a surge in cheap imported coal put coal imports at 35.7 million short tons in 2003. Of that total, 38% came from South Africa, 18% from Australia, and 16% from Russia. Also in that year, electric power generation accounted for 86% of all coal consumption.

In 2003, according to the DTI, installed electric power generating capacity totaled 78.5 GW, of which conventional thermal plants accounted for 77% of capacity, followed by nuclear at 15%, hydropower at 5%, and 2% from other renewable sources. Electric power output in 2003 totaled 376.8 billion kWh, with consumption that same year at 399.8 billion kWh. Imports that year totaled 5.1 billion kWh, most of which came from France, according to the DTI. The UK electric power sector is privatized and competitive. Distributors and generators of electricity trade power on a wholesale market.

INDUSTRY

The United Kingdom is one of the most highly industrialized countries in the world. The industrial sector of the economy declined in relative importance after 1973, because of the worldwide economic slowdown; however, output rose in 1983 and 1984 and in 1985 was growing at an annual rate of 3%. Manufacturing accounted for 25.1% of GDP in 1985, 22.3% in 1992, and 26.3% in 2004. Since World War II, some traditional industries have markedly declined—e.g., cotton textiles, steel, shipbuilding, locomotives—and their place has been taken by newer industries, such as electronics, offshore oil and gas products, and synthetic fibers. The United Kingdom had a total oil refining capacity of 1.8 million barrels per day in 2005. In the chemicals industry, plastics and pharmaceuticals have registered the most significant growth.

The pattern of ownership, organization, and control of industry is varied: public, private, and cooperative enterprises are all important. The public sector plays a significant role; however, since 1979 the government has sold off a number of companies and most manufacturing is conducted by private enterprise. Although the average firm is still fairly small, there has been a trend in recent years toward the creation of larger enterprises.

Metals, engineering, and allied industries—including steel, nonferrous metals, vehicles, and machinery—employ nearly half of all workers in manufacturing. The United Kingdom's automotive industry produced 1.75 million automobiles in 2002. It also produced 14,682 heavy trucks in 2000. Britain's aerospace industry is among the world's foremost. Rolls-Royce, which was privatized in 1987, is one of the principal aero-engine manufacturers in the world. British Aerospace, nationalized during 1978–80 but now privately owned again, manufactures civil aircraft, such military aircraft as the Harrier and the Hawk advanced trainer, and guided weapons, including the Rapier ground-to-air missile.

While the relative importance of the textile and clothing industries has declined considerably since World War II, the United Kingdom continues to produce high-quality woolen textiles. Nevertheless, foreign competition has significantly cut into the textile industry. Following the expiration of the World Trade Organization's longstanding system of textile quotas at the beginning of 2005, the EU signed an agreement with China in June 2005, imposing new quotas on 10 categories of textile goods, limiting growth in those categories to between 8% and 12.5% a year. The agreement runs until 2007, and was designed to give European textile manufacturers time to adjust to a world of unfettered competition. However, barely a month after the EU-China agreement was signed, China reached its quotas for sweaters, followed soon after by blouses, bras, T-shirts, and flax yarn. Tens of millions of garments piled up in warehouses and customs checkpoints, which affected both retailers and consumers.

Certain smaller industries in the United Kingdom are noted for the quality of their craftsmanship—e.g., pottery, jewelry, goldware, and silverware. Other sectors are the cement industry (which focuses on the manufacture of Portland cement, a British invention); the rubber industry, the world's oldest; paper industries; and leather and footwear. The industrial sector's 26.3% share of GDP in 2004 continues to demonstrate the importance of industry to the development of the British economy. The industrial production growth rate declined in 2004, however, to 0.9%. Industrial production was forecast to contract by 1.3% in 2005.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Great Britain, preeminent in the Industrial Revolution from the mid-18th to the mid-19th century, has a long tradition of technological ingenuity and scientific achievement. It was in the United Kingdom that the steam engine, spinning jenny, and power loom were developed and the first steam-powered passenger railway entered service. To British inventors also belongs credit for the miner's safety lamp, the friction match, the cathode ray tube, stainless steel, and the first calculating machine. One of the most famous scientific discoveries of the 20th century, the determination of the double-helix structure of the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecule, took place at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Cambridge University. In February 1997 the first successful cloning of an animal from an adult (resulting in "Dolly" the lamb) was performed at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh, Scotland's leading animal research laboratory. The United Kingdom is also in the forefront of research in radio astronomy, laser holography, and superconductivity.

The total national expenditure for research and development (R&D) in 2002 was $29.06 billion, or 1.88% of GDP. Of that amount, the business sector provided the largest portion at 46.7%, followed by the government at 26.9%. Foreign sources accounted for 20.5%, with higher education and private nonprofit organizations providing 1% and 4.9%, respectively. In 1998 (the latest year for which data was available) there were 2,691 scientists and engineers that were engaged in research and development per one million people. In 2002, of all bachelor's degrees awarded, 31.4% were in the sciences (natural, mathematics and computers, engineering).

The leading government agency for supporting science and technology is the Ministry of Defense, which plays an important role in both the United Kingdom's national security and its role in NATO. In addition, government-industry cooperation in aerospace, biotechnology and electronics have opened new frontiers in science. In 2002, high-tech exports were valued at $71.481 billion and accounted for 31% of manufactured exports.

The largest issue facing British scientists, engineers and technicians is the challenge of providing new technological innovations in the global economy. In 1993, a government white paper, Realizing our Potential, called for the most sweeping changes in British science and technology since World War II. Among the changes called for in this white paper is the creation of a "technology forecasting program" which will allow scientists and engineers from all over Great Britain to have a more direct say in setting national science and technology priorities. It is likely that many of the recommendations from the white paper will be incorporated into national science and technology priorities, including the technology forecasting program, over time.

The most prestigious scientific institution in the United Kingdom is the Royal Society, founded in 1660 in London. The British Association for the Advancement of Science, headquartered in London, promotes public understanding of science and technology.

DOMESTIC TRADE

London is the leading wholesale and importing center, accounting for more than half the total wholesale turnover. Other important distribution centers are Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, Glasgow, and Hull.

Supermarkets have hurried to diversify into other businesses recently because of competition, falling prices, and a mature domestic market. As of 2005, the franchise industry was worth over £9 billion per year in the United Kingdom alone: the industry employs some 330,000 people, with more than 31,000 franchisees operating their own franchised business. Direct marketing is common. A value-added tax of 17.5% applies to most goods and services.

Normal banking hours are 9 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday, but this may vary in country areas. Business hours in London are 9 am to 5:30 pm, Monday through Friday; shops in certain areas may be open to 7:30 one night a week, usually Wednesday or Thursday. Outside of London, the shops of each town or village may close for a half or full day at midweek. Saturday shopping hours are 9 am to 5:30 pm. Sunday shopping is becoming increasingly available, from 10 am to 4 pm.

FOREIGN TRADE

The United Kingdom—the world's fifth-largest trading nation, the fifth-largest exporter of goods, and the second-largest exporter of services—is highly dependent on foreign trade. It must import almost all its copper, ferrous metals, lead, zinc, rubber, and raw cotton;

most of its tin, raw wool, hides and skins, and many other raw materials; and about one-third of its food.

The United Kingdom's major export commodities are manufactured items, crude petroleum, chemicals, food, beverages, and tobacco. As of 2005, the top 14 best prospect sectors for trade and investment in the United Kingdom were aircraft and parts, apparel, automotive parts and service equipment, computers and peripherals, cosmetics and toiletries, drugs and pharmaceuticals, education and training, furniture, medical equipment, pollution control, renewable energy equipment, safety and security equipment, telecommunications equipment, and travel and tourism.

In 2004, the United Kingdom's major exports were finished manufactures (53% of total exports), semi-manufactures (29.6%), and oils and other fuels (9.4%). Major imports were finished manufactures (56.9% of all imports), semi-manufactures (24.2%), and food, beverages, and tobacco (8.9%). The United Kingdom's leading markets in 2004 were the United States (15% of all exports), Germany (11.5%), France (9.8%), and Ireland (7%). Leading suppliers were Germany (13.9% of all imports), the United States (8.8%), France (8%), and the Netherlands (7.2%). Exports of goods totaled $349.6 billion in 2004, and imports totaled $456.9 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $107.3 billion.

BALANCE OF PAYMENTS

Throughout the 1960s, revaluations of other currencies adversely affected the pound sterling. Large deficits in the balance of payments appeared in 1964 and 1967, leading to devaluation in November 1967. Another run on sterling prompted a decision to let the pound float on 23 June 1972. The pound then declined steadily, dropping below a value of $2.00 for the first time on 9 March 1976. The oil crisis and the rise in commodity prices in 1974 were even harsher blows to the UK economy. Increasing unemployment, the worldwide recession, and a large budgetary deficit placed the government in an extremely difficult position, since replenishment

of currency reserves cost more in terms of sterling, and the need to curb inflation prevented expansion in the economy. Borrowing from the oil-producing states and the EU helped finance the deficits, but a further approach to the IMF became necessary. During the late 1970s, the United Kingdom's visible trade balance was generally negative, although surpluses on invisibles sometimes were sufficient to produce a surplus in the current account.

Increased North Sea oil exports helped produce substantial trade surpluses in 1980–82. The United Kingdom has run a deficit in visible trade since 1983, reaching a peak of $47 billion in 1989, as consumer demand for imported goods ballooned. As recession took hold, imports fell, reducing the visible trade deficit dramatically in 1991. The devaluation of the pound, following the United Kingdom's late 1992 withdrawal from the EU's Exchange Rate Mechanism, increased the cost of imports at the end of 1992. However, the sterling's trade-weighted exchange rate index stabilized by 1995. In recent years, the export-oriented manufacturing sector has been challenged by an overvalued exchange rate. The United Kingdom is a major overseas investor (especially in the United States) and has an extremely important service sector, dominated by banking and insurance, which consistently generates invisible trade credits.

In 2002, the United Kingdom's current account balance was - $13 billion, or -0.8% of GDP. The current account balance in 2003 was -1.6% of GDP. Exports of goods totaled $349.6 billion in 2004, and imports totaled $456.9 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $107.3 billion. The current account balance in 2004 was -$33.46 billion.

BANKING AND SECURITIES

The United Kingdom is known throughout the world for its expertise in the field of banking, ranking third in the world after New York and Tokyo. Most activity takes place in the City of London, which has the greatest concentration of banks and the largest insurance market in the world. Until the Labour government of Tony Blair disengaged it from the Treasury, the Bank of England, established in 1694 as a corporate body and nationalized in 1946, held the main government accounts, acted as government agent for the issue and registration of government loans and other financial operations, and was the central note-issuing authority, with the sole right to issue bank notes in England and Wales (some banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland have limited noteissuing rights). It administered exchange control for the Treasury and is responsible for the application of the government's monetary policy to other banks and financial institutions. After its separation from the Treasury, the Bank of England retained the power to establish interest rates, while the Treasury continued to reign in public spending.

The banks handling most domestic business are mainly limited liability companies. The four major clearing commercial banking groups are Barclays, Lloyds, Midland, and National Westminster. These banks carry out most of the commercial banking in England and Wales. In Scotland, which has its own clearing system, there are three clearing banks: the Bank of Scotland, the Clydesdale Bank, and the Royal Bank of Scotland. Other institutions, notably the building societies, have begun to compete with the clearing banks by providing current and deposit account facilities.

There are concerns that Frankfurt, Germany, will develop as the major financial center in the EU. The City of London's role in this context is under threat mainly because Frankfurt is the site of the European Central Bank, which controls monetary policy for the euro-area EU states.

The National Savings Movement, started in 1916, encourages widespread savings investment by small depositors in trustee savings banks and the National Savings Bank (formerly known as the Post Office Savings Bank), the largest organization of its kind in the world, with about 20,000 in post offices. Merchant banks are of great importance in the financing of trade, both domestic and overseas. In addition, about 275 overseas banks are directly represented in London.

After the "Big Bang"—the deregulation of the United Kingdom's financial markets—the Financial Services Act, which became law in November 1986, set out a system of self-regulating organizations (SROs) to oversee operations in different markets under the overall control of an umbrella body, the Securities and Investment Board (SIB). In 1996 there were five SROs covering the main financial activities, and since April 1988 any firm conducting investment business must have authorization to do so from the appropriate SRO. The International Monetary Fund reports that in 2001, M2—an aggregate equal to currency and demand deposits plus savings deposits, small time deposits, and money market mutual funds—was $1.63 trillion. The money market rate, the rate at which financial institutions lend to one another in the short term, was 5.08%.

In 1762, a club of securities dealers was formed in London to fix rules for market transactions, and in 1773 the first stock exchange was opened in London. In 1801, the London Stock Exchange was constructed on part of its present site. Since that time, it has provided a market for the purchase and sale of securities and has played an important part in providing new capital for industry. The Stock Exchange opened to international competition in October 1986, permitting wider ownership of member firms. Minimum rates of commission on stock sales were abolished. In April 1982, the London Gold Futures Market began operations; it is the only market in Europe making possible worldwide, round-the-clock futures dealings in the metal. As of 2004, a total of 2,486 companies were listed on the London Stock Exchange, which had a market capitalization of £1.47 trillion.

INSURANCE

London is the leading international insurance center. Lloyd's, the world-famous society of private insurers, was originally established in the 17th century as a center for marine insurance but has since built up a worldwide market for other types of insurance.

The Central Statistical Office (CSO) recently compiled information on institutions whose primary business is the long-term investment of funds in the securities markets. It covers pension funds, insurance companies, investment trusts, unit trusts, and property trusts. Total net investment by institutions in 1994 was £45.4 billion ($69.6 billion), down from the record £51.6 billion in 1993. The biggest net investment by an institutional group was that of the long-term insurance companies, with £24.2 billion of this total.

In the mid-1990s, total life insurance in force came to £1.04 trillion. In the United Kingdom, third-party automobile liability, employers'

liability, nuclear facility liability, oil pollution liability, aircraft operators' liability and professional liability is compulsory, with the government having a monopoly on workers' compensation. In 2003, the value of all direct insurance premiums written totaled $246.733 billion, of which life insurance premiums accounted for $154.842 billion. For that same year, the top nonlife insurer was Norwich Union, with net written nonlife premiums of £5 billion, while the nations leading life insurer had gross written life insurance premiums of £8.148 billion.

PUBLIC FINANCE

The onset of recession in 1990 led to an increased level of public borrowing—about £14 billion in 1991–92, or 2.25% of GDP. By 1993–94, the public sector borrowing requirement had risen to £50 billion, or 8.1% of GDP. In 1994 the government initiated a series of stringent fiscal measures designed to curb the spiraling public sector borrowing requirement (PSBR). Since 1998, the United Kingdom has taken aggressive steps to reform its public spending activities. Reforms included limits on expenditures, higher governmental accountability regarding spending, better resource budgeting, and improved spending flexibility.

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) estimated that in 2005 the United Kingdom's central government took in revenues of approximately $881.4 billion and had expenditures of $951 billion. Revenues minus expenditures totaled approximately -$69.6 billion. Public debt in 2005 amounted to 42.2% of GDP. Total external debt was $7.107 trillion.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported that in 2003, the most recent year for which it had data, general government revenues were £441,048 million and expenditures were £478,748 million. The value of revenues was us$720,078 million and expenditures us$771,339 million, based on a market exchange rate for 2003 of us$1 = £.6125 as reported by the IMF. Government outlays by function were as follows: general public services, 6.3%; defense, 6.9%; public order and safety, 5.2%; economic affairs, 7.9%; environmental protection, 1.3%; housing and community amenities, 1.9%; health, 17.0%; recreation, culture, and religion, 1.3%; education, 12.5%; and social protection, 39.8%.

TAXATION

Taxes on income include a graduated individual income tax and a corporation tax. Although personal income taxes are still high, they have been reduced several times since 1980.

As of 1 April 2004 the United Kingdom (UK) imposed a standard 30% corporate profits income tax rate. However, for companies with profits under £300,000, the rate was 19%. For companies with profits under £10,000, the rate was 0%. In addition, companies having profits up to £1.5 million, marginal relief was available. There is a 50% petroleum tax assessed on profits from all exploration and production which is deductible from other corporate tax. Capital gains are taxed at the standard corporate rate, but nonresidents companies are generally not taxed on capital gains derived from the sale of shares in a resident subsidiary company. However, companies that derive capital gains from the sale of assets that are located in and are used to carry on business activity in the United Kingdom are subject to the capital gains tax. Dividends are not taxed. Income from interest and royalties are subject to withholding taxes of 20% and 22%, respectively.

Income tax is charged on all income that has its origin in Britain and on all income arising abroad of persons resident in Britain. However, the United Kingdom has entered into agreements with many countries to provide relief from double taxation. Generally, the United Kingdom has a progressive personal income tax structure with a top rate of 40%. For the 2005/2006 fiscal year, a 10% rate was applied to taxable income up to £2,090. A 22% rate was applied on income up to £32,400, with a 40% rate on income above that amount. Inheritance taxes are 40%. Each taxpayer's marginal rate applies to capital gains in excess of £8,500. The main local taxes are land assessments, or "rates."

In January 1973, a value-added tax (VAT) was introduced with a standard rate of 10%, replacing the purchase tax, and bringing the UK's tax policy into harmony with the EU. In 1991, the standard rate was increased to 17.5% and in 1997, the reduced rate, applied to some medicines, medical equipment, heating oil, gas, electricity, small service businesses and some transportation services, was lowered from 8% to 5%. A zero rate applies to most foods, books, newspapers and periodicals, and certain other goods. Services such as insurance, health, education, and land and rents are also exempt. Other taxes are levied on petroleum products, tobacco, and alcoholic drinks. There are also various stamp duties.

CUSTOMS AND DUTIES

Import licensing and quotas were the general rule in the United Kingdom between 1939 and 1959. For specified items from specified countries or groups of countries, an individual license was required for each import. In June 1959, however, the United Kingdom began to remove important controls on virtually all raw materials and basic foodstuffs and on some machinery imported from the United States. With UK entry into the free trade area of the EU, a tariff-free area has been created. In addition, the United Kingdom uses the EU's common external tariff for non-EU imports. Rates range from 2–14% on most goods. The four principal types of import charges are customs duties, agricultural levies, value-added taxes, and excise duties on goods such as alcohol, tobacco, and tobacco products. The United Kingdom also levies a VAT on imports with a standard rate of 17.5%, with reduced rates ranging from 0–5%.

FOREIGN INVESTMENT

London is considered to be Europe's top financial and business center. London is the headquarters for some 130 of the top 500 global companies. With few exceptions, the United Kingdom does not discriminate between nationals and foreign individuals, and imposes few impediments to foreign ownership. Public-sector procurement policies seek best value and best practice regardless of national origin. The privatization of state-owned utilities is ongoing, and offers additional opportunities for foreign investment. The tax rate on the profits of large companies is 30%, but the effective tax burden is higher; it rose markedly after the Labour government assumed office in 1997.

Over the 10-year period 1992 to 2002, foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow totaled $484.5 billion, the second highest in the world (after the United States by some distance: the United States' 10-year total was $1.3 trillion). In 1997, FDI inflow rose 60% over 1996 to $33.3 billion, placing the United Kingdom third in the world, behind the United States and China. FDI inflow peaked in 2000 at $116.6 billion (a fourth-place finish, behind the United States, Belgium-Luxembourg, and Germany), and then fell to $62 billion in the economic slowdown of 2001. The stock of inward FDI by yearend 2003 was $672 billion. Direct investment inflows in 2003 were $14.5 billion, down from $27.8 billion in 2002. From 2001–05, FDI inflows averaged 2.9% of GDP.

The United Kingdom's outward FDI has normally exceeded its inward flow. Before World War I, British overseas investments were valued at more than $30 billion (adjusted into 1960 dollars). Even in the period between the two world wars, British foreign investments remained remarkably high. After World War II, the United Kingdom, having given up many of its overseas dependencies and having incurred enormous foreign debts to wage the war, had to liquidate a large part of its overseas holdings. As its economy recovered, the United Kingdom again began to invest overseas. From 1955 to 1964, gross total private capital outflow was at an annual average of £300 million. The abolition of exchange controls in 1979 also encouraged overseas investment. By 1985, private British investment overseas (direct and portfolio) had risen to £76.7 billion ($101 billion). In 1994, outward FDI amounted to £100 billion ($154 billion). In 1997, the outflow was $43.7 billion. By yearend 2003, the stock of outward UK FDI investment totaled $1.129 billion. FDI outflows in 2003 totaled $55.1 billion, up from $35.2 billion in 2002.

The United States and the United Kingdom are the largest foreign investors in each other's country. By the end of 2003, the United States had invested $273 billion (historical cost) in the United Kingdom. After the United States, the most popular destinations for outward UK FDI in 2003 were France and Canada. For inward FDI, the Netherlands was the largest overall investor in the United Kingdom in 2003, followed by the United States and Germany.

The United Kingdom is the most favored inward investment location in Europe, attracting over 40% of all direct investment in the EU.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Like many other industrialized nations of the West, the United Kingdom has sought to combine steady economic growth with a high level of employment, increased productivity, and continuing improvement in living standards. Attainment of these basic objectives, however, had been hindered after World War II by recurrent deficits in the balance of payments and by severe inflationary pressures. As a result, economic policy has chiefly had to be directed toward correcting these two underlying weaknesses in the economy. When crises have arisen, emergency measures have often conflicted with long-term objectives. In 1967, for example, the government devalued the pound by 14% in order to improve the balance-of-payments position, but simultaneously increased taxes and reduced the growth rate of public expenditures in order to restrain home demand in both public and private sectors. Since the almost uninterrupted upward trend in prices resulted principally from the tendency for money income to rise faster than the volume of production, the government sought to institute a policy designed to align the rise in money income with increases in productivity.

Various bodies have been set up to foster economic development and improve industrial efficiency, notably the National Economic Development Council, established in 1962 but abolished in 1992, was responsible for the coordination of industry. Another important body, created in 1974, the National Enterprise Board, was set up to help plan industrial investment, particularly in manufacturing and export industries; the NEB was combined with the National Research and Development Corp. in 1981 to form the British Technology Group, which was privatized in 1991. The Labour government in the 1970s began to de-emphasize increased social services and government participation in the economy and to stress increased incentives for private investment. (A notable exception was in the exploitation of North Sea oil resources.) General investment incentives included tax allowances on new buildings, plants, and machinery. The Conservative government elected in 1979 sought to reduce the role of government in the economy by improving incentives, removing controls, reducing taxes, moderating the money supply, and privatizing several large state-owned companies. This policy was continued by succeeding Conservative governments into the 1990s. The election of a Labour government in 1997 did not reverse this trend. Indeed, privatization is now widely accepted by most of the Labour Party (with the exception of the dwindling numbers of the wing of the party with strong ties to trade unions).

The United Kingdom has long been a major source of both bilateral aid (direct loans and grants) and multilateral aid (contributions to international agencies) to developing countries. To coordinate the overall aid program and its proportions of bilateral and multilateral aid, capital aid, and technical assistance, the Ministry of Overseas Development was set up in 1962. Its functions were subsequently taken over by the Overseas Development Administration (ODA) and are now administered by the Department for International Development (DFID). Since 1958, the terms for development loans have progressively softened, and a policy of interest-free loans for the poorest developing countries was introduced in 1965. Unlike other donors, the United Kingdom provides funds to the recipient governments, rather than funding individual projects. The United Kingdom made a commitment to increase its official development assistance (ODA) from 0.26% of GNP in 1997 to 0.33% in 2003–04 (the UN's target for donor countries' development aid is 0.7% of GNP). In 2004, the United Kingdom actually donated 0.34% of its GNP for development aid, or $7.836 billion. The United Kingdom's aid budget was set to increase to over $8.2 billion for 2005–06, and to $10.6 billion by 2008.

The most important issue facing Britain in the early 2000s was membership in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair decided to opt out of EMU at its inception in 1998 and promised a referendum on British membership. By 2005, however, there was little or no prospect of the United Kingdom holding a referendum on joining the EMU over the succeeding five years. The opposition Conservatives oppose abandoning the pound and have the support of a majority of the British population on the issue. The government in 2005 devoted its attention on the domestic front to improving such public services as health, education, and transportation. Large increases in public spending have been set aside for this purpose, but public finances have deteriorated to an extent due to lowered tax receipts. An additional long-term priority for the Labour government in 2005 was to implement reforms to raise the country's productivity performance, which remains below the OECD average.

Another long-term economic problem facing the United Kingdom is the aging of its population and the pressures this phenomenon will place on its pension system. By 2035 the number of pensioners in the United Kingdom will rise by 45% as the postwar baby boomer generation retires; by 2050 the increase will reach 55%. If these people are to maintain their standards of living in relation to the rest of society, the share of GDP transferred to them will have to rise sharply, from 9.4% in 2005 to 14.5% in 2050. One option is to raise the state pension age, which was 65 for men and 60 for women in 2005; the government's Pensions Commission proposes a yearly rise in the retirement age per decade, so that it would reach 68 by 2050. Higher public spending on pensions is another option, but that will mean workers will have to pay more taxes to support the aging population.

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

A gradually evolved system of social security, placed in full operation in 1948, provides national insurance, industrial injuries insurance, family allowances, and national assistance throughout the United Kingdom. The National Insurance scheme provides benefits for sickness, unemployment, maternity, and widowhood, as well as guardian's allowances, retirement pensions, and death grants. The program is financed by contributions from employees, employers, and the government. A percentage of these contributions are allocated to the National Health Service which provides extensive benefits to workers and their families. Retirement pensions cover men at 65 and women at 60, and benefits increase annually to adjust for cost of living. The first work injury law was instituted in 1897, and currently covers all employees with the exception of the self-employed. There is a universal child benefit and tax credit to residents with one or more children, funded by the government.

Financial assistance for the poor is provided through a system of benefits in the form of a supplementary pension for those over statutory retirement age and a supplementary allowance for others. It also provides temporary accommodation for the homeless in specially designated reception centers. For poverty-stricken families in which the head of the household is in full-time employment, a family income supplement is paid. Maternity benefits cover women who have been employed for 26 weeks.

Equal opportunity between the sexes is provided for by law, although some discrimination against women continues. Sexual harassment is a problem in the workplace and women on average earn 18% less than men. Violence against women persists, however there are many laws providing protection and the substantial penalties are strictly enforced. In 2004 domestic violence accounted for one-fourth of all violent crime. The government is committed to children's rights and welfare.

Although racial discrimination is prohibited by law, people of Asian and African origin are subject to discrimination and harassment. Ethnic minorities are also more likely to be stopped and searched by police. The government at all levels fully respects the legal right to freedom of religion. Human rights organizations have criticized legislation in Northern Ireland which denies suspects the right to immediate legal counsel and the right to silence. There are also some security-related restrictions on the freedoms of assembly and association in Northern Ireland.

HEALTH

Life expectancy has increased from 50 years at birth in 1900 to 78.38 years in 2005. Rising living standards, medical advances, the growth of medical facilities and their general availability, and the smaller size of the family are some factors in the improved health of the British people. Deaths from infectious diseases have been greatly reduced, although the proportion of deaths from circulatory diseases—including heart attacks and strokes—and cancer has risen. Infant mortality has decreased from 142 per 1,000 live births in 1900–02 to 5.16 in 2005. As of 2002, the crude birth rate and overall mortality rate were estimated at, respectively, 11.3 and 10 per 1,000 people. A high portion of women aged 15–44 used birth control in the mid-1990s (82%).

A comprehensive National Health Service (NHS), established in 1948, provides full medical care to all residents of the United Kingdom. NHS delivers health care through 129 health authorities, each of which receives money from the government and then purchases a preset amount of treatment each year from hospitals. Included are general medical, dental, pharmaceutical, and optical services; hospital and specialist services (in patients' homes when necessary) for physical and mental illnesses; and local health authority services (maternity and child welfare, vaccination, prevention of illness, health visiting, home nursing, and other services). The patient is free to choose a family doctor from any in the service, subject to the physician's acceptance. General tax revenues meet most of the cost of the NHS; the remainder is paid through National Health Insurance contributions and charges for certain items, including eyeglasses and prescription drugs. Compared with other OECD countries, the United Kingdom's per capita expenditure on health care is low. In the United Kingdom, 6.9% of the GDP went to health expenditures.

All specialist and auxiliary health services in England are the direct responsibility of the secretary of state for social services. In Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland the corresponding services and administrative bodies are under the respective secretaries of state. All hospitals, except a few run mostly by religious orders, are also in the NHS. In 1991, the United Kingdom implemented major reforms in its health care services, including improvements in virtually all facets of the program. Areas of concern included incidence of coronary/stroke, cancer, accidents, mental illness, and HIV/AIDS. Smoking prevalence was similar between men (28%) and women (26%) over 15 years old. Half the British population is currently overweight. These high rates have been attributed to a sedentary lifestyle during leisure time.

The NHS is has been undergoing restructuring; increased numbers of NHS hospitals are being decentralized by conversion to NHS Trust, established in 1991. NHS costs Britain's taxpayers more than $73 billion per year. An aging population, costlier treatments, and a budget crisis have forced the cancellation of nonemergency treatment at some centers. The number of beds available is below the level of demand, causing long waits for treatment.

As of 2004, there were an estimated 166 physicians, 497 nurses, 40 dentists, 59 pharmacists and 43 midwives per 100,000 people. The immunization rates for children under one year of age were as follows: diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus, 92%; polio, 94%; measles, 92%; and tuberculosis, 75%. The rates for DPT and measles were, respectively, 93% and 91%. Since 1982, to help control the spread of AIDS, the government has funded and implemented measures for blood testing, research, public education, and other social services relating to the disease. The HIV/AIDS prevalence was 0.20 per 100 adults in 2003. As of 2004, there were approximately 51,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in the country. There were an estimated 500 deaths from AIDS in 2003.

HOUSING

At the 2001 census, there were about 25,456,00 dwellings in the United Kingdom. Of these, 21,207,000 were in England, 2,345,000 in Scotland, 1,274,000 in Wales, and 649,000 in Northern Ireland.

In England, 79.9% of all households lived in detached houses or bungalows and 19.7% lived in flats, maisonettes, or apartments. About 68% of all homes were owner occupied; 19% of households were renting from a social landlord (defined as a Council, Housing Association, or registered Social Landlord), and 12% were renting from a private owner. The average number of rooms per household was 5.33. In 2003, the estimated dwelling stock was at 21,464,000.

In Wales at the 2001 census, 88.2% of all households lived in houses or bungalows and 11.4% lived in flats, maisonettes, or apartments. About 71% of all homes were owner occupied; 18% were rented from social landlords and 11% were rented from private owners. The average number of rooms per household was 5.59. It was estimated that about 1.5 million households in England and Wales were overcrowded. The highest percentage was found in London, with about 17% of households overcrowded. In Wales, only about 4% of all households were overcrowded. Even so, the degree of overcrowding in the United Kingdom is lower than in most European countries.

In Scotland in 2001, 20% of all housing was in the form of detached homes, 20% were semidetached, 22% were terraced homes, and 8% were flats or maisonettes, and 4% other. The same year in Northern Ireland, 34% of dwellings were detached homes, 23% were semidetached homes, 35% were terraced homes, and 7% were flats or maisonettes, and 2% other. The 2003 estimate of dwelling stock for Northern Ireland was 669,000 dwellings.

Over 50% of families now live in a post-1945 dwelling, usually a two-story house with a garden. Most homeowners finance their purchase through a home mortgage loan from a building society, bank, insurance company, or other financial institution. New houses are built by both the public and private sectors, but most are built by the private sector for sale to owner-occupiers. The main providers of new subsidized housing are housing associations, which own, manage, and maintain over 600,000 homes in England alone and completed over nearly 30,000 new homes for rent or shared ownership per year in the mid-1990s. Local housing authorities were in the past primarily concerned with slum clearance; however, large-scale clearance virtually ended in the mid-1980s, with emphasis shifting to modernization of substandard homes and community improvement.

EDUCATION

Although responsibility for education in the United Kingdom rests with the central government, schools are mainly administered by local education authorities. The majority of primary students attend state schools that are owned and maintained by local education authorities. A small minority attend voluntary schools mostly run by the churches and also financed by the local authorities.

Education is compulsory for all children between the ages of 5 and 16. Since 1989, the government has introduced a "National School Curriculum" in England and Wales comprised of four key stages: five to seven (infants); 7 to 11 (juniors); 11 to 14 (preGCSE); and 14 to 16 (GCSE). Similar reforms are being introduced in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The main school examination, the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland at around the age of 16. A separate exam system exists in Scotland. Of the 2,500 registered independent schools, the largest and most important (Winchester, Eton, Harrow, and others) are known in England as "public schools." Many have centuries of tradition behind them and are world famous. The academic year runs from September to July.

In 2001, about 83% of children between the ages of three and four were enrolled in some type of preschool program. Primary school enrollment in 2003 was estimated at about 100% of age eligible students. The same year, secondary school enrollment was about 95% of age-eligible students. Most students complete their primary education. The student-to-teacher ratio for primary school was at about 17:1 in 2003; the ratio for secondary school was about 19:1. In 2003, private schools accounted for about 4.9% of primary school enrollment and 55.8% of secondary enrollment.

Including the Open University, a nonresidential institution whose courses are conducted by television and radio broadcasts and correspondence texts, Britain had 47 universities in the 1990s (compared with 17 in 1945). As a result of legislation, nearly all polytechnics have become universities and started awarding their own degrees in 1993. The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge date from the 12th and 13th centuries, respectively; the Scottish universities of St. Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh from the 15th and 16th centuries. Besides the universities, there are more than 800 other institutions of higher education, including technical, art, and commercial colleges run by local authorities.

National policy stipulates that no person should be excluded from higher education by lack of means. More than 90% of students in higher education hold awards from public or private funds. In 1997, the government began to reconsider its policy of cost-free tuition by announcing that students would become responsible for some of the expense. In 2003, it was estimated that about 64% of the tertiary age population were enrolled in tertiary education programs. The adult literacy rate has been estimated at about 99%.

As of 2003, public expenditure on education was estimated at 5.3% of GDP, or 11.5% of total government expenditures.

LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS

London has more than 500 libraries, among them the British Library, which is the national library and the largest library in the United Kingdom, with about 150 million items in 2005 and an average acquisition rate of about 3 million items per year. Special collections and treasures include the Magna Carta, a notebook of Leonardo da Vinci, original manuscripts of Jane Austen and James Joyce (among others), and musical manuscripts of G.F. Handel and the Beatles (among others). There is a branch location of the British Library at Boston Spa, West Yorkshire. The National Library of Scotland, with about seven million volumes, is in Edinburgh, and the National Library of Wales, with some four million volumes, in Aberystwyth. Each of these is a copyright library, entitled to receive a copy of every new book published in the United Kingdom. The Bodleian Library at Oxford University is also a copyright library with about 6.7 million volumes; there are nine branch locations of the Bodleian in Oxford. Oxford University sponsors over 100 departmental libraries. The Cambridge University Library, also a copyright library, has 5.9 million volumes throughout five locations.

Other major libraries in London include the University of London Central Library (two million), the London Library (the largest public subscription library), the Science Museum Library (600,000), the Victoria and Albert Museum Art Library, the Public Record Office (containing such national historical treasures as the Domesday Book), and the libraries of such institutions as the Royal Institute of International Affairs (140,000), the Royal Commonwealth Society (150,000), the Royal Geographical Society (150,000), the Royal Academy of Arts (22,000), and the National Library for the Blind. In 2002 a Women's Library opened in London giving a home to publications documenting women's lives in Britain.

There are major libraries at the Universities of Edinburgh (2.4 million), Glasgow (1.4 million), Queen's University in Belfast (1.1 million), and St. Andrew's (920,000). Manchester Metropolitan University has one million volumes.

London has about 395 public libraries. The South Western Regional Library System links the public libraries of Bristol, Devon, Foursite (Somerset, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset, Bath and North East Somerset), Gloucestershire, Swindon, and Wiltshire. The Edinburgh City Libraries maintain a central library and 25 branch libraries, as well as a mobile unit and two lending locations, plus several hospitals. Over 50 public libraries in Scotland were established through the assistance of the industrialist Andrew Carnegie. Nearly all of the public libraries in Scotland are linked via the Internet. Public libraries in Northern Ireland are managed by five regional Education and Library Boards. The Bel-fast Education and Library Board maintains the Belfast Central Library and 20 community public libraries, as well as two mobile libraries.

The United Kingdom is a museum-lover's dream. Almost every city and large town has museums of art, archaeology, and natural history. There are more than 1,000 museums and art galleries, ranging from nearly two dozen great national institutions to small collections housed in a few rooms. London has the British Museum (founded 1759), with its vast collections of archaeological and ethnographic material from all over the world, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, including extensive collections of works of fine and applied arts. In the late 1990s, the British Museum was struggling financially; trustees rejected admission fees, and a multimillion-dollar deficit was projected when the government, which had funded most of the $84.5 million budget through the National Lottery, began reducing contributions. The National Gallery, the Tate Gallery, and the National Portrait Gallery are among other prestigious London art museums. Other museums located in London include the London Transport Museum (founded 1978), the National Maritime Museum (1934), the Natural History Museum (1963), and the Science Museum (1857). There is also a collection of royal ceremonial dress at Kensington Palace, and the Sherlock Holmes Museum, featuring Victorian memorabilia, opened in 1990. The Tate Gallery of Modern Art, featuring rotating exhibits arranged by theme, opened in May 2000. There are important museums and art galleries in Liverpool, Manchester, Leicester, Birmingham, Bristol, Norwich, Southampton, York, Glasgow, Leeds, and other cities. Oxford and Cambridge each have many museums, and several other universities also have important collections. Private art collections in historic family mansions are open to the public at specified times.

The National Museum and Gallery of Wales and the Museum of Welsh Life are in Cardiff. There is also a Welsh State Museum in Llanberis. The national museums of Scotland include the Royal Museum, the Museum of Scotland, and the National War Museum of Scotland, all in Edinburgh. The Museum of Scottish Country Life is in East Kilbride. There are at least three museums in Scotland that celebrate the life and work of native poet Robert Burns. The Ulster Museums and the Northern Irish Folk Museum are in Belfast.

MEDIA

The Post Office, founded in 1635, was the first in the world to institute adhesive stamps as proof of payment for mail. It now operates nearly all postal services. As authorized by 1981 legislation, the Thatcher government relaxed postal and telecommunications monopolies in some areas. The Telecommunications Act of 1984 further promoted competition and denationalized British Telecommunications (Telecom). In 2003, there were an estimated 591 mainline telephones for every 1,000 people. The same year, there were approximately 841 mobile phones in use for every 1,000 people.

Radio and television broadcasting services are provided by the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC), which was established as a public corporation in 1927, and by the Independent Television Commission (ITC) and the Radio Authority, commercial concerns whose powers are defined in the Independent Broadcasting Authority Act of 1973. The BBC broadcasts on two television channels and the Independent Television Commission broadcasts on ITV and Channel Four, which began operating in 1982. BBC Radio offers five national radio networks in the medium- and long-wave bands, as well as FM programming and an overseas service in 37 languages. Both the BBC and IBA operate local radio services; the BBC has 39 local stations (including 2 for the Channel Islands). In September of 1992, the first national commercial radio station, Classic FM, was inaugurated. Since then, several commercial stations have entered the market. As of 1999, there were 225 AM and 525 (mostly repeater) FM radio stations and 78 television stations. In 2003, there were an estimated 1,445 radios and 950 television sets for every 1,000 people. About 57.2 of every 1,000 people were cable subscribers. Also in 2003, there were 405.7 personal computers for every 1,000 people and 423 of every 1,000 people had access to the Internet. There were 21,034 secure Internet servers in the country in 2004.

There are over 100 daily and Sunday newspapers, some 2,000 weekly papers, numerous specialized papers, and about 7,000 periodicals in circulation throughout the United Kingdom. Nine Sunday papers and 12 daily morning papers are "national" in the sense of circulating throughout Britain. National dailies, with their political tendencies and their average daily circulations in 2004 (as available), are: The Sun, left of center, 3,301,223; Daily Mail, independent conservative, 2,403,528; Daily Mirror, independent left-wing, 1,777,408; Daily Telegraph, independent conservative, 907,048; Daily Express, independent conservative, 929,323; Daily Star, independent, 882,709; The Times, independent, 658;182; The Observer, 433,934; Financial Times, independent, 426,369; The Guardian, independent, 371,494; and Evening Standard, independent, 361,340. Of these, The Times was the only paper that showed an increase (of 4.3%) in sales from 2003, all others saw a decline in circulation.

In 2004, the newspaper with the highest circulation was the tabloid News of the World, which distributes over 3.7 million papers per week. Six other Sunday papers have circulations in the millions. The provincial press included more than 100 daily and Sunday newspapers and some 1,600 weeklies in 2004.

In 2004, major papers outside of London included: The Express and Star, Wolverhampton (162,509); Manchester Evening News, Manchester (148,094); Liverpool Echo, Liverpool (135,273); Evening Mail, Birmingham (104,219); Evening Chronicle, NewcastleUpon-Tyne (91,523); the Yorkshire Evening Post, Leeds (81,804); and Sunday Mercury, Birmingham (79,527). The weekly Berrow's Worcester Journal, founded in 1690, claims to be the world's oldest continuously circulating newspaper.

Wales has five daily newspapers: South Wales Echo (in Cardiff, 59,200 circulation in 2004), South Wales Evening Post (West Glamorgan, 58,269), Western Mail (Cardiff, 44,470), South Wales Argus (Gwent, 31,803), and Evening Leader (Clwyd, 26,968).

Scotland has six morning, five evening, and four Sunday papers, plus the Scottish editions of the Daily Mail and the Sunday Express. The Glasgow Herald (2004 circulation 78,746) and The Scotsman (68,408), an Edinburgh paper, are the most influential. Others include: Sunday Mail (in Glasgow, 584,671 circulation in 2004), Daily Record (Glasgow, 478,980), Evening Times (Glasgow, 95,126), The Press and Journal (Aberdeen, 88,599), Courier and Advertiser (Dundee, 83,186), and Evening News (Edinburgh, 68,479). About 120 weekly papers are published in Scottish towns.

Northern Ireland has two morning papers, one evening paper, and one Sunday paper, all published in Belfast, plus a number of weeklies. The largest is the evening paper, Belfast Telegraph (circulation 94,602).

Britain's ethnic minorities publish over 60 newspapers and magazines, most of them weekly, fortnightly or monthly. These include the Chinese Sing Tao and Wen Wei Po, the Urdu Daily Jang, and the Arabic Al-Arab (the foregoing are all dailies), as well as newspapers in Gujarati, Bengali, Hindi and Punjabi. The Weekly Journal, aimed at Britain's black community, was begun in 1992.

The over 7,000 periodicals published weekly, monthly, or quarterly cover a huge range of special interests. Leading opinion journals are New Statesman, The Economist, and Spectator. The Times Literary Supplement is highly influential in cultural affairs. The chief news agency is Reuters, a worldwide organization servicing British papers with foreign and Commonwealth news and the world press with British and foreign news.

Although there is no government censorship of news or opinion, the Official Secrets Act, stringent libel and slander laws, and restrictions governing the disclosure of court proceedings do impose limitations on press freedom. In addition, the press regulates itself through the Press Council, which adjudicates complaints about newspaper practices from local officials and the public. Views critical of the government are well established.

ORGANIZATIONS

The national body representing British industry is the Confederation of British Industry, incorporated in 1965 and directly or indirectly representing about 250,000 companies. The Association of British Chambers of Commerce (founded in 1860) has 240 affiliated UK chambers. Agricultural organizations include the National Farmers' Union, agricultural cooperative societies, and other specialized associations. There are numerous professional associations for nearly every occupation. While some of these include members from all of the United Kingdom, there are also several associations particularly for Scottish businesses and professionals.

A vast number of organizations in the United Kingdom carry on programs in every phase of human activity. Voluntary social service organizations number in the thousands. Social work on a national scale is carried out largely under religious sponsorship. Cooperation between Protestant churches is fostered by the British Council of Churches. The Council of Christians and Jews works for cooperation between these faiths. The principal coordinating body in general social service is the National Council of Social Service. There are national chapters of the Red Cross Society, Amnesty International, Greenpeace, Habitat for Humanity, and other major international organizations.

The British Council promotes a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and its people abroad and develops cultural relations with other countries. There are more than 300 learned societies. The Arts Council of Great Britain (founded in 1946) promotes the fine arts and higher artistic standards, and advises government bodies on artistic matters. The Royal Academy and the Royal Scottish Academy are other leading bodies in the arts. The National Book League, the Royal Society of Literature, the British Academy, the English Association, the Bibliographical Society, and other groups foster interest in literature, language, and scholarship. There are also numerous clubs for hobbyists, enthusiasts, and fans with a wide variety of interests.

The Arts Council of Wales was established in 1967. Arts and Cultural organizations in Scotland include the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama; the Royal Celtic Society; the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture; the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society; the Scottish Arts Council; and the Scottish Games Association. Clan associations are also popular in Scotland, with many providing genealogical research and social events and contact. The Ulster Historical Foundation in Belfast is a prominent genealogical research group.

The National Council for Voluntary Youth Services includes most of the largest youth groups. The leading political parties, major religious denominations, and some adult voluntary organizations, such as the Red Cross, maintain youth organizations. There are also a Scouts Association and a Girl Guides Association. There are numerous sports associations for participants of all ages. The Scottish Games Association specifically promotes traditional Highland games.

TOURISM, TRAVEL, AND RECREATION

The United Kingdom is a popular tourist destination, rich in natural as well as cultural attractions. Landscapes range from farmlands and gardens to sandy beaches, moors, and rocky coasts. Architectural sights include stone and thatched cottages, stately country houses, mansions, and castles. Among the many historic dwellings open to the public are the Welsh castles Cilgerran (11th century), Dolbadarn (12th century), and Conway and Caernarvon (both 13th century); the 10-century-old Traquair House near Peebles, the oldest continuously inhabited house in Scotland, and the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh; and Warwick Castle, near Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. Distinguished cathedrals include St. Paul's in London and those in Canterbury, Exeter, Norwich, Winchester, and York. At Bushmills, in Northern Ireland, the oldest distillery in the world may be visited, and some of Scotland's 100 malt whiskey distilleries also offer tours.

Among London's extraordinary attractions are Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, and Westminster Abbey. Of the wide range of entertainment available, London is particularly noted for its theater, including the Royal Shakespeare Company. Folk music may be heard throughout the United Kingdom; traditional community gatherings for music and dancing, called ceilidhs, are held in Scotland, often in pubs, and Edinburgh is the site of one of the world's largest folk festivals, as well as an annual festival of classical music and other performing arts.

Scotland, where golf developed in the 15th century, has many superb golf courses, as does the rest of the United Kingdom; some 70 Highland Games and Gatherings take place in Scotland from May to September. Other popular sports include fishing, riding, sailing, rugby, cricket, and football (soccer). Wimbledon is the site of perhaps the world's most prestigious tennis competition. London hosted the summer Olympics in 1908 and 1948, and is scheduled to host again in 2012. England hosted and won the World Cup soccer championship in 1966.

In principle, foreigners entering the United Kingdom must have a valid passport and a visa issued by British consular authorities abroad. However, citizens of Ireland do not need a passport, and citizens of OECD, Commonwealth, and Latin American countries, among others, need no visa. There were 24,715,000 visitors who arrived in the United Kingdom in 2003. Tourism receipts totaled $30.6 billion that year.

In 2005, the US Department of State estimated the daily cost of staying in London at $410. Other areas averaged $342 per day.

FAMOUS BRITONS

Rulers and Statesmen

English rulers of renown include Alfred the Great (849–99), king of the West Saxons, who defeated and held off the Danish invaders; William I (the Conqueror, 1027–87), duke of Normandy, who conquered England (1066–70) and instituted many changes in the structure of English government and society; Henry II (1133–89), who centralized the power of the royal government, and his sons Richard I (the Lion-Hearted, 1157–99), leader of the Third Crusade, and John (1167?–1216), from whom the barons wrested the Magna Carta; Edward I (1239–1307), who subdued Wales and established the parliamentary system; Edward III (1312–77), who for a time conquered part of France, and did much to promote English commerce; Henry VIII (1491–1547), who separated the Anglican Church from the Roman Catholic Church and centralized administrative power; Elizabeth I (1533–1603), during whose reign, begun in 1558, England achieved great commercial, industrial, and political power, and the arts flourished; and Victoria (1819–1901), under whom Britain attained unprecedented prosperity and empire.

Among the statesmen distinguished in English history are Thomas à Becket (1118?–70), archbishop of Canterbury, who defended the rights of the church against the crown; Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester (1208?–65), who in 1265 summoned the first Parliament; and Thomas Wolsey (1475?–1530), cardinal, archbishop of York, and Henry VIII's brilliant lord chancellor. Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658) established a republican and Puritan Commonwealth. Sir Robert Walpole, first earl of Oxford (1676–1745), unified cabinet government in the person of the prime minister and laid the foundations for free trade and a modern colonial policy. As England moved increasingly toward democratic government, important progress was achieved under the liberal statesmen William Pitt, first earl of Chatham (1708–78); his son William Pitt (1759–1806); and Charles James Fox (1749–1806). Outstanding statesmen of the 19th century were William Wilberforce (1759–1833); Henry John Temple, third Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865); Sir Robert Peel (1788–1850); Benjamin Disraeli, earl of Beaconsfield (1804–81); and William Ewart Gladstone (1809–98). Twentieth-century leaders include David Lloyd George, first earl of Dwyfor (1863–1945), prime minister during World War I; and Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874–1965), prime minister during World War II, historian, and winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1953. In 1979, Margaret (Hilda Roberts) Thatcher (b.1925) became the nation's first woman prime minister. The reigning monarch since 1952 has been Queen Elizabeth II (b.1926). The heir to the throne is Charles, prince of Wales (b.1948), whose marriage on 29 July 1981 to Lady Diana Frances Spencer (1961–1997; at marriage, Diana, princess of Wales) was seen by a worldwide television audience of 750 million people.

Explorers and Navigators

British explorers and navigators played an important part in charting the course of empire. Sir Martin Frobisher (1535?–94), who set sail from England in search of the Northwest Passage, reached Canada in 1576. Sir Francis Drake (1545?–96) was the first Englishman to sail around the world. John Davis (1550?–1605) explored the Arctic and Antarctic, sailed to the South Seas, and discovered the Falkland Islands. Henry Hudson (d.1611) explored the Arctic regions and North America. Sir Walter Raleigh (1552?–1618) was a historian and poet, as well as a navigator and colonizer of the New World. James Cook (1728–79) charted the coasts of Australia and New Zealand. Scottish-born David Livingstone (1813–73) explored central Africa while doing missionary work. Welsh-born Henry Morton Stanley (John Rowlands, 1841–1904) was sent by a US newspaper to find Livingstone in 1871 and, having done so, returned for further exploration of Africa. Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821–90), an Orientalist known for his translation of the Arabian Nights, and John Hanning Speke (1827–64) explored central Africa while searching for the source of the Nile.

Great British military figures include John Churchill, first duke of Marlborough (1650–1722), who attained many victories in the War of the Spanish Succession and in later campaigns against the French; Horatio, Viscount Nelson (1758–1805), the foremost British naval hero, whose career was climaxed by victory and death at Trafalgar; the Irish-born soldier-statesman Arthur Wellesley, first Duke of Wellington (1769–1852), whose brilliant campaigns culminated in the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo; General Charles George Gordon (1833–85), who gained victories in China, acquiring the nickname "Chinese," and died while fighting against the Mahdi in Khartoum; Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery (Bernard Law Montgomery, 1887–1976), British military leader during World War II; Welsh-born Thomas Edward Lawrence (1888–1935), known as "Lawrence of Arabia," who led the Arabs in uprisings against the Turks during World War I; and Lord Mountbatten of Burma (Louis Battenberg, 1900–1979), supreme Allied commander in Southeast Asia (1943–46) and last viceroy and first governor-general of India (1946–48).

Philosophers and Legal Scholars

Sir Thomas Littleton (1407?–81) wrote Tenures, a comprehensive work on English land law that was used as a textbook for over three centuries. Sir Edward Coke (1552–1634), a champion of the common law, wrote the Institutes of the Laws of England, popularly known as Coke on Littleton. Sir William Blackstone (1723–80) wrote Commentaries on the Laws of England, which became a basic text in modern legal education and strongly influenced the evolution of jurisprudence in the United States as well as in Britain. The jurist-philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) championed liberal law reform.

Roger Bacon (1214?–92), philosopher and scientist, wrote treatises ranging over the whole field of human knowledge. John Duns Scotus (1265?–1308) was a Scottish-born dialectician and theologian. William of Ockham (1300?–1349) laid the foundation of the modern theory of the separation of church and state. John Wesley (1703–91) was the founder of Methodism. Chief among modern philosophers are Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), John Locke (1632–1704), the Irish-born bishop and idealist thinker George Berkeley (1685–1753), John Stuart Mill (1806–73), Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947), George Edward Moore (1873–1958), Ludwig Joseph Johann Wittgenstein (b.Austria, 1889–1951), and Sir Alfred Jules Ayer (b.1910-1989). A philosopher and mathematician who widely influenced contemporary social thought was Bertrand Arthur William Russell, third Earl Russell (1872–1970).

Historians and Economists

Noted historians include Raphael Holinshed (d.1580?), Edward Gibbon (1737–94), John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, first Baron Acton (1834–92), William Edward Hartpole Lecky (1836–1903), John Richard Green (1837–83), Frederic William Maitland (1850–1906), George Macaulay Trevelyan (1876–1962), Giles Lytton Strachey (1880–1932), Sir Lewis Bernstein Namier (1880–1960), Arnold Joseph Toynbee (1889–1975), and Edward Hallett Carr (1892–1982).

Thomas Robert Malthus (1766–1834) and David Ricardo (1772–1823) were among the first modern economists. Robert Owen (1771–1858) was an influential Welsh-born socialist, industrial reformer, and philanthropist. Walter Bagehot (1826–77) was a distinguished critic and social scientist. The theories of John Maynard Keynes (Baron Keynes, 1883–1946) have strongly influenced the economic practices of many governments in recent years. Sir James George Frazer (1854–1941), a Scottish-born anthropologist and author of The Golden Bough, was a pioneer in the fields of comparative religion and comparative mythology. Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) was an influential economic and social philosopher. Sir Arthur John Evans (1851–1941) was an archaeologist who explored the ruins of ancient Crete. Anna Freud (b.Austria, 1895–1982), daughter of Sigmund Freud, and Melanie Klein (b.Austria, 1882–1960) were psychoanalysts influential in the study of child development. Noted anthropologists include Sir Edward Burnett Tylor (1832–1917); Polish-born Bronislaw Kasper Malinowski (1884–1942); Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey (1903–72) and his wife, Mary Leakey (1913–96), who discovered important fossil remains of early hominids in Tanzania; and Ashley Montagu (1905–1999).

Scientists

Present-day concepts of the universe largely derive from the theories of the astronomer and physicist Sir James Hopwood Jeans (1877–1946), the astronomers Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington (1882–1946) and Sir Fred Hoyle (1915–2001), and the radio astronomers Sir Martin Ryle (1918–84) and Anthony Hewish (b.1924), who shared the Nobel Prize for physics in 1974. Other British scientists and inventors who won fame for major contributions to knowledge include William Harvey (1578–1657), physician and anatomist, who discovered the circulation of the blood; Irish-born Robert Boyle (1627–91), physicist and chemist, who investigated the properties of gases; Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727), natural philosopher and mathematician, who discovered gravity and made important advances in calculus and optics; German-born physicist Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit (1686–1736), who introduced the temperature scale named after him; James Watt (1736–1819), the Scottish-born engineer who invented the modern condensing steam engine; Edward Jenner (1749–1823), who discovered the principle of vaccination; the great chemists John Dalton (1766–1844), who advanced the atomic theory, and Sir Humphry Davy (1778–1829); George Stephenson (1781–1848), inventor of the locomotive steam engine; Michael Faraday (1791–1867), a chemist and physicist noted for his experiments in electricity; Scottish-born geologist Sir Charles Lyell (1797–1875), the father of modern geology; Charles Darwin (1809–82), the great naturalist who advanced the theory of evolution; James Prescott Joule (1818–89), a physicist who studied heat and electrical energy; Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95), a biologist who championed Darwin's theory; James Clerk Maxwell (1831–79), the Scottish-born physicist who developed the hypothesis that light and electromagnetism are fundamentally of the same nature; Sir Alexander Fleming (1881–1955), bacteriologist, who received the 1945 Nobel Prize for medicine for the discovery of penicillin in 1928; and Francis Harry Compton Crick (1916–2004) and Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins (New Zealand, 1916–2004), two of the three winners of the 1962 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their research into the structure of the DNA molecule.

Literature and the Arts

Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400) wrote the Canterbury Tales and other works that marked the height of medieval English poetry. Other major medieval poets were John Gower (1325?–1408) and William Langland (1332?–1400?). William Caxton (1422–91) was the first English printer. Sir Thomas Malory (fl.1470) derived from French and earlier English sources the English prose epic traditionally known as Morte d'Arthur. Two religious reformers who translated the Bible into English, making it accessible to the common people, were John Wycliffe (1320?–84), who made the first complete translation, and William Tyndale (1492?–1536), who made the first translation from the original languages instead of Latin.

During the reign of Elizabeth I, England's golden age, emerged the dramatist and poet William Shakespeare (1564–1616), a giant of English and world literature, and a galaxy of other fine poets and playwrights. Among them were Edmund Spenser (1552?–99), Irish-born author of the Faerie Queene; the poet and soldier Sir Philip Sidney (1554–86); and the dramatists Christopher Marlowe (1564–93) and Ben Jonson (1572–1637). Outstanding writers of the Stuart period include the philosopher, scientist, and essayist Francis Bacon (1561–1626), first Baron Verulam Viscount St. Albans; John Donne (1572–1631), the greatest of the metaphysical poets; the lyric poet Robert Herrick (1591–1674); John Milton (1608–74), author of Paradise Lost and other poems and political essays; John Bunyan (1628–88), who created the classic allegory Pilgrim's Progress; and the poet, playwright, and critic John Dryden (1631–1700). The greatest Restoration dramatists were William Wycherley (1640–1716) and William Congreve (1670–1729). Two authors of famous diaries mirroring the society of their time were John Evelyn (1620–1706) and Samuel Pepys (1633–1703).

Distinguished writers of the 18th century include the Irish-born satirist Jonathan Swift (1667–1745), author of Gulliver's Travels; the essayists Joseph Addison (1672–1719) and Sir Richard Steele (1672–1729), whose journals were the prototypes of modern magazines; the poets Alexander Pope (1688–1744) and Thomas Gray (1716–71); the critic, biographer, and lexicographer Samuel Johnson (1709–84); and the Irish-born playwrights Oliver Goldsmith (1730?–74), also a poet and novelist, and Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816). The poet and artist William Blake (1757–1827) worked in a unique mystical vein.

The English Romantic movement produced a group of major poets, including William Wordsworth (1770–1850); Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834); George Noel Gordon Byron, sixth Lord Byron (1788–1824); Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822); and John Keats (1795–1821). Victorian poets of note included Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–92); Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–61); her husband, Robert Browning (1812–89); Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1822–82); his sister, Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830–94); Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909); and Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–89). Edward FitzGerald (1809–83) is famous for his free translations of Omar Khayyam's Rubáiyát. Matthew Arnold (1822–88) was a noted poet and critic. Other prominent critics and essayists include Charles Lamb (1775–1834), William Hazlitt (1778–1830), Thomas De Quincey (1785–1859), John Ruskin (1819–1900), Leslie Stephen (1832–1904), and William Morris (1834–96). Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859) was a distinguished statesman, essayist, and historian. John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801–90) was an outstanding Roman Catholic theologian. Irish-born Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (1854–1900) was famous as a playwright, novelist, poet, and wit.

Major poets of the 20th century include Alfred Edward Housman (1859–1936); Walter John de la Mare (1873–1956); Dame Edith Sitwell (1887–1964); US-born Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888–1965), winner of the Nobel Prize in 1949; Wystan Hugh Auden (1907–73); Welsh-born Dylan Thomas (1914–53); Philip Larkin (1922–85); and Ted Hughes (1930–98). Prominent critics include Frank Raymond Leavis (1895–1978) and Sir William Empson (1906–84).

The English novel's distinguished history began with Daniel Defoe (1660–1731), Samuel Richardson (1689–1761), Henry Fielding (1707–54), and Laurence Sterne (1713–68). It was carried forward in the 19th century by Jane Austen (1775–1817), William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–63), Charles Dickens (1812–70), Charles Reade (1814–84), Anthony Trollope (1815–82), the Brontë Sisters—Charlotte (1816–55) and Emily (1818–48)—George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans, 1819–80), George Meredith (1828–1909), Samuel Butler (1835–1902), and Thomas Hardy (1840–1928), who was also a poet. The mathematician Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, 1832–98) became world-famous for two children's books, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936), author of novels, stories, and poems, received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1907. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) is known throughout the world as the creator of Sherlock Holmes.

Twentieth-century fiction writers of note include the Polishborn Joseph Conrad (Teodor Józef Konrad Korzeniowski, 1857–1924); Herbert George Wells (1866–1946), who was also a popular historian and a social reformer; Arnold Bennett (1867–1931); John Galsworthy (1867–1933), also a playwright, who received the Nobel Prize in 1932; William Somerset Maugham (1874–1965), also a playwright; Edward Morgan Forster (1879–1970); Virginia Woolf (1882–1941); David Herbert Lawrence (1885–1930); Joyce Cary (1888–1957); Katherine Mansfield (b.New Zealand, 1888–1923); Dame Agatha Christie (1881–1976), also a playwright; Dame Ivy Compton-Burnett (1892–1969); Dame Rebecca West (b.Ireland, 1892–1983), also known for her political writings and as an active feminist; Aldous Huxley (1894–1963); John Boynton Priestley (1894–1984), also a playwright; Irish-born Robert Ranke Graves (1895–1985), also a poet, novelist, scholar, and critic; George Orwell (Eric Blair, 1903–50), also a journalist and essayist; Evelyn Waugh (1903–66); Graham Greene (1904–91); Anthony Dymoke Powell (1905–2000); Henry Green (Henry Vincent Yorke, 1905–74); Charles Percy Snow (Baron Snow, 1905–80), also an essayist and a physicist; William Golding (1911–93), Nobel Prize winner in 1983; Lawrence George Durrell (b.India, 1912–90); Anthony Burgess (1917–93); Doris Lessing (b.Iran, 1919); John Le Carré (David John Moore Cornwell, b.1931), and Ian McEwan (b.1948). The dominant literary figure of the 20th century was George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), Dublin-born playwright, essayist, critic, and wit. Sir Kingsley William Amis (1922–1995) was a novelist, poet, critic, and teacher; his son Martin Amis (b.1949) became a novelist as well. Dame Antonia Susan "A.S." Byatt (b.1936) has been hailed by some as one of the great postmodern novelists in England. Byatt's younger sister Margaret Drabble (b.1939) is a novelist as well. Fay Weldon (b.1931) is a novelist, short story writer, playwright and essayist whose work has been associated with feminism. Hanif Kureishi (b.1954) is a Pakistani-British playwright, author, and director. Kazuo Ishiguro (b.1954) is a British author of Japanese origin. Joanne "J.K." Rowling (b.1965) is most famous as author of the Harry Potter fantasy series. Zadie Smith (b.1975) has been celebrated as one of Britain's most talented young authors. The playwright-composer-lyricist Sir Noel Coward (1899–1973) directed and starred in many of his sophisticated comedies. Harold Pinter (b.1930) has been a highly influential playwright; he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 2005.

Actors and Actresses

The British stage tradition dates back to Richard Burbage (d.1619), the greatest actor of Shakespeare's time, and Edmund Kean (1787–1833), the greatest tragedian of the Romantic era. Luminaries of the modern theater are Dame Ellen Alicia Terry (1848–1928), Dame Sybil Thorndike (1882–1976), Dame Edith Evans (1888–1976), Sir Ralph Richardson (1902–83), Sir John Gielgud (1904–2000), Laurence Olivier (Baron Olivier of Brighton, 1907–1989), Sir Michael Redgrave (1908–85), and Derek George Jacobi (b.1938). Prominent stage directors are Peter Stephen Paul Brook (b.1925) and Sir Peter Reginald Frederick Hall (b.1930). Major contributors to the cinema have included the comic actor and director Charlie (Sir Charles Spencer) Chaplin (1889–1977); the directors Sir Alexander Korda (Sandor Corda, b.Hungary, 1893–1956), Sir Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980), Sir Carol Reed (1906–76), Sir David Lean (1908–91), Sir Richard Attenborough (b.1923), and Stephen Frears (b.1941); and actors Cary Grant (Archibald Alexander Leach, 1904–86), Sir Alec Guinness (1914–2000), Deborah Kerr (b.1921), Welsh-born Richard Burton (1925–84), Belgian-born Audrey Hepburn (1929–1993), Irish-born Peter O'Toole (b.1932), Dame Elizabeth Taylor (b.1932), Dame Maggie Natalie Smith (b.1934), Dame Judi Dench (b.1934), Vanessa Redgrave (b.1937), Glenda Jackson (b.1936), Jacqueline Bisset (b.1944), Sir Michael Caine (b.1933), Albert Finney (b.1936), Ralph Fiennes (b.1962), Miranda Richardson (b.1958), Rachel Weisz (b.1971), Tilda Swinton (b.1960), and Kate Winslet (b.1975).

Architects

Great English architects were Inigo Jones (1573–1652) and Sir Christopher Wren (1632–1723). Famous artists include William Hogarth (1697–1764), Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–92), Thomas Gainsborough (1727–88), Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), John Constable (1776–1837), the illustrator Aubrey Beardsley (1872–98), Graham Sutherland (1903–80), Francis Bacon (b.Ireland, 1910–92), and David Hockney (b.1937). Roger Eliot Fry (1866–1934) and Kenneth Mackenzie Clark (Lord Clark, 1903–83) were influential art critics. Sir Jacob Epstein (b.US, 1880–1959), Henry Moore (1898–1986), and Dame Barbara Hepworth (1903–75) are world-famous British sculptors. The most famous British potter was Josiah Wedgwood (1730–95).

Composers

English composers of note include John Dunstable (1370?–1453), whose works exerted a profound influence on continental musicians; William Byrd (1543–1623) and Orlando Gibbons (1583–1625), who were proficient in both sacred and secular music; the great lutenist and songwriter John Dowland (1563–1626); the madrigalists John Wilbye (1574–1638) and Thomas Weelkes (1575?–1623); Henry Purcell (1659?–95), a brilliant creator of vocal and chamber works; German-born George Frederick Handel (Georg Friedrich Händel, 1685–1759), a master of baroque operas, oratorios, and concerti; and Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1842–1900), whose musical settings of the librettos of Sir William Schwenk Gilbert (1836–1911) are among the most popular comic operas of all time. Significant 20th-century figures include Sir Edward Elgar (1857–1934), Frederick Delius (1862–1934), Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958), Sir William Walton (1902–83), Sir Michael Kemp Tippett (1905–98), Edward Benjamin Britten (Baron Britten, 1913–76), Peter Maxwell Davies (b.1934), and, in popular music, John Winston Lennon (1940–80) and James Paul McCartney (b.1942) of the Beatles. Notable performers include pianists Dame Myra Hess (1890–1965) and Sir Clifford Curzon (1907–82), violinist Sir Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), guitaristlutenist Julian Bream (b.1933), singers Sir Peter Pears (1910–86) and Dame Janet Baker (b.1933), and conductors Sir Thomas Beecham (1879–1961), Sir Adrian Boult (1889–1983), Sir John Barbirolli (1899–1970), Sir Georg Solti (b.Hungary, 1912–1997), and Sir Colin Davis (b.1927).

Athletes

Notable British athletes include Sir Roger Bannister (b.1929), who on 6 May 1954 became the first person to run a mile in under four minutes; golfer Tony Jacklin (b.1944), winner of the British Open in 1969 and the US Open in 1970; three-time world champion John Young "Jackie" Stewart (b.1939), a Scottish race-car driver; and the yachtsman Sir Francis Chichester (1901–72), winner of the first single-handed transatlantic race (1970) and the first sailor to make a solo circumnavigation of the globe (1966–67). Tennis player Sarah Virginia Wade (b.1945) won three Grand Slam singles titles and five Grand Slam doubles titles; she is particularly remembered for winning the women's singles title at Wimbledon in the championship's centenary year in 1977.

Natives of Scotland and Wales

Duncan I (r.1034–40) was the first ruler of the historical kingdom of Scotland. Macbeth (r.1040–57), who killed Duncan and seized the throne, furnished the subject of one of Shakespeare's greatest plays. Margaret (d.1093), Duncan's daughter-in-law, reformed the Church, won fame for piety and charity, and was made a saint. William Wallace (1272?–1306) led a rebellion against the English occupation. Robert the Bruce (1274–1329), ruler of Scotland (1306–29), won its independence from England. Mary, Queen of Scots (Mary Stuart, 1542–87), a romantic historical figure, is the subject of many plays and novels. Her son James VI (1566–1625) became England's King James I.

Before the union with England, outstanding poets writing in Scottish include Robert Henryson (1425?–1500?), William Dunbar (1460?–1520?), Gavin Douglas (1474–1522), and Sir David Lindsay (1490?–1555). One of the finest Scottish poets was William Drummond (1585–1649). Sir Thomas Urquhart (1611–60) produced a noted translation of Rabelais. John Knox (1514?–72) was the founder of Presbyterianism. David Hume (1711–76) was an outstanding philosopher and historian. Economist and philosopher Adam Smith (1723–90) influenced the development of world economy and politics. James Boswell (1740–95) wrote the brilliant Life of Samuel Johnson. The 18th century produced several important poets, notably Allan Ramsay (1686–1758), James Thomson (1700–48), James Macpherson (1736–96), and the national poet of Scotland, Robert Burns (1759–96). A major 19th-century essayist and social critic was Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881). Scottish novelists of prominence include Tobias George Smollett (1721–71); Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832); Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94), also a poet; John Buchan, first Lord Tweedsmuir (1875–1940); and Sir James Matthew Barrie (1860–1937), who also wrote popular plays.

Distinguished figures who were active primarily in Wales include the 6th-century monk Dewi (d.588?), who became St. David, the patron saint of Wales; Rhodri the Great (844–77), who attained rule over most of Wales and founded two great ruling houses; Howel the Good (Hywel Dda, 910–50), whose reformed legal code became the standard of Welsh law for centuries; the Lord Rhys ap Gruffydd (1155–97), ruler of southern Wales, who founded the national Eisteddfod; Dafydd ap Gwilym (fl.1340–70), a remarkable poet; and Owen Glendower (Owain ap Gruffydd, 1359?–1416), the national hero of Wales, who led a rebellion against English rule. Bishop William Morgan (1541?–1604) made a Welsh translation of the Bible which, with revisions, is still in use. Among literary figures are Ellis Wynne (1671–1734), Daniel Owen (1836–95), and Sir Owen Morgan Edwards (1858–1920).

Two natives of Northern Ireland—Betty Williams (b.1943), a Protestant, and Mairead Corrigan (b.1944), a Roman Catholic—received the Nobel Peace Prize (awarded in 1977) for their leadership of a peace movement in Ulster.

DEPENDENCIES

British overseas dependencies include the British Indian Ocean Territory and St. Helena (described in the Africa volume under UK African Dependencies); and Bermuda, the British Antarctic Territory, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, the Falkland Islands, The Turks and Caicos Islands, Anguilla and Montserrat (described in the Americas volume under UK American Dependencies).

Gibraltar

The colony of Gibraltar (5.83 sq km/2.25 sq mi in area), the smallest UK dependency, is a narrow peninsula connected to the south-west coast of Spain. From a low, sandy plain in the north, it rises sharply in the 430-m (1,400-ft) Rock of Gibraltar, a shrub-covered mass of limestone, with huge caves. Gibraltar has a pleasantly temperate climate, except for occasional hot summers. Average annual rainfall is 89 cm (35 in). There is a rainy season from December to May. The resident civilian population, almost entirely of European origin, was estimated at 27,714 in mid-2002. Gibraltar is an important port of call for cargo and passenger ships. There is a naval base at the northeast gate of the Strait of Gibraltar and a military airfield that is used by private companies. Telegraph, radio, and television are privately operated. The telephone system is government owned.

Known as Calpe in ancient times, Gibraltar was successively occupied by Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, and Visigoths. Its strategic value was recognized early. In ad 711, it was captured by Moors under Tariq, and since then it has been known as Jabal Tariq or Gibraltar. It remained in Moor hands, except for short periods, until Spain took it in 1462. In 1704, a combined EnglishDutch fleet captured Gibraltar, and it was officially transferred to Britain by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Since 1964, Spain has tried to negotiate the return of Gibraltar to Spanish control. However, in a referendum held in 1967, Gibraltarians voted overwhelmingly (12,138 to 44) to retain their link with Britain. Since then, Spain has continued to raise the issue at the UN and put direct pressure on the Gibraltarians by closing the land frontier between the peninsula and the Spanish mainland and suspending the ferry service between Gibraltar and Algeciras; the border was reopened to limited pedestrian traffic in December 1982 and fully reopened in February 1985.

Under the 1969 constitution, Gibraltar is governed by a House of Assembly with 18 members, 15 of whom are elected by popular vote. The governor (who is also commander of the fortress) retains direct responsibility for defense and external affairs and can intervene in domestic affairs.

Gibraltar was once largely dependent on British subsidies, but in the late 1990s had made the transition to private sector industry. Tourism (with about six million visitors annually), reexports (largely fuel for shipping), shipping services, and duties on consumer goods contribute to the economy. Local industries are tobacco and coffee processing. The Gibraltar pound is at par with the British pound. The financial sector accounts for about 15% of GDP. Exports in 1998 (mainly reexports of petroleum and petroleum products) totaled an estimated us$81.1 million, and imports us$492 million. There is an income tax and an estate duty.

Illiteracy is negligible. Education is compulsory between the ages of 5 and 15. There are 12 primary schools, two single-sex comprehensive secondary schools, and the College of Further Education. The armed forces have their own schools; attendance by civilian children is available. Language spoken at home include Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, but the language of business and schools is English. The colony has a serious housing shortage.

Pitcairn Island

Pitcairn is a mountainous island of volcanic origin about 4.5 sq km (1.75 sq mi) in area, in the South Pacific at 25°4′ s and 130°6′w. Three smaller islands (Henderson, Ducie, and Oeno) associated with Pitcairn are uninhabited. Pitcairn Island was discovered in 1767 by the British and settled in 1790 by H.M.S. Bounty mutineers and the Polynesian women who accompanied them from Tahiti. The population, mainly descendants of the Bounty mutineers, after reaching a peak of 233 in 1937, decreased to 120 in 1962 and to about 52 in 1992 to 47 in 2002. Most of the younger members of the community have migrated to New Zealand. The climate is warm, with very little change throughout the year.

There is one village, Adamstown. Pitcairn is administered, together with the three other small islands, as a UK colony by the UK high commissioner in New Zealand. The local government consists of an island magistrate and a 10-member Island Council. Six of the Council's members are elected. New Zealand dollars (nz$) are used locally; nz$1 = us$0.5132 (or us$1 = nz$1.9486). There is no port or harbor; goods from ships are conveyed ashore in longboats. Cargo ships plying the route between Panama and New Zealand call periodically.

The main occupation is subsistence agriculture. A small surplus of fresh fruit and vegetables is sold to passing ships. Fish are abundant. Imports, mainly food, come from New Zealand. Fruit, woven baskets, carved curios, and stamps are sold to ships' passengers.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

20th Century British History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.

Alexander, Yonah (ed.). Combating Terrorism: Strategies of Ten Countries. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 2002.

Bruce, Duncan. The Mark of the Scots: Their Astonishing Contributions to History, Science, Democracy, Literature and the Arts. Secaucus, N.J.: Carol, 1997.

The Cambridge History of English Literature. 15 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1964-1968.

Childs, Peter and Mike Storry (eds.). British Cultural Identities. New York: Routledge, 1997.

The Columbia Companion to British History. Edited by Juliet Gardiner and Neil Wenborn. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.

Cook, Chris. The Longman Handbook of Modern British History, 1714–1995. 3rd ed. New York: Longman, 1996.

Cox, Andrew W. The Political Economy of Modern Britain. Cheltenham, U.K.: E. Elgar, 1997.

Delderfield, Eric R. Kings and Queens of England and Great Britain. New York: Facts on File, 1990.

Foster, R. F. (ed.). The Oxford History of Ireland. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

Gagnon, Alain G. and James Tully, (eds.). Multinational Democracies. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Glynn, Sean. Modern Britain: An Economic and Social History. New York: Routledge, 1996.

Human Rights in the United Kingdom. Edited by R. J. F. Gordon and Richard Wilmot-Emith. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Lee, C. H. Scotland and the United Kingdom: The Economy and the Union in the Twentieth Century. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press, 1995.

McElrath, Karen (ed.). HIV and AIDS: A Global View. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002.

Norton, Philip. The British Polity. 3rd ed. New York: Longman, 1994.

O'Neill, Michael (ed.). Devolution and British Politics. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2004.

Sampanis, Maria. Preserving Power through Coalitions: Comparing the Grand Strategy of Great Britain and the United States. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2003.

Summers, Randal W., and Allan M. Hoffman (ed.). Domestic Violence: A Global View. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002.

UK

1. Introduction

At 1100 on Sunday 3 September 1939, the UK's ultimatum to Germany expired and, for the second time in 21 years, the two countries were at war. The mood of sombre determination with which the UK entered the Second World War—in marked contrast to the rapturous en thusiasm people had displayed in August 1914—reflected not only apprehension about the future but also a recognition of the failure of British policies and British politicians over the previous decade.

Between 1931 and 1935 the UK's global security was shattered by the appearance of three potential enemies. Japan's invasion of Manchuria in September 1931 (see Manchukuo), Hitler's accession to power in Germany in January 1933, and Italy's attack on Abyssinia in October 1935 produced a situation in which appeasement of one or more of these ambitious powers was unavoidable. The contemporaneous collapse of the European security system, marked by Germany's withdrawal from the Geneva disarmament conference in October 1933, the re-militarization of the Rhineland on 7 March 1936 and the discrediting of the League of Nations in the wake of Japanese aggression in Manchuria and the Italian conquest of Abyssinia, caused British politicians to focus their efforts on Germany as the greatest threat. To meet it, the UK developed a dual policy of arms limitation and appeasement. Both Stanley Baldwin (1867–1947) and Neville Chamberlain sought to allay Germany's ruffled feelings, return it to the international fold, and at the same time prevent an arms race.

Between 1934 and 1936, when the occupation of the Rhineland signalled the start of a more aggressive phase in German policy, the UK put much of its faith in the parity deterrent: a policy of limited bomber construction at a rate Germany could not outpace which was calculated to deter Hitler from unilateral repudiation of the 1919Versailles settlement. Hitler's announcement of German rearmament in March 1935, and his claim that the Luftwaffe was already the equal of the RAF, vitiated this policy, though the conclusion of an Anglo-German naval agreement in June 1935 and the temptation of a western air pact (which was never secured) encouraged British statesmen to put continued faith in the prospects for arms limitation.

Events in the Rhineland and Abyssinia, combined with the evident bankruptcy of the parity deterrent, forced a reconsideration of British defence policy; in December 1937 the government allocated £1,500,000,000 for defence over the next five years and switched priority from bombers to an integrated air defence system. At the same time, Chamberlain made it plain that the UK was prepared to see possibly extensive changes in Austria and Czechoslovakia in Germany's favour, provided they were achieved by peaceful means. This policy was influenced by the hostility of the Dominions to any war in Europe and by Chamberlain's desire to avoid unrestrained rearmament, which would distort the British economy and mean the loss of exports. It was also the preference of a man with a profound horror of war who misread the temper of his opponent.

After Germany's absorption of Austria on 12 March 1938 it became plain that Czechoslovakia was next on Hitler's shopping list. Military unreadiness and the UK's detachment from European affairs in general and eastern Europe in particular led to the Munich agreement of 30 September 1938—the high point of appeasement and the low-water mark of British foreign policy. After the Anschluss rearmament was at last allowed to go ahead unfettered; but in March the British Chiefs of Staff decided that nothing could be done to help Czechoslovakia (not least because they were unwilling to enter into military conversations with the French) and thereafter they urged the government to appease the UK's opponents. British policy at Munich was in part the inescapable consequence of military vulnerability: in September 1938, the cabinet knew that the Luftwaffe could not launch the much-feared ‘knock-out blow’ from the air, but it was also aware that British air defences were still in disarray (only four radar stations were operational and all the guns on Spitfires needed modification before they could fire at heights at which German bombers would probably be encountered). A second strand in British policy was the view that Germany had a moral right to the Sudetenland. Whether the Munich agreement was also a conscious policy of buying time remains debatable.

Chamberlain's return from Munich with ‘peace in our time’ was greeted with popular relief; but he remarked privately to Lord Halifax, the foreign secretary, that in three months the wild celebrations would be over. His pessimism was fully justified. Germany's occupation of the rump of Czechoslovakia on 15 March 1939 demonstrated that British policies could neither deter Hitler nor assuage his mounting territorial appetite. Guarantees to Poland and Romania in March, the imposition of conscription in April and the rapid development of joint military plans with France signalled a late turn in the UK's attitude. By July the final details of the concentration areas of the British Expeditionary Force in France had been agreed. Already, in February 1939, the Chiefs of Staff had evolved a long-term strategy for war against Germany which involved exerting economic pressure (see economic warfare), building up British strength, and using command of the sea to strike at vulnerable points.

In 1938, Chamberlain had regarded war against Germany to preserve the European balance of power as ‘preventive war’ and had opposed it; in September 1939, faced with the German invasion of Poland (see Polish campaign) and a tide of national anger, he was forced to commit a country which was by no means fully prepared to a war in defence of France, of the concept of a European balance of power, and ultimately, of democracy.

John Gooch

2. Domestic life, war effort, and economy

(a) Attitudes on the home front

As people in the UK perceived it, the war presented several distinct phases:1. September 1939– April 1940: the phoney war when mobilization seemed sluggish, unemployment remained high, and, in the absence of major war news, the pacifist minority was still quite numerous and vocal. However, the mass evacuation of children and the imposition of a blackout at nights meant sharp departures from peace-time normality.2. April 1940– May 1941: military disaster in the Norwegian campaign precipitated a political crisis in which the Conservative prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, despite his party's huge parliamentary majority, was forced into resignation on 10 May 1940. On that very day, the German Army moved into the Low Countries (see FALL GELB). Its rapid successes produced an atmosphere of extreme urgency, in which the new ruling coalition led by Churchill had to be seen to act decisively. An extension of the Emergency Powers Act introduced the previous year gave the government, from 22 May 1940, ‘complete control over persons and property, not just some persons of some particular class of the community, but of all persons, rich and poor, employer and workman, man or woman, and all property,’ as Attlee, now deputy prime minister, explained to the Commons. The leading trade unionist, Ernest Bevin, who was appointed Minister of Labour by Churchill, could now direct any person to do any job, and set wages, hours, and conditions. Excess Profits Tax, designed to prevent profiteering, was raised to 100%. The basis was laid for what some called ‘War Socialism’. After the fall of France in June 1940 the UK and its empire fought on virtually without allies, and the battle of Britain in the air that summer and early autumn inspired those working overtime in war factories. Fear of invasion, at this time not unjustified, gave everyday life a febrile quality. Many parts of the country experienced bombing, and on 7 September the Blitz began when the Luftwaffe attacked London's East End in force. Thereafter London was bombed for all but one of 76 consecutive nights. A heavy raid on Coventry on 14 November marked a shift in the Luftwaffe's attentions away from the capital, though London continued to receive intermittent heavy attacks. Certain western ports, vital to the country's links with overseas, were especially hard hit—Plymouth, Merseyside, Southampton, and Portsmouth. But Clydeside experienced only one major raid and production of munitions and other war essentials was not greatly affected. The conviction that the UK was ‘taking it’ as London had ‘taken it’ helped to alleviate depression in the grim early months of 1941. In May, after a particularly heavy raid on London, the Luftwaffe let up, as Hitler moved his forces to the Eastern Front. The heroic phase of the civilian war—the country's ‘finest hour’, as Churchill had called it—was over.3. May 1941– November 1942: though Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 (see BARBAROSSA) gave the UK a popular new ally, and Japan's strike at Pearl Harbor on 7 December brought the economic might of the USA fully into the war on the UK's side, this was a phase of discontent. War news, mostly bad in 1941, was still worse in 1942 when Japan overran the Far Eastern portions of the British Empire, and Rommel's forces were rampant in the Western Desert campaigns. According to opinion polls, approval of Churchill as prime minister never dropped below 78%, but between February and October 1942 his political position was believed insecure: for much of this period Sir Stafford Cripps seemed to some, in and out of high political circles, to be a likely successor. Cripps was applauded for his calls for further austerity. Rationing of food, clothing, and petrol was now intense, yet there is ample evidence that such controls, to help win the war, were not resented. However, there was much well-publicized discussion of inefficiency in industry, the coalition government lost four by-elections to independent candidates, there was clamour for a Second Front in Europe to help the USSR, and public opinion was generally truculent. Montgomery's victory over Rommel at El Alamein early in November came as a vast relief, and reconsolidated Churchill's position as war leader. From now on, over-optimism about early victory replaced anguish over frequent reverses as a ‘morale problem’.4. November 1942– August 1945: with the fear of invasion entirely dissipated, talk of a better world after the war serged to the headlines. On 1 December 1942 the Beveridge Report was published (see government, below). William Beveridge (1879–1963) gathered to a head the widespread conviction that Planning (now so often given a capital P), such as had governed the country's now successful-seeming war effort, could guarantee a secure post-war life for all citizens. Since 1941, many official and non-official committees had been devising post-war schemes for various areas of economic and social concern (including blueprints for the rebuilding of blitzed cities). While Conservative businessmen protested that ambitious undertakings such as the Beveridge plan would have to be paid for by improved export performance, public opinion swept past them. Churchill's lack of enthusiasm for post-war planning confirmed the widespread belief that he was a great war leader, not suitable for peacetime. In May 1944 parliament passed an Education Act (rationalizing and broadening school provision on lines prefigured by pre-war planning) which was the most that Churchill would concede in the way of immediate major reform, though family allowances were introduced before he left office in July 1945.

In less than two and half years, from January 1942 to D-Day in June 1944, more than a million and a half US servicemen arrived in the UK. The lifestyle and values of their homeland were well-known already through Hollywood films, and American dance music was very popular. Nevertheless, ‘oversexed, overpaid and over here’, the GIs provoked friction. Many women, from teenagers to grandmothers, seem to have been eager to trade their virtue for luxuries from the PX stores and nights out dancing to the excellent bands which served the US bases. But this increased resentments felt by men, in and out of the UK services, who saw that GIs were better paid and better dressed than they were. Despite the tragic courage of the USAAF's ‘mighty Eighth’, which flew daylight bomber sorties out of East Anglia during the strategic air offensive against Germany, and sustained more than 45,000 casualties, the slur that the ‘Yanks’ were cowards was commonplace. As in the First World War, it was said the USA had entered late, after others had born the brunt of the battle. While the US ‘occupation’ increased mutual understanding in some quarters it also generated anti-American feeling. A symptom of the complex factors at work was the general sympathy for black GIs (see African Americans)—subjected to colour bars in their own army—expressed by British civilians who contrasted their kindly courtesy with the arrogance attributed to white GIs.

The Normandy landings of 6 June 1944 (see OVERLORD) produced high hopes of swift victory, dampened by the arrival from 13 June of V-1 ‘flying bombs’ over south-eastern England, followed by V-2 rockets from 8 September (see V-weapons). These preyed on the nerves of war-weary civilians, caused considerable casualties, and aggravated the housing problem which was a legacy of the 1940–1 raids. However, high spirits were everywhere seen on V-E Day. On 23 May the coalition ended, after the Labour Party's National Conference had refused to continue in it and Churchill's ‘caretaker’ Conservative government was decisively defeated in the ensuing general election, in which Labour swept to power with 393 Commons seats out of 640. The public had opted for a ‘planned’ peace.

(b) Manpower and war production (see Table 1)

The UK mobilized civilians more fully than any other combatant nation. In June 1944, when 22% of the country's labour force was in the armed services, 33% was in civilian war work. Even this impressive figure omits the efforts of part-time volunteers in Civil Defence (see below) and the WVS and the work done by pensioners, while women occupied in household work (nearly 10 million out of a population of 47,700,000) were in a truly essential occupation when there were 9 million children under 14 and some 6 million old people to be looked after, not to speak of husbands and lodgers who worked in mines and factories.

Since May 1940 control over manpower—including ‘womanpower’—had been exercised at the top, by Ernest Bevin. In December 1940, his ministry of labour was still under fire for not making sufficient use of its powers of compulsion. In that month, Sir William Beveridge unveiled in secret a report on manpower requirements which was as much a turning-point in the economic history of the war as its author's report on social security was to be in its political history. It pointed out that one and a half million women would have to be drafted into war industry from housework and from less essential work. From March 1941, the registration of women began, eventually extending to all between 18 and 60, along with that of men over 41. In the same month, the Essential Work Order tied workers to jobs in establishments deemed vital. By the end of 1941, under the provisions of this order, nearly six million workers had been guaranteed job security with decent minimum pay and conditions.

The war abolished unemployment, to the point where many people—such as factory workers who were in the Home Guard, bank clerks who were ARP volunteers—were, in effect, doing more than one job. This gave new strength to the trade union movement: between 1938 and 1943 the number of unionized workers increased by over a third, to 8,174,000, and Bevin's own Transport and General workers became the first union to top a million members.

By 1943, it was almost impossible for a woman under 40 to avoid war work unless she had heavy family responsibilities or was looking after a war worker billeted on her. Scotland, Wales, and the north of England exported ‘surplus unskilled mobile woman labour’ to the munitions factories of the Midlands. Women replaced 100,000 railway workers drafted into the forces. Controversially, they worked as bus conductors, wearing trousers.‘Numbers of passengers believe that the last act of conductress and her driver or motorman each night before going home is the exercise of sexual intercourse’, noted one of these outrageous females—but women wearing trousers were becoming a common sight. Women even worked as welders in shipyards, traditionally almost as macho in ethos as coalmines: in lighter engineering ‘dilution’ by women might reach 80% or higher. The Women's Land Army (WLA) repeated a First World War experiment. In June 1939 there had been 546,000 regular male workers in agriculture and 55,000 regular female workers. By June 1944 there were 150,000 more land workers, though regular men had dropped to 522,000. The WLA stood at 80,000. A former hairdresser won a horse-ploughing competition in Yorkshire against a field of men.

But the filthy and dangerous work of coalmines remained a male preserve. The industry at this time combined, as one critic put it, ‘the worst features of decaying and restrictive monopoly with the most brutal evils arising from cut-throat competition’. Relations between colliers and their employers were uneasy, often bitter; after decades of struggle, strikes were commonplace, absenteeism widespread. During the war the miners were an ageing workforce, depleted by enlistment in the army and not over-willing to co-operate with government's attempts to rationalize the industry. Production of deep-mined coal fell from 204 million tons in 1942 to 175 millions in 1945, though manpower, 766,000 in 1939, had been stabilized at 710,000. Miners' sons were forced down the pits, and from December 1943Bevin boys were employed.

Statistically, however, war industry was a success story. Aircraft production, for instance, rose from 3,000 warplanes in 1938 to 15,000 in 1940. It trebled between January 1940 and January 1942, and doubled again by March 1944. At this time, 1,700,000 were employed by firms under contract to the ministry of aircraft production. But the biggest British factories had only 3,000 to 15,000 employees, compared to up to 40,000 in their US counterparts, and efficiency was accordingly much lower, so the industry was subjected to constant criticism. High wages were one focus for disapproval from outsiders: in the Midlands, where labour was scarce, firms paid huge bonuses, to which overtime was added, and some workers took more in a day than a railwayman got in a week, while servicemen's wives struggled on tiny allowances.

Strikes had all but disappeared in the hectic year of 1940 when the country stood alone, and Bevin's Order 1305 of July that year had made them illegal. Yet 1944 set a new record for aggregate number of stoppages: 2,194, involving the loss of 3,700,000 working days. Two-thirds of those lost were in coal mining, but engineering—that is, war industry—came second. However, most strikes were short: the typical stoppage was a swift outburst over piece rates, in which communist shop stewards—committed, after Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union, to the maximization of production—would attempt to restrain their aggrieved brothers and sisters. Though a relative handful of workers were fined for striking, Order 1305 was in general ineffectual.

UK, Table 1: The British war effort 1940–4

(c) Rationing and domestic life

Total war progressively diverted resources and labour away from the production of consumer goods, and reduced food supplies from overseas. Like many other policies developed during the First World War, rationing was reintroduced early in the Second. Petrol was rationed from September 1939, with evidence of strong popular support for the move. Chamberlain's government introduced rationing of meat, butter, and sugar early in 1940. Clothes rationing, after prices had soared, came in June 1941. War meant that many commonplace items were in short supply, and generated incessant ‘salvage drives’. When rationing reached a peak in August 1942, each citizen was entitled to 1s. 2d. worth of meat per week (nearly 1 lb./450 gm. per person), to four ounces (113 gm.) of bacon and ham, eight (225 gm.) of sugar, eight of fats, and eight of cheese, though the cheese allowance dropped to a mere two ounces (57 gm.) in April 1944. Over a four-week period a consumer might purchase 16 oz. of hard soap, 16 oz. of jam, marmalade, or mincemeat, and 8 oz. of sweets. Over eight weeks, an adult could get one packet of dried eggs equal to 12 eggs: children under six were allowed two packets and, like invalids and expectant mothers, were guaranteed a pint of milk per day. For each month, a ration-book holder had twenty ‘points’ which could be used on scarce goods ranging from tinned salmon at (say) 32 points for a pound, to dried peas for as little as one point per pound; such items as breakfast cereals, syrup, and biscuits came under the ‘points’ scheme. Tea was also rationed, but important foods such as bread, potatoes, vegetables, fruit, and fish were not.

Rationing tied customers to particular retailers, and bore hard on working-class men who had traditionally been heavy consumers of meat, but it was generally approved of. It seemed to guarantee ‘fair shares’. Cooks became expert in making puddings without eggs, preserving fruit without sugar, and creating dishes out of strange canned meats from the USA such as the famous Spam. While the black market might satisfy a craving for such rare items as oranges, many citizens heeded the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign and grew food for themselves in gardens and allotments (the number of the latter rose from 815,000 in 1939 to 1,400,000 in 1943). Poultry-keeping and pig-keeping increased. Meanwhile, farmers prospered as they put every possible acre to use for food production, assisted in summer by volunteer workers such as schoolchildren and weekending adults.

Overall there is no doubt that in terms of essential vitamins and calories the UK's population was better fed in wartime than before, when malnutrition had accompanied unemployment and low wages. Meals eaten in canteens, often provided for the first time at workplaces, and in the new, cheap British restaurants, were ‘off the ration’, and the government used these to make extra meat and cheese available to workers in heavy industry. However, for most people the diet was restricted and monotonous.

Even after the major disruptions caused by bombing in 1940–1 had ceased, travel on crowded public transport was subject to delays. Housing accommodation was in short supply, particularly in areas where new or expanded war factories brought in many newcomers. Population in the blitzed centres of several cities, including London, fell markedly, but new workers continued to arrive in the engineering industries of Coventry and Manchester. Building workers were largely employed on camp and factory construction. By the end of 1942, some 300,000 families were living in houses unfit for habitation by pre-war standards, and two and a half million occupied bombed houses which had received only temporary repairs.

From the outbreak of war to the end of 1945, some 60 million changes of address took place among a civilian population of about 48 million, an indication of the disruption and inconvenience which war brought to non-combatants. It is hardly surprising that, while some women moving into war work revelled in new experiences, work place friendships, and the freedom given by rates of pay which, though lower than men's, might seem very considerable, many others could not wait to return to civilian life. The end of the war produced a rush back to domesticity, though married couples separated for years by war service, and children meeting fathers they had never known, often found readjustment very difficult.

The UK birthrate had been falling before the war: it rose sharply, from 13.9 per thousand of population, the lowest point in the history of registration, in 1941 to 17.5 in 1944 (see demography). Long-term demographic factors rather than wartime circumstances were responsible for the boom (in 1947, the rate would be 20.6), but the war accounted for a rising proportion of illegitimate births, despite the increased spread of knowledge of contraceptive methods which was promoted. Divorce petitions rose from just under 10,000 in 1938 to 25,000 in 1945. The paradoxical effect of war overall seems to have been that it loosened family ties and eroded moral constraints, while simultaneously creating a yearning for settled home life.

(d) Morale, national unity, and wartime spirit

In 1940 and 1941 approximately 43,000 civilians in the UK were directly killed by bombs, and about 17,000 more over the remaining years of war. About half of these 60,000 deaths were in London. At least 86,000 people were seriously injured (see Table 2). This compares with deaths in the armed forces of 260,000. Both figures are small compared to losses from war causes suffered by European, Japanese, and Chinese forces and civilians. Nevertheless, the sustained nightly bombing of London in the autumn of 1940 was unprecedented in history and represented the fiercest exposure of any section of the UK population to armed conflict in centuries.

Morale was never tested as severely as it was in Germany, where war production soared in spite of raids which killed half as many people again in Hamburg in one night as died from bombing in London throughout the war. Even in Japan, it took a new weapon of devastating power, the atomic bomb, to induce the surrender of a people whose cities had been devastated by the strategic air offensive mounted against it. That British morale survived the Blitz of 1940–1 is not, therefore, at all surprising. Nevertheless, the endurance shown by civilians in that period was a cause for local and national pride at the time, and has been since. Post-raid emergency services were often sadly inadequate. In the absence of deep shelters, and justifiably suspicious of the brick communal shelters erected in city streets, hundreds and thousands of Londoners, in the autumn of 1940, slept in underground stations. Many others evacuated themselves to safer parts. But London was seen to be ‘taking it’ and inhabitants of other cities were generally determined to show that they, too, could ‘take it’. ‘Trekking’ by inhabitants of heavily bombed cities to sleep under cover or without cover in suburban and rural areas was commonplace, but bombs caused surprisingly little voluntary absenteeism from work. In public shelters, communal entertainments were often organized. The shared experience of the raids generated spontaneous fellow-feeling, strangers spoke to each other, neighbours were lavish with cups of tea, publicans gave out free drinks, class divisions (it seemed to many) broke down.

Other factors made for greater national cohesion. Among other effects, the greater mobility of the population brought Scots, Welsh, and Irish people in large numbers to dynamic centres of industry in England, as well as scrambling them together in the armed forces. The BBC before the war had already provided a common standard of information and entertainment for the nation: during the war it became less stiffly genteel, and began to use personalities with regional accents.

The war had the effect of cutting down (though not eradicating) conspicuous consumption by the well-to-do—it was hard to hold on to domestic servants, for instance—and of improving levels of feeding and income among the poorest, now guaranteed work if they could do it. Even the proliferation of ‘red tape’—controls, regulations, and bureaucracy—at least had the effect of uniting the public against their tormentors, the civil servants.

Nevertheless, the war revealed, and confirmed, social problems and fissures between groups and classes. Crime rates rose sharply—there were just over 300,000 indictable offences in England and Wales in 1939, 478,000 in 1945—though increased theft, rather than violence, accounted for this increase. Juvenile delinquency was fostered by the disruption of schooling caused by evacuation and bombing, and by the preoccupation of adults with war work. Evacuation of poor slum dwellers, like the arrival later of refugees from blitzed areas, produced paroxysms of class hatred among well-to-do householders in safe areas, who often did all they could to avoid billeting such riff-raff, and as figures for strikes showed, class feeling remained strong in industry. That Labour in 1951 secured a higher vote than any recorded before or since in a general election by any party, and nevertheless lost to Churchill's resurgent Conservatives, suggests, as analysis confirms, working-class self-assertion confronting middle-class resistance.

But the UK won the war, after ‘standing alone’ in 1940, suggesting to the British public that British ways of doing things were better than those of other people. While the country's actual bankruptcy, a result of the all-out war effort, reduced the empire to the status of a satellite of the globally triumphant USA, British industry maintained its old-fashioned methods and attitudes prevalent during the war. While European nations earnestly created new constitutions, the Mother of Parliaments was now more than ever sacrosanct, and other salient British institutions basked in complacency. Talk, in the 1940s, of wartime social revolution, in hindsight seems ludicrously inappropriate. See also world trade and world economy.

Angus Calder

3. Government

When the war began on 1 September 1939 the prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, offered the Labour and Liberal parties a coalition with his Conservative government, which had a comfortable majority of some 250 in a House of Commons of 615 members; they refused. However, they did not oppose any of the wartime legislation the cabinet proposed; and the addition of Churchill and Eden to the cabinet's ranks visibly strengthened it.

UK, Table 2: Civil Defence and civilian Casualties. Casualties to United Kingdom civilians due to enemy action as reported to 31 July 1945

J. M. Lee / and M. R. D. Foot

4. Northern Ireland

The six north-eastern Irish counties remained part of the UK after 1922 when the Irish Free State—or Eire as it was called after 1937—achieved independence. The most significant wartime role of the province was in providing facilities during the battle of the Atlantic. Londonderry became a major base for convoy protection vessels with by 1943 a shore-based complement of 2,000 servicing some 20,000 British and Canadian personnel in more than 130 warships. An extensive American naval operating base at the port, for which construction began in June 1941, was never fully used by the US Navy, but the repair yard remained open until 1945. Naval units were also based at Belfast and Larne, while RAF Coastal Command squadrons (eventually ten in all) flew from four airfields and a flying boat base. Catalina aircraft from this base played a major role in the operation against the German battleship Bismarck in May 1943. A sustained airfield construction programme provided a further fifteen for the use of British and American forces. From January 1942 the province acted as a bridgehead for American troops and aircraft being sent to Europe. The Eighth US Army Air Force established a very large repair and maintenance depot at Langford Lodge near Lough Neagh and in 1944 the province served as a training area for over 100,000 US troops preparing for Normandy landings.

Socially, Northern Ireland was less harshly affected than some other parts of the UK. Belfast suffered only two major air raids, although the first of these, on 15/16 April 1941 when 745 people were killed, was one of the UK's most costly single bombing attacks of the war outside London. In the second raid three weeks later 150 died. In all 56,000 houses were damaged and 100,000 people left homeless, 15,000 of them permanently. Bomb damage also temporarily held up production at Belfast's substantial shipbuilding, aircraft, and engineering works. During the war years the Harland and Wolff shipyard completed more than 90 warships (including three aircraft carriers) and 50 cargo vessels, as well as building tanks and aircraft. The relative security of Northern Ireland, which for some time was believed to be beyond the range of German bombers, made the province an attractive location for dispersed strategic industries. In 1936 the aircraft company Short Brothers had established a presence in Belfast. During the war their factory chiefly produced Stirling heavy bombers (more than 1,500 in all) and Sunderland flying boats.

In employment terms the war was good for Northern Ireland. The very high structural levels of unemployment before 1939 were greatly reduced, although never entirely eliminated. In June 1943 an estimated 5% remained jobless. Some of the surplus was absorbed by other parts of the UK, with up to 60,000 workers crossing the Irish Sea. Although considered on a number of occasions, conscription was never applied in the province. It would certainly have provoked bitter opposition among the Roman Catholic minority community, and in the end it was reckoned that the manpower gains would have been outweighed by the social and political costs of the measure. During the war, however, some 37,000 men and women from Northern Ireland served in the British forces.

In Northern Ireland the shared experience of the war undoubtedly brought the two local communities closer together and the fact of Eire's neutrality also entrenched the partition of Ireland. But the Northern Unionist government were unwilling—or unable—to exploit the opportunity to draw the minority community more fully into the whole life of the province. For them Eire's neutrality merely confirmed the perceived disloyalty of all Irish nationalists, north and south of the border. At the end of the war Churchill contrasted the vital contribution of loyal Ulster with the position of neutral Ireland. ‘A strong, loyal Ulster’, he asserted, ‘will always be vital to the security and well-being of our whole empire and commonwealth.’

Keith Jeffery

5. Empire

The British Commonwealth of Nations, then still informally called the British Empire centred on the person of the king-emperor, George VI. It covered a quarter of the world's land surface, the largest area ever to submit to a single political control. George VI was king of England by direct descent from William the Conqueror, and of Scotland by direct descent from James I and VI. Wales came under the crown by Edward I's conquest, the Channel Islands (once part of the duchy of Normandy) by inheritance from the Conqueror, the Isle of Man by purchase from the duke of Atholl in 1765, and Northern Ireland by an act of parliament passed as recently as 1922. These territories combined to form the United Kingdom, the empire's core.

Ireland's case was special. Under the 1922 act, six of the nine counties of Ulster formed Northern Ireland (see above), part of the UK. The remaining 26 Irish counties formed the Irish Free State (Eire from 1937), a quasi-independent republic, with its own president, but which did not then issue its own passports. Those of its citizens who needed a passport for travel outside the British Isles had to use a British one (see Joyce); to this extent, it formed part of the empire.

Outside this geographical core were many different types of attached or dependent territories, where links with the UK originated in migrations of peoples of British stock, or in variations of conquest or cession. Closest to the UK in ethos were the four ‘old dominions’: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. These, along with what was then the Irish Free State and Newfoundland, comprised the original Commonwealth of Nations created by the Statute of Westminster ( 1931) which recognized they were all fully independent states in international law while sharing the same monarch as the UK. The old dominions each had a high commissioner in London, as the Irish Free State did; British relations with them were conducted through the secretary of state for the Dominions, usually a cabinet minister. He also dealt with Southern Rhodesia, though it was still officially a self-governing colony. For decades, their politicians had conferred with British leaders on matters of common concern, particularly trade and defence, and this pattern was of great value during the war.

India had its own special status within the empire. The king's representative in the recently opened capital, New Delhi, was the viceroy, formally responsible to the king and working closely in practice with the secretary of state for India, also normally a cabinet minster, who answered on Indian affairs to parliament. The viceroy controlled India's armed forces, police, and civil service and with them governed directly two-thirds of the whole subcontinent that was later divided between India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The remaining one-third remained under various Indian princes, who were politically dependent on the crown and the viceroy. Until 1937, when it was given a measure of self-government, Burma was also governed by the viceroy. Ceylon did not come under India, but was a colony.

The colonies, under their own secretary of state, formed an outer circle: remote alike from the crown and from independent status. Some of the more ancient, such as Bermuda and Jamaica, had their own legislatures, and some say in how they were run; others, such as Gibraltar or Aden, were little more than garrison towns under direct military rule.

Another category of dependent imperial territory was formed by League of Nations mandates. Mandates, predecessors of today's United Nations trusteeships, were created by the Versailles settlement for former parts of the German and Turkish empires. Australia and New Zealand had mandates in the Pacific and South Africa had a mandate over South-West Africa, formerly a German colony. One British mandate, Palestine, was a cause of constant concern. The foreign office did its best to keep it under its own control; as it did Egypt, which was neither a mandate nor a colony, but, until 1922, a protectorate. Protectorates were independent, but client, states. They came under the protection of powers that had the right of garrison in them, and were understood by other powers to be specially interested in their territories; but the protecting power was not responsible for local detail inside the protectorate. Egypt and the UK shared the government of the Sudan. India, too, had a protectorate, Sikkim.

The king's signature to the declaration of war against Germany on 3 September 1939 committed both the UK and the Indian and colonial parts of the empire to war. The mandates' participation seems to have been taken for granted also. By mid-September the four ‘old dominions’ had all resolved to join. Eire remained neutral; the Germans retained a legation in Dublin all through the war.

The automatic assumption that India would go to war, without consultation with Indian politicians, precipitated a major imperial crisis, which was not finally resolved till India—with Pakistan split off from it—became independent in 1947. However, the empire as a whole constituted a far more formidable fighting machine than the UK could ever have been alone. The effort it expended in the war exhausted it: it was fatally affected. Soon after 1945 came a period of de-colonization, a loosening of ties, and a reassessment of its role, but the voluntary association of most of the countries involved continued, and is known as the British Commonwealth. See also anti-imperialism and nationalism.

M. R. D. Foot

6. Defence forces and civil defence

The formation of a defence force, announced on 14 May 1940, was a direct response to the German invasion of the Low Countries. At this stage the new force was called the Local Defence Volunteers, and within 24 hours more than a quarter of a million men had come forward (see Table 3 for total annual figures). Men over the age for military conscription could ‘do their bit’ in ‘Dad's Army’. Organization at first was spontaneous and haphazard, equipment extremely scarce. After the British Expeditionary Force was evacuated from Dunkirk, weapons were even scarcer.

Eventually, khaki overalls became standard issue to the force, soon renamed the Home Guard, but in the beginning dress was variable, weapons mostly improvised. Training began on a freelance basis, organized by veteran commanders or provided by training establishments set up on private initiative, such as the one created at Osterley Park near London, by wealthy backers. Run by Tom Wintringham, an ex-communist who had commanded the British contingent in the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War, this, between July and August, trained 5,000 men before being taken over as ‘War Office No. 1 School’ for the Home Guard.

UK, Table 3: Volunteer defence forces, 1940-5 (000s)

Angus Calder

7. Armed forces and special forces

(a) High Command

The UK waged the Second World War with three major independent branches of the armed forces: the Royal Navy, the Army, and the Royal Air Force. Up to the eve of war in 1939 their strategic and operational direction was vested, at the highest level, in the Committee of Imperial Defence (CID) which formulated strategy and defence requirements through a number of sub-committees, and reported to the cabinet through the minister for co-ordination of defence. On 1 September 1939 the prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, set up a war cabinet (seegovernment, above), as Lloyd George had done in 1916, and dissolved the CID. The minister for co-ordination of defence was given a seat in the war cabinet which also included the three armed services ministers, the first lord of the Admiralty, secretary of state for war, and secretary of state for air. When Churchill succeeded Chamberlain in May 1940 he immediately created an inner war cabinet, making himself minister of defence, as well as prime minister, and excluding the armed services ministers. He preferred to deal directly with the uniformed heads of the armed forces who formed the Chiefs of Staff Committee. The armed forces ministers thus had little influence on operations and largely concerned themselves with organizational matters, operating through their ministries—the Admiralty, War Office, and Air Ministry.

(b) Army

The titular head of the army was the Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) and its affairs were, and still are, conducted through the Army Council. Presided over by the secretary of state for war it had six military members, including the CIGS. The others were the adjutant-general, responsible for personnel matters, quartermaster general (logistics), vice-chief of the Imperial General Staff (operations, plans, intelligence, and training), deputy chief of the Imperial General Staff (organization for war), and the master general of ordinance. They exercised their staff functions through the war office.

At the outbreak of war the army was made up of the Regular and Territorial Armies (TA), but limited conscription was already in place, having been introduced in April 1939. Part of the reason for this was the decision, in view of the bomber threat, to create an Anti-Aircraft Command of five TA divisions. At home the army was organized in a number of geographic commands and districts—Aldershot (later renamed South-Eastern Command), Southern, Western, Northern, Scottish, and Eastern Commands, London and N. Ireland Districts (see Map 103). Within these were five regular infantry divisions, and a number of TA divisions, the bulk of which were to make up the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), which began to cross to France in September 1939. There was also a mobile (later armoured) division in the process of being formed, but this would not be ready for action until the end of May 1940, and then only in truncated form. There was a second mobile division (later 7th Armoured Division, the Desert Rats) in Egypt and 8th Infantry Division in Palestine, which had been coping with the Arab rebellion there. Beyond that the British Army overseas was largely deployed in its traditional manner in scattered small garrisons. A large part of the army overseas was in India at the outbreak of war, as each Indian brigade had one British battalion in it, a policy instituted after the 1857 mutiny (see also India, 4(a)).

The main cornerstone of the British Army, in the cavalry and infantry, was the regimental system. Many regiments had been in existence since the 17th century and had long and illustrious histories. Each had its own cap-badge and particular distinguishing features in uniform. The object was that once a man joined a particular regiment he stayed with it throughout his service. It generated in the individual soldier a special sense of belonging, especially since most regiments recruited from a particular part of the country so that he served with men of the same background. In turn this attachment developed both pride and loyalty, which enhanced the regiment's fighting spirit. Nevertheless, as had happened during 1914–18, it became increasingly difficult to maintain regimental ‘purity’, especially when casualties were high. Reinforcements often had to be posted to regiments wearing a different cap-badge.

The army was made up of three main elements. The teeth arms, those that actually closed with the enemy, the supporting arms, and the service arms. The teeth arms were the Royal Armoured Corps (RAC), which had been formed in 1938 from the cavalry, now largely mechanized (although the 1st Cavalry Division, comprising horsed cavalry and yeomanry regiments, was sent to Palestine in 1939 before being later converted to 10th Armoured Division), the Royal Tank Corps, which became the Royal Tank Regiment (RTR), and the infantry. After the fall of France in June 1940 the RAC was rapidly expanded in order to create additional armoured divisions. This was done by converting a number of infantry battalions into RAC regiments, and guards battalions into the Guards Armoured Division. Six additional cavalry and three RTR regiments were also raised. In 1940 the Reconnaissance Corps was formed to provide reconnaissance regiments for the infantry divisions, a role which cavalry had fulfilled, but had surrendered when its regiments were required for the new armoured divisions being raised. The Reconnaissance, Corps did not become part of the RAC until January 1944, and it was disbanded after the war.

The infantry expanded as it had done in the First World War, with each regiment raising additional battalions. Apart from the normal infantry battalion, other types were introduced to fulfil special roles. Each infantry division had a machine gun battalion, instead of the Machine-Gun Corps during the First World War. Motor battalions were created to serve in armoured formations and later in the war a few infantry battalions were also converted to the glider-borne role and became part of the airborne forces. Early in the war when there were plans to aid the Finns in their fight against the USSR (see Finnish–Soviet war), one or two battalions were even trained as ski troops. There were also those battalions which were incorporated in the Chindits in Burma. By mid-1944, however, there was a serious shortage of infantry and a number of battalions had to be disbanded and even surplus RAF personnel transferred to make good the shortfall. Part of the reason was casualties, but also because the increasing sophistication of weapons systems meant ever rising demands for manpower by other arms and services both to operate and to support them.

Of the three supporting arms, the Royal Artillery had the largest proportion of manpower among all the arms and services. Indeed, it lived up to its motto Ubique (Everywhere). Besides manning the artillery (field, medium, heavy) directly involved in the ground battle, it was also responsible for anti-aircraft (known as ‘Ack Ack’) defence and coastal artillery, and manned as well some of the heavier anti-tank weapons. It even, through the Royal Maritime Artillery, provided gun crews for merchant vessels and operated light aircraft as air observation posts to spot targets and direct artillery fire on to them.

The Royal Engineers—the sappers—also undertook a wide range of tasks. Apart from mine laying and clearance, bridge-building, and demolitions, they were also responsible for the construction of defences, camps, airfields, roads, and railways. They became heavily involved in the operation of ports and in the latter half of the war Armoured Engineers became a vital element of armoured warfare (see engineers, 1). Another very important role, especially in overseas theatres, was water purification, and engineers also ran the military postal system.

Finally, the Royal Corps of Signals was responsible for the army's communications—telephone, radio, and teleprinter. The increasing reliance on good communications was reflected in the fact that the Royal Signals increased its strength six-fold during the war.

The main services within the British Army in 1939 were the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC), the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC), and Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC). The RASC was primarily responsible for maintaining supplies to the troops in the field. This involved both transportation and handling of fuel, ammunition, and food (including bread baked in the RASC's own bakeries). The RAOC, on the other hand, was essentially responsible for all types of stores. These included clothing, general stores—ranging from tools to barracks furniture—and warlike stores (weapons, vehicles, ammunition, radios). The RAOC was also responsible for the repair and maintenance of warlike stores, but in 1942 this was taken over by the newly formed Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME).

There were also a number of smaller corps. These included the Royal Army Chaplains Department, the Corps of Military Police, Royal Army Pay Corps, Army Educational Corps, Army Dental Corps, and the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps (title changed to Pioneer Corps in 1940), the last performing the same mission as its First World War predecessor, the Labour Corps. Besides the REME, two new corps were formed during the war: the Intelligence Corps, whose function had previously been carried out by the Staff, and the Army Catering Corps, a reflection of the fact that good food is important in maintaining high morale. For every infantryman and tank soldier in the front line there were nine in the supporting arms and services.

Women in khaki supported the army through the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), formed in 1939 and initially composed of volunteers. They fulfilled much the same tasks as the WRNS did in the Royal Navy, but they additionally made a significant contribution to the work of Anti-Aircraft Command, doing everything except actually fire the guns. Army nurses were drawn from two sources, Queen Alexandra's Imperial Nursing Service and the Territorial Army Nursing Service, amalgamated in 1949 as Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (see also FANY).

After Dunkirk, command of the British land forces in the UK was vested in GHQ Home Forces, which operated through the geographical commands. Based in Cairo, GHQ Middle East Command initially controlled British and empire forces which fought in the Western Desert, East African, and Syrian campaigns, but in August 1941 East Africa Command was formed to administer troops in that theatre. During early 1942 Middle East Command was also required to take responsibility for Iran and Iraq. These countries had previously come under C-in-C India (as did Burma) but in August 1942 Persia and Iraq Command was formed to administer the few troops in them (see Paiforce).

In the UK, when Montgomery took over South-Eastern Command in 1941, he renamed it South-Eastern Army. Otherwise, army commands existed only overseas and were placed, according to the theatre in which they operated, under a British or Allied GHQ. First Army, under Eisenhower'sAllied Forces HQ, was formed for the North African campaign landings; Second Army, ultimately controlled by SHAEF, took part in OVERLORD and the fighting in north-west Europe; Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Armies were all formed within Middle East Command, but the last two never numbered more than a few divisions, never saw combat as formations, and were used to reinforce the Eighth Army when necessary and as cover for the deception operation which created an imaginary Twelfth Army. A real Twelfth Army was also created as part of Allied Land Forces South-East Asia (ALFSEA) in May 1945 to control British troops fighting in the Burma campaign. Finally, there was Fourteenth Army, formed in October 1943 under GHQ Delhi, which fought the Burma campaign until it was withdrawn to India to prepare for the invasion of Malaya, and was replaced by Twelfth Army.

Where two armies operated together, they formed army groups under army group commanders. British armies formed Eighteenth Army Group (First and Eighth), which fought in the North African campaign; British and US armies formed Fifteenth Army Group, which fought the Sicilian (US Seventh and British Eighth) and the Italian campaigns (US Fifth and British Eighth); and a Canadian (First) and British (Second) army formed Montgomery's Twenty-First Army Group which fought in north-west Europe. The exception to this was Eleventh Army Group, based in India. This had Ceylon Army Command and the garrisons of the Indian Ocean bases under it and was also the administrative structure for Fourteenth Army, before ALFSEA, part of South-East Asia Command, replaced it in November 1944.

In all, at the peak of its strength, the British Army had 11 armoured divisions, 9 of which saw action, 34 infantry divisions, of which 9 saw no combat, and 2 airborne divisions. In all, just over 3.5 million men and women enlisted in it between 1939 and 1945, and 144,000 lost their lives (see Tables 4, 5, and 6). For the Home Guard see defence forces and civil defence above.

UK, Table 4: Strength of Armed Forces (000s)

(c) Navy

The Admiralty is the oldest of the British war ministries, founded during the reign of Henry VIII, and the Royal Navy is the UK's senior service. Its work was directed by the Admiralty Board, which consisted of the First Lord, First Sea Lord, who was also the Chief of Naval Staff, Second Sea Lord (responsible for manning and recruiting), Third Sea Lord, also known as the Controller of the Navy (ship building and repair, naval dockyards), Fourth Sea Lord (victualling, supplies, naval hospitals), and Fifth Sea Lord (Fleet Air Arm matters).

Operations were under the direct control of the First Sea Lord, in his capacity as Chief of the Naval Staff. He exercised this control through the Vice-Chief of the Naval Staff, whose responsibilities also covered intelligence, plans, signals communications, hydrography, and navigation, and three Assistant Chiefs of the Naval Staff (ACNS), Home, Foreign, and Trade. Within these three broad divisions the ACNS looked after local defence, operations, training, gunnery, and minesweeping.

Uniquely, the Admiralty exercised world-wide command and control of naval operations through various commands and stations: these were North Atlantic and South Atlantic Commands, and the China (Singapore), America and West Indies, and East Indies Stations. Each had a varying number of warships, including those of Commonwealth navies (and, during the war, those belonging to the various governments-in-exile) under its operational control. There were also six home commands—Orkney and Shetlands, Rosyth, Nore, Dover (from October 1939), Portsmouth, Western Approaches—which were, with one exception, responsible for the defence of territorial waters around the British Isles (see Map 103). To this end they had light forces of destroyers, minesweepers, and motor gun/torpedo boats under command.

The exception was Western Approaches, whose headquarters was initially at Plymouth, but was then moved to the more central position of Liverpool. This command had direct responsibility for the day-to-day conduct of the battle of the Atlantic, under the overall direction of the ACNS (Trade) at the Admiralty. While the Admiralty Trade Division worked out the routes of the convoys, in conjunction with the Submarine Tracking Room, which was part of the Naval Intelligence Division, the composition of merchant ships within them was the responsibility of the Naval Control Service, which had a representative at each port. Western Approaches controlled and allocated escort vessels, which were organized into groups.

The RN's main offensive power was built round its fleets. Each contained all the warships operating within a fleet's designated area of command. ‘Battlefleet’ was the term used to describe a fleet's battle squadron and all those warships manoeuvring with it. Unlike the First World War, when the Grand Fleet had a number of battle squadrons, there was normally only one battle squadron within each fleet.

At the outbreak of war there were two main fleets, the Home Fleet, which immediately deployed to Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, and the Mediterranean Fleet based at Alexandria, Egypt. A third was formed at Singapore on 2 December 1941 when the post of C-in-C China Station as an operational command was discontinued. Instead, Admiral Tom Phillips was appointed C-in-C Eastern Fleet. This comprised warships which formerly came under the China Station, and Force ‘Z’ (see Prince of Wales and Repulse). In April 1942, when commanded by Admiral Somerville, the Eastern Fleet tried to oppose the Japanese raid into the Indian Ocean. It was subsequently based at Kilindini (Mombasa) in British East Africa, and eventually became the basis of the British Pacific Fleet (see Task Force 57), the largest British fleet of the war.

Ships of all these fleets were organized into numbered squadrons for cruisers and above, and into numbered flotillas for destroyers and below. Squadrons had a minimum of two ships, flotillas a maximum of eight. If there were enough ships, squadrons and flotillas could be divided into numbered divisions and subdivisions. Unlike squadron divisions, the numbers allotted to destroyer divisions had no connection with how many there were in any particular flotilla. There were also, at various times, formations based on major surface vessels which were smaller than a fleet. These were termed ‘Forces’. Two of the best-known were Force H and Force K.

As submarines operated independently, any number could belong to a submarine flotilla which was a purely administrative unit. The most famous was 10th Flotilla, which was based at Malta for much of the war. It suffered heavy casualties in boats lost, but also achieved spectacular successes. Besides attacking enemy shipping, British submarines were also one of the main means of landing agents and Special Forces on hostile shores. Motor Torpedo Boats (MTBs) and Motor Gunboats (MGBs) were termed Coastal Forces and had their own dedicated bases in home waters. However, they also operated overseas, notably in the Adriatic during, 1944–5, and in support of the final ground offensive in the Burma campaign.

The RN also devoted a significant part of its resources to Combined Operations, the organization set up to develop techniques for, and to mount, amphibious warfare operations which involved all three services. All landing ships and landing craft came under the Combined Operations umbrella.

In terms of manpower, the RN was made up of three elements: the standing regular navy, the Royal Navy itself; the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR), comprising officers and men who had previous RN service or were professional Merchant Navy officers; and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR). This last consisted only of officers, distinguished by the waved rings of rank worn on their cuffs, hence its nickname the Wavy Navy (the ranks of RNR officers were two interlinked wavy rings). RNVR officers were drawn from those who had volunteered for naval service in time of war, and those conscripted and given naval commissions during the war. Conscripted ratings, on the other hand, were merely classified as ‘Hostilities Only’ and wore no distinguishing insignia. The reason for the difference was the traditional Royal Navy view that all officers were volunteers, but that, recalling the press gang, ratings were generally not so in wartime. RNR officers were often Merchant Navy officers of liners, trawlers, and other ships which were taken into Royal Navy service as troopships, armed merchant cruisers, and vessels employed in laying or sweeping mines (see mine warfare, 2). Another category was retired senior Royal Navy officers brought back to active service as commodores of convoys. But RNVR officers accounted for over three-quarters of the total officer strength of the wartime navy. The battle of the Atlantic especially fell on their shoulders, since it was they who almost entirely manned the corvettes, frigates, and destroyers which made up the escorts.

The Royal Navy was made up of a number of branches, reflecting specialities. The largest of these was the seaman's or executive branch, but both ships and shore establishments had others. These included the Engineering, Medical, Supply, Instructional, Paymasters, and Chaplains branches. In terms of insignia, they were identified by different colours between an officer's rings of rank, and by the various qualification badges worn by ratings on the upper arm. Each branch had its own promotion ladder. Both officers and ratings tended to specialize in one type of ship, but could, and did, serve in others.

A unique branch of the service was the Fleet Air Arm. Up until 1937 it had been the RAF's responsibility to provide naval aircraft and pilots on the grounds that the Fleet Air Arm's predecessor, the Royal Naval Air Service, had been absorbed into the RAF when it was created in 1918 and it would be illogical for the navy, or the army for that matter, to recreate its own air wing. It was, however, an unsatisfactory situation, especially since the RAF accorded low priority to the navy's aviation needs. When, to the air ministry's dismay, the Fleet Air Arm was handed back to the navy and responsibility for it vested in the newly created Fifth Sea Lord, aircrew were drawn from the General List, as the seaman's promotion ladder was called. This policy was maintained throughout the war, even though those who joined the Fleet Air Arm stayed in it. It was, like the RAF, organized in squadrons, numbered from 800 upwards to distinguish them from RAF squadrons.

In September 1939 the Fleet Air Arm possessed 232 obsolete aircraft operating in the main from five aircraft carriers. By June 1945 the number of carriers of all types had grown to more than 50 and the front-line aircraft strength was 1,336 organized in 73 squadrons. However, 55% of the aircraft were US types.

Mention must be made of the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS), known affectionately as the Wrens. Founded in 1918, but stood down at the end of the First World War, in 1939 it was reactivated, initially relying on volunteers. As the wartime navy expanded, so did the WRNS, taking over many shore-based tasks from their male counterparts and thus making more menavailable for service at sea. Their contribution to the Royal Navy can best be summed up in the decision in 1949 to make the WRNS part of the standing Royal Navy and it remained in being until 1993. During the war Wrens did, on rare occasions, serve aboard MTBs, but it was not until 1990 that they were allowed to go to sea as part of a warship's complement on a regular basis. The other major contribution made by women was Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service, which had been founded in 1902 and provided the nursing staff at all naval hospitals.

The Royal Marines were also an integral part of the Royal Navy. Their role in time of war had been redelineated in 1923 by the Admiralty's Madden Committee, which recommended that, apart from their traditional role afloat of helping man the guns of the larger warships, the marines should also raise a striking force for amphibious warfare and a mobile force for defending naval bases overseas. These recommendations were not implemented and in September 1939 the marines, then 12,390 strong, had the manpower only to fulfil their role afloat. But steps were immediately taken to raise an RM brigade—expanded to a division of three brigades (101–103) in 1941—which took part in the abortive Dakar expedition in September 1940. Anti-aircraft batteries and an RM Fortress Unit were also raised, as was the first of two Mobile Naval Base Defence Organizations (MNBDO) which fought on Crete. Later, large parts of this MNBDO were sent to defend Indian Ocean bases while the second, formed from the Fortress Unit, took part in the Sicilian campaign in July 1943. In the meantime, the RM Division, whose HQ had controlled the Madagascar landings, began to be broken up, its battalions gradually being converted into RM commandos (see Special Forces, below). The MNBDOs were also disbanded to form commandos or to provide crews for landing craft which participated in the landings in Normandy and on Walcheren Island during the Scheldt Estuary battle. During the course of the war marines also flew with the Fleet Air Arm, formed an RM Armoured Support Regiment and an anti-aircraft brigade for OVERLORD, and raised special units such as Force Viper and the Royal Marine Boom Patrol Detachment (see canoeists).

For numbers of personnel and casualties see Tables 4, 5, and 6.

UK, Table 5: Casualties to all ranks of the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom during the war as reported to 28 February 1946

UK, Table 6: Casualties to the Women's Auxiliary Services during the war as reported to 28 February 1946

(d) Air Force

The Royal Air Force was only 21 years old when the Second World War began, and was thus very much the junior service. This, however, did not mean that it was any less important than its older counterparts. In terms of High Command, it was structured similarly to the other two services, with policy being evolved through the Air Council, presided over by the Secretary of State for Air. The head uniformed member was the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), who had operations, plans, and intelligence as his remit, besides being the overall commander-in-chief of the RAF. He was assisted in this by the Deputy CAS (DCAS), the focus for planning, and the Assistant CAS (ACAS), who was the day-to-day link between the Air Ministry and the operational commands. The other members were the Air Member for Personnel (AMP), Air Member for Supply and Organization (AMSO), Air Member for Training (AMT), Vice Chief of the Air Staff (VCAS), as CAS's deputy, and the Air Member for Development and Production (AMP). The last-named, lost his seat when the Ministry of Aircraft Production (MAP) was set up under Beaverbrook in May 1940, but was brought back on to the Air Council in 1941 as the Controller of Research and Development, and MAP's represent ative on it.

Until 1936 the RAF at home had one operational command, the Air Defence of Great Britain (ADGB), but in that year there was a major reorganization and a number of separate commands by role were created: Bomber, Fighter, Coastal, Reserve, and Training Commands. Reserve Command was absorbed by Training Command, which was split into Flying Training and Technical Training Commands, shortly after the outbreak of war, and later additional commands were added. These were Army Co-Operation, Balloon, Maintenance, and Ferry Commands. The last-named, with the Air Transport Auxiliary, was responsible for delivering aircraft from factory to operational units. It was taken over by Transport Command when that was set up in 1943. Army Co-Operation Command was formed in December 1940 to develop air operations in direct support of the ground forces. The main overseas commands were RAF Middle East (later Mediterranean and Middle East), whose main operational element was the Western Desert Air Force, and Air Command South-East Asia. Unlike the commands at home those overseas carried out all operational air roles. Often, too, their forces were merged into Allied air commands. Thus, in the Mediterranean theatre from 1943 onwards British and US air forces operated together under the overall umbrella of Mediterranean Air Command. For most of the war Coastal Command was placed under the operational control of the Admiralty in order to have unified command for the battle of the Atlantic. By the same token, RAF Fighter Command had operational control over the army's Anti-Aircraft Command for the air defence of Britain. In August 1941 Coastal Command (see Map 103 for RAF Coastal Command Group boundaries) assumed responsibility for air-sea rescue operations in the open ocean from the Air Ministry's Directorate of Air-Sea Rescue, but Fighter Command remained in charge of operations around the coast.

Each command comprised a number of groups, each made up of a number of squadrons, except in the case of fighter groups, which, from the autumn of 1940 had an intermediary level of command, the fighter wing. Within the Metropolitan Air Force, as the RAF in Britain was sometimes termed, Bomber Command initially consisted of Nos. 2–5 Groups, which were operational, and No. 6 Group for training. Of these, No. 2 Group was to be largely dedicated to daylight bombing and was passed to the command of 2nd Tactical Air Force, formed in 1943 for support of OVERLORD and replacing Army Co-Operation Command. No. 6 Group was later joined by No. 7. These were then redesignated Nos. 91 and 92 Groups in May 1942. Their purpose was to control the Operational Training Units (OTU), which every command had. These represented the final stage of training for aircrew before they joined operational squadrons. No. 6 Group did, however, reappear in Bomber Command as an all-Canadian Group at the beginning of 1943 (see Canada, 6(d)). No. 1 Group, which had been sent to France as part of the Advanced Air Striking Force (AASF) at the beginning of the war, came back into the Bomber Command fold after Dunkirk. Also formed in January 1943 were No. 8 (Pathfinder Force) Group and, towards the end of that year, Nos. 80 and 100 (Special Duties) Groups, responsible for handling the ever more sophisticated electronic warfare that was fought in the skies above Germany and occupied Europe. Fighter Command had Nos. 10–13 Groups, Coastal Command Nos. 15–19 Groups, Balloon Command Nos. 30–33 Groups, and Army Co-Operation Command Nos. 70 and 71 Groups.

During the war the RAF drew its strength from a number of different sources. First, there was the RAF, the standing air force.There was also the Royal Auxiliary Air Force (R Aux AF), formed in 1924 to provide a reserve of manpower and air squadrons; and it also found the manpower for Balloon Command. In 1937, in the midst of the RAF's expansion, it was realized that the existing organization would be unable to keep pace with the additional aircrew required. Consequently, the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) was formed to create a pool of aircrewmen who could be brought on to the active list as soon as war seemed imminent. The ‘weekend fliers’ as its members were called, and who numbered over 10,000 at the outbreak of war, were a vital part of the RAF, especially during the battle of Britain.

The Dominion air forces—Australian, Canadian, New Zealand, and South African—were also incorporated in the RAF, as were those of continental nations overrun by Hitler. These included the Czech, Belgian, Dutch, French, Norwegian, and Polish air forces, many of whom had their own national squadrons within the RAF order of battle. Lending their support to all these disparate elements were the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) and Princess Mary's RAF Nursing Service. Besides providing much administrative support, WAAF personnel performed invaluable service as plotters in the operational control rooms, especially during the battle of Britain, as radar operators, and in the RAF's Y-service, which eavesdropped on airborne radio communications.

Finally, there was the RAF Regiment. The RAF had assumed a ground role in 1922 when, through air control, it had taken over the policing of the British mandates and other territories in the Middle East. It formed armoured car companies, which took part, under army command, in the Western Desert and North African campaigns and ran the Iraqi and Aden Protectorate Levies. During 1939–41 the RAF provided some lighter anti-aircraft weapons for defence of its airfields, but after the fall of Crete in May 1941, a study on the threat of airborne troops was set up. The result was the formation, in February 1942, of the RAF Regiment to protect airfields from this threat. More than 220 RAF Regiment squadrons were raised before 1945, but the armoured car squadrons did not come under the RAF Regiment umbrella until 1946.

While conscription applied to the RAF in the same way as the other two services, throughout the war all aircrew were volunteers. Given their high losses—Bomber Command alone lost almost 56,000 killed—it became clear very early on that resources were simply not sufficient to train the required numbers for an ever-expanding force. The solution was the British Empire Air Training Scheme, established in December 1939. The aircrew training process was, however, a long one. The volunteer initially had to pass medical and intelligence tests and was then sent to the Air Crew Reception Centre at Regent's Park in London. Twelve weeks' ground training at an Initial Training Wing (ITW) followed. Those who had opted for crew positions other than that of pilot were then sent to specialist schools—navigation, wireless, gunnery—while the pilots attended Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS). Here those without the required flying aptitude were identified and remustered in other air trades and the remainder underwent advanced flying training, often abroad, under the Training Scheme. On return they were assigned to the type of aircraft for which they were best suited and then sent to an OTU. There multi-seater aircrewmen formed their operational crews and were posted as such to squadrons. Often it would be eighteen months or more from the time that a pilot originally reported to Regent's Park to his first operational sortie in a squadron. It was this, rather than the rate of aircraft production, that acted as the limiting factor on the rate of increase of the RAF's front-line aircraft strength. See defence forces and civil defence above, for Royal Observer Corps. See Tables 4, 5, and 6 for personnel numbers and casualties.

(e) Special forces

For much of the inter-war period little thought was given to what were called ‘irregular operations’, although T. E. Lawrence had demonstrated in the Near East during 1917–18 how effective they could be. However, the War Office did eventually establish a small branch to study the subject and at the outbreak of war it put forward a number of proposals, including destroying the Romanian oilfields by sabotage, but none came to anything. The first Special Forces units actually raised were the ten Independent Companies, formed in 1940 for the Norwegian campaign with the mission of preventing the Germans from setting up U-boat bases on the coastline between Narvik and Namsos. Five companies were sent; they achieved little. But from them evolved the commandos when, in the summer of 1940, Churchill ordered that hit-and-run raids be mounted against the occupied coastline of Europe—his ‘butcher and bolt’ policy, as he called it. The commandos were initially formed into battalion-sized units called Commandos which were trained to fight as self-contained groups. They were then renamed Special Service battalions but reverted to being called Commandos in March 1941. Numbered 1–9, 11, and 12, each totalled about 500 men. During the early part of the war they mounted numerous raids against the occupied coastline (see Dieppe, Lofoten, and St Nazaire, for example). Later, they were joined by No. 10, an inter-Allied unit made up of anti-Nazi German personnel and others drawn from the forces belonging to the various governments-in-exile No. 14, raised for raids on occupied Norway; No. 30, an inter-service intelligence-gathering unit; and by a number of Royal Marine (RM) Commandos. The first RM Commando, raised in 1942, was simply called the Royal Marine Commando, but this later became No. 40 and Nos. 41–48 were also raised. All Army and Marine Commandos were contained in four Special Service (Commando from December 1944) Brigades, which were in turn controlled by a Special Service (Commando) Group.

However, Special Forces initially thrived in the Middle East. First on the scene was the Long Range Desert Group, quickly followed by the raising of three Middle East Commandos (nos. 50–52) independent of those formed in the UK. But apart from the LRDG, and, to a lesser extent the Special Boat Section, early attempts to employ Special Forces in the Middle East were not overly successful, basically because the higher command had little understanding of them. Out of this frustration was born the Special Air Service (SAS), but other organizations were formed as well, including Popski's Private Army. Indeed, such was the plethora that controlling and co-ordinating their activities proved very difficult (see Layforce and Middle East Commando). Burma, too, generated its own Special Forces. Among them were V-Force and, of course, the Chindits; and after South-East Asia Command was formed in October 1943 it, too, had its own group of Special Forces (see Small Operations Group).

By mid-1943 Special Forces could be categorized in a number of types. First, there were those primarily dedicated to supporting the major Allied landing operations; they came under the umbrella of Combined Operations HQ. These included not just the commandos, but the Combined Operations Pilotage Parties which carried out beach reconnaissance; Royal Naval commandos for organizing the beaches during the landings themselves; and the RAF Servicing Commandos, who made captured airfields operational. Then there were the Raiding Forces, who by this stage in the war had primarily an intelligence-gathering function and included the commandos in part. Finally, there were those who operated behind the enemy lines, with the resistance or partisans (also the function of SOE), or independently, as in the case of the SAS in Italy and France (see Cooney teams) and the Chindits in Burma.

Special Forces provided an escape for many who were frustrated by the strict confines of conventional soldiering, but often they were those that their units could ill afford to lose. The consequent resentment, and the significant number of abortive operations during the first half of the war, gave Special Forces a bad name in many quarters. However, once it was realized that they could be a valuable weapon if their activities were closely tied to overall theatre plans—and that they often required the close support of all three armed forces—they became very much more effective and undoubtedly justified the effort put in to creating and nurturing them.

Charles Messenger

8. Intelligence

Each of the armed services included a few secret or very secret branches—planning staffs, designers of future equipment, cipher staffs, wireless interception or Y-Service staffs. Moreover, there were several secret services, so classified—officially undiscussable in parliament, in the press, in open correspondence, or on unscrambled telephones. Unlike the German Abwehr, these were separate organizations and therefore prone to rivalry and intrigue.

The oldest and weightiest of these, generally known as MI5, the security service, and MI6, the secret (or special) intelligence service (SIS), dated back formally to a cabinet decision in 1909, though both had earlier and deeper roots. They were numbered as being part of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (see Table 7), but were independent of it. In principle, MI5 was a defensive body, whose writ ran within the crown's territories and 4.8 km. (3 mi.) out to sea beyond them, while the more offensive MI6 operated into foreign countries. They were powerful, although if any arrests were necessary they had to be made by the ordinary civil police force. In practice, MI5 needed some outstations outside the empire; there were joint MI5–MI6 missions in New York, called British Security Co-ordination and in Cairo, called Security Intelligence Middle East, as well as in New Delhi and elsewhere.

UK, Table 7: British directorate of militaryintelligence c.1942

M. R. D. Foot

9. Merchant marine

Britain's dependence on merchant shipping was an economic fact which total war heavily underlined. In addition to the need to import huge quantities of food and raw materials, soldiers and airmen had to be shipped overseas, equipped, and then sustained. The shipping industry—which became the Merchant Navy in wartime—was so stretched that maintenance of supplies to the UK and the armed forces overseas was regularly in crisis for the first four years of the war. It was not until 1944, when regular deliveries of US mass-produced Liberty ships to the British merchant fleet had been established, that shortages were overcome.

The shipping crisis had little to do with the operation and management of merchant ships. Shipowners, though generally conservative, were effective managers and seafarers were competent. In 1939 the British merchant fleet was still the world's largest, accounting for some 33% of total tonnage. The country's share had shrunk by some 12% since 1914, but this was only to be expected as economic development unfolded in other world regions. British shipowners, however, had been slow to build tankers and in the tramp traders had lagged behind in adopting diesel propulsion. Technological backwardness was common also among the cargo liner companies. While they owned the fastest and most up-to-date ships in the UK, they were still outstripped by best practice in Scandinavia, Germany, and the Netherlands. The problem lay largely with the shipbuilding industry. Even in the inter-war period British yards were notoriously inefficient and in the war years they proved incapable of raising productivity sufficiently to make a significant contribution to repairing the losses due to enemy action.

If the first cause of the permanent wartime shipping crisis lay in the deficiencies of the shipbuilding industry, the second lay in the inability of the Admiralty to provide adequate protection for merchant ships in convoy. UK coastal and outward North Atlantic convoying began within a matter of days of the outbreak of war and within a month inward convoys were organized from Freetown, Gibraltar, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. Routine convoy organization of mustering and then controlling merchant ships in formation quickly became efficient. The problem lay in the Royal Navy's lack of suitable escort ships and anti-submarine tactics, resulting in high losses of merchant ships during the battle of the Atlantic. Air cover and statistical analysis of U-boat operations were also critical and it was not until mid-1943 that all the elements were in place (see air gap).

The first phase of managing the shipping crisis saw the gradual integration into the British fleet of shipping from other European countries which had evaded German occupation (see Table 8). Politically unwilling to attempt requisition even where feasible, the British government sought to negotiate with governments-in-exile and foreign shipowners. On average, 26% of the Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, and Belgian fleets were in their home ports and captured during German occupation. While none of those ships away on voyages returned home, they did not all rally to the British cause with equal enthusiasm. Most Danish shipowners were pro-German and ordered their masters to put into neutral ports. About half did so. The remaining ships, although still manned by Danes, were seized and sailed thereafter under the British flag. The whole of the much smaller Belgian fleet was made available to the UK. The most significant fleets were the Norwegian and the Dutch and half of each were sailing under British direction by November 1939. Greek ships were a later and important addition. Approximately half a million tons of French shipping came into British hands after the fall of France in June 1940—but this was almost exactly matched by the tonnage of British ships caught in French ports at the same time.

By the spring of 1941 the crisis reached another peak when estimates of importing capacity were steadily reduced from 42 million tons to 28.5 million tons—less than had been imported in 1917. Relief came from the USA as elderly, laid-up ships were released on bareboat charter (that is, without crews) and French, Italian, and Yugoslav ships being held in US ports were requisitioned and handed over to the British. The shipping crisis was not resolved by American entry into the war: indeed, early in 1943, as a result of the shipping needed to mount and supply the Anglo-American North African campaign landings, the situation was worse than in 1941. Again, resolution depended upon American help—this time by the USA agreeing to divert shipping from the Pacific to the Atlantic.

Formal ownership of merchant shipping was left unchanged although the government, via the Ministry of Shipping, incorporated into the Ministry of War Transport (MOWT) in May 1941, had requisitioned all vessels by the summer of 1940 and agreed terms with the owners. The ministry now decided where ships would go and what cargoes should be carried. Senior managers and directors were recruited from shipping companies to ministry posts for the duration of the war while other shore staffs continued to organize crewing, provisioning, and maintenance of ships. Shareholders, for their part, had their dividends regulated. In short, the general direction, management, and operation of shipping remained in the hands of those who had run the industry in the pre-war years.

It was a combination of MOWT direction and Admiralty control of merchant shipping at sea which justified the use of the term ‘Merchant Navy’. This honorific title was conferred on the industry in 1928 when the Prince of Wales adopted the title ‘Master of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets’ in recognition of merchant seafarers' role in the First World War. From 1936 successive monarchs adopted the title. In peacetime the industry had no more coherence than any other and the title had only the substance of rhetoric. In wartime, however, the industry did indeed become a quasi-service and the fourth arm of the state.

In the first nine months of war, 150 ships were sunk. These early losses were made good through new building and captured Axis ships. The need for additional ships did not become a matter of pressing urgency until after the fall of France and Italy's entry into the war. The former entailed the closure of the English Channel to deep-sea ships while the latter closed the Suez route to the east. The route to UK east coast ports was now via the north of Scotland, adding eleven days to merchant ships' average voyage length. Ships supplying the armed forces in the Middle East had now to go via the Cape of Good Hope and travel 21,000 km. (13,000 mi.) instead of 4,800 km. (3,000 mi.) as before; Bombay was now nearly 18,000 km. (11,000 mi.) distant instead of 9,600 km. (6,000 mi.). These and other re-routings, together with delays such as those involved in assembling convoys, led to an increase in average round voyage time from about 90 to 122 days and effectively reduced importing capacity by 25%.

Ships' patterns of trading were, of course, transformed. A handful of the smaller passenger ships continued their normal services to India and Australia but 50 of this type of ship, together with most of their officers and crew, were transferred to the Royal Navy to become armed merchant cruisers. The remainder of the deep-sea passenger ships were used for trooping. The larger and faster of these had originally been designed for the North Atlantic routes but now travelled world-wide. Cargo liners, also built for particular trades, were retained as far as possible for their normal routes and cargoes. Refrigerated ships designed for the Argentinian and Australasian meat trades, for example, continued to sail to those regions. Tramps, on the other hand, no longer scoured the globe in seasonal search of bulk cargoes and were overwhelmingly employed in the main North Atlantic supply line. Ships in the coastal trade mostly stayed in UK waters although a number were sent to the Mediterranean in 1942 to supply troops in that theatre. Some 24 North Sea and home trade passenger ships were allocated more heroic tasks. They sailed with the Atlantic and Arctic convoys as rescue ships.

UK, Table 8: Dry–cargo merchant shipping under British control, 1,600 gross tons and over, 3 September 1939 to 30 September 1945 (In thousand deadweight tons)

Tony Lane

10. Culture

The outpouring of cultural activities and achievements in the UK during the years of the Second World War, notable at the time, seems in retrospect a truly remarkable, even unparalleled phenomenon. The achievements at their most impressive, and, as it has turned out, at their most enduring, have transcended national boundaries and historical circumstances to become a permanent part of western culture in the 20th century. Even the most selective list would include Virginia Woolf's Between the Acts, George Orwell's Animal Farm, T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets, the poems of Dylan Thomas gathered in Deaths and Entrances, the wartime films by Humphrey Jennings, especially Fires Were Started, the ‘Shelter Drawings’ by Henry Moore, and Benjamin Britten's first true opera, Peter Grimes. These are the examples that immediately come to mind but they were not isolated achievements. Rather, they can be seen as the most outstanding in their respective genres, surrounded by an impressive array of work approaching them in quality.

Indeed, to have so distinguished a creative outpouring in a period of six years would be remarkable at any time. That it should have occurred in wartime, in a country engaged in a struggle that threatened its very existence, seems almost incredible.

There seems to have been, from the first, a determination on the part of such responsible and farseeing public figures as the economist John Maynard Keynes and the art critic Kenneth Clark, editors such as John Lehmann of Penguin New Writing and Cyril Connolly of Horizon, and senior authors such as E. M. Forster and Osbert Sitwell that ‘culture’ was not to be put aside ‘for the duration’; in the act of fighting to save the UK, the nation's culture must not be sacrificed. The commitment of the government to art in all its manifestations was established as a principle early on. The creation of the War Artists's Advisory Committee, under Clark, and of the Committee for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts, under Keynes, would play a significant role in bringing art to the people even as the Blitz brought the war itself into their lives. The ‘Home Front’, a cosy-sounding phrase, was anything but comfortable as the bombs fell night after night on London, Manchester, Coventry, and elsewhere. Life in the wartime years went on at something like battle pitch. The emotional level was high, and it was a level at which it was possible for artists, composers, and writers to create works of art—not as a way of escape, but to express the tension under which they lived. But their mood at the start of the war was subdued and was well captured by C. Day Lewis. In answer to the call for heroic war verse, he wrote: ‘It is the logic of our times, / No subject for immortal verse— / That we who lived by honest dreams / Defend the bad against the worse.’

Perhaps the most emblematic events of the role of culture in the UK during the Second World War were the concerts given at the National Gallery in London (cleared of its pictures in anticipation of the bombing raids). From 10 October 1939, when they started with Myra Hess playing Beethoven's ‘Appassionata’ sonata and her own arrangement of Bach's ‘Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring’, until 1945, there were 1,698 concerts by 700 performers attended by a total audience of 825,000.

Severe paper rationing was soon instituted and created a shortage of reading material, just at a time when long periods of boring wartime duty gave people more time to read. Penguin Books, eminent in the cheap paperback market since the mid-1930s with books priced at sixpence (under 3p) each, provided a mass of crime and adventure stories, suitable for reading in air-raid shelters, as well as more serious books, both literary and political. Largely through Penguin's influence, books began to form part of the English domestic furniture in a much wider range of houses than had been the case before the war—another foretaste of a new age.

John Lehmann had started to edit a book magazine, New Writing, before the war broke out, but it transformed itself quite rapidly into Penguin New Writing, a highly popular paperback that reprinted old material as well as new pieces, frequently by Europeans and by servicemen. Even more an exponent of high art was Horizon, edited by Cyril Connolly, committed to the best of European culture, with a slightly disdainful attitude towards the war. Distractions at all levels were prized, and the long novels of Trollope enjoyed a revival that has lasted to the present day.

In literature it was not necessarily those who were directly involved in the war who wrote the most memorable works, among them T. S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf, and George Orwell, who published powerful essays dwelling on what was the essence of the good parts of English life, and on the necessity of keeping language honest against the claims of propaganda.

More directly depicting the effect of war on the Home Front were the novels and stories of Elizabeth Bowen, and the stories of the fire service by William Sansom. Otherwise, there seemed to be two main streams in the writings of the war. There was a high Bohemian and romantic strand found in what came to be known as Fitzrovia, centring on the personal style, and the poetry, of Dylan Thomas, the short stories of J. Maclaren-Ross, and James Tambimuttu and his Poetry (London). The emphasis was upon the personal, as in the developments to be found in one of the more public of the 1930s poets: Stephen Spender. Yet they wrote about the war, as in some of the best known of Thomas's poems, ‘Deaths and Entrances’ and ‘A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London’. There were also extremely fine soldier poets such as Alun Lewis (killed in Burma), Roy Fuller, Keith Douglas (killed in Normandy in 1944), and Henry Reed whose well-known poem ‘The Naming of Parts’ is characteristic of the rueful irony that was the dominant note in the poetry of the time. There are two voices in it—the sergeant's, explaining the different parts of the rifle; and the civilian soldier's which gives the military phrases a private meaning.

Today we have naming of parts. Yesterday,
We had daily cleaning. And to-morrow morning,
We shall have what to do after firing. But to-day,
To-day we have naming of parts. Japonica
Glistens like coral in all of the neighbouring gardens,
And to-day we have naming of parts.
At a more popular level, Patience Strong, the pen-name of Winifred Cushing, wrote a set of verses for every issue of the Daily Mirror and Sunday Pictorial for 40 years, including all those of the war. Through a mixture of sentiment, piety, and common sense she helped to sustain the morale of several million readers, and ran an unofficial forces' welfare bureau. The monthly magazine Lilliput also had its attractions, for in every number, supported by short stories, nature photographs, and snippets of news, was an artistic photograph of a naked girl; and in spite of the paper shortage, there was a steady demand for sporting and popular newspapers (see press).

Other than controlling paper, and hence restricting how many books could be printed, there was little official influence on what was published in the ordinary way. But in other aspects, the government was deeply involved, most notably in the world of art and the newest medium of all, the cinema. This was conducted through the new Ministry of Information, which in the course of the war helped produce 1,887 films as well as vetting 3,200 newsreels and 380 features. By 1942, these films, or others approved by the ministry, were being shown to 20–30 million filmgoers weekly. The ministry was not in charge of making commercial films but its approval (and also financing) was extremely important in terms of supplies and exemption from armed service of those involved. Perhaps the most famous made during the war were Henry V ( 1945), starring and produced by Laurence Olivier, and In Which We Serve ( 1942), starring and produced by Noël Coward. In vastly different ways, they both emphasized quiet heroism by all classes. The line between documentaries and commercial films was blurred, with documentaries, moving on from the tradition of John Grierson, likely to have somewhat more plot than they had had before, and commercial films having some sense of the actuality of war. Perhaps the most distinguished documentary, or rather docu-drama, of the war was Humphrey Jennings's Fires Were Started ( 1942). It told of 24 hours in the life of a fire service unit in London during the Blitz which had ended the previous year. The Germans were not mentioned by name, and the emphasis, with very little sentimentality, was on carrying on with the job, even at the cost of a life.

What were the contribution of those in the visual arts? Artists were to provide a record of the war; and in some instances, though it was very much a lesser consideration, they might even create something of greater artistic merit. That had certainly been true of such painters as Paul Nash, Stanley Spencer, and Wyndham Lewis in the First World War, so there was little resistance to the idea that something similar should be encouraged during this war as well. In August 1939, Kenneth Clark proposed a War Artists' Advisory Committee to the Ministry of Information and it came into being the following January.

A few artists' organizations outside the government had been already formed by that time, such as Paul Nash's Oxford Art Bureau. Nash was concerned that artists might too hastily be called up as servicemen, and he established a panel of authorities—John Betjeman, Lord David Cecil, Lord Berners, and John Piper—to compile lists of possible war artists, and the lists were sent to ministries. But Nash's efforts were superseded by Clark's committee, which would appoint certain artists as official war artists and have the right of first refusal for all of their work.

Thanks to the war artists' scheme important work was done outside the UK by such painters as Anthony Gross, Eric Ravilious, Edward Bawden, Leonard Rosoman, and Edward Ardizzone. Yet it is striking that the greatest art work of the war was produced on the Home Front. Not only were there Moore and Sutherland in London, but Stanley Spencer paintings in the shipyards on the Clyde and Paul Nash with extraordinary paintings of fighter planes in the air war over Britain, culminating in the greatest single oil masterpiece of the war, Totes Meer (Dead Sea) of wrecked German planes. It was perhaps the most extensive patronage scheme for British artists that has ever existed, and it resulted in nearly 6,000 works of art, eventually most of them distributed to museums, with the Tate Gallery and the Imperial War Museum having the first pick. It also resulted in a higher evaluation placed by the public, and those who were seriously concerned with art, upon British art not only of the present but of the past.

Light music was for everyone and wartime Britain was deluged with it. It came primarily from the BBC and from innumerable private or public-house gramophones, playing fragile 78 r.p.m. records. ‘Music while you work’, an American slogan imported in the 1930s, helped to relieve monotony in war factories, where the machinery was not too noisy to drown out the music. Jack Payne and Henry Hall, dance band leaders, were better known than most generals.

So were Gracie Fields the comedienne and Vera Lynn the singer, who sang mixtures of old favourites and new, sentimental songs. Gracie Fields with her Lancashire accent and working-class airs was a symbol of the growing power of democracy, and Vera Lynn's good looks enchanted thousands of serving men at forces' concerts. Theatres and music-halls suffered severely from blackout and call-up—acting was not a reserved occupation; but, by arrangement with the service ministries, many actors and actresses were spared call-up if they consented to take part in travelling shows to entertain the armed forces.

Air attack damaged many theatres and put many more out of business. One that was proud to boast, after the war, that ‘We never closed’ was the Windmill Theatre off Piccadilly Circus, in central London.

The BBC competed, often with success, against theatres and cinemas as a vehicle of popular entertainment. One show in particular, Ted Kavanagh's ITMA (‘It's That Man Again’), starring Tommy Handley, was reckoned to have 16 million listeners every Thursday evening, among whom George VI was one of the most devoted. ITMA gently satirized wartime bureaucracy, in a dazzling interchange of epigrams and catch-phrases, many of which passed into the common currency of speech.

M. R. D. Foot/ and Peter Stansky

Bibliography

Domestic Life, economy, and war effort Addison, P. , The Road to 1945: British Politics and The Second World War (London, 1975).
Barnett, C. , The Audit of War (London, 1986).
Calder, A. , The People's War: Britain 1939–1945 (London, 1969).
Jefferys, K. , The Churchill Coalition and Wartime Politics 1940–1945 (Manchester, 1991).
Marwick, A. , The Home Front (London, 1976).
Smith, H. (ed.), War and Social Change: British Society in the Second World War (Manchester, 1986).

Bibliography

Government Addison, P. , op. cit.
Jefferys, K. , op. cit.
Lee, J. M. , The Churchill Coalition (London, 1980).
Schoenfeld, M. P. , The War Ministry of Winston Churchill (Iowa, 1972).

Bibliography

Northern Ireland Blake, J. W. , Northern Ireland in the Second World War (Belfast, 1956).

Bibliography

Armed forces and special forces Barnett, C. , Engage the Enemy More Closely: The Royal Navy in the Second World War (London, 1991).
Fraser, D. , And We Shall Shock Them: The British Army in the Second World War (London, 1983).
Messenger, C. , The Commandos 1940–1946 (London, 1991).
Richards, D. and and Saunders, H. , The Royal Air Force 1939–45, 3 vols. (London, 1974).
Seymour, W. , British Special Forces (London, 1985).
Terraine, J. , The Right of the Line: The Royal Air Force in the European War 1939–1945 (London, 1985).

Bibliography

Intelligence Hinsley, F. H. , et al., British Intelligence in the Second World War, 4 vols. (London, 1978–90).

Bibliography

Merchant marine Behrens, C. B. A. , Merchant Shipping and the Demands of War (London, 1955).
Lane, T. , The Merchant Seamen's War (Manchester, 1990).

Bibliography

Culture Aldgate A. and and Richards, J. , Britain Can Take It: The British Cinema in the Second World War (Oxford, 1986).
Blythe, R. (ed.), Writing in a War: Stories, Poems and Essays of 1939–1945 (Harmondsworth, 1982).
Coultass, C. , Images for Battle: British Film and the Second World War, 1939–1945 (London, 1989).
Davin D. , Short Stories from the Second World War (Oxford, 1982).
Foot, M. R. D. , Art and War (London, 1990).
Harries, M. and and S. , The War Artists (London, 1983).
Haskell, A.,, Powell, D.,, Myers, R.,, and Ironside, R. , Ballet, Films, Music, Painting Since 1939 (London, 1948).
Hewison, R. , Under Siege: Literary Life in London, 1939–45 (London, 1977).
Ross, A. , Colours of War (London, 1983).

United Kingdom

History & Background

England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales: The term United Kingdom refers to the collective body of nations made up of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The four cut a wide swath of territory across the eastern face of Europe, in spite of being geographically apart from the rest of the continent by virtue of separation by the North and Irish Seas, the Strait of Dover, and the English Channel. The four countries, over time, have experienced transformations in coastline, climate, and vegetation, as well as changing values, culture, and governments. Changes in the educational systems of the four nations of the United Kingdom have been dramatic, but at no time have changes been more extensive than the 1990s and first years of the twenty-first century following attempts to dissolve the House of Lords in England and accomplishment of devolution in Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland.

In this essay, references are to the mother country of England, except where headings or internal references clearly refer to the individual countries of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Although the countries have many similarities, the differences are important to acknowledge. The reader is urged to refer to the Ireland essay for earlier references to the north of Ireland. The political creation of Northern Ireland is a relatively recent historical event, traceable to the British putdown of an Irish rebellion in the seventeenth century, followed by its peopling of the six counties of the Ulster region with British and Scottish settlers of the Anglican faith. In 2001, Wales commenced a significant breakthrough for self-rule when it took large control of its system of higher education. Also, the Scottish Parliament has the power to pass or repeal legislation passed by the English Parliament, including education acts, or to amend portions of statutes.

Roman Occupation: The early inhabitants of Britain were pre-literate hunters, eventually cut off from the rest of Europe by the submerging of land under the waters of what became known as the English Channel. Extensive research by archaeologists in the twenty-first century has started to cast some light on early peoples of this area.

Protected by fierce inhabitants and a rugged climate, England was considered a prize for conquest and began to undergo attacks from Rome. Well known to any beginning student of Latin are the campaigns by Julius Caesar in 55 and 54 B.C. immortalized by his own writings; his early biographers paint a portrait of a much crueler conqueror than the self-image he presents.

Rome's attack on tribal leaders in Wales in the first century have become well known to twentieth-century players of fantasy games, because of the valiant, though doomed, fight of the Iceni warriors under Queen Boudicca, referred to by one Hollywood screenwriter as "a female Braveheart." Her story is dramatic. After being whipped and subject to vile indignities, including the rapes of her daughters, Boudicca massacred the residents of towns pledging allegiance to Rome until a counteroffensive wiped out her armies, and she committed suicide by taking poison. In spite of such furious fighting and heavy cost in lives, the Romans defeated the Welsh clans, failing to subjugate them. Little by little, however, their culture began reflecting the influence of Celtic Catholic missionaries among the Welsh people.

Likewise, the Roman forces relentlessly invaded Scotland, repelled the clans known as the Picts, and declared the country under its rule. For all practical purposes, Scotland's rugged geography, particularly in the Highlands and its numerous adjacent islands, left the Romans hardly in control of the defiant clans and their allied clans from Ireland, the Celts. Nonetheless, Rome did have some influence on the Scottish people during five centuries of occupation, in part because of the preaching of Christian missionaries.

Post-Roman Times, Invasions, & Power Struggles: In the fourth century, Roman Emperor Constant I gave his namesake son, Constantine II, the conquered lands of Britain, Gaul, and Spain, but he gave the remainder of the empire to another son, Constans I. The unhappy Constantine II waged war on his brother but was cut down and killed during a battle in Italy. In the fifth century, the Romans pulled out of the lands they had fought so hard to win, driven out themselves after years of assault by fierce warriors they dismissed as barbarian hordes. In addition to the clans, invasions to the vulnerable east and south of England came from Denmark and northern Germany from warlike peoples known as the Angles, the Jutes, and the Saxons. The latter, collectively called the Anglo-Saxons about the sixteenth century, later used the term themselves as they grew settled and became farmers or town dwellers. Eventually, the term "Anglo-Saxon" embraced all in Britain.

The Roman and British peoples of Wales also faced the invaders, but some pockets of the culture remained where they avoided enslavement. In general, culture and civilization declined until the seventh century when the Church of Rome sent missionaries to England and established monasteries dedicated to the preservation of learning and the transmission of culture and religion in written works. The immediate effect was to make the United Kingdom countries more open to trade and to developing the trappings of civilization already in place in other countries of Europe. Monasteries in the sixth and seventh centuries spread over Ireland and Scotland as well as England, though the politics of the time were chaotic, as kingdoms wielded power and waged conflict in these countries.

By the tenth and eleventh centuries, parish churches were a reality in the Anglo-Saxon country of England, as they were elsewhere in Europe. However, instability in England and Ireland continued because of attacks by seas and rivers by marauding Vikings. Attacks by Danish warriors had begun in the eighth and ninth centuries, resulting in the destruction of monasteries and their manuscripts. The scholar-king Alfred the Great, king of Wessexin England, defeated the Danes in London in 886 and at Edington in 878. Had he been defeated, the Danes would have controlled England's main kingdoms in the ninth century. In addition to his heroics as a leader and contributions to the development of English law, Alfred was known for his championing of Old English literature and the translation of Latin classical writings into English.

Alfred's contributions to learning made him a heroic figure of that era. In other areas, pandemonium was the rule. Ireland and Scotland were infiltrated by Norse warriors, who also sacked some monasteries in a quest for the abundant loot within. Alfred was the first ruler in a succession of rulers of Wessex who gained power for themselves, even as they drove out the powerful Scandinavians. The defeated Danes were assimilated and adopted Christianity. Rather than peace reigning, the kingdoms of Wessex and the West Saxons vied for power; Scotland was also invaded. In the end, Eadred emerged as the one supreme ruler of England. His successor, Eadgar, was crowned king, and his reign (957-975) brought stability to the country and an alliance with England's large, widespread Danish population.

Ireland and Scotland experienced upheaval at the hands of invaders and men that vied for supreme rule. Battles for power were common between the ninth and twelfth centuries. The politics of Wales between the ninth and twelfth century were marked by almost constant intrigue, assassinations, battles, truces, and treaties.

Danish & Norman Rule: The persistent Danes continued to pour into England in their quest to subjugate England. At last, Denmark's King Swein prevailed early in the eleventh century, driving England's Aethelred the Unready into exile in Normandy. King Swein died, but his successor-son Cnut finished the fight against England, reigning as king of England from 1016 to 1035, as well as the kingdom of Demark from 1019 until his death. Like Alfred the Great, Cnut was a champion of the preservation of learning in the monasteries. His children were less wise and squabbled for power.

The English regained control of the kingdom of Wessex between 1042 and 1066 under King Edward the Confessor, a son of Aethelred. Edward's death brought conflict between two men, William, the Duke of Normandy, and Harold, who claimed that the dead king had promised them the throne. Harold was given the crown and was occupied with an invasion by the Norwegians in the north. Although Harold's army prevailed, they were weakened and fell to a crushing attack in the south of England led by William, and Harold fell in battle. On Christmas Day, William the Conqueror was proclaimed King of England, and though he kept alive the English laws and customs, the French language and other customs led to immense cultural changes during this Norman occupation.

The Middle Ages: The history of England from 1066 through the end of the fifteenth century is usually told through the accomplishments and failures of whatever monarch ruled at a particular time. Throughout this period, England experienced unity and prosperity to a greater degree than did Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. A system known as feudalism that was rampant in other parts of Europe became the norm in England as lords of manors extracted work and rents from their serfs, and knights served their lords, the supreme king, and the Church, marching on Crusades to try to wrest the Holy Lands from the Muslims.

Royal power was, for a time, at its height during the reign of King Henry II (1154-1189), who elevated the power of royal courts of law and put down attempts of feudal barons who challenged his unlimited powers.

Perhaps Britain's best-known constitutional document directly linked to feudalism was the Magna Carta of 1215. Signed by King John, known for his political inveigling and battles with the Pope, this "Great Charter," signed as a sign of appeasement by the embattled monarch, offered protections to the feudal lords that not even royalty could usurp, but it also guaranteed certain rights and privileges for the Church and even some rights for royal subjects.

Throughout the Middle Ages, an uneasy relationship existed between English kings and barons. The various Crusades continued until 1291, and wars against France and other kingdoms were commonplace, costly, and counterproductive—seemingly designed to satisfy the vanity or rulers or their desire for the acquisition of lands. The long reign of Henry III (son of King John) from 1216 to 1272 was marked by the waste of human lives in war and by great expenditures to satisfy Henry's lust for lands in France and Sicily. His successor, King Henry IV, achieved the throne by force and established the Lancaster dynasty, but during his reign (1399-1413), he constantly needed to dispatch the royal troops to put down rebellions by the Scots and Welsh. Far more popular (and later immortalized by playwright William Shakespeare), King Henry V also engaged in great wars during his reign from 1413 to 1422, but he mainly kept the allegiance of his people because of his personal magnetism and the number of his great, yet costly, victories against the French.

Like Alfred the Saxon, King Henry VI was a proponent of literature and learning, a patron of artists, and the founder of Eton College in 1440. However, he was a king unfit for governing, ruling at a time (1422-1461 and 1470-1471) of great unrest in England. He was murdered by Edward. Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII, contributed significantly to the support of universities, according to scholar Michael Van Cleave Alexander.

A later ruler, Henry VIII, who reigned from 1509 to 1547, was a ruthless husband notorious for putting two of his six wives (Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard) to death. However, learning and great universities flourished under him. Henry VIII tried, unsuccessfully, to end fighting with Scotland by uniting the two nations. Warring with Scotland continued under his reign, but one of his successes was to bring Wales into the kingdom in 1536, although Wales retained its culture and the Welsh language. Scotland's destiny changed from that of a separate kingdom to part of the United Kingdom under King James I of England, whose other title was Scotland's James VI as the son of Mary Queen of Scots, who was forced to abdicate and later executed.

The Victorian Era: Queen Victoria ascended the throne at a time of unrest and unhappiness with royalty, particularly during the reign of the dissolute King William IV who ruled from 1830 to 1837. Nonetheless, during his era was the start of important changes in England, including recognition for the strengthening of human rights. The Factory Act was passed in 1833, which eliminated, on paper if not in fact, the practice of child labor. In addition, slavery was abolished in the United Kingdom and its possessions by another historically important act. Although William IV gave some words of support to such reforms, he was befuddled by them and distressed by a growing clamor for political and social change in the United Kingdom.

Strong nationalistic feelings and greater national unity occurred during the reign of William IV's niece, Victoria, who ascended the throne in 1837 and ruled as queen of the United Kingdom until 1901. Influenced greatly by her husband, Prince Albert, whom she wed in 1840, Queen Victoria set a town for moral reform and a toning down of the more scandalous conduct of the nobles that had been commonplace before her reign. In education, her reign produced strong attempts to introduce literacy to all of the United Kingdom because of an 1870 act of Parliament establishing compulsory elementary education.

The Modern Era: From Victoria's death in 1901 through the twenty-first century, the United Kingdom has seen periods of calm and prosperity as well as unstable times caused by two world wars, strong nationalism on the part of English colonies, and the assimilation, particularly in England, of immigrants with diverse backgrounds.

A national system of education was adopted for England and Wales in 1902. By 1944, the system had developed strong local governing bodies for the schools, and yet there was a central administration as well. In 1922, Northern Ireland received a separate Parliament, while the Parliament in London governed England, Scotland and Wales.

As of 1998, the United Kingdom's population tallies at 58.8 million. The largest nation, England, has a population of 49.1 million. Scotland's population is 5.1 million. Wales has a population of 2.9 million, and Northern Ireland's population is 1.7 million people.

Scotland does not control the universities, but it does govern primary and secondary education. In 2001, the term "United" in United Kingdom is nearly a misnomer; all four UK countries have separate educational systems. Northern Ireland and Wales Assemblies, as well as the Scottish Parliament, are empowered to keep existing laws regarding education and governance, or they can repeal or amend existing legislation.

As this volume goes to press, the climate in the United Kingdom can be characterized as one of uncertainty, but also one of great nationalistic excitement and an opportunity for positive changes that reflect each individual nation's needs. Illiteracy rates in Wales are high and troubling. English schools need to solve the challenges of a diverse population with many immigrants. While Scotland remains stable with its own educational curriculum and a stable higher education system, Northern Ireland continues to adjust as it carries on with an uneasy political alliance with Ireland. The needs of England's urban, heavily populated island contrast sharply with those of less-populated, mixed urban and rural cultures of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Traditionally, in England the Labor Party has advocated regulation, reform, or abolishment of elite schools in spite of their historical traditions. The Conservative Party favors the status quo and protection of these institutions. Without question, the most significant proposals for reform after 1900 have occurred between 1992 and 1991 as English reformers have attempted to alter the makeup of the House of Lords to reflect the changing democratic society in England. Loud cries for the abolition of the House of Lords arose from numerous critics in 1974 with the election of the Labor Party that considered the House of Lords to be an anachronism and a remnant of an earlier England. The Conservative Party reacted with attacks on the Labor Party. In 1999, the government moved ahead to make major changes in the composition of the House of Lords, and most observers of social conditions in England anticipated additional party bickering and legislation regarding the ongoing House of Lords controversy in the twenty-first century.

Constitutional & Legal Foundations

Between the late 1990s and 2001, education in the United Kingdom moved into a state of anticipation and uncertainty with regard to laws affecting education. As noted elsewhere in this essay, the realities of devolved governments in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are prompting each nation to conduct self-studies and to contemplate possible repeals or rewriting of some educational laws passed by the English Parliament. In general, each nation's local governments are kept in check by the system of educational appropriations and grants, the main source of funding for these schools.

Local governments that administer and carry out the directives of the national education system are called LEAs, an abbreviation of local education authorities. These were put in place when Parliament passed the important 1902 education act, also known as The Balfour Act. In 1984, an education act passed by Parliament took some control away from LEAs, giving the national government more power in deciding how some assigned block grant moneys were spent for educational purposes.

An important law affecting Scotland was the 1980 Education Act, giving the Secretary of State for Scotland the power to regulate local education matters and to give directives to local authorities. This was followed by a 1981 Education Act, allowing parents the right to choose the school best-suited to the needs of their children, In 1986, another education act was passed that affected LEAs, for it gave parents a greater right to be heard on educational matters. A controversial education act passed in 1988 enjoined LEAs from allowing any schools "to promote teaching. . .the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship." The law was widely criticized as being unclear and possibly prejudicial to a minority.

Between 1986 and 1998 were passed an unusually high number of education acts, and some of these were subsequently repealed or replaced by other education acts. The most important education acts served to empower the UK nations of Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland to take responsibility for the shaping and governing of their educational systems during the process of devolving.

Educational System—Overview

The credit for the establishment of an educational system in England usually goes to Saint Augustine, the first archbishop of Canterbury, and an Italian clergyman who worked for the conversion of the English between 597 and (circa) 605. An important part of his ministry was teaching. He trained priests and worked to increase the knowledge of converts.

Saint Augustine's belief in education was strong, and other monks inhabiting monasteries shared his passion for learning and for writings, both religious and secular, for many hundreds of years. This was long before schools were a reality in England, and so the place of learning might be a church bench or a cleared space of ground in a monastery. Priests and educators were often one and the same then. Eventually, teachings of Latin language, writings, and scholarship were thought of as an elevated form of learning to be taught in grammar schools. Unfortunately, the Romans since the first century had downplayed the need to understand Greek, and these first schools would have produced students better versed in science and imaginative literature had they learned the language. In the twelfth century, it is true that certain scholars expressed enthusiasm for Greek writings, but the established Church tended to look with suspicion on such works, lest scholars be drawn to heresy. It was not until the fourteenth century that the great Italian thinker, poet and humanist Petrarch and other Renaissance scholars saw the true importance of widespread study in the universities of Platonic thought and the work of Greek writers such as Aristotle.

Nonetheless, in the twelfth century, a great surge in the copying of manuscripts and zealousness for learning emerged from the explosion in the number of monasteries—some lavish and some bare and plain—established in England. By 1154, there were some 300 monasteries from various religious orders established in England. At the time of William the Conqueror's invasion, there had been but 48, according to author Sir Roy Strong, who notes that nearly all these new monasteries were places for learned men to study. At first, becoming a scholar was the accepted path to become a priest or monk; quite rapidly, professionals in other serious endeavors saw the need for advanced training and study. Royal kings and nobles were often the last to seek an education, seeing it as beneath them and employing royal secretaries for such chores, according to Strong. However, reading and writing in the language of England next became essential for students who sought knowledge, as did rhetoric and, occasionally, training in theology. Some twenty-first century grammar schools, such as the King's School and Canterbury, had their roots planted even in Saxon times. Nonetheless, as medieval scholars such as Joseph Strayer and Dana C. Munro have pointed out, the native tongue was so undeveloped that scholars and thinkers alike had to do crystallize their thoughts in Latin. In addition, they needed existing models of clear thinking from established authors, and for this they had to turn to the great Roman writers such as Vergil and Cicero.

Lesser subjects were taught in the equivalent of vocational classes. Song classes, for example, were taught in Song Schools in the seventh century until shortly before the Middle Ages; these classes trained those with excellent voices who sang as an accompaniment to church services. At some indefinite point in the Middle Ages, an early version of primary schools began. They preceded the twelfth-century founding of universities, creating a small number of literate citizens. The building of universities coincided with great developments in architecture by certain monks and other geniuses with stone. As the great cathedrals went up, it became only natural that education and the Church, being so inter-related, should result eventually in the building of great universities whose buildings were nearly as grand as places of worship.

Just as the only clergy at that time were males, so too was a university education kept out of the reach of women during the Middle Ages. Nonetheless, believing that a university education was the way to assure the greater glory of God, many women, and higher-status clergy as well, became benefactors of early universities in England, according to historian Michael Van Cleave Alexander. By the early 1600s, at a time when economic conditions in England were such that a wide gap separated the poor and wealthy, many young males saw the clergy as a worthwhile and satisfying profession to enter, particularly since celibacy was not an issue as it had been in the Catholic Church since the eleventh century. For families with comfortable means and some money, grammar schools were in easy reach for their children, and the rise of a merchant class gave rise to the popularity in bookkeeping classes. For the very wealthy, tutors continued to be popular well into the eighteenth century.

Schools took much longer to gain acceptance in Wales. The first main thrust for nationwide education occurred in that nation in 1650 as some five dozen schools were established, according to H.C. Dent.

The nineteenth century saw a proliferation in public schools, a label in the United Kingdom that refers to what U.S. citizens know as private schools. Many of the elite public schools charged considerable tuition fees that only the privileged and the wealthy can afford. These public schools included Eton, Harrow, and Westminster, and though independent, they were required to submit to government inspections. Their curriculum was steeped in the classics, and the ancient languages of Greek and Latin were taught. Religion and rhetoric were also an important part of classroom teachings, and athletic prowess afforded a student considerable status. Clothing styles at these schools for men were either military style uniforms or classic, elegant dress. Much earlier, in the 1770s, the clothing was the ostentatious look of the times, according to Sir Roy Strong.

Males were expected to bond and to form lifelong close associations with other young males expected to become persons of consequence in the United Kingdom. In this male-oriented society, the finer English schools accepted a hazing practice called fagging. Older lads required a new boy to perform acts of servitude in the residence hall and on the athletic field. Any new boy who refused could expect a beating or ostracizing, losing the very respect of his peers he had come to the public school to form. The system, although harsh, unfair, and even savage, carried into the twentieth century before public pressure led to its cessation.

According to a book on hazing, Wrongs of Passage, "fagging flourished in public schools because right-minded educators placed obedience and discipline first among all the virtues a schoolboy should display." In addition, the practice began in an era when the upper class fervently believed that every person should know his place. Only after the education system had evolved and expanded was education considered an opportunity to move upward in society; heretofore, a lower-class male might know his Greek and Latin as well as anyone, but without a prestigious public-school degree, he was socially handicapped.

A nineteenth-century English periodical proclaimed the virtues of fagging and trumpeted its rules. "There must be no nonsense about it, no evasion—the obedience must be complete and it must be instantaneous. The sanction is very near at hand, in the shape of the boot, the fist, or the wicket; there is no cumbersome process of court-martial or summons in the country court to compel it. It must follow on the command as the flash is followed by the thunder."

England's geographical separation from the rest of the European continent perhaps is symbolic of its pride in being independent of its neighbors. That fierce pride, independence, and geographical distance may have contributed to England's reluctance to be a part of sweeping, wide reforms that countries such as Prussia and France had instituted during the nineteenth century. While the United States, Prussia, and France purposely set out to reform its education system from the lower grades through higher education in the decades immediately before 1850, England had a hands-off, laissez-faire attitude toward education. The result was to keep education as a privilege of the wealthier classes who attended fine private institutions, the exceptions being those fortunate children of the working poor who were educated in hundreds of church schools in place during the 1800s. Even when the Parliament moved to send matching-funds stipends to church societies for the education of the poor in 1833, the amounts were so small as to draw criticism from educators, social activists, and members of church societies. Nonetheless, the 1833 action set a precedent for greater reforms to come. By 1840, the government stipends sent to church groups for the establishment of schools was 30,000 pounds.

The elite gentlemen's schools were the models that the church public schools looked to when developing their own curriculums. To be sure, a sort-of caste system was the rule, not the exception, in England. English schools were condemned by American educators who saw the huge numbers of ill-educated waifs quite rightly to be victims of human rights injustice. Some of the reasons provided as reasons that the poor should not be educated were illogical and fear-based, including assumptions that an educated poor might unite in uprisings and revolution. By 1861, famed English educators such as Matthew Arnold, an inspector of schools, poet, and Oxford University professor, penned social criticism urging educational reforms that benefited the children of working-class British toiling in the mines, factories, and shops. His criticisms included a claim that only the very elite schools of Britain compared favorably to many schools in France in quality. His attacks came nearly 30 years after French historian and social philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville studied American society, noting how the children of shopkeepers and the wealthy alike possessed a type of social equality in the quality of their educations, an occurrence unheard of in the aristocratic environs of the United Kingdom.

Social activists belonging to various religious denominations formed important organizations providing the greatest, if not sole, opportunity for the children of the poor and working class to obtain an education. Among these important groups of volunteers were the British and Foreign Schools Society (originally the Royal Lancasterian Association) established by the Protestant Nonconformists in 1810 and the National Society for the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church, established in 1817. The latter group stressed education of the children of Anglicans and children of members of other denominations willing to allow their children to receive religious instruction. These groups became quite sophisticated, powerful, and large. The National Society for the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church founded or oversaw 3,500 schools a little more than aa decade after its formation. The National Society became by far the most influential religious group possessing the power to build and run schools, a fact that began to draw criticism from many quarters since it put religious leaders effectively in charge of educational institutions partially aided by public funding.

In 1839, Parliament grants to education began to be regulated by a Committee of the Privy Council on Education, and by 1847, this group had started attempts to reduce the managerial powers of the National Society, a decision that was highly unpopular among Church of England clergy. In particular, the Anglicans fought against attempts to stifle their efforts for the conversion of pupils to the Anglican Church. The controversy and criticisms from the public led the government to conclude by the early 1850s that educational reform was crucial to take some of the wholesale power away from the church societies. The church societies, in turn, maintained that they found it unfair for their authority to be yanked after hard work and planning on the part of society members who had been responsible for the education of so many working-class citizens.

This committee was headed by a lord president of the Council and filled out by a vice-president and ministers. At first, the committee regulated educational policy for England, Wales, and Scotland, but in 1872, Scotland formed its independent Committee on Education with similar powers to the Privy Council. In addition, in England and Wales, the 1870 Education Act permitted the founding of school boards to be operated with public money if local schools run by the voluntary church-related organizations were deemed inadequate. The 1870 Act also established schools in rural and poverty-stricken area where schools were absent. In time, the publicly funded schools, carefully regulated with inspections, generally were regarded as providing a better education for children than the church schools could provide. Education became a priority, and by the end of the nineteenth century, it was the government's largest budget line item for spending, according to historian Roy Strong.

The responsibility for carrying out the directives of the Privy Council was given to an Education Department under the supervision of a Privy Council secretary until 1856. In 1856, a revamped Education Department had its everyday affairs run by a vice-president operating as the equivalent of a superintendent and chief operating officer. There was a board in name only with responsibilities for overseeing the superintendent's duties carried out, although the board's powers increased substantially between 1902 and 1921 as perceived needs arose. The Committee of the Privy Council on Education supervised educational matters for 60 years, supplanted by a Board of Education similar to those in other industrial nations in 1899. The 1899 reformed Board of Education also encompassed oversight of art, Design, and technical schools in the United Kingdom.

During the nineteenth century, the task of keeping schools operating efficiently was assigned to local school boards. This proved unsatisfactory, and a decision was made by Parliament to pass the 1902 Act that put the schools under professional educators as overseers working collaboratively with these county and city education councils. These oversaw both primary and secondary schools at the local level. Another important aspect of the 1902 Act is that responsibility was taken away from more than 2,500 school boards and given to Local Education Authorities (LEAS) with power to appoint an education committee. Public schools were now called "provided" schools, contrasting with the "unprovided" church schools. In an effort to take some of the power away from the powerful church schools, the LEA was given the authority to appoint two of six church school board members. The compromise measure benefited the church schools, nonetheless, because the appointments enabled them to keep eligible for school funds financed by local taxes. It also gave parents who wanted a secular education more options because the number of secondary schools in the United Kingdom rapidly began to increase. During the twentieth century, the once-mighty church schools began to decline in number and influence.

Another influence of the LEAs was a growing reliance on examinations for school placement. As a result, many teachers complained that they were teaching to get their pupils through examinations, not teaching them to absorb knowledge and prepare for life's intellectual challenges.

The state bureaucracy evolved over time to oversee the schools, and a Board of Education kept control until 1944. That year an education act eliminated the Board and established the Ministry of Education under the supervision of a minister of education; the Ministry continued until 1964. In 1964, the Secretary of State for Education and Science Order combined the Minister of Education and Minister of Science into a single Department of Education and Science. The revamped Department of Education and Science was responsible for the promotion of education and higher education in England and Wales. National concern about educating the children of lower socioeconomic classes was spurred by research in 1963-1964 that determined that the offspring of professional persons were 20 times more likely to attend a school of higher education. In 1970, the overseeing of primary and secondary education in Wales and Monmouthshire fell to the Welsh Office by the Transfer of Functions Order, with additional responsibilities assigned in 1978.

Northern Ireland: Northern Ireland has school systems under a separate Department of Education from the schools of the Republic of Ireland. In Northern Ireland, educational funding comes through the Northern Ireland Higher Education Council (NIHEC). The two Departments of Education use different accounting systems, different financial years, different currencies, and different rates of inflation.

Northern Ireland officially has been in existence with a constitution since 1920, created by the British under Lloyd George with the Government of Ireland Act to head off a civil war. This political division of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland specifically applies to six counties in the Ulster region with the port city of Belfast as Northern Ireland's capital. Protestants are the dominant religious group. The 1998 Northern Ireland Act acknowledged the powers and responsibilities of the Northern Ireland Assembly, recognizing its power to enact and repeal existing statutes.

Scotland: Unlike other European nations, Scotland lacks a statutory curriculum. Nonetheless, the curriculum is close to standardized with schools following standards and instructions recommended by the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Scottish Consultative Council on the Curriculum. Recommendations include directives on the subjects of English, Gaelic, Latin, modern languages, mathematics and the sciences, religious, and character-building education.

Because Scotland has one examination board, not several, teachers tend to follow a similar curriculum for the standard and higher grade examinations.

Preprimary & Primary Education

Preprimary: Children in England, Wales, and Scotland may attend, at the parents' choice, various pre-compulsory schools until the age of five. In Ireland, pre-compulsory education is offered through age four. Variously, these schools are known as nursery schools or, in England and Wales, reception classes, which are held in primary schools.

With many families having both parents working or a single parent working, the government increasingly has gotten involved in attempts to improve the quantity and quality of pre-compulsory schools. Many pre-compulsory schools are run with no charge in England and Wales. Attendance is almost universal in England, with 94 percent of all students attending in 1995, according to government data.

On the average, children in Northern Ireland tend to begin primary education about one year later than do the children of the other United Kingdom countries, but this could change to a younger starting age as Northern Ireland examines and revamps its educational system.

Primary Education: England's government through much of the first half of the nineteenth century was reluctant to mix members of all classes in single primary schools. For better and worse, church schools run by the Dissenter and Anglican churches filled the void, raising funds for the poor and needy for education, and often for their meals as well. However, the church schools, even after accepting government stipends, put a heavy focus on Christian religious training in the schools that led to an outcry from those who wanted their children taught in secular schools.

The year 1862 is sometimes listed as a breakthrough year for reform in English schools as government contributions topped 840,000 pounds. Another important event was the passage of the Forster Education Act of 1870, providing educational opportunities to all elementary school children, seeing that many rural children and children of lower socioeconomic classes were missing out on an opportunity for an education. This was a systematic approach that, through this act of Parliament, created school districts to be staffed with elected school boards. In 1891, the government ruled that elementary education should be provided free to all children at public expense. In 1906, Parliament moved to pay for the meals of children not receiving adequate nutrition at home.

In 1918, attempting to remedy a situation in which children were slipping through the cracks of the system, Parliament passed the Education Act of 1918, also known as the Fisher Act, removing special circumstances that allowed many children between the ages of 5 and 14 to become dropouts. In addition, the LEAs were required, upon request, to show their development plans as a means of checking to make sure that a uniform national system of schools was in operation or in the process of being established.

While the government paid the costs of education, in the 1940s it also instituted a comprehensive examination given to all primary pupils at the age of 11. Those with the top test scores were allowed to attend academically challenging grammar schools that prepared students for eventual attendance at a university. Those with scores that were below passing were sent to secondary schools with technical and vocational emphases. The public schools paid for by tuition were unaffected by such legislation. Historian Roy Strong called the new system a "meritocracy dependent on talent." He also noted that education forever hence was put on the agenda of political parties as a key issue in election years.

By 2002, a government statute is to be enforced that primary school classes for children aged 5 to 7 contain no more than 30 pupils. No other age range has such limits, and complaints of overcrowding in the classrooms frequently are voiced by parents. In the primary grades, students are not segregated by abilities but rather are put collectively in classes regardless of aptitude test scores.

England and Wales have adopted a rigorous, prescribed curriculum for compulsory education with the 1998 Education Reform Act and earlier education acts. Northern Ireland also has a compulsory curriculum of its own. In the primary grades, students are broken into age group categories from ages 5 through 7 (4 through 8 in Northern Ireland) and from ages 7 through 11 in England (8 through 11 in Northern Ireland).

Although the curriculum is mandatory, teachers or local school committees choose school textbooks. Among the compulsory subjects in the English lower grades are history, geography, mathematics, science, design and technology, information technology, religious education, physical education, history, geography, art, and music. A foreign language is required for older students.

Wales, in addition to these subjects, requires the teaching of Welsh. Northern Ireland requires compliance from schools in the teaching of English, science and technology, environment and society, mathematics, and creative and expressive studies. Irish is compulsory.

Wales: In April 2001, the recently formed National Assembly of Wales identified a disturbing trend in illiteracy and ignorance of mathematics to be a top priority that the government and education officials must address. In 2001, approximately 27 million pounds was appropriated by the Assembly for a public relations effort and other campaigns.

In addition, tough testing standards have been required as of 2001 for all higher education institutions to evaluate entering students' levels of competence in reading, writing, and numeracy skills. More than a quarter of all adults (28 percent) is illiterate or has substandard literacy skills. Nearly one-third (32 percent) has subpar mathematical skills.

As a result, the Assembly has earmarked two priorities for education. It wants to reach older adults to begin enrolling them in comprehensive remedial programs. It also wants to establish a more efficient system of identifying and assisting children with reading, writing, and math deficiencies to systematically provide remediation to prevent them from dropping out, ill-prepared and frustrated.

In Wales, classes are taught in the English and Welsh languages as a mandatory part of the national curriculum. Welsh-medium schools are located in nearly all locales. In Northern Ireland, Irish-medium schools also are increasingly found. The learning of each country's language is tied to efforts to restore national pride.

Northern Ireland: Perhaps the greatest dissatisfaction with post-primary education in the United Kingdom expressed by parents and lawmakers alike is in Northern Ireland. In 2000 and 2001, the government established a Review Body on Post Primary Education under the supervision of the Minister for Education, following the publication on September 28, 2000, of a research report that was critical of the selective system of secondary education in Northern Ireland. The Review Body has 10 members with a support staff of 5 education advisers from Scotland, England, and the Republic of Ireland.

The following were identified as some of the key issues facing the review body: 1) reforming the postprimary and primary systems; 2) improving academic standards; 3) restoring and cherishing the ethos, culture, and identity of Northern Ireland schools; 4) dealing with identity problems of the young who do poorly on national testing or are placed in other than the schools of their first choice; 5) recognizing that there are different types of intelligences and refraining from pigeonholing those children who do not test well or experience test anxiety; 6) a need to identify and institute curricula and schools that produce the best citizens with character, strong personal standards, and maximized abilities; and 7) the need to deal with socioeconomic classes whose backgrounds leave them at a testing disadvantage.

One of the great concerns in Northern Ireland was the categorization of students in eleventh grade that made students not selected for a college-bound track feel that they were less worthy than fellow students. The Review Board said reports indicated that students who were passed over demonstrated low self-esteem.

Grammar Schools: As United Kingdom countries advanced during the Middle Ages, but before universities found their place, the English grammar school provided a means for potential scholars to master rhetoric, grammar, and occasionally other subjects if the teachers were prepared, willing, and educated themselves. As the universities at Oxford and Cambridge prospered in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, respectively, the grammar schools increasingly became the preparatory institutions that pupils relied upon for a solid learning foundation before going to a university in England or abroad. Most, if not all these schools were connected with a parish, cathedral, or other religious institution. Perhaps the first school to claim independence and self-governance, according to scholar A.F. Leach, was "Seint Marie College of Wynchester in Oxenford," founded by a local bishop in 1382. The school was a boarding school and accepted pupils from distant outposts in England; it was considered exemplary as an educational institution and was imitated by Eton College's founder, Henry VI, in 1440. Nonetheless, it attracted more sons of the poor and those climbing for status in the Middle Ages in England than those already wealthy who could hire traveling tutors or send their sons to established craftsmen as apprentices.

Education for females then was also done for a few women at home, if their fathers were wealthy and liberal-minded, or at a lesser school known as a "pettie" school and in some convents.

Whether girls or boys, through the twelfth century it was the Catholic Church, out of a sense of duty, that mainly provided whatever educational opportunities existed for younger boys and girls. After the reformation, the greatest surge in the foundation of grammar schools was in the first half of the seventeenth century. W.K. Johnson estimated that the number of schools in the seventeenth century served more citizens percentage-wise in England until the explosion of schools in the twentieth century.

As of 1995, some 158 grammar schools remained in operation in England, and their supporters and detractors were vocal. Admission to English grammar schools is based on ability.

Secondary Education

The beginning of a surge in the number of secondary schools in the United Kingdom often is linked to a scheme to provide secondary education to all children, including children of the poor and the working class, in 1902 after the passage of an education act known as the Balfour Act. A statute required the LEAs to provide and pay for places in secondary school for deserving students, and the funding came from tax revenues. The passing of a competitive examination was required for placement in a secondary school. Nonetheless, in spite of fears by middle-class parents that the presence of the poor would weaken the quality of education for their own children, it took until World War I and beyond for many working-class parents to send their children to secondary schools—even though they were tuition free.

At the age of 11, nearly all students in the United Kingdom move up from primary to secondary state schools. The state schools require no testing, but independent secondary schools require a Common Entrance Examination that is taken at age 11 or slightly older. Contemporary secondary schools adhere to the state mandate of a National Curriculum requiring pupils in England and Wales to take examinations called the Standard Assessment Tasks (SATs). This form of testing ranks and assesses students against a national scale of measured abilities at ages 7, 11, and 14. As of 2001, Northern Ireland was also planning similar nationwide assessment tests.

In 1988, a General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) was introduced, replacing other types of assessment tests. This is the assessment test taken by secondary school students aged 16 or older in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Pupils at 18 or older take the GCE A-level and AS-level exams.

In 1998, the Education Reform Act was passed, standardizing the curriculum in England and Wales with six main areas of study (English, environment and society, creative and expressive studies, languages, mathematics, and science and technology). In addition, there are six cross-curricular areas.

In Scotland, the Scottish Certificate of Education (SCE) at Standard Grade is taken at the age of 16 or older, while the Higher Grade is taken at the age of 17 or 18. For those who have completed the Higher Grade, there is the Certificate of Sixth Year Studies. Vocational education in Scotland is served by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), which is the national body with responsibility for developing, awarding, and accrediting academic and vocational qualifications.

In Northern Ireland, examinations are conducted by the Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations, and Assessment (CCEA) to ensure that its standards are comparable with those of the other examining groups in the United Kingdom.

Secondary schools frequently segregate students. This is done in two ways. One way is through streaming—putting students of similar abilities into all classes. Another practice is to merely limit certain classes, often mathematics and science, to pupils of similar aptitude.

Technology in the Schools: The Department for Education and Skills conducted a 1998 survey on the availability of computers used in the primary and secondary classrooms of England. It also tabulated expenditures for computers, measured Internet usage, and surveyed teachers on their use of computers in the classroom. Based upon a representative sample of 1,211 primary, 1,452 secondary, and 594 English special schools (with responses from 938 primary, 977 secondary and 453 special schools), the survey response rates corresponded to 77 percent, 69 percent, and 76 percent reporting use of computers in the classroom.

In England, the main impetus by the Government for getting computers into all schools was its 1998 "Open for Learning, Open for Business" public relations campaign. The goal is to get computers into all schools in sufficient numbers to promote learning and to provide skills needed to prosper in the twenty-first century. To that end, in Britain, the "National Grid for Learning in the Twenty-first Century" is a gateway for computer excellence by teachers and students.

Compulsory Education: England lagged behind other industrialized countries in the passage of laws to protect children from being thrust at a young age into factories and mines. Reforms took decades to be implemented. Any reader familiar with the works of Charles Dickens (1812-1870) has an acquaintance with the plight of child exploitation in England. The distinguished author himself was born in poverty and made to work as a child in a blacking warehouse. Scholar Leon Litvack cites examples from Dickens' speeches and works to show the writer's support of "universal, non-sectarian education" and reformations in Victorian England schools.

Not until an 1876 education act was a school leaving policy formed. The act put the responsibility for compliance on the shoulders of parents. Much emphasis was put on regular attendance. A child could be compelled by law to remain in school if school attendance committees decreed the pupil's attendance had been spotty.

The age of compulsory attendance was set at 10 in 1880 by another education act passed by Parliament. Children could leave school at 10, but they could also be required to stay if their attendance had been unsatisfactory.

In 1893, a compulsory education law lifted the age bar slightly by making the school-leaving age 11-years-old. In 1899, the school-leaving age was elevated to 12 years, and in 1918, to 14 years. An education act passed by Parliament in 1939 pushed up the school-leaving age to 15 years, but when Germany began bombing England and World War II was declared, the law was suspended for the duration of the emergency.

In 1944, an education act once again restored the school-leaving age to 15. In 1947, the age was raised a final time to 16. In 2001, compulsory education ranges from the ages of 5 to 16 in the United Kingdom, with the exception of the 4 to 16 ranges in Northern Ireland. The school year in the United Kingdom begins in August or September and runs to June or July, as school officials decree. Schools stay open at least 190 days during the academic year and keep a Monday-through-Friday schedule. Schools operate five days a week, and there are recommended numbers of hours per week, which vary depending upon a child's age.

Higher Education

The universities that arose in Europe in the middle ages bore little resemblance to those in ancient Athens and Carthage. The culture of the medieval period—characterized by its guilds, rituals, and traveling scholars—made the first European schools of higher learning, the "studium generale," unique institutions in every way. England's contribution to the great universities that dotted the landscape of Europe in the twelfth century was Oxford University in Oxford, a southcentral English town.

Many of Oxford's first students and scholars were disaffected University of Paris members. In particular, these students and scholars abandoned Paris during times of crisis in 1167 and 1229, streaming into Oxford, according to scholars Joseph R. Strayer and Elisabeth Leedham-Green. Enough students enrolled thatt Oxford expanded to establish residential lodgings in the thirteenth century. These first residential colleges were called University, Balliol, and Merton. The first English secular colleges were designed for senior scholars, the equivalent of graduate scholars today. The admittance of undergraduates or lesser scholars was a late phenomenon in England, usually associated by scholars with the chartering of the royal College of the King's Hall, Cambridge, in 1337, although its origins predate the charter by some two decades. King's Hall soon offered studies to a range of scholars ranging from the neophyte undergraduate to the scholar with numerous years of study to his credit.

At Oxford, as at the first schools of higher learning in other nations of Europe, these poor scholars were basically in the employ of students, and students exercised power over their teachers until the faculty eventually gained the upper hand over their students. The power balance shifted suddenly when students allowed scholars to select which of their peers were worthy of receiving teaching licenses; the scholars then formed their own guilds, much as workers in other established professions had done.

These early students were no more mature than the students of the present day were—less so more likely. According to Wrongs of Passage, they hazed newcomers viciously, rubbing their noses into grindstones or making them drink unspeakable concoctions, and they, in their gowns, fought against local towns people. A 1354 riot at Oxford began over a disagreement about a vintage of wine and resulted in students dying and suffering grim injuries. Until late in the nineteenth century, the successful public school graduate then advanced to Cambridge or Oxford, or in some cases sought an education abroad. Three prestigious Scottish universities, St. Andrews, Glasgow, and Aberdeen, came into being during the fifteenth century.

During the nineteenth century, for a time, Cambridge or Oxford developed a reputation for being less serious about studies than the universities in Scotland, and some dons failed to meet their teaching obligations. Cambridge and Oxford found the label of expensive social clubs they were branded with to be as hard to shake as it was offensive to serious students and scholars at these institutions.

Potential university students received other options late in the nineteenth century when schools of higher education were established in London, Leeds, Durham, and Manchester. Finally, women achieved a significant breakthrough in 1869, as Girton College in Cambridge announced the acceptance of female applicants.

In England, all the early universities were put into being by a Royal Charter or government statute. The Privy Council, an advisory body that counsels the Queen with permission from the Orders in Council, grants royal charters and permits the incorporation of universities.

Perhaps the liveliest era in the development of higher education opportunities for the greatest number of citizens took place in England's major cities during the early years of the twentieth century. From that start, with just 10 universities in 1910, there was growing enthusiasm for additional colleges and universities in other industrial cities.

The last 30 years of the twentieth century have seen a massive explosion in the number of UK residents choosing to go on to college. The nature of higher education in the United Kingdom has changed significantly over the past 30 years. The number of students studying at universities and colleges has increased dramatically. In the 1960s, there were around 200,000 full-time students. This has risen to more than 1 million students in 2001, as older students increasingly attend college for the first time or return to college to complete degree studies begun many years earlier.

Including part-time students, there are 1.7 million undergraduate and postgraduate students in UK universities and colleges as of 2001. Close to 30 percent of full-time undergraduate students are aged 21 or older when they take their first classes, representing a far older student body from just 1970. Approximately one-third of all 21-year-old adults have attended some college or obtained a college degree, with Scotland demonstrating the highest percentage among all UK nations.

In the United Kingdom, there are 111 institutions with university status and 60 institutions categorized as higher education colleges. These include Ireland, with 2 universities and 2 higher education colleges; Scotland, with 13 universities and 7 higher education colleges; Wales, with 9 universities and 4 higher education colleges; and England, with 87 universities and 47 colleges. United Kingdom institutions of higher education are estimated to employ around 100,000 full-time staff and more than 14,000 part-time academic adjuncts.

Funding bodies of each UK nation work directly with other educational bureaucracies such as the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals of the UK universities, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, Committee of Scottish Higher Education Principals, Higher Education Wales, Standing Conference of Principals, and the Higher Education Statistics Agency, according to the Higher Education Funding Agency for England. UK universities also operate with widely differing missions, serving the needs of the United Kingdom's very diverse peoples and providing degrees from accredited institutions. One change under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 was the conversion of polytechnic schools of higher learning to the higher status title of universities. These former polytechnics, therefore, were linked in association with previously existing "older" universities founded in the mid-twentieth century, as well as the ancient schools at Cambridge and Oxford, plus the civic universities chartered in major English cities in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Enrollments at the universities in England vary dramatically from institution to institution. The University of Abertay Dundee, a smaller institution, enrolls 4,000 students. Manchester Metropolitan University, a large school, enrolls 28,000 students. The University of London's 16 schools enroll around 100,000 students.

A single university operates as a purely private institution sustained by private funds. This is the University of Buckingham, offering courses in business, industry, and management, on its multiple campuses.

The United Kingdom's higher education colleges are extremely hard to characterize, so greatly differing as they are in enrollment, mission, and curriculum offerings that include some 30,000 undergraduate courses. Their sizes range from a few hundred students to the massive Southampton Institute with 13,000 students in 2001. Their offerings are as diverse as agriculture, art and design, modern dance, theater, and nursing.

Students pursuing their first-degree course usually attend classes full time for three years in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. So-called Sandwich or work-study courses, which include real-world internships or job assignments, take four years to complete, as do certain specialist courses. Professional degrees in medicine, dentistry, and veterinary studies generally require five years of study. In Scotland undergraduates may earn a three-year general degree or a four-year honors degree. Some of the first degrees awarded by higher education institutions include the Bachelor of Arts or BA, the Bachelor of Science or BSc, or the Bachelor of Education or BEd.

Many higher education colleges trace their respective founding back to the nineteenth century and a good deal of them were started as church-related colleges. Since 1988, with the passage of an Education Reform Act, all colleges became independent; previously all had been under the governance of a central bureaucracy, the Local Education Authorities (LEA). All colleges are now self-governing and independent. Some colleges were founded up to 150 years ago, and a significant number were established as Church Colleges. Some higher education colleges award degrees, and some offer degrees validated by a university or national accrediting body.

Since 1970, Parliament and the respective funding bodies have made the education of minorities and peoples from lower socioeconomic groups a priority. Universities UK has identified several missions of higher education. These are, "to enable people to develop their capabilities and fulfill their potential, both personally and at work," and "to contribute to an economically successful and culturally diverse nation to advance knowledge and understanding through scholarship and research."

Distance Learning: The Open University (OU) in 1997 served some 164,000 students with an extensive number of course offerings from which to choose. OU commenced operations as a correspondence school in 1969, also offering some courses that were televised. Unlike other institutions of higher education, OU has no specific entrance requirements and classes are open to all unless filled. The school offers undergraduate and graduate courses. In 1997, the average student's age was 37.

Other distance learning opportunities are expected to proliferate in the twenty-first century as more universities see the financial benefits of offering programs. The University of the West of England, Bristol, for example, offers what it terms a "Virtual Campus."

Northern Ireland: The Protestants of Ulster of Presbyterian background, with certain notable exceptions, preferred to pursue their higher education in Scotland, rather than accept the dominion of the established faith.

Presbyterians opened a state school in Belfast, Ireland, called the Belfast Academical Institution in 1814. The state contributed funding for a time but halted to display disapproval when Presbyterians refused or were reluctant to send Presbyterian ministers to study in other British schools outside Ireland as the government wished. The institution, known for a time as the Royal Belfast Academical College, closed after some 40 years in operation, unable to compete with a newly established royal school in Belfast. The Belfast Academical Institution was taken over as a grammar school and is affectionately referred to as "the Inst," for short.

Scotland: While the Scottish people in the nineteenth century put a high premium on higher education, their own history was ignored in the schools until professors of Scottish history were established at the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, according to T.M. Devine. Nonetheless, the quality of the five Scottish universities was a source of national pride, and students from England and Northern Ireland frequently enrolled in these schools. Some of the luster has dropped off the schools by 2000, however, notes Devine, and educators began looking at Scots universities with a more critical eye.

A close inspection of higher education in Scotland was provided by the Garrick Report of 1997. It pointed to some major differences between Scottish universities and other UK institutions. For example, it noted that students are accepted to the school in a broader category than are students in England who apply to departments. Consequently, they find it easier to change majors. At older universities such as Edinburgh and Glasgow, the first degree is an "M.A." and not a "B.A." There is an ordinary three-year degree or a four-year honors degree option available to students. There is a strong consensus that the M.A. degree, or at least the three-year degree program, should be renamed the B.A. degree to avoid confusion.

Wales: Like Northern Ireland and Scotland, the principality of Wales is the latest United Kingdom nation to independently establish an education council to oversee post-16 (higher) education and teacher training, plus serve as the higher education funding council. As a concession to Wales' bilingual (English and Welsh) status, the new National Council for Education and Training in Wales functions under the catchall title of ELWa; its English meaning is Education and Learning Wales, and its Welsh meaning is "to gain benefit from."

The new funding council relies heavily on an agency called Higher Education Wales (HEW), founded in 1996; its predecessor was the Heads of Higher Education in Wales. The members are the individual heads of all universities and higher education colleges in Wales. Serving them, as of May 2000 was an office located in Cardiff, Wales, with a full-time professional staff serving as an expert resource team. The office attempts to assist citizens of Wales from media to assembly to students and faculty. It retains a strong working relationship as a member of Universities UK, and it, therefore, attempts to deal with educational matters of concern to all United Kingdom nations.

Administration, Finance, & Educational Research

Evaluations & Inspections: In 1993, a decision was reached by the government to engage outside agencies to rate the quality of courses in higher education institutions. Schools are held accountable for the aims and objectives they have stated in a self-assessment and goals statement. After 1997, institutions in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland are assessed by representatives engaged by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA). The results are published for the public record.

Funding & Resources: The Higher Education Funding Council For England, a council that promotes and funds teaching and research in universities and colleges, reports that funding in excess of 11 billion pounds was distributed during the 1996-1997 academic year. Moneys came from four UK funding bodies—the Higher Education Funding Council for England; the National Council for Education and Training in Wales; the Department of Education, Northern Ireland; and the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council provide the lion's share of funding in a formula based upon faculty research and teaching. These four funding organizations receive their funding from Parliament but look only for standards and guidance to Parliament, being fully self-determining with funding priorities reflecting their respective educational needs and missions. In addition to providing funds for teaching and research, these bodies advise Parliament on status of education and changing needs such as technology. The remaining funding obtained by universities and colleges for operation come from private sources, including tuitions, conferences, gifts, and other services. Income from non-UK students for tuition amounted to approximately 563 million pounds in 1996-1997, according to the Higher Education Funding Council for England. As of 1996-1997, some 200,000 overseas students reside in the United Kingdom, hailing from more than 180 countries. European Union countries made up 44 percent of overseas representation.

Appropriations:

Northern Ireland: Moneys appropriated in the education budget for Northern Ireland in 1993-1994 (latest figures available) came to approximately 1.23 billion pounds (US$1.8 billion), according to the DENI Compendium of Northern Ireland Statistics. The moneys are for preschool, primary, secondary, and university schools.

School finances are overseen by the Education and Library Boards. Additional financial responsibility for budgetary matters goes to the Boards of Governors of individual schools through a Local Management of Schools (LMS) orderly plan.

Preprimary, primary, and secondary schools receive moneys based on a formula that primarily is figured through enrollment numbers and the cost of infrastructure and other operational considerations. As in the Republic of Ireland, spending per pupil is most deficient at the primary level and is highest at the university level.

Nonformal Education

In the United Kingdom, strong emphasis is placed upon lifelong learning, extending beyond compulsory school and outside the province of higher education. Further education enhances the personal and career satisfactions of adults who work at home or elsewhere; it also provides greater satisfactions in life for adults who have retired from working.

Vocational Training: Vocational training in England became an important part of the nation's resolve to train useful citizens, following the publication of the Robbins Committee report of 1963. In 1968, Parliament passed an education act that provided for the formation of boards of governors for the polytechnics and similar colleges. Among other considerations, the Robbins Committee recommended sweeping changes in higher education that better would enable the children of unskilled or semiskilled citizens to achieve an education to help them cope with a fast-changing world. These changes included offering "further" secondary education to pupils aged 16 years and older who were willing to pay the required tuition. Many of the schools prepared students for a trade in which specific skills are required. Many students combined work with school.

In 1992, the term polytechnics was abandoned, and the institutions were termed universities. Vocational qualifications are widespread in schools and colleges. In 1997, the work of ensuring quality education in vocational schools was taken over by the newly formed Qualifications and Curriculum Agency (QCA), replacing the former administrative unit, the National Council for Vocational Qualifications. The QCA oversees all the various accrediting and monitoring agencies, including those that supervise in-the-workplace training. In Scotland, the Scottish Qualifications Agency is the equivalent of the QCA.

Teaching Profession

As with the founding of public schools for England's masses, so too did the country lag behind other progressive nations in the training of teachers for these schools. Not until the mid-nineteenth century did teacher colleges begin to spring up to meet the needs of schools. Reforms regarding the teaching profession in the United Kingdom stepped up in the 1990s. Most significantly, the 1998 Teaching and Higher Education Act approved the founding of a General Teaching Council for England and Wales. (The law took into account the devolving of Wales and allowed for a relatively smooth change if so desired by the Welsh Assembly). In essence, the General Teaching Council requires registration by the Council and there are agreements as to certain restrictions such as the ban on employment of felons. There also were stipulations and clarifications regarding the inspection of teacher training by the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED). OFSTED came into being in England with passage of the 1992 Education Act and is an agency separate and independent; it established reforms in the training of school inspectors.

In 2001, teaching vacancies have caused the 20,000 maintained schools in England and Wales to step up recruiting to keep the two nations' nearly 500,000 teaching positions filled.

The government relies on the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) to provide accreditation and grant funding to institutions providing "Initial Teacher Training" (ITT). The requirements for institutions overseen by the TTA are mandated by the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED), TTA is also responsible for the collection of test scores and other educational data that contribute to assessment of various educational providers. The TTA also conducts on-site inspections of teacher training facilities, consults with teacher-training institution administrators, and generally ensures that standards are met for the training of teachers and the re-entrance of former teachers who wish to again find employment in English schools.

In England and Wales, the first year of teaching is called the "induction" year of teaching. Each inductee receives a specially assigned induction tutor, usually a veteran teacher or administrator, to help him or her through a rigorous monitoring and review process. In England, the process is mandatory by government law. In 2001, the National Assembly for Wales has a proposal under consideration for a similar statutory process for the induction year.

Several UK colleges provide teacher training. Unlike Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales where such courses receive educational money grants from higher education funding bodies, England teacher-training programs are funded by the Teacher Training Agency (TTA).

Summary

Strong nationalistic feelings by the peoples in Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland, coupled with the political changes caused by recent and (in 2001) current government devolving, make it certain that the United Kingdom in the twenty-first century will see social, political, and education system changes of a dramatic nature. From a political perspective, the Assemblies of Wales and Ireland and the Scottish Parliament now have the ability to make new laws concerning education or to repeal those passed by the English Parliament.

While the four educational systems of the United Kingdom nations have a common educational history, they now have separate and independent educational systems.

Bibliography

Alexander, Michael Van Cleave. The Growth of English Education: 1348-1648. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1990).

Black, Jeremy. A History of the British Isles. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996.

Cobban, Alan B. The Medieval English Universities: Oxford and Cambridge to c. 1500. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.

Connolly, S.J. The Oxford Companion to Irish History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Dent, H.C. Education in England and Wales. Hamden, CN: 1977.

Devine, T.M. The Scottish Nation: A History, 1700-2000. New York: Viking, 1999.

"Education." Census 2000, Ireland. Available from http://www.irlgov.ie/justice/Press%20Releases.

Fry, Peter, and Fiona Somerset. A History of Ireland. London: Routledge, 1988.

Hachey, Thomas E., Joseph M. Hernon, Jr., and Lawrence J. McCaffrey. The Irish Experience. Englewood Cliifs, NJ: 1989.

"Inside DFES." The Department for Education and Skills Website, 2001. Available from http://www.dfes.gov.uk/.

Levey, Judith S., and Agnes Greenhall. The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia. New York: Avon, 1983.

Mackinnon, Donald, and June Statham. Education in the UK: Facts & Figures. Hodder & Stoughton, 1999.

McMahon, Sean. A Short History of Ireland. Chester Springs, PA: 1996.

Moody, T.W., and F.X. Martin, eds. The Course of Irish History. Lanham, MD: Rinehart, 1995.

Moody, T.W., and W. E. Vaughn, eds. A New History of Ireland: Ireland Under the Union: 1801-1870. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986.

Nuwer, Hank. Wrongs of Passage, revised edition. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2001.

Strayer, Joseph R., and Dana C. Munro. The Middle Ages: 395-1500. New York: Appleton-Crofts, 1959.

Strong, Roy. The Story of Britain. New York: Fromm, 1996.

Vaughn, W.E. A New History of Ireland: Eighteenth-Century Ireland, IV. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986.

—Hank Nuwer

United Kingdom

Recipes

1 GEOGRAPHIC SETTING AND ENVIRONMENT

The United Kingdom (UK) is located just west of the mainland of Europe. It is made up of several islands, the largest of which is Great Britain. Great Britain is made up of Scotland in the north, England in the southeast and Wales in the southwest. Northern Ireland is the northwestern part of Ireland, a separate island nation just west of Great Britain, but it is also part of the UK. There has been violence in Northern Ireland for centuries because of religious and political conflict there. Because ocean waters surround the UK, it has a mild, rainy climate. The country's farmers produce about 60 percent of the food the UK needs. From 1980–90 the farming became more mechanized, with farmers using machinery to plant and harvest crops. The productivity of UK farms increased during that period by about 10 percent. More farmers raise livestock than crops, and some of the world's best beef and lamb is raised in the UK.

2 HISTORY AND FOOD

The United Kingdom (UK) has also been called the British Isles or Great Britain at different times in history. The UK consists of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Each region has its own special cuisine. At various times the English have ruled over the entire region, including all of Ireland. The English style of cooking does not use many seasonings and is sometimes criticized for its bland taste. During the 1700s and 1800s, English explorers and colonists were trading and developing settlements in the Caribbean region, Asia, Africa, and North America. Their colonial interests around the world became known as the British Empire. The English were influenced by the cultures of their colonies, so English cooking began to use new spices and cooking techniques acquired in such places as India.

Salmon Kedgeree (British-Indian Salmon)

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1¾ cups water
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 8 oz.
• can of salmon
• ¾ cup white rice
• 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 Tablespoons chopped parsley leaves
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• Lemon wedges as garnish, if desired

Procedure

1. Prepare hardboiled eggs: Place eggs in a saucepan and cover them with cold water.
2. Put the saucepan on a burner over medium-high heat and wait until the water just begins to simmer. (Tiny bubbles will form and move slowly to the surface of the water.) Lower the heat, and simmer the eggs for 15 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and run cold water into the pan to stop the cooking. Allow the eggs to cool, and then remove the shells carefully. Cut the eggs lengthwise into quarters.
4. Cook the rice: Prepare rice according to instructions on the package to yield about 2 cups of cooked rice.
5. Next chop the onion.
6. Heat butter in a large skillet until melted and add chopped onion. Cook onion, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until softened. Stir rice into the onion.
7. Drain canned salmon and add to rice mixture, breaking up the salmon with the wooden spoon. Add parsley, and lemon juice. Cook together until heated through.
8. Serve, garnished with slices of egg and lemon wedges.

Serves 6 to 8.

3 FOODS OF THE BRITISH

In Scotland the national dish is haggis. Haggis is comprised of sheep innards boiled in a sheep stomach. In Wales leeks, a relative of the onion, are used in many dishes. Welsh rarebit, comprised of a cheesy sauce over toast, is popular as an appetizer or a light meal. Throughout the United Kingdom, pasties or meat pies are popular. These combine ground meat, vegetables, and potatoes inside a pastry crust. Other favorite meals are fish and chips. Both fish and chips and curry (a dish introduced by immigrants from India) are popular take-out foods. At around 4 p.m., people in the UK traditionally took a break for tea. Traditional "high tea" included formal preparation of tea, accompanied by an array of finger foods, such as cucumber sandwiches, cheese and chutney (a type of pickle relish) sandwiches, scones, and small, delicate teacakes. To spread on the scones, clotted cream, marmalade, or strawberry jam might be served. People's schedules in the modern UK are sometimes too busy to allow a break for traditional high tea, but most people stop their work activities for an abbreviated tea break at around 4 p.m. For the more casual tea break, tea and biscuits (nicknamed "bikkies") is the common fare. Biscuits are small, crisp cookies, and all English kitchens have a "biscuit tin." Other beverages that the English enjoy include ribena (blackcurrant juice) and squash (sweet fruity beverage similar to Kool-aid).

Lemon Curd

Prepared lemon curd may be purchased at many supermarkets. It is usually found near the jams and jellies.

Ingredients

• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• ½ cup fresh lemon juice, strained through a sieve
• ½ sugar
• 3 egg yolks

Procedure

1. In a double boiler (one pot set inside a larger pot that contains about 2 inches of boiling water), melt the butter with the lemon juice and sugar, stirring until all the sugar dissolves.
2. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, stirring constantly.
3. Keep stirring until the mixture is as thick as yogurt (about 15 minutes).
4. Pour the mixture through a sieve into a bowl.
5. Cover with plastic wrap, making sure the plastic wrap touches the surface of the lemon curd to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until cool.
6. Serve on toast or fill purchased miniature tart shells with it.

Serves 12 to 15. Serve with tea.

Clotted cream and lemon curd?

Clotted cream—the name sounds like something that's been in the refrigerator past the expiration date, but clotted cream is truly a rich treat. It is thicker than whipped cream and is sold in containers, like sour cream or margarine, in the dairy section. Lemon curd is almost like a thick pudding. English people enjoy it for breakfast, or as a filling for little tarts.

Haggis

Ingredients

• 1 sheep's stomach
• 1 sheep heart
• 1 sheep liver
• ½ pound suet, fresh (kidney fat is preferred)
• ¾ cup oatmeal
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¾ cup stock

Procedure

1. Wash stomach; rub with salt and rinse.
2. Remove membranes and excess fat.
3. Soak in cold salted water.
4. Turn stomach inside out.
5. Boil the heart and liver in water, and simmer for 30 minutes.
6. Chop the heart and grate the liver.
7. Toast the oatmeal until golden brown.
8. Combine all ingredients and pack into the stomach, leaving enough room for the oatmeal to expand.
9. Press excess air out of the stomach and sew it up.
10. Simmer for three hours in a pot of water, pricking small holes in the stomach so that it doesn't explode.

Serve on a hot platter.

Welsh Rarebit

Ingredients

• ½ pound cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• ¼ cup milk (or beer)
• 1 teaspoon dried mustard powder
• Dash of Worcestershire sauce
• 4 slices thick bread, toasted
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Tomatoes, sliced

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. Put grated cheese, butter, milk, mustard powder, Worcestershire sauce, and salt and pepper in a saucepan.
3. Heat over low heat, stirring constantly, until cheese is melted and the mixture is smooth and creamy.
4. Toast bread, cut each piece into two triangles, and arrange in a casserole.
5. Ladle cheese sauce over toast, and bake in the oven until crusty (about 15 minutes).
6. Carefully remove two triangles of toast to a plate for each person, top with a slice of tomato, and serve.

Cornish Pasties

Pastry ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• Pinch of salt
• ¾ cup butter
• Cold water
• 1 egg, broken into a small bowl and beaten

Filling ingredients

• ½ pound ground beef
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 potato, chopped
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 375°F and grease a cookie sheet.
2. Make pastry (or purchase commercial piecrust mix or refrigerated piecrust): Combine flour and butter in a bowl, using two knives or a large fork to cut the butter into small pieces.
3. Continue mixing until all the butter has been broken up and is thoroughly mixed with flour.
4. Add cold water, one tablespoon at a time, until a soft dough is formed (2 to 4 tablespoons of water).
5. Make filling: In a bowl, mix the ground meat, onion, potato, salt, and pepper.
6. Stir with a wooden spoon to combine.
7. Assemble pasties: Dust the counter or a large wooden cutting board with flour and roll out the pastry, using a rolling pin.
8. Using a saucer as a template, cut dough into 5-inch rounds.
9. Place about ¼ cup of the meat mixture in the center of each round.
10. Pinch up the edges of the dough, almost covering the filling.
11. Using a pastry brush, brush the pastry with the beaten egg.
12. Place the pastie carefully on a greased baking sheet.
13. Repeat to make 3 more pasties.
14. Bake at 375°F for 50 to 55 minutes.
15. Pastry should be golden brown, and filling should look bubbly and hot.

Toad-in-the-Hole

No one really knows the history behind the name of this traditional light supper dish.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 cups milk
• 6 eggs
• 2 pounds pork sausage links
• Applesauce as accompaniment

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Prick sausages all over with a fork.
3. Place in lightly greased 13x9-inch baking dish.
4. Bake for 15 minutes at 350°F.
5. While sausages are baking, measure flour and salt into a medium bowl.
6. In another bowl, combine milk with eggs, and beat lightly with a wire whisk or fork.
7. Gradually stir milk and eggs into flour mixture, stirring to make a smooth batter.
8. Let stand for 30 minutes.
9. When the sausages have baked for about 15 minutes, turn them and return pan to oven for 15 minutes more.
10. Remove sausages to paper towels, and drain fat from pan.
11. Return sausages to pan.
12. Increase oven temperature to 425°F.
13. Stir batter and pour over baked sausages.
14. Bake the combination for 25 to 30 minutes, or until puffed and golden.
15. Serve immediately.

Cucumber Sandwiches

Ingredients

• 1 seedless cucumber
• 8 slices very thin-sliced white bread
• Salt, to taste
• Unsalted butter, at room temperature

Procedure

1. Peel cucumber and slice crosswise very thin.
2. Spread unsalted butter on one side of each slice of bread.
3. Arrange cucumber slices in a single layer on 4 slices of bread.
4. Salt lightly.
5. Top with second slice of bread.
6. Carefully trim crusts from sandwiches and discard.
7. Cut each sandwich into triangles and arrange on a china plate.

Serve with tea. Serves 4.

Scones

Ingredients

• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• ¼ cup butter
• 1½ Tablespoons sugar
• 1 egg (beaten with enough milk to make ½ cup)
• Handful of currants or raisins (optional)

Procedure

1. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together in a mixing bowl.
2. Add the butter, and rub it into the flour mixture, using very clean fingertips. Add the sugar.
3. Add enough of the egg mixture to form a soft dough (not all the liquid will be needed).
4. Add the currants or raisins (optional).
5. Preheat over to 425°F.
6. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to ¾-inch thickness.
7. Use a 1½-inch round glass or pastry cutter to cut out the dough.
8. Place the scones on a greased baking sheet and brush the tops with some of the egg mixture.
9. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes.

Serve with fresh butter and jam at teatime.

4 FOOD FOR RELIGIOUS AND HOLIDAY CELEBRATIONS

On January 25 the Scots celebrate "Burns Night" for the birth of their favorite poet, Robert Burns (1759–96). The typical "Burns Night" meal includes a haggis, cock-a-leekie (chicken with leeks), tatties n' neeps (potatoes and turnips or rutabagas), roast beef, tipsy laird (a cream cake made with whiskey), and Dunlop cheese (resembles a soft cheddar). The Scots drink Scotch whiskey at celebrations.

Tatties n' Neeps

Ingredients

• 4 large potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
• 1 Tablespoon chopped chives
• 2 turnips or rutabagas, peeled and cut into large chunks
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Procedure

1. Peel and quarter potatoes, place in a large saucepan, and cover with water.
2. Heat the water until it boils, and cook potatoes until they are soft (about 15 minutes).
3. Drain, return potatoes to the saucepan, and mash.
4. Place the peeled and cut-up turnips or rutabagas into a saucepan, cover with water, and heat the water to boiling.
5. Cook until the vegetable is soft, about 15 minutes.
6. Drain, return to pan and mash.
7. Combine the two mashed vegetables, add the butter and chives, and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon to combine.

Serves 8 to 12.

The British also celebrate Christmas, New Year's Day, Easter, and Guy Fawke's Day (November 5). A goose or turkey, mincemeat pies, wassail (spiced warm beverage), and plum pudding are served at Christmas, and crackers filled with candy and little toys are broken open by children.

Individual Mincemeat Pies

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• Pinch of salt
• ½ cup butter (1 stick)
• 1 egg yolk (separate the egg and discard the white)
• 2 Tablespoons water
• 1 can mincemeat
• Several Tablespoons of milk
• Several Tablespoons of powdered sugar

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Make pastry (may use commercial piecrust instead, and skip steps 2 through 6).
3. Measure flour and salt into a bowl.
4. Add butter, and rub the flour and butter together with very clean fingertips or a large fork until crumbly.
5. Mix egg yolk with water and add to flour mixture, and combine well.
6. Wrap the dough in wax paper and refrigerate for about 30 minutes, or for up to 24 hours.
7. Dust the counter or cutting board lightly with flour, and roll out dough, using a floured rolling pin.
8. Cut into rounds about 3 inches in diameter.
9. Fit a round of dough into each cup of a 12-cup muffin pan.
10. Gather up the dough scraps and cut out a second set of rounds for the top crusts. (These can be slightly smaller).
11. Put 1 tablespoon of canned mincemeat into each cup.
12. Dampen the edges of the pastry with a little water or milk, place the second round on the top, pinching the edges together to seal.
13. Using the tip of a sharp knife, make a small hole in the pastry top of each pie.
14. Using a pastry brush, brush the pastry with milk and dust with a little powdered sugar.
15. Bake for about 25 minutes, until light golden brown. Cool before serving.

Serves 12.

5 MEALTIME CUSTOMS

The British traditionally eat four meals a day, including breakfast, lunch, tea, and dinner. The traditional English breakfast is fairly large, with eggs, sausage, mushrooms, tomatoes, and fried bread. However, many English people, with schedules too busy to allow for a cooked breakfast, eat a wheat cereal similar to shredded wheat called Wheatabix with milk. Orange marmalade on toast is also popular. Tea with milk and sugar is the preferred beverage.

The Scots eat oatmeal for breakfast. Lunch and dinner can be interchanged, consisting of meat-and-potato dishes and small salads. Tea is taken around 4 p.m. with sandwiches, cakes, chocolate, or fruit. The biggest meal of the week, Sunday lunch, is served in the afternoon, and features roast beef, lamb, or pork; vegetables, often in a casserole or with sauce, such as Cauliflower Cheese; potatoes, and other side dishes. In casual conversation, the British use the term "pudding" in a general way to refer to dessert, even if the dessert being served is not actually pudding.

Wassail

Ingredients

• 1 gallon apple cider
• 1 large can pineapple juice (unsweetened)
• ¾ cup strong tea
• 1 Tablespoon whole cloves
• 1 Tablespoon whole allspice
• 2 sticks cinnamon
• Cheesecloth

Procedure

1. Make a mug of tea, using 2 teabags.
2. Place the spices in a square of cheesecloth, and tie securely with clean kitchen string. (If cheesecloth is not available, spices may be added directly to the mixture and strained out before serving.)
3. Pour juices and tea into a large kettle, and place over low heat. Add cheesecloth bag filled with spices.
4. Simmer for at least one hour (up to 6 hours).

Serves up to 20 people.

Sunday Lunch Cauliflower Cheese

Ingredients

• 1 large head cauliflower
• 3 Tablespoons butter
• 3 Tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon prepared mustard (Dijon-style preferred)
• 2 cups milk
• 1½ to 2 cups grated cheddar cheese

Procedure

1. Cook cauliflower: Cut cauliflower into bite-sized flowerets, and place in a saucepan.
2. Add 2 cups of water (or less) to cover the bottom of the pan to about 1 inch. Cover the pot, and heat until the water boils.
3. Cook for about 10 minutes, until the cauliflower is tender but not soft.
4. Remove from heat, remove cauliflower from pot, and place it in a serving dish.
5. Cover with foil and keep warm.
6. Make sauce: Melt butter in a saucepan.
7. Stir in flour gradually, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or wire whisk.
8. Lower heat and cook for about 5 minutes until the mixture thickens slightly.
9. Stir in milk slowly, stirring constantly. Heat until the mixture just begins to boil.
10. Lower heat, add mustard, and continue stirring and simmering the mixture for about 8 minutes.
11. Remove the pot from the heat, and stir in the grated cheese gradually.
12. Pour hot sauce over warm cauliflower, and serve immediately.

Serves 6 to 10.

Tea with Milk

Ingredients

• Teabags of English tea, such as English Breakfast Tea or Earl Grey Tea
• ½ pint whole milk
• Sugar cubes
• Water

Procedure

1. Fill a teakettle with water. Heat the water to boiling.
2. Run hot water from the tap into the teapot to warm it.
3. Place teabags, one for each cup desired, into the pot.
4. (If the teabags have strings attached, wind the strings around the teapot handle to keep them from falling into the pot.) Carefully pour the boiling water over the teabags in the teapot.
5. Allow to steep for three minutes.
6. To serve, pour a small amount of milk into each teacup and pour in the tea..
7. Add one or two sugar cubes (or more), if desired. Stir until sugar is completely dissolved.
8. Sip tea and nibble on bikkies (biscuits, the English name for cookies).

6 POLITICS, ECONOMICS, AND NUTRITION

The UK depends on its farmers to grow good crops and raise healthy livestock. There is a law requiring all bulls be licensed by the government to help keep the cattle herds healthy and to guarantee that good breeding practices are observed. In the 1980s and 1990s, British livestock farmers struggled to combat diseases such as Mad Cow Disease (BSE—bovine spongiform encephalopathy) in cattle. After the first case was discovered in 1986, beef consumption in the UK dropped dramatically. Many countries also stopped buying beef raised in the UK, as a precaution against spread of the disease. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, an outbreak of "hoof and mouth disease" posed another serious threat against the livestock of the UK. Government agencies in the UK and elsewhere sought ways to combat and control these diseases, both of which could have devastating effects on the UK economy.

The children in the UK receive adequate nutrition generally, and there are few incidents of severe malnutrition in the country.

7 FURTHER STUDY

Books

Classic British: Authentic and Delicious Regional Dishes. New York: Smithmark, 1996.

Curran, William. The Best of Robert Burns. Edinburgh: The Book Guild, Ltd., 1999.

Denny, Roz. A Taste of Britain. New York: Thomson Learning, 1994.

Macdonald of Macdonald, Lady. Lady Macdonald's Scotland: The Best of Scottish Food and Drink. Boston: Little, Brown, 1990.

Passmore, Marian. Fit For Kings: A Book of Recipes. Bruton, England: King's School, 1994.

Paterson, Jennifer and Clarissa Dickson Wright. Cooking with the Two Fat Ladies. New York: Clarkson Potter, 1998.

Web Sites

BBC Online—Food. [Online] Available http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/ (accessed August 7, 2001).

Epicurious Food. [Online] Available http://food.epicurious.com (accessed January 15, 2001).

A Taste of Scotland. [Online] Available http://www.taste-of-scotland.com/ (accessed August 7, 2001).

A Taste of UK. [Online] Available http://web.ukonline.co.uk/tuk/index.html (accessed August 7, 2001).

Great Britain

Many countries have experienced very significant changes in patterns of family formation and family structure. Great Britain is one of the countries where these changes have been particularly marked, with the result that British families have become less stable and more diverse. The roles of women and men within the family have also changed, especially for women with children, who are now very likely to be combining paid employment with domestic and care work. These trends have led to renewed interest in the family in both the sociological and the policy literature, as well as in popular and political discourse.

The Nature of Family Change in Great Britain

Patterns of family formation and dissolution in Britain changed significantly in the latter half of the twentieth century. This is particularly true since the late 1960s when restrictions on contraception, abortion, and divorce were substantially reduced. The 1964 introduction of the contraceptive pill in Britain made contraception easier to obtain and use and much more reliable. The National Health Service (Family Planning) Act of 1967 allowed doctors to give family-planning advice and to prescribe free contraceptives, initially to married women only. The Abortion Act of the same year allowed the termination of pregnancy if two independent medical practitioners agreed that continuance would cause physical or mental risk to the health of the woman or her existing children. And the 1969 Divorce Reform Act made the "irretrievable breakdown" of the marriage the sole grounds for divorce, although it was necessary to prove this in one of five ways (unreasonable behavior, desertion, adultery, two years separation with consent, five years separation without consent). (It should be noted that there are differences across U.K. countries in the timing and operation of these measures. For example, the 1969 Divorce Reform Act applied to England and Wales, and Scotland did not introduce similar reforms until 1976.)

These measures are still largely in place, with only relatively minor changes, and they have formed the backdrop to widespread change in family structures and the life-course trajectories of individuals. In the immediate postwar period and up to the late 1960s most people experienced a typical life-course pattern of courtship leading to marriage, followed by the birth of children; the woman gave up paid employment during her years of childrearing, and the couple stayed together until "death do us part." But such patterns are increasingly elusive for the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. As figures from the Office of National Statistics show, there is now much more variety and change in the way people in Great Britain move into and out of families:

• The majority of men and women still marry, but nonmarriage is on the increase. Of women born in the early 1960s, 28 percent remained unmarried at the age of thirty-two. Only 7 percent of women born in the early 1940s were still unmarried by that age. This partly reflects later age at marriage but also increased rates of nonmarriage.
• Cohabitation has become increasingly common, usually preceding or following marriage but, for some couples, replacing marriage. The proportion of nonmarried women under sixty cohabiting almost doubled in less than fifteen years—from 13 percent in 1986 to 25 percent in 1998 and 1999. By the early 1990s as many as 70 percent of women cohabited prior to marriage, and so cohabitation seems to have replaced marriage as the first form of co-resident partnership for many couples. There are about 1.5 million cohabiting heterosexual couples in England and Wales.
• The number of marriages has fallen, and the timing of marriage has changed. About 184,000 first marriages took place in 1999 in England and Wales, down from 343,000 in 1971, and the average age at first marriage was twenty-eight for women and thirty for men in 1999, compared with twenty-two and twenty-four, respectively, in 1971.
• Almost one in five conceptions are terminated by legal abortion. Probably about one-fourth of women born in the mid-1970s will remain childless. Those who have children are older and less likely to be married than they used to be. The mean age of women at the time of the birth of their first child was twenty-nine in 1999 compared with twenty-four in 1971. Of all births in 1999, 39 percent were to unmarried women, with the most of these registered by both parents (80 percent, including 60 percent living at the same address).

The numbers and rate of divorce have remained fairly steady since the early 1980s, with about 145,000 divorces per year, a rate of 12.9 per thousand married people. The numbers of divorces involving children under sixteen reached a peak in of 176,000 in 1993, then fell slightly to 150,000 in 1999. One in four children whose parents divorce are under five years old.

The most visible outcome of these changing patterns of family formation and dissolution has been the growth in the number and proportion of families headed by a lone parent. Lone-parent families (i.e., families with one parent, not cohabiting, living with dependent children) now form about 23 percent of all families with children in Britain and number about 1.7 million families with about 2.8 million children. In the 1980s the main growth in lone parenthood came about because of divorce; in the 1990s unmarried motherhood has increased more rapidly. This is mainly a result of rising rates of cohabitation, with women who separate from a cohabiting partner appearing as "single, never-married" in the statistics. About half of all lone parents leave lone parenthood within six years of becoming a lone parent, and many of these go on to form new partnerships, and in some cases to have more children. Stepfamilies are therefore also becoming more common, with about 8 percent of children estimated to be living in such a family in the mid-1990s.

Great Britain has a mainly white population, with the 1991 census counting about three million people as nonwhite (self-definition), about 6 percent of the population. Patterns of family formation and dissolution differ among ethnic minority groups. For example, Caribbean men and women are less likely to be married or cohabiting than their white counterparts, while South Asians have higher rates of marriage and lower rates of cohabitation and marital breakdown.

Family Roles: Men's Work, Women's Work

As Graham Allan and Graham Crow (2001) point out, changes in family life are not only a matter of changing family structures but also changing family roles and relationships. Changing roles are very apparent with respect to paid employment, and one of the most striking trends in Great Britain is the continuing decline of the traditional family model of male breadwinner and dependent wife and the rise of the two-earner family. This is a consequence of changes in women's employment patterns, with much of the employment growth arising from increased employment participation rates among women with children. Women now return to work more quickly after childbirth, with about half of those giving birth in 1998 back at paid work within nine to eleven months (in 1979 this was true for just one-fourth). Overall, about 70 percent of married mothers are economically active, but this varies significantly with the age of the children, 58 percent of women with a youngest child of preschool age (under five) are employed compared with 78 percent of mothers with a youngest child over ten. Part-time work (under thirty hours) is very common, with about two-fifths of mothers in part-time jobs. This does not vary much by age of children, because it is women's full-time work that increases as children get older.

By contrast, becoming a father has little impact on men's employment participation rates—about 85 to 90 percent of fathers are economically active—although fathers do tend to work longer hours than men without children (forty-seven hours per week compared with forty for men in general). But most of the married women who have entered in the labor market over the past decade have been married to employed men rather than unemployed men. Two-earner families increased from about 50 percent of all couples with children in 1985 to about 62 percent in 1995. Two-earner couples are therefore increasingly the norm, particularly among families with school-age children. The most common pattern is for the man to be in full-time work and the women to be in part-time work. If both parents work full-time, the couple is more likely to share domestic work, but if the woman works part-time, she also does the bulk of the domestic work. The higher-paid couples often buy in domestic labor and childcare, and two-earner couples are the family type most likely to use formal childcare. Many, however, also work hours that allow them to shift parent, with fathers providing childcare while mothers are out working, and vice versa. Over one-fourth of twoearner families have at least one parent who regularly works in the evening or at night. The provision of childcare services is relatively low in Great Britain compared with many European countries, and the costs are high, so if both parents are employed, families often have to set up quite complex arrangements using combinations of different sorts of childcare.

For about one in ten couples with children, neither parent is employed, and these families, many suffering from ill-health and experiencing long-term unemployment, form a sharp contrast with the relatively well-off two-earner couples. Lone parents form another sort of contrast. The employment trends for lone mothers have followed a rather different trend from those of married mothers, with no significant growth in employment rates. About half (51%) of lone mothers are employed, and young, single mothers without educational qualifications are the least likely to be employed, especially if they have young children. Many lone mothers face considerable barriers to paid work, including lack of work experience and qualifications, health problems for themselves or their children, lack of affordable and good-quality childcare, and lack of suitable jobs in the areas where they live. Thus, many lone mothers rely upon government support through social security benefits, and around seven in ten lone parents are receiving Income Support (the means-tested safety net benefit of Great Britain system). Even among those who are employed, low wages mean that there is a heavy reliance upon state financial support, and six in ten employed lone parents are receiving financial support to top up their wages.

One consequence of these family and employment changes has been a polarization between work-rich and work poor households, between those with two earners and those with none. Great Britain has also experienced a large and rapid rise in income inequality and poverty since the 1970s, and this has particularly affected families with children. Government figures show that, between 1979 and 1995-96, average incomes for households with children rose by 35 percent compared with 43 percent for those without children (excluding pensioners). There has been a significant growth in child poverty in Great Britain, with 4.4 million children—one-third of all children—estimated to be living in poor households in the late 1990s (poverty being here defined as households with less than half of the average household income, taking family size into account).

Family Politics and Family Policy

So, as in many other countries, and more so in some respects, Great Britain has experienced a period of rapid family change and widening economic inequality. These trends have been a source of much concern, particularly the rise in lone parenthood, which has been a very political issue in Britain. In the late 1980s and early to mid-1990s lone parenthood was often depicted by British politicians and in the media in a very hostile and negative light. Parents, it was argued, were selfishly putting their own needs before those of children, who suffered as the innocent victims of parental divorce or failure to marry. Thus, the controversial 1991 Child Support Act was presented by the then-Conservative government as a measure that would force absent fathers to face up to their financial responsibilities toward children (without much success, as it turned out, because many men refused to comply, and many others were exempted because of low incomes).

The causes of these family trends have also been debated in the sociological literature on the family, and variously identified as reflecting, for example, women's increased economic independence, the impact of feminism, changing sexual norms and attitudes, and growing individualism and unwillingness to settle for less-than-perfect relationships. Anthony Giddens explored the latter idea in his 1992 book, The Transformation of Intimacy, in which he argued that individuals have become more inclined towards pure relationships—relationships freely entered into and continued only as long as they provide the individual with emotional and physical satisfaction. Giddens's work is mainly theoretical, but other leading sociologists, notably Janet Finch (1989) (for families in general) and Carol Smart (1999) (for postdivorce families), have explored the way in which family relationships and obligations are constructed as part of ongoing relationships that are negotiated within families, not absolute but reciprocal, not gifts but exchanges.

There has also been much debate about the relationship between state policies and family behavior. This has mainly been polarized into two camps. In one there are the traditionalists who argue that social and welfare policy has contributed to the problem (by providing financial and housing support to lone parents) and who want to reform policy in order to support the traditional family based on marriage. In the other camp are the pragmatists who argue that government cannot stop these changes and so must reform policies in order to adapt to them. These are not necessarily party political positions, with politicians from both leading political parties, Labour and Conservative, found in either camp. And policy seems to reflect a (perhaps somewhat uneasy) mix of both points of view.

The Labour government took office in Britain in May 1997 promising policy change across a wide range of areas. One of the ten pledges in their 1997 manifesto was the promise that, "we will help build strong families and strong communities" and in October 1998, the Home Office published a discussion document, Supporting Families, which, as the foreword pointed out, "was the first time any [British] government had published a consultation paper on the family." The paper proposed two main types of policy intervention. First were measures that are aimed at providing direct support for families in cash or in kind measures to reduce poverty and increase family prosperity, and measures to help parents balance work and home. The former includes a pledge to end child poverty within twenty years, and the latter includes measures such the "national childcare strategy." Both of these are very new in Great Britain—no previous British government has made such a promise about poverty nor has any accepted responsibility for childcare provision, which has previously been seen as falling within the private domain of the family. Other significant new policies include measures to support and encourage lone parents into paid employment with a target set for employment levels (that 70 percent should be employed within ten years). A range of new provisions, national and local, including many pilot or demonstration projects, has been introduced. Benefits for the poorest children (those in families receiving Income Support) have been increased substantially, and there are to be new, more generous tax credits for children.

The second type of policies set out in Supporting Families are those that are aimed at changing family behavior in some way. These include, for example, the provision of support and advice services to improve parenting skills, giving local authorities powers to impose child curfews to keep children off the streets at nights in certain areas, setting targets to reduce teenage pregnancy, measures intended to strengthen marriage through information and support to couples when they marry, and mediation and counseling for marital breakdown.

The responses to these sorts of proposals, especially those intended to strengthen marriage, illustrate some of the difficulties inherent in the development of an explicit family policy in postmodern society. As noted above, there are very different and very polarized views about government intervention in family matters, and the measures intended to strengthen marriage have been controversial because they seem to suggest that other family types—lone parents, stepfamilies—are less acceptable and less deserving of support. Other measures, such as the stress on reducing worklessness and increasing levels of employment for all parents, including lone parents, have also been criticized for failing to recognize and value the contribution made by women's unpaid care work within the family.

This lack of consensus about the goals of policy makes family policy potentially a very controversial area, and making policy goals clear and explicit thus risks bringing those disagreements into the open. Family policy has been a growth area of social policy in Great Britain and in many other countries over the past few decades. This reflects the fact that many governments are seeking ways to respond to family trends, either to accommodate to or to try and resist change. But family policy is more directly normative than many other policy areas—it is hard to have neutral policy goals in this area—and so having explicit goals for family policy depends very much on having shared values. The changing family patterns that are pushing governments towards tackling family policy issues are at the same time making it more difficult to reach agreement on these.

See also:Family Policy

Bibliography

allen, g., ed. (1999). the sociology of the family: areader. oxford: blackwell.

allen, g., and crow, g. (2001). families, households andsociety, basingstoke, uk: palgrave.

finch, j. (1989). family obligations and social change,cambridge, uk: polity press.

ford, r. and millar, j. eds. (1998). private lives and publicresponses: lone parenthood and future policy in the uk. london: policy studies institute.

giddens, a. (1992). the transformation of intimacy,cambridge, uk: polity press.

home office (1998) supporting families, london: stationery office

kiernan, k.; land, h.; and lewis, j. (1998). lone motherhood in 20th century britain. oxford: clarendon press.

mcrae, s., ed. changing britain: families and households in the 1990s, oxford: oxford university press.

millar, j., and ridge, t. (2001). families, poverty, work and care. department for work and pensions research report no. 153. leeds, uk: corporate document services.

millar, j., and rowlingson, k., eds. (2001). lone parents and employment: cross-national comparisons. bristol, uk: policy press.

modood, t., and berthoud, r. (1997). ethnic minorities inbritain: diversity and disadvantage london: policy studies institute.

office of national statistics. (2001). social trends, number31. london: the stationery office.

office of national statistics. (2001). population trends,number 104 (summer edition), london: the stationery office.

smart, c., and neale, b. (1999). family fragments, cambridge, uk: polity press.

jane millar

United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) The UK has experienced the twentieth century as one of decline and fundamental transformation. At the beginning of the century, together with the USA it was the world's major power. Its British Empire reached dimensions unparalleled before or since. Alone among the European participants of World Wars I and II, it survived these existential conflicts not only victorious but also unoccupied. And yet, by the end of the century, its economy had declined to occupy a middling rank among Western industrialized nations, with its GDP per head below the average for the European Union. It had long ceased to be a world power, and retained sovereignty over only a few isolated small island colonies.

There are a number of reasons for this decline, some of them inevitable and outside British control, though their relative importance has been subject to intense debate. Among the inevitable reasons are that in 1900 the UK was still enjoying the fruits of its early industrialization, since by that time only itself, the USA, Belgium, and, arguably, Germany were fully industrialized. Its comparative economic lead was therefore bound to diminish as other countries caught up in their industrial development.

Furthermore, the international tensions of 1914 and the 1930s placed the UK in a critical situation. Its prosperity and its Empire were based on truly global trade. This was undermined by Germany's military, diplomatic, and economic aggression, which ultimately left the UK no option but to go to war. However, the government was never under any illusion that the wars would not be cripplingly expensive. The consequent massive government borrowing resulted in increased taxation, high interest rates, and currency instabilities, all of which were anathema to the principle of global free trade upon which the economy was based. In addition, increasing resistance made decolonization and the loss of the Empire inevitable, though in the end the country embraced this change with remarkable ease.

In addition to these structural changes, in other ways the decline of British power in general, and its economic performance in particular, was the result of domestic factors. Most importantly, there was a fundamental reluctance of British investment to finance innovations in domestic industry, as capital could be invested more profitably abroad. The discipline of science was relatively backward, particularly during the first half of the century in England (though not Scotland), and there was a marked tendency for the intellectual elite to pursue a career in banking or public administration, rather than commerce or industry.

In fact, the first signs that all was not well with the UK and its current relative levels of prosperity and power came during the South African (Boer) War (1899–1902), the length of which triggered Haldane's badly needed army reforms. The fact that vast numbers of city dwellers were unfit even to join the war gave rise to renewed concerns about the physical health and conditions of the poorer classes. This led to the success of Baden-Powell's Scout and Guide movements, and increased interest in social research conducted, for example, by Rowntree and the Fabian Society. Ultimately, it led to the acceptance of the need for some social reform, as advocated by Tawney, Hobson, and Hobhouse. Following the defeat of Balfour's Conservative Party over Joseph Chamberlain's campaign for tariff reform, the Liberal Party gained a majority in the 1906 elections under Campbell-Bannerman. It was not until his succession by Asquith (1908), with the inexhaustible Lloyd George as Chancellor of the Exchequer, that a serious programme of social legislation was enacted. Old-age pensions and unemployment insurance were introduced. An unprecedented revolt by the House of Lords against the 1909 budget also led to a major consitutional reform in 1911, when the veto of the Lords was no longer absolute, but restricted to two years (Parliament).

Participation in World War I proved a traumatic experience for the UK, which had declared war on Germany on behalf of the entire British Empire on 4 September 1914. Disastrous losses at the Somme and Paaschendaele under Haig, and at Gallipoli, led to rapid disillusionment and frustration. In 1916 Lloyd George replaced Asquith to provide more charismatic leadership. Ironically, even though the UK emerged from the war greatly weakened economically and financially, the British Empire reached its greatest dimensions, as former colonies of the German and Ottoman Empires were added as League of Nations Mandates. This extension of power was more superficial than real, as the Dominions of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Newfoundland, and Canada received ever-greater autonomy, culminating in the Statute of Westminster (1931), which gave them de facto independence. More crucially, in 1921 a compromise was found whereby southern Ireland received autonomy and Dominion status, while Northern Ireland was given Home Rule, but as an integral part of the UK.

To overcome the financial consequences of the war, British ministers pursued the policy of appeasement, hoping to escape another war through trying to avoid the arms race that had precipitated World War I. In domestic politics, the interwar period was marked by the decline of the Liberal Party and the gradual rise of the Labour Party. As the progressive vote was weakened and split by this process of transition, politics became dominated by the Conservative Party. It had first drawn on Lloyd George's popularity at the Coupon Elections of 1918, and then formed a government on its own under Bonar Law. Labour formed its first minority government under MacDonald in January 1924, but was replaced by Baldwin's Conservatives, 1924–9. The economy suffered under the misguided reintroduction of the Gold Standard in 1925, while the defeat of the General Strike in 1926 displayed the social and economic weakness of the labour movement in British society, despite its growing political strength through the Labour Party. The Arcos raid displayed the general volatility of the interwar period, though compared to its bigger European neighbours (France, Italy, Spain, Germany), interwar Britain proved a beacon of stability. In 1929, MacDonald formed Labour's second minority government.

Most of his ministers were reluctant to respond to the Great Depression in the way prescribed by the current economic orthodoxy. MacDonald formed a National Government that rested on the support of Conservatives, Liberals, and a few of his Labour supporters, but it was opposed by the majority of his own Labour Party. He was at the head of an increasingly Conservative-dominated national government until 1935. The Gold Standard was finally abandoned, as was free trade, when tariffs and Imperial Preference were adopted in the Ottawa Agreements of 1932. After a brief period of government under Baldwin (1935–7), Neville Chamberlain tried to avert another war through signing the Munich Agreement (1938), but was forced to declare war on Germany on 3 September 1939, after Hitler's invasion of Poland (World War II). After Germany's invasion of Norway in April 1940, the discredited Chamberlain was replaced by the ebullient Churchill.

Alarmed at the retreat at Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain, the British underwent a fundamental sea-change in social and political attitudes in the first years of the war. This was best expressed in the widely received Beveridge report of 1943, and found an outlet in the victory of the Labour Party under Attlee in 1945 in the greatest recorded electoral swing in British politics. Aided by a diverse group of able ministers (Bevin, Bevan, Morrison, and others), the government nationalized industries such as mining, electricity, and the railways, and created a social welfare state, most notably through the foundation of the National Health Service. A state that would provide for its citizens ‘from the cradle to the grave’ became the accepted norm of government in the following decades, until 1979.

These changes were largely accepted by the Conservative governments, 1951–64, which were led successively by Churchill, Eden, Macmillan, and Douglas-Home. This period marked effectively the end of the British Empire through the decolonization of most of Africa, while the disastrous Suez Crisis of 1956 brought home the message that had been unavoidable since the fall of Singapore in 1942: Britain was no longer a world power, and was able to pursue her global interests only with the consent (and support) of the USA. A youthful Wilson led the Labour Party to victory in 1964, and remained in power until 1970, but neither he nor his successor, Heath (1970–4), were able to deal with the burgeoning trade union movement, which stifled any attempt to deal with the economic problems of inflation and a balance-of-payments deficit. Wilson returned to power in 1974 and gave way to Callaghan in 1976, but neither found an effective response to worsening global economic conditions caused by the oil price shock of 1973.

Keynesian demand management was dismantled during this time, but it was the advent of Thatcher as Prime Minister (1979–90) and Thatcherism that radically changed the political battleground, away from the postwar consensus of demand management to a new focus on the market. With the Labour Party in disarray under Foot's leadership and the breakaway of the Social Democratic Party, Thatcher became the longest-serving (and first woman) UK Prime Minister in the twentieth century. She reduced the power of the state through privatization and cuts in social services and made the reduction of inflation, rather than of unemployment, the primary economic target. This was unpopular at first, but the Falklands War restored her popularity and enabled her to win the 1983 election.

Ultimately, her resistance to European integration and her autocratic government style (as displayed by her insistence on the poll tax) led to her replacement by Major, who continued to pursue her basic policies, albeit in a rather more sober and lacklustre style. Major was weakened by a tiny parliamentary majority which made him beholden to the warring factions within his own parliamentary party. His most lasting achievement was the beginning of the Northern Ireland peace process. This gained him few votes in domestic politics, where his weak, grey, and indecisive image contrasted with a dynamic, disciplined Labour party led by Tony Blair.

Blair won the 1997 elections, and embarked upon an ambitious project of constitutional reform which saw the granting of Home Rule to Scotland and Wales from 1999. Under Gordon Brown, indirect taxes were raised and income tax was lowered slightly. The economic growth rekindled during the Major years continued, and contrasted sharply with the sluggish performance of other economies such as Germany or the US. In 2000–1 an outbreak of the infectious foot-and-mouth disease devastated large parts of the countryside, as almost four million animals were slaughtered. Although the government was criticized for not responding quickly enough, the general election, which occurred as the epidemic subsided, returned another huge Labour majority (413 of 659 parliamentary seats). Facing increasing criticism at the near-collapse of the country's rail infrastructure in 2000, and the poor state of the National Health Service, Blair's new government embarked on a quest to improve public services without abandoning his pro-business policies.

Following the September 11 attacks, the UK became Europe's most committed supporter of George W. Bush's foreign policy. Britain was the only country to assist the US-led Iraq War with significant forces of its own. The divisions which this invasion caused within Europe increased pressure for a more coherent foreign policy within the EU. The UK was at the forefront of such aspirations, and this led to the adoption, at the 2003 Intergovernmental Conference, of the European Security Strategy. The UK was thus pursuing the difficult strategy of being both influential within the EU, and maintaining its ‘special relationship’ with the US. England; Wales; Scotland; Northern Ireland; Ireland (Republic of); Imperial Conferences

Table 19. Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, 1895–

United Kingdom (UK)

History and Politics

In the 17th century, England's development of empire coincided with a financial revolution, which included the founding of the Bank of England (1694). Sir Robert Walpole's prime ministership (1721–42) marked the beginnings of cabinet government. Great Britain emerged from the Seven Years' War (1756–63) as the world's leading imperial power. George III's conception of absolute monarchy and resistance to colonial reform led to conflict with Parliament and contributed to the American Revolution (1775–83). William Pitt (the Younger) oversaw the creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801. The Agricultural Revolution was both a cause and effect of the doubling of the population between 1801 and 1861. The Industrial Revolution brought profound socio-economic changes. The 1820s and 1830s saw new reform legislation, including: the Act of Catholic Emancipation (1829), the abolition of slavery (1833), harsh new poor laws (1834), and the extension of the franchise to the middle-class in the Reform Acts. Sir Robert Peel's repeal of the Corn Laws (1846) marked the birth of free trade and the emergence of the Conservative Party from the old Tory Party. The Liberal Party similarly evolved out of the Whig Party. Chartism marked the birth of a working-class movement.

The reign of Victoria saw the emergence of a second British Empire, spurred on by the imperial ambitions of Lord Palmerston. The historic importance of trade to the UK economy was firmly established. Between 1868 and 1880, Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone dominated UK politics. The defeat of Gladstone's Home Rule Bill for Ireland (1886) split the Liberal Party. Between 1908 and 1916, Herbert Asquith and David Lloyd George enacted a range of progressive social welfare policies, such as national insurance and state pensions. The growing power of Germany led to World War I. George V changed the name of the British royal family from Saxe-Coburg to Windsor. The Allied victory cost more than 750,000 UK lives. The UK faced rebellion in Ireland, and the Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921) confirmed the partition of Ireland. The Irish Free State emerged in 1922, and the UK officially became known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In 1924, Ramsay MacDonald formed the first Labour Party government. The Commonwealth of Nations was founded in 1931. In 1936, Edward VIII abdicated in favour of George VI. Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement towards Nazi Germany ended in failure. On September 3, 1939, after the German invasion of Poland, Britain declared war. Winston Churchill led a coalition government from May 1940 to the end of World War 2. In 1941, the USA and the Soviet Union joined the battle against Hitler. Germany surrendered in May 1945, and Japan in September 1945. The war claimed more than 420,000 British lives, and devastated the economy. In 1945 elections, the Labour Party swept back to power, with Clement Attlee as prime minister. Attlee began a radical programme of nationalization and increased welfare provision. The US Marshall Plan aided reconstruction. In 1948, the National Health Service (NHS) was born. The British Empire gradually dismantled, beginning with India in 1947. Most newly independent nations joined the Commonwealth. In 1949, the UK joined NATO. In 1951, Churchill returned to power. In 1952, Elizabeth II succeeded George VI. Anthony Eden led Britain into the disastrous Suez Canal Crisis (1956). Harold Macmillan realized the importance of Europe to UK trade. In 1959, the UK was a founder member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). In 1964, Harold Wilson narrowly defeated Alec Douglas-Home. In 1968, the British Army deployed in Northern Ireland to prevent the violent sectarian conflict that had followed civil rights' marches. In 1971, under Edward Heath, the UK adopted a decimal currency. In 1972, the British Parliament assumed direct control of Northern Ireland. In 1973, the UK joined the European Economic Community (EEC). Recession led to the introduction of a three-day working week. A miners' strike forced Heath to resign. The discovery of North Sea oil and natural gas reduced Britain's dependence on coal and fuel imports. Jim Callaghan's inability to control labour unrest led to defeat in 1979 elections, and Margaret Thatcher became Britain's first woman prime minister. She introduced monetarism and privatization. The Falklands War (1982) contributed to her re-election in 1983. Further trade union restrictions followed a miners' strike (1984–85). In 1987, Thatcher won an unprecedented third election. In 1990, economic inequality and the poll tax forced Thatcher to resign. John Major signed the Maastricht Treaty and won a surprise victory in the 1992 general election. He was soon forced to remove the pound from the European Monetary System (EMS). In the 1997 election, Tony Blair's modernized Labour Party formed the first Labour government for 18 years. The Bank of England gained independence in the setting of interest rates. In September 1997, referenda on devolution saw Scotland and Wales gain legislative assemblies: the Scottish Parliament received tax-varying power. The Good Friday Agreement (1998) led to the creation (1999) of a devolved assembly in Northern Ireland. In 2000, British troops intervened to protect the government of Sierra Leone. In 2001, foot-and-mouth disease devastated the British livestock industry. In the same year, Britain lent military support for the ‘war on terrorism’ in Afghanistan. In 2003, US and British troops invaded Iraq with the purpose of removing Saddam Hussein's regime.

Economy

The UK is a major industrial and trading nation (2000 GDP per capita, US$22,800). Despite being a major producer of oil, petroleum products, natural gas, potash, salt, and lead, the UK lacks natural resources and has to import raw materials. In the early 20th century, the UK was a major exporter of ships, steel, and textiles. In the late 20th century, cars remained a major product, but the economy became more service-oriented, and high-technology industries, such as television manufacture, grew in importance. The UK produces only 66% of the food it needs, and relies on food imports. Agriculture employs only 2% of the workforce. Scientific and mass production methods ensure high productivity. Major crops include hops for beer, potatoes, carrots, sugar beet, strawberries, rapeseed, and linseed. Sheep are the leading livestock, and wool is a leading product. Poultry, beef and dairy cattle are important. Cheese and milk are major products. Fishing is a major activity. Financial services bring in much-needed revenue. Historic and cultural attractions make tourism a vital industry (2000, £12.8 billion spent by overseas visitors).

Political map

Physical map

Websites

http://www.ukonline.gov.uk; http://byu.edu/~rdh/eurodocs/uk.html

United Kingdom (UK) A country in NW Europe consisting of ENGLAND, WALES, and SCOTLAND, and the province of NORTHERN IRELAND. The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are British Crown dependencies but are not an integral part of the United Kingdom.

Physical

The United Kingdom consists of Great Britain, a large island off Europe's north-west coast containing England, Scotland, and Wales, and the north-east corner of the neighbouring island of Ireland. Of its mountains, which lie in the north and west, few are higher than 1000 m (3300 feet), while of its rivers none is longer than the Severn at 354 km (220 miles). The south of the country has hills of chalk and flint or limestone rising to 300 m (less than 1000 feet). Here the valleys are broad, with sandy soil or clay supporting oak, ash, beech, and chestnut trees. In the east, which is lower and flatter, river gravels and alluvium from the North Sea have produced dark, rich soils. Its principal river, the Thames, flows into the North Sea.

Economy

The United Kingdom has a heavily industrialized economy with substantial, though declining, offshore oil production. Britain is one of the world's largest steel producers, but its wide range of manufacturing industry has declined in recent decades. There is a growing service sector and high-technology industries are being developed. London is a finance and banking centre. The state sector shrank considerably during the 1980s and 1990s owing to policies of privatization. Coal is mined for domestic consumption and electricity generation. Agricultural productivity has been boosted by mechanization and intensive farming methods.

History

WALES was incorporated into England in the reign of HENRY VIII. In 1604 JAMES I was proclaimed ‘King of Great Britain’, but although his accession to the English throne (1603) had joined the two crowns of ENGLAND and SCOTLAND the countries were not formally united. In the aftermath of the English Civil War, Oliver Cromwell effected a temporary union between England and Scotland, but it did not survive the RESTORATION. The countries were joined by the Act of UNION (1707) which left unchanged the Scottish judicial system and the Presbyterian church. IRELAND was incorporated into the United Kingdom in 1800 but became independent (except for Northern Ireland) in 1921.

Britain was the first country in Europe to become fully industrialized, developing a predominantly urban, rather than a rural, society by the mid-19th century. A series of parliamentary reform acts, beginning with the REFORM ACT of 1832, steadily increased the power of the HOUSE OF COMMONS compared to that of the monarch and the HOUSE OF LORDS. Under Queen VICTORIA, colonial expansion of the BRITISH EMPIRE reached its height. However, growing pressure for independence from peoples within the empire meant that during the 20th century British dominions and colonies gradually gained independence; most of them elected to join the COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS, established in 1931. During WORLD WAR I and WORLD WAR II Britain fought against Germany and its allies, emerging from both conflicts on the victorious side. A period of austerity, which began to ease in the 1950s, followed World War II. Since 1967 gas and oil from offshore wells have been commercially produced, creating a major impact on the nation's economy. In 1973 Britain became a member of the European Economic Community, subsequently the EUROPEAN UNION. In 1982 Britain fought the FALKLANDS WAR with Argentina and in 1991 sent troops to support the US-led coalition in the GULF WAR.

The main political parties in Britain are the CONSERVATIVE PARTY, the LABOUR PARTY, and the Liberal Democrats (see LIBERAL PARTY). The Liberals have not been in power since the resignation of LLOYD GEORGE in 1922. During World War II a coalition government under Winston CHURCHILL was formed. The postwar Labour ATTLEE ministries saw the introduction of the National Health Service and the WELFARE STATE, largely on the lines of the BEVERIDGE Report. Labour governments have traditionally been supported by TRADE UNIONS and legislated to nationalize service industries. Subsequent Conservative governments, notably those of Margaret THATCHER and John MAJOR, reversed the procedure by privatizing many publicly owned companies; they also passed laws to restrict the power of the trade unions and restricted public spending. The Labour Party led by Tony BLAIR won the general election of 1997 and formed a new government.

Progress has been made towards resolving the problem of Northern Ireland, which has seen recurrent conflict between Catholic supporters of a united Ireland and Protestant supporters of union with Britain. Peace talks involving all the main Northern Irish political parties began in 1996 and concluded in 1998 with the signing of a peace agreement by the British and Irish governments and the leaders of most of the Northern Irish parties. Implementation has, however, proved problematic. A separate Scottish Parliament and a Welsh Assembly, with limited powers, were established in 1999.

Great Britain, The first large iron ship to be built as an ocean liner, and the first to have a propeller. She was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and launched at Bristol in 1843. She was 98.2 metres (322 ft) in length, with a displacement of 3,270 tons, and had engines that developed 1,500 horsepower which gave her a speed of 12 knots. As originally designed she had six masts and her hull, as a safety measure, was divided into six compartments by watertight bulkheads, the first western passenger ship to adopt a construction long used in Chinese shipbuilding. She was also built with bilge keels and had a chain drive for her propeller. On her maiden voyage to New York in 1845 she carried 60 first-class passengers in single staterooms, as well as a full complement of steerage passengers and 600 tons of cargo. After this crossing she ran ashore on rocks in Dundrum Bay where she lay stranded for eleven months. Her still excellent condition when she was finally salvaged was a convincing tribute to her design and iron construction. Later, she was used as a cargo and passenger ship to Australia, on one voyage carrying more than 600 passengers. Finally, after nearly 40 years in service, she was damaged in a severe gale off Cape Horn and was beached at Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, and used as a coal hulk.

In 1970 she was raised and placed on a pontoon which was towed first to Montevideo and then to Bristol, where she was put in the very dock in which she was built and from which she had been floated 127 years previously. After years of restoration she is now on view to the public.

Great Britain. The geographical term Great Britain was used to distinguish the largest of the British Isles from Brittany, or Little Britain. As early as the reign of Edward IV, when a marriage alliance with the future James IV was in negotiation, the advantages of a union of England and Scotland as Great Britain were pointed out. When James I succeeded Elizabeth in 1603 he hastened to propose that the union of the crowns should be followed by a governmental union and he suggested the name Great Britain. Though the English Parliament could not be brought to agree, James adopted the name by proclamation and used it on his coinage. It was given statutory authority by the Act of Union with Scotland in 1707, article 1 of which stated that henceforth the two countries were ‘united into one kingdom by the name of Great Britain’. This usage lasted until the Act of Union with Ireland in 1801, which substituted the term ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland’. After southern Ireland established its independence, the name was again modified to the ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’. The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are not part of the United Kingdom but direct crown dependencies. The constitutional evolution is reflected in the cheerful complexity of the Union Jack, adopted in 1801 when the cross of St Patrick was superimposed on those of St Andrew and St George.

J. A. Cannon

Great Britain The name adopted when England, already incorporating Wales within its realm, was united with Scotland on 1 May 1707. This united Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) followed the personal union of the English and Scottish crowns, which had already taken place in 1603 when James VI, King of Scots, became additionally James I^† of England. He assumed the title of King of Great Britain in 1604, although no such kingdom existed. Both countries retained their own parliaments until the full union in 1707. The term ‘Great Britain’ was used earlier, informally, to distinguish the larger Britain from the smaller Brittany, now in France, to which refugee Britons fled to escape Anglo‐Saxon invaders. It was also used in the title ‘Commonwealth of Great Britain and Ireland’ in 1654–60, following the creation of the Commonwealth and Free State of England, Wales, and Ireland in 1649 after the execution of King Charles I^† and the abolition of the monarchy. The term ‘Great Britain’, which encompasses England, Scotland, Wales, and most of the small offshore islands but not the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands, is often used, incorrectly, as a synonym for the United Kingdom.

Great Britain was the second of three highly innovative steamships designed by I. K. Brunel. It was intended by the Great Western Steamship Company as a sister ship to Brunel's Great Western, which had been launched in Bristol as a wooden-hulled paddle steamer in 1837 and became the first steamship to enter commercial trans-Atlantic service. But Brunel conceived a much bigger vessel, the first large iron ship and the first large screw-propelled ship. Launched in Bristol by the Prince Consort on 19 July 1843 (gross register 3,270 tons, compared with 1,340 for the previous ship), the Great Britain entered service between Liverpool and New York in 1845 and, despite a severe accident the following year when she went aground off Ireland at the start of her fifth voyage, she went on to have a long working life on the route to Australia. She was eventually abandoned in the Falkland Islands in 1886, but survived to be brought home to Bristol in 1970, where she is on show.

R. Angus Buchanan

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland since 1922 when ‘Southern Ireland’ achieved independence as the Irish Free State. Previously the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland when the two realms united on 1 January 1801. In 1707 a united Kingdom of Great Britain was established when the Scottish Parliament agreed to dissolve itself so that the Kingdom of the Scots could join the Kingdom of England and Wales. This formal union followed the personal union in 1603 when James VI, King of Scots, had also become James I^†, King of England and Wales. The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are not part of the UK although they belong to the British crown. See Great Britain.

Great Britain was the second of three highly innovative steamships designed by I. K. Brunel. It was intended by the Great Western Steamship Company as a sister ship to Brunel's Great Western, which had been launched in Bristol as a wooden‐hulled paddle steamer in 1837. But Brunel conceived a much bigger vessel, the first large iron ship and the first large screw‐propelled ship. Launched in Bristol by the Prince Consort on 19 July 1843 (3,270 tons, compared with 1,340 for the previous ship), the Great Britain entered service between Liverpool and New York in 1845. She was eventually abandoned in the Falkland Islands in 1886, but survived to be brought home to Bristol in 1970, where she is on show.

United Kingdom

The people of the United Kingdom are called British or English, Welsh, Scots, and Irish. Over 90 percent of United Kingdom residents are native-born. The ethnic minorities include West Indian or Guyanese (499,000), Indian (840,000), Pakistani (475,000), or Bengali (160,000). There are also sizable numbers of Africans, Americans, Australians, Chinese, Greek and Turkish Cypriots, Italians, Spaniards, and Southeast Asians.

Great Britain The largest of the British Isles, it is composed of England, Wales, and Scotland. It is popularly (though incorrectly) used as a synonym for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Ireland until 1922).

UNITED KINGDOM

UNITED KINGDOM. SeeGreat Britain, Relations with .

Great Britain. See United Kingdom, U.S. Military Involvement in.

UK • abbr. United Kingdom.

United Kingdom. See Great Britain.

United Kingdom See great britain.

Great Britain See BRITAIN.

United Kingdom, see UK.

Great Britain, see UK.