Britain from 1900 to 1909 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Japan

The 15,150 ton Mikasa was built at Barrow-in-Furness for the Imperial Japanese Navy. The ship was similar to the battleships that were currently being built for the British Navy. The Mikasa was the flagship of Admiral Togo at the Battle of Tsushima during the Russo-Japanese war.

She is now a memorial in Yokosuka, Japan. It was believed that the building of the ship would cement the ties between Britain and Japan and further co-operation between the two countries in the Far East.

Answer: 'Unfair competition' from Japan

After years of buying their warships from other countries Japan began to heavily subsidise their shipbuilding industry to such an extent that Japan began building ships for other countries. Bearing in mind that only two or three years earlier the Japanese fleet beat the Russians with warships that were mainly buit in Britain it is no wonder that the British shipbuilders had cause for concern.

Answer: The Aliens Act

The Alien Act of 1905 was introduced in Parliament in an attempt to decrease the flow of immigrants, mainly Jewish, from entering the country from Russia and Central Europe. The Government began to get worried after the results of the 1901 Census showed that over 250,000 immigrants had settled in the London area.

After a number of amendments in Parliament the Act was passed, albeit watered down from the original proposal. The Act was designed to prevent people unable to support theselves financially, and those "who were declared to be lunatics " from entering the country. Ships travelling to eight east coast ports were met by launches with Government and Medical Inspectors on board in order to carry out certain tests on the hapless travellers.

However, the Act had been amended to allow people to seek political asylum and people who were suffering from religious persecution to settle in Britain.

Answer: Old Age Pensions

The Budget of 1908 introduced old age pensions for the first time. From January 1909 single persons aged 70 and above got five shillings per week and a married person would get seven shillings and sixpence per week. In the 1909 'People's Budget' the Government sought increases in all taxes partly in order to fund the old age pensions, but after months of wrangling the Lords threw the budget out and thereby was instumental in forcing a General Election early in 1910.

The Government also stated that the rise in Motor Vehicle Licensing would pay for the repair of pot holes in the road, and for town and village bypasses to enable children to play safely on the road sides. As stated the age needed to qualify for the pension was 70 years. Bearing in mind that today the state retirement age is 65 but because of the huge problems facing pension funds it is generally accepted that the retirement age will have to increase to 70.

Answer: Smoking

The BMA issued a statement expressing grave concerns about the number of children that were smoking or chewing tobacco. Apart from causing cancer of the lip and tongue, the BMA said that the health of the whole nation was deteriorating due to its incurable habit of inhaling those poisonous fumes. Ironically, nothing was said about young persons 14 years old plus working down the coal mines.

Answer: Because they were mistaken for Japanese torpedo boats

British trawlers were fishing on the Dogger Bank in the North Sea when elements of the Russian Baltic Fleet attacked the fishermen, sinking a trawler and killing three crewmen. No real explanationn has been identified as to the actual cause of the incident but one suggestion is that due to a drunken captain on one of the Russian Naval vessels mistakely identifying a Swedish ship as a Japanese gunboat, the Russian Fleet assumed that the trawlers were Japanese torpedo boats.

As Russia was at war with Japan at the time, the order was given to attack to prevent the "enemy" from getting close to the Russian Fleet and causing the fleet damage ...

The incident is known as the Dogger Bank Incident, or the Russian Outrage. The Fleet had apparently suffered from numerous false alarms whilst sailing through the Baltic Sea and this may have contributed to the attack.

Answer: To support the suffragette movement

In June 1908 the Votes for Women Rally, or Suffragette Movement, attracted nearly a quarter of a million people to Hyde Park. One of the chief speakers was Christobel Pankhurst, a co-founder of the Women's Social and Political Union. Not everyone was sympathetic to the movement and there were a few ugly scenes when police had to intervene.

A motion calling for the Government to allow women the vote was overwhelmingly passed but it was ten years and a world war later before women were allowed to cast their votes at the ballot boxes.

Answer: Drink

In a speech to the Society for Social Services of the North Wales Wesleyans, Lloyd George stated that although Britain was the richest country in the world, over 10 million workers were destitute. Whilst some of the problems were caused by gambling the main problem was caused by excessive drinking. Lloyd George estimated that over 60% of the nation's problems were caused by drink. He stated "Drink is the most urgent problem of the hour for our rulers to grapple with. Next year the Government will wrestle with this problem in earnest and tackle the potent forces that profit from this degradation"

Answer: Too noisy

One clause of the Licensing Laws that applied to buses was that they caused "no undue noise". With 750 buses on the roads and a further 350 on order the police, who operated the inspection stations, were greatly understaffed and buses were kept off the road for long periods awaiting inspections. The police had decided to step up the monitoring procedures after numerous complaints from the public. Because buses were waiting days on end to have the inspection, bus companies stated that some of them would be driven out of business. Bus companies suspected that this was a ruse by the lobbying of tram company representatives to keep buses off the road.

Answer: 56

Britain won 56 gold medals in the London 1908 Olympic Games. The total medal tally was 143. The United States came second with 22 gold medals and a total tally of 46.
The Olympics was held at very short notice in London when Italy pulled out of hosting the games in 1906. Many sports that were in the 1908 games are no longer part of the Olympics, for example, motor boating and tug of war. Also ice skating was part of the Summer Olympics but the competition did not start until October, thereby making these games probably the longest games on record.

Answer: First time a non-league team won the FA Cup

The 1901 Cup Final between Tottenham and Sheffield was held at Crystal Palace before a crowd of 110,000 spectators. After a final score of 2-2 the replay was held at Bolton where Spurs went on to win 3-2.
Sheffield were in Division One and Spurs were the Southern League Champions, this made Spurs the first, and only, non-league club to win the FA Cup.
Sheffield went on to become 1902 winners after beating Southampton 2-1 in another replay.

Answer: Unions liable for financial losses that companies incur through strikes

The previous year workers at the Taff Vale Railway Company went on strike. Until then it was widely accepted that both parties in an industrial dispute would be liable for their own costs.
However the Lords ruled that the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants should be liable for the costs incurred by the railway company and were ordered to pay £23,000 in damages to the firm. The decision was made after the Lords decided that strikers unlawfully picketed the Taff workers by trying to "molest and injure" employees still working. The Lords stated that picketing was only lawful when carried out near the workplace or near an employee's home in order to pass information.
The Unions stated that they would appeal as the ruling would bankrupt unions and deter workers from striking.

Answer: First electric trains came into operation on the Metropolitan Line

Train Number 1, became the first electric train to operate on the Metropolitan Line. These new trains were faster, quieter and cleaner than the steam trains that were in operation between Paddington and Farringdon, a line that had been in existence since 1863 and was the first line of what was to become known as the London Underground System.
The carriages were also re-vamped so that there was a central corridor allowing more people to fit into the carriages. There were also two classes of travel available, whereas previously there had been three classes.

Answer: Automobile Association

In June 1905 50 drivers met at the Trocadero Restaurant in the West End of London and formed the Automobile Association whose prime objective was to help motorists to avoid speed traps. Anyone caught driving over the 20 mph speed limit was arrested. The only way that the police could check the speed was with stop watches and this was proven to be a very inaccurate way of measuring the speed of a motor vehicle.
The Association's main objective was for "the protection and advancement of the legitimate interests of motorists and opposition to the restriction on the use of roads".
All fifty drivers agreed to pay an annual subscription of two guineas a year.

Answer: To cut the jobless total

In order to reduce the number of people out of work the the Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith, announced a series of measures which included local authority loans and grants.
Public spending would increase and work on Government projects bought forward. 8,000 temporary worker would be employed by the Post Office during the Christmas period, the War Office would recruit a further 24,000 men into the Special Reserve and 2,100 more dock workers would be employed.
The Prime Minister went on to say that these were only temporary measures and he hoped that Parliament would tackle the real causes for the high unemployment in the very near future.