The Milk in Schools Scheme, 1934-45: 'Nationalization' and resistance

History of Education

Volumn 34, Issue 1, 2005, Pages 1-21

  Atkins, Peter ^a  

^a DURHAM UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 18144411020     PISSN: 0046760X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/0046760042000315291     Document Type: Review

References (175)

1. See P. Atkins, 'Early Experiments with School Milk in Britain, 1900-34' (forthcoming 2005).
2. D. Marsh and M. Smith, 'Understanding policy networks: towards a dialectical approach', Political Studies, 48(2000), 4-21.
3. A fuller account of the period before 1934 is given in Atkins, 'Early experiments'.
4. For further, general comments on school feeding, see: J. Hurt, 'Feeding the hungry schoolchild in the first half of the twentieth century', in Diet and Health in Modern Britain, edited by D. Oddy and D. Miller (London: Croom Helm, 1985), 178-206;
5. J. Burnett, 'The rise and decline of school meals in Britain, 1860-1990', in The Origins and Development of Food Policies in Europe, edited by J. Burnett and D. Oddy (London: Leicester University Press, 1994), 55-69:
6. B. Harris, The Health of the Schoolchild: a History of the School Medical Service in England and Wales (Buckingham: Open University Press, 1995), ch. 7;
7. and J. Welshman, 'School meals and milk in England and Wales, 1906-45', Medical History, 41 (1997), 6-29.
8. National Archives [NA], MH 79/327, Cabinet, Product Market Supply Committee, The Milk and Dairy Produce Situation'.
9. NA, ED 24/1367, 'Milk in Schools'.
10. The Milk Marketing Scheme of England and Wales began in October 1933, with later starts in Scotland.
11. He was the government's Chief Industrial Adviser.
12. NA, CAB/24/247, C.P. 47 (34).
13. NA, T/161/830, S39098/03/1, 'Memorandum on the Question of the Contribution from Public Funds in Respect of Milk Supplied to Schools under an Approved Publicity programme', A.W. Street, 22 March 1934.
14. NA, JV 7/190.
15. 'Surplus milk', The Times, 23 February 1934, 14g.
16. Elliot was Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries 1932-36, Secretary of State for Scotland 1936-38, and Minister of Health 1938-40.
17. Anon., 'Milk policy: new government scheme', Lancet, i (1934), 491.
18. Statement by the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries in the House of Commons on Thursday, 22 February 1934, Parliamentary Papers, xxi, 1933-34 [Cmd 4519], 565;
19. Milk Act (1934) 24 & 25 Geo 5, Section 11.
20. This committee had been given clearance in principle by the Cabinet on 21 February 1934, 'in order to safeguard the position of the Chancellor of the Exchequer and his warnings as to the danger of providing for expenditure by the government on milk for schools'. NA, CAB 23/78, 11 (34) 8. The first, informal draft of the Bill had been produced on 17 March.
21. John Boyd Orr, who was eventually nominated as a member of the Committee, did not fit this description. He was involved in various guises in school milk politics.
22. NA, MH 56/106, copy of letter from H.E. Dale (MAF) to the MMB, 21 April 1934.
23. NA, T/161/830, S39098/03/1, Morris to Phillips, 25 May 1934.
24. NA, ED 50/81, Maudslay, 15 May 1934.
25. NA, T/161/830, S39098/03/1. 'Notes for a Report Dealing with Surplus Milk', F. Pick, 16 May 1934.
26. NA, T/161/830, S39098/03/1, Barnes, 25 May 1934.
27. NA, MH 56/104, Maudslay (Board of Education) to Maclachlan (Ministry of Health), 20 June 1934;
28. NA, JV 7/190, 'Report on Proceedings at a Conference to Discuss the Provision of Milk to School Children at Reduced Rates Held on Tuesday, 17th July, 1934';
29. NA, MH 56/104, 'Report on proceedings at a conference to discuss the provision of milk to school children at reduced rates';
30. NA, ED 50/81, Strong to Maudslay, 19 July 1934, 'Summary of Conference about Milk in Schools Scheme at Milk Marketing Board'.
31. Royal Assent for the Act was received on 31 July.
32. They coopted W.P. Hildred (MAF), E.A. Hitchman (Ministry of Labour), Mr Maudslay and Dr Glover (Board of Education), Dr Magee (Ministry of Health), Professor H.D. Kay (National Institute for Research in Dairying), Ben Hinds (Vice-Chairman of the MMB), and three observers for Scotland: J.A. Langford, P.L. Kinlay and H. Crowe. NA, MH 56/105.
33. NA, JV 7/190, 'Scheme for the Supply of Milk in Schools in England and Wales at Reduced Rates', 10 August 1934.
34. No objections were lodged by the Treasury. See NA, T/161/830, S39098/03/1.
35. NA, ED 50/81, Maudslay to Secretary and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the Board of Education, 23 July 1934.
36. NA, ED 50/81;
37. Board of Education, 'Provision of Milk for School Children', Circular 1437 (London, 1934).
38. NA, JV 7/190.
39. In the spring of 1935 there were 2.4 million state elementary pupils participating, including 260,000 receiving their milk free of charge, and a further 15,000 from voluntary funds. In nursery schools, special schools and secondary schools 153,000 children were also in the MISS, with a further 23,000 who were supplied with free milk. In addition, there were 113,000 children overall who paid for milk outside the MISS.
40. CMO of the Board of Education, The Health of the School Child, 1938 (London: HMSO, 1939).
41. Harris, Health of the Schoolchild, 123.
42. The cost of the provision of school meals did increase in the second half of the 1930s but the increment would have been greater if solid meals had become as widespread as milk. Harris, Health of the Schoolchild, 93.
43. Milk (Extension of Temporary Provisions) Act 1936;
44. Milk (Amendment) Act 1937;
45. Milk (Extension and Amendment) Act 1938;
46. Milk Industry Act 1939.
47. Section 49 provided the power for regulations.
48. NA, MH 79/328, Elliot to Kingsley Wood, 19 December 1935.
49. NA, MH 79/347, 360, 361.
50. 'Milk: report of the Reorganization Commission for Milk' [Chairman: Arthur E. Cutforth], Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Economic Series. 44 (1936), 281;
51. Milk Policy, Parliamentary Papers, xxi, 1936-7 [Cmd 5533], 699-706;
52. Milk (Amendment) Bill, Memorandum on Financial Resolution, Parliamentary Papers, xxi, 1936-7 [Cmd 5506], 695-97;
53. A Bill to Make Provision for the Better Organization of the Milk Industry, Parliamentary Papers, iv, 1938-9 [33], 93;
54. NA, MH 79/365.
55. 'Milk Subsidy. Case for Extension', The Times, 18 February 1936, 7g-8c;
56. 'The milk scheme. Twelve months extension', The Times, 6 July 1937, 9d.
57. NA, JV 7/192.
58. Ibid.
59. The Milk Industry Bill (1938) was based on a White Paper from the year before. It was a complex measure that would have fundamentally restructured the dairy industry, including the replacement of the MMB, a farmers' organization, by a government-sponsored Milk Commission. Other items that concern us here related to the permanent status of the MISS, the extension of welfare milk and the pasteurization of milk. As one of the largest items on his agenda, defeat on this Bill was an embarrassment for Morrison.
60. NA, JV 7/192, Morrison to Baxter, 12 September 1938.
61. 'Surplus milk and under consumption', The Times, 15 February 1934, 15c.
62. 'Cheap milk', The Times, 27 September 1934, 13b.
63. 'Diet and maintenance', The Times, 13 February 1936 , 13b;
64. 'A food policy', The Times, 31 March 1936, 17b-c;
65. 'Children's milk', The Times, 8 March 1937, 20e.
66. 'Equality in education. Policy of Labour Party', The Times, 16 July 1934, 19f.
67. For a range of views, see the Second Reading debate of the Milk Bill in Hansard, Parliamentary Debates. 290 (1933-34) cols 1124-1223. MPs were principally concerned about the issue of whether school milk should be free or at what level the subsidy should be fixed. Other issues raised included the uneven regional profile of the NMPC scheme and the quality of the milk used.
68. 'Milk and health', The Times, 27 April 1934, 9c. Other aims included making it compulsory for Local Authorities rather than voluntary as at present to provide school meals; increased allowances for children of the unemployed; and the building of more council housing estates and provision of better rent rebates.
69. 'The national physique. More milk for children', The Times, 13 November 1936, 12b. Rathbone was also a campaigner on family allowances.
70. The meeting was on 15 February 1934. NA, JV 7/190;
71. Anon, 'Surplus milk for school children', Lancet, i (1934), 405;
72. Anon, 'Safe milk for school children', Lancet, i (1934), 526;
73. 'A milk ration for children', The Times, 16 February 1934, 19e.
74. NA, MH 56/106. 'Notes of a Deputation Received by the Prime Minister from the Children's Minimum Council on Monday, 12th March, 1934'.
75. The Times, 24 March 1934, 14b;
76. The Times, 27 March 1934, 16d.
77. The Times, 11 July 1933, 9c;
78. NA, ED 24/1367, EHP to Parliamentary Secretary, 8 December 1934.
79. 'Milk for necessitous children. New campaign started', The Times, 15 July 1936, 13b;
80. The Children's Minimum Council (1937);
81. 'Milk for young children', The Times, 29 July 1937, 9c;
82. 'Under-nourished children', The Times, 28 March 1939, 16a.
83. M. Barnett, 'The People's League of Health and the campaign against bovine tuberculosis in the 1930s', in Food, Science, Policy and Regulation in the Twentieth Century: International and Comparative Perspectives, edited by D. Smith and J. Phillips (London: Routledge, 2000), 69-82.
84. The Times, 10 April 1934, 11c.
85. Wellcome Contemporary Medical Archives Centre, SA/BMA/F105;
86. NA, ED 50/81.
87. People's League of Health, Milk for School Children: Report of a Special Committee of the Medical, Science and Veterinary Councils of the People's League of Health (Inc) (London, 1934).
88. 'Power of Women's Institutes', The Times, 3 June 1937, 11f;
89. 'A children's charter', The Times, 10 April 1937, 9a.
90. For more on the context of women's politics, see: P. Thane, 'Women in the British Labour Party and the construction of state welfare, 1906-1939', in Mothers of a New World: Maternalist Politics and the Origins of Welfare States, edited by S. Koven and S. Michel (New York: Routledge, 1993), 343-377;
91. P.M. Graves, Labour Women: Women in British Working-Class Politics, 1918-1939 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).
92. [Cutforth], 'Milk', 204.
93. NA, T/161/830, S/39098/03/1, 'Milk Publicity', C.L. Stocks, 15 March 1934.
94. NA, MH 56/106, Maclachlan to CMO and to Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Health, 15 March 1934.
95. NA, T/161/830, S39098/03/1, C.L. Stocks to Sir F Phillips, 14 March 1934.
96. NA, T/161/830, S39098/03/1, 'Milk Publicity', C.L. Stocks, 15 March 1934.
97. NA, T/161/830, S39098/03/1, Stocks to Phillips, 19 March 1934.
98. NA, T/161/830, S39098/03/1, Phillips to Fergusson, 27 March 1934.
99. NA, JV 7/190, MMB Report Number 21, 'Suggested Schemes of the Ministry of Agriculture Regarding Milk for School Children', 11 June 1934.
100. NA, T/161/830, S39098/03/1, Barnes to Morris, 25 May 1934;
101. Phillips to Hopkins, 12 June 1934.
102. NA, ED 24/1367, 'Milk in Schools Proposal', 13 December 1933.
103. Milk in Schools Proposal Ibid.
104. NA, T/161/830, S39098/03/1, Barnes, 25 May 1934.
105. 7 September 1934.
106. NA, JV 7/190, MMB Board Report No. 28, 12 September 1934.
107. NA, JV 7/192, Morrison to Baxter, 12 September 1938.
108. Hurt, 'Feeding the Hungry Schoolchild', 190.
109. CMO of the Board of Education, The Health of the School Child, 1936 (London: HMSO, 1937).
110. Comment by Dr W. Taylor, Shropshire School Medical Officer. In 1936 the Leicestershire Agricultural Education Department observed that: 'There are now 74 elementary schools in Leicestershire in which it has been found impossible to find a suitable supplier. It is difficult to persuade farmers in rural areas to install the necessary equipment for so small a financial return, and, as in most of these schools children over 11 years have been transferred to central schools, the numbers remaining are so small as to render the scheme unprofitable to the supplier.' NA, MH 79/347, C. Maudslay, 'Report of Investigation of the MISS, 9th to 21st March, 1936', 17 April 1936.
111. In 1938 the government did eventually agree to increase the allowance from 6d to 8d per gallon. The Times, 25 October 1937, 22a;
112. The Times, 14 January 1938, 7b;
113. The Times, 28 March 1938, 20b.
114. CMO of the Board of Education, The Health of the School Child, 1936 (London: HMSO, 1937).
115. J.J. Paterson, 'A candid criticism of the school children's milk scheme', Medical Officer, 52 (1934), 183-84.
116. It has been argued that school milk made a negative contribution to the overall nutrition of children because its introduction gave many LEAs an excuse to reduce their provision of school dinners. See Peter Atkins, 'Fattening children or fattening farmers? School milk in Britain, 1921-41' (forthcoming 2005).
117. CMO of the Board of Education, Health of the School Child, 1936.
118. Ibid.
119. NA, MH 79/347, C. Maudslay, 'Report of Investigation of the MISS, 9th to 21st March, 1936', 17 April 1936.
120. NA, MH 56/106, Maclachlan to Newman and Robinson, 9 March 1934.
121. NA, MAF 52/7, TD/428B, Minutes of NMPC Advertising and Milk in Schools Committee, 21 July 1931.
122. The LCC experimented in 1937-38 with providing milk for children in public parks. The Times, 23 June 1937, 13a;
123. The Times, 26 November 1937, 13d;
124. The Times, 9 March 1938, 12d.
125. CMO of the Board of Education, The Health of the School Child, 1937 (London: HMSO, 1938).
126. NA, T/161/831, S/39098/03/5, 'Milk Acts, 1934 and 1936. Extension of Milk in Schools Scheme. Children's Milk Bars'.
127. This may have been based on reading a letter in The Times, 21 March 1934, 10e, where Dr Esther Carling suggested milk should be delivered to schools in churns rather than in bottles so that the milk could be boiled to make it safe.
128. NA, JV 7/191, 'The Hannah Dairy Research Institute. Milk in Schools Scheme. Flavoured Milk Experiment', 3 July 1936;
129. JV 7/192, MMB Advisory Committee, 29 June 1937.
130. CMO of the Board of Education, The Health of the School Child, 1935 (London: HMSO, 1936).
131. NA, MH 79/347, C. Maudslay, 'Report of Investigation of the MISS, 9th to 21st March, 1936', 17 April 1936.
132. Circular 1438 of the same date dealt with grant-aided schools.
133. NA, ED 50/81, Maudslay to Turnbull, 17 August 1934.
134. NA, ED 24/1367, 'Note by the Board of Education in Regard to the Government's Milk Policy', 22 February 1934.
135. NA, ED 50/81. Stocks (Treasury) to Howar (Board of Education), 1 March 1934.
136. Ibid.
137. Parliamentary Debates, 30 May 1934, col. 195;
138. 'Milk cheap for children', The Times, 6 September 1934, 9c.
139. NA, ED 24/1367, Alderman W.G. Wilkins of Derby to J.H. Thomas MP, 5 December 1934.
140. NA, ED 50/81, Maudslay to Secretary and CMO of the Board of Education, 23 July 1934.
141. NA, ED 24/1367, for instance Lord Halifax to J. Thomas MP, 12 December 1934.
142. Wellcome Contemporary Medical Archives Centre, SA/BMA/F105.
143. By January 1936 211 out of 316 LEAs were implementing Section 84 of the Education Act (1921). Some used physical education tests, others means tests with varying thresholds. The take-up for the MISS at this date was 306 LEAs plus six that provided milk outside the scheme. [Maude, E.J.], 'Milk Consumption: Report Dated 30 January, 1936, of an Informal Inter-Departmental Committee Comprising Representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Board of Education, Market Supply Committee, Ministry of Health, Department of Health for Scotland, Scottish Office and Treasury' (1936), 7-8.
144. NA, ED 50/81.
145. CMO of the Board of Education, The Health of the School Child, 1934 (London: HMSO, 1935).
146. P. Atkins, 'The pasteurization of England: the science, culture and health implications of milk processing, 1900-1950', in Food, Science, Policy and Regulation, edited by Smith and Phillips, 37-51.
147. NA, ED 50/79.
148. NA, ED 50/79, Eaton (Board of Education) to Dale (MAF), 8 January 1930.
149. Peter Atkins, 'Milk consumption and tuberculosis in Britain, 1850-1950', in Order and Disorder: the Health Implications of Eating and Drinking in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, edited by A. Fenton (East Linton: Tuckwell Press, 2000), 83-95.
150. Parliamentary Debates, 245 (1930) col. 628.
151. NA, MH 56/104, Maclachlan to Newman and Robinson, 11 July 1934.
152. Ibid.
153. Parliamentary Debates. 261 (1932) col. 668;
154. CMO of the Board of Education, Health of the School Child, 1931 (London: HMSO, 1932);
155. CMO of the Board of Education, Health of the School Child, 1932 (London: HMSO, 1933).
156. NA, ED 50/81, Maudslay to Maclachlan, 20 June and 26 June 1934.
157. Board of Education, Scheme for the Supply of Milk in Schools in England and Wales at Reduced Rates (London: Board of Education, 1934).
158. 'Milk in Village Schools', The Times, 15 October 1934, 20b;
159. 'Drinking of Milk in Schools', The Times, 5 November 1934, 20c.
160. NA, MH 79/347, C. Maudslay, 'Report of Investigation of the MISS, 9th to 21st March, 1936', 17 April 1936.
161. Anon, 'Surplus milk for school children', Lancet, i (1934), 405.
162. NA, JV 7/191, 'Milk Marketing Board. Milk in Schools Scheme. Opinion', L.C. Graham-Dixon, 4 June 1935.
163. NA, JV 7/190, Report on Proceedings at MMB Board Meeting, 28 March 1934.
164. NA, JV 7/191, Letter from the NFU, 21 June 1935.
165. NA, JV 7/190, Board Report Number 32, 13 November 1934;
166. NA, MH 56/104, Draft circular from MMB to County MOHs, 21 December 1934.
167. NA, ED 50/81, LCC Circular to head teachers, 23 July 1934.
168. People's League of Health, What is the Quality of the Milk Supplied to School Children? Report of a Survey by the People's League of Health (Inc) (London, 1936).
169. There is a possible bias in the results because rural schools were especially under-represented in the replies.
170. CMO of the Board of Education, The Health of the School Child, 1939-45 (London: HMSO, 1946).
171. C. Webster, 'Government policy on school meals and welfare foods 1939-1970', in Nutrition in Britain: Science, Scientists and Politics in the Twentieth Century, edited by D.F. Smith (London, 1997), 197.
172. Inger Johanne Lyngø, 'The Oslo breakfast: an optimal diet in one meal: on the scientification of everyday life as exemplified by food', Etnologia Scandinavica, 28 (1998), 62-76;
173. A. den Hartog, 'Feeding schoolchildren in the Netherlands: conflict between state and family responsibilities, in The Origins and Development of Food Policies, edited by Burnett and Oddy, 70-89.
174. The first blow was struck by a Labour government in 1968, when free milk was withdrawn from secondary pupils.
175. Marsh and Smith, 'Understanding Policy Networks'.