'Delicate duties': Issues of class and respectability in government policytowards the wives and widows of British soldiers in the era of the Great War

This article considers the position of war widows before the First World Wa r and explores the changes which the requirements of an unprecedented scale of war brought. It also examines the persistence of negative attitudes tow ards working-class women and the way these were incorporated into state pol icies designed to ensure the good behaviour of women in receipt of a pensio n or allowance. The various ways this policy was implemented are described through an examination of the workings of the Special Grants Committee with in the Ministry of Pensions.