1920 - 1939
1920s and 1930s
The post-war depression and unemployment in Britain produced a movement for organised economy and relief among the student community which gradually evolved into the activities of students unions we recognise today. This used the methods known as ‘student self help’ which were being developed among students in Europe. For example the Union Society at Cardiff pioneered the supply of stationery and notebooks to students at reduced prices, while Armstrong College, Newcastle operated a successful student bookshop. Some of the earliest work of the National Union of Students in the 1920s and 1930s was in developing a loan scheme for distressed students, obtaining concessions on textbooks, newspapers and rail fares, and subsidising the treatment of British students at a Swiss sanatorium. In the 1920s students all over the country were also involved in raising money for the NUS’s own Establishment Fund Appeal (launched to buy its London headquarters) through fundraising luncheons and balls and selling magazines during the Boat Race.
In 1925 European Student Relief changed its name to International Student Service to reflect a shift from relief work to cultural co-operation and in 1931 dropped its affiliation with the WSCF. In fact regular relief programmes were instigated in the run up to the Second World War including students affected by the Bulgarian earthquake (1928), Chinese floods and Sino-Japanese war (1931), political upheavals in Austria (1935) and for student refugees from Germany (1933). In 1929 International Student Service formed a Self-Help Council for Wales to deal with the critical situation facing students at Welsh colleges resulting from industrial depression and unemployment.
In the inter war period other opportunities for student voluntarism opened up. One important new model of volunteering which emerged was the ‘workcamp’. This was a type of service where young volunteers (often from different countries) worked as a group to complete a practical project in a time-limited period, such as a few weeks. The spirit of friendship in which the service was offered was as important as the work done and the movement was strongly influenced by ideas of pacifism and internationalism. In inter-war Britain workcamps were organised by a range of groups including the Youth Hostels Association of England and Wales, International Voluntary Service (the British branch of a worldwide organisation called Service Civil International) and the Society of Friends, as well as by some student unions.
University students were an important source of volunteers for these camps, especially as workcamping was ideally suited to fit in with student vacations. Between 1930 and 1937 International Student Service ran a campaign to promote work camps as method of student social service. During the 1930s student volunteers worked alongside unemployed men on hundreds of projects in England and Wales. For example, five workcamps were organised during 1932-4 in the Yorkshire village of Cleveland where students supported unemployed miners to cultivate market gardens designed to give the villages a direct supply of food. In addition, the Universities’ Council for Unemployed Camps was formed to start work camps for unemployed men. In 1934 six universities co-operated in the scheme, organising six camps each with 100 student volunteers and 100 unemployed men.
Another new feature of student voluntarism was the development in the inter-war period of the fundraising for local charities associated with rag weeks. Rag festivities drew on a variety of traditions, including the idea of a licensed episode of misrule, and emerged at Northern universities in the nineteenth century as high-spirited celebrations linked to holidays or theatre trips and, as the tradition spread to other universities, evolved into carnivals. In the 1920s and 1930s rag activities to raise funds for charity and particularly for the support of local hospitals grew in scale and new features emerged as rag days became rag weeks. Festivities included large scale costumed processions, kidnapping of college mascots, and even fights between groups of rival students with such weapons as rotten fruit and flour bombs. Other forms of fundraising during rag weeks included balls, concerts, selling ‘rag mags’ with humorous articles, jokes and cartoons. Rivalry was an important aspect of rags, with students from different departments of different colleges competing to raise the most money. One indication of the growing importance of rags was the December 1937 conference of organisers of ‘University Carnivals in aid of Hospitals’ convened by the NUS in Liverpool in order to facilitate exchange of ideas and methods.
By 1934 there were around 40,000 students in universities and colleges in England and Wales. In the late 1930s the NUS made efforts to ‘inculcate a social consciousness among students’, issuing a social service supplement in the February 1939 issue of its journal New University.
The post-war depression and unemployment in Britain produced a movement for organised economy and relief among the student community which gradually evolved into the activities of students unions we recognise today. This used the methods known as ‘student self help’ which were being developed among students in Europe. For example the Union Society at Cardiff pioneered the supply of stationery and notebooks to students at reduced prices, while Armstrong College, Newcastle operated a successful student bookshop. Some of the earliest work of the National Union of Students in the 1920s and 1930s was in developing a loan scheme for distressed students, obtaining concessions on textbooks, newspapers and rail fares, and subsidising the treatment of British students at a Swiss sanatorium. In the 1920s students all over the country were also involved in raising money for the NUS’s own Establishment Fund Appeal (launched to buy its London headquarters) through fundraising luncheons and balls and selling magazines during the Boat Race.
In 1925 European Student Relief changed its name to International Student Service to reflect a shift from relief work to cultural co-operation and in 1931 dropped its affiliation with the WSCF. In fact regular relief programmes were instigated in the run up to the Second World War including students affected by the Bulgarian earthquake (1928), Chinese floods and Sino-Japanese war (1931), political upheavals in Austria (1935) and for student refugees from Germany (1933). In 1929 International Student Service formed a Self-Help Council for Wales to deal with the critical situation facing students at Welsh colleges resulting from industrial depression and unemployment.
In the inter war period other opportunities for student voluntarism opened up. One important new model of volunteering which emerged was the ‘workcamp’. This was a type of service where young volunteers (often from different countries) worked as a group to complete a practical project in a time-limited period, such as a few weeks. The spirit of friendship in which the service was offered was as important as the work done and the movement was strongly influenced by ideas of pacifism and internationalism. In inter-war Britain workcamps were organised by a range of groups including the Youth Hostels Association of England and Wales, International Voluntary Service (the British branch of a worldwide organisation called Service Civil International) and the Society of Friends, as well as by some student unions.
University students were an important source of volunteers for these camps, especially as workcamping was ideally suited to fit in with student vacations. Between 1930 and 1937 International Student Service ran a campaign to promote work camps as method of student social service. During the 1930s student volunteers worked alongside unemployed men on hundreds of projects in England and Wales. For example, five workcamps were organised during 1932-4 in the Yorkshire village of Cleveland where students supported unemployed miners to cultivate market gardens designed to give the villages a direct supply of food. In addition, the Universities’ Council for Unemployed Camps was formed to start work camps for unemployed men. In 1934 six universities co-operated in the scheme, organising six camps each with 100 student volunteers and 100 unemployed men.
Another new feature of student voluntarism was the development in the inter-war period of the fundraising for local charities associated with rag weeks. Rag festivities drew on a variety of traditions, including the idea of a licensed episode of misrule, and emerged at Northern universities in the nineteenth century as high-spirited celebrations linked to holidays or theatre trips and, as the tradition spread to other universities, evolved into carnivals. In the 1920s and 1930s rag activities to raise funds for charity and particularly for the support of local hospitals grew in scale and new features emerged as rag days became rag weeks. Festivities included large scale costumed processions, kidnapping of college mascots, and even fights between groups of rival students with such weapons as rotten fruit and flour bombs. Other forms of fundraising during rag weeks included balls, concerts, selling ‘rag mags’ with humorous articles, jokes and cartoons. Rivalry was an important aspect of rags, with students from different departments of different colleges competing to raise the most money. One indication of the growing importance of rags was the December 1937 conference of organisers of ‘University Carnivals in aid of Hospitals’ convened by the NUS in Liverpool in order to facilitate exchange of ideas and methods.
By 1934 there were around 40,000 students in universities and colleges in England and Wales. In the late 1930s the NUS made efforts to ‘inculcate a social consciousness among students’, issuing a social service supplement in the February 1939 issue of its journal New University.
