Yesterday, someone online posted the following photo of a page from a history book:

Someone else, replying to the image, said that it came from a volume by the famous British historian AJP Taylor.

The first page to the chapter ‘The Great War: Old Style, 1914-1915’ (book title unknown — to me, anyway) is illuminating in revealing how much freedom was in place in England at that time.

The final sentences on the page conclude (emphasis mine):

… broadly speaking, the state acted only to help those who could not help themselves. It left the adult citizen alone.

Despite what many would call the ‘horrors’ of living in that era, we discover that there were no passports, income tax was low, education mandates were in place as well as health and safety laws.

In case the image disappears from this post, excerpts follow. Consider all of this highlighted:

Until August 1914, a sensible, law-abiding Englishman could pass through life and hardly notice the existence of the state, beyond the post office and the policeman … He had no official number or identity card. He could travel abroad or leave his country for ever without a passport or any sort of official permission. He could exchange his money for any other currency without restriction or limit. He could buy goods from any country in the world on the same terms as he bought goods at home. For that matter, a foreigner could spend his life in this country without permit and without informing the police. Unlike the countries of the European continent, the state did not require its citizens to perform military service. An Englishman could enlist, if he chose, in the regular army, the navy, or the territorials. He could also ignore, if he chose, the demands of national defence … The Englishman paid taxes on a modest scale: nearly £200 million in 1913-14, or rather less than 8 per cent. of the national income. The state intervened to prevent the citizen from eating adulterated food or contracting certain infectious diseases. It imposed safety rules in factories, and prevented women, and adult males in some industries, from working excessive hours. The state saw to it that children received education up to the age of 13. Since 1 January 1909, it provided a meagre pension for the needy over the age of 70. Since 1911, it helped to insure certain classes of workers against sickness and unemployment. This tendency towards more state action was increasing. Expenditure on the social services had roughly doubled since the Liberals took office in 1905. Still, broadly speaking, the state acted only to help those who could not help themselves. It left the adult citizen alone.

For my overseas readers, the Liberals were a political party, the forerunners of the current Liberal Democrats. Note that they were partly instrumental in increasing the size of the state through increased public expenditure — provided by the taxpayer.

I wonder if any of the above is still taught in schools today.