Christianity and Charitable Caregiving for Disabled Ex-Servicemen in Interwar Britain, 1918-1939

The First World War did not end faith in Britain. Because Christianity affected charitable mission, method, and networks in interwar society, the thesis uses the ways in which charities engaged with other institutions and those they provided care for to argue that religion remained socially significant after 1918. A decline in church attendance figures after the war does not symbolise a decline in the social significance of religion. After 1918, religion remained important to charitable practice and to wider British society.
Yet, in histories examining care for disabled veterans, the link between religion and rehabilitation is underdeveloped. Accordingly, this thesis asks whether religious belief and practice influenced charitable aid for disabled veterans. To answer this question, care for veterans is analysed at the intersection of the histories of religion, charity, and disability. Five charitable case studies are used to argue that between 1918 and 1939, Christian – more specifically Anglican – belief and practice directly affected the care religious and medical charities provided for disabled veterans of the First World War.
The thesis reveals that regional specificity, locality, inter-institutional relations, and concerns over employment and domesticity help answer this question, because these factors affected the type of care charities gave to disabled veterans. This care was provided within, and was affected by, a complex and fluctuating network of relationships between disabled veterans, charities, the Church, and government departments. The thesis also reveals that charities which did not form specifically or exclusively to help rehabilitate disabled veterans made a significant contribution to their care.
A study on charitable care for disabled veterans is a study on the social construction and mobilisation of religion in post-war Britain. The thesis concludes that charity and religion remained important at a time when the state was becoming more involved with the welfare of disabled people.