When war broke out in 1914 it had been anticipated for some time but the reality of the immediate consequences took everyone by surprise. The scale of the distress among the poor was far beyond anything previously experienced. Even more damaging was the realisation that the existing provision for the relief of poverty was hopelessly inadequate. Stirred by emotion, the public rushed hither and thither in a frantic search for an outlet for their feelings. Schemes of all sorts and sizes sprang into existence, confusion reigned supreme and the toll of misery mounted daily. The distress among unprecedentedly large numbers of the working population reached crisis proportions.

The seriousness of the situation in Liverpool was magnified by the wholesale national call-up of casual labour, which necessarily had particularly drastic effects on the dockside community. The official system of allowances for the dependants of men in the forces was rigidly applied only to those of married status and moreover was paid retrospectively, with cruel consequences for those who relied on the allowances for their daily maintenance. What was quickly evident was that this rigidity excluded large numbers who fell outside the regulations and whose claims for poor relief were similarly problematic. The only charity in Liverpool directly concerned with the care of military families was the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Families Association. This had been set up during the Boer War but had dwindled to a mere thirteen members with no subscription list.

What ensued for Liverpool is a story of such complexity as to defy any attempt to reduce it to a tidy chronological account. The impact of so stupendous an experience was to precipitate the entire community into a totally strange environment in which past custom and practice no longer held good. The response was as various as the demands made upon it. All manner of new growth developed, all manner of new ideas, new plans, new hopes, new projects crowded the scene.