If I asked you to name me the most British thing you could think of, you would probably list the stereotypes: a roast dinner, fish and chips, queuing perhaps. However, I would propose to you a different one – one I can guarantee most of us do regularly: popping to the local corner shop. Nowadays, they are mainly used for the basics: a loaf of bread, some milk, but in the early 20th century, people’s lives would be confined to their localities, and their entire weekly shop, along with their hobbies and their careers, would centre around their local row of businesses. In Cheylesmore, an area of Coventry local to me, the parade of shops on Daventry Road tells a story of prosperity and community spirit in a time where much of the world was struggling from the impacts of the Wall Street Crash. I am therefore arguing to you that history overlooks prosperity in the 1930s, due to the Great Depression, and that the 1930s was a key time for economic growth in certain areas of the world. This is seen through my local history, in Coventry, which reflects the wider global story.

The original shops on Daventry Road were built in 1936, which can clearly be seen through the emblazoned lettering giving the year and name of the buildings above the shop front. With later additions to the east being added from the early 1950s onwards, this was a development for the entire community, as seen in the 1940’s Kelly’s Directory, which shows they housed newsagents, butchers, greengrocers, and confectioners. The entirety of the development was done by the Coventry Corporation, a strain of the local council – complete with a park and lake in the centre to create a ‘show piece for the city’, according to the Corporation themselves.

To many, this seems an unusual amount of government spending in a time of struggle throughout the world, given that according to economicshelp.org the decline in global demand after the Wall Street Crash was the main reason that UK economy went into recession in the 1930s, and why in 1931 real GDP fell 5%. In one of the most hard-hit areas of the country, Jarrow, a shipbuilding town on the Northeast coast, there were unemployment rates of up to 70% in the 1930s due to the effects of the Wall Street Crash.

However, Coventry, and the Midlands in general, unlike much of the Western World, did not feel the effects of the Great Depression as strongly as other areas. In fact, the area prospered in the 1930s and times afterwards. This is largely due to the motor industry that Coventry is so well known for, with makes such as Triumph, Standard, and Jaguar originating in this very city. The industry was thriving due to the recent introduction of mass production, which allowed vehicles to be manufactured quicker and cheaper. In later years, Coventry’s motor factories moved towards the war effort, with factories across the city becoming ‘shadow factories’, creating parts for the Bristol Mercury aircraft engines. This seems to be the reason why the local economy in Cheylesmore was strong and stable enough to afford this new development, as well as house it in its entirety, as it gave jobs to both men and women in the localities, which meant there was the disposable income to keep businesses that inhabited the new development afloat.

And the effects were tremendous. When speaking to William Sutton, a resident of Cheylesmore until 1971, he described how Cheylesmore was a ‘great place to live back then’, and how he even worked in one of the local newsagents as a young man, and another resident of the time described that there was ‘so much on their doorstep’. These first-hand, contemporary accounts of Cheylesmore at the time give validity to the statement I am aiming to make, which is that the 1930s was not an entirely negative time and was also a time for immense growth in parts of the world, which is usually overlooked due to the severity of the Great Depression.

And Coventry was not the only place that was thriving during the 1930s. When looking on a larger scale, it can be said that the Soviet Union’s economy was cushioned from the effects of the Great Depression. This is due to a number of factors, such as the fact that the Wall Street Crash was in some ways positive propaganda for communism. Michael Ellman, an economic historian states this is because workers in the USSR still had stable, and even expanding employment, much like in Coventry, which is more than can be said for the USA at the time. This was a propaganda victory for communism as at the time it showed their economy to be more stable, perhaps due to the fact that the economic systems between the two countries were vastly different. Similarly, as the US markets couldn’t meet demand for agricultural products due to the dustbowl, the Soviets could sell their same products at a higher price due to increased demand. For example, in 1932, the USSR exported 1.6 million tons of grain, whereas the USA was restraining their exports in order to help their local economies. Thus, the USSR economy did benefit from the Wall Street Crash in some ways, and therefore this further backs my point that the 1930s was a time for prosperity in many places, both near and far to me.

Overall, I hope I have made to you the point that although the world majorly struggled from the impacts of the Wall Street Crash and Great Depression, such as in the United States, where unemployment rates rose to 24.7% at their peak in the decade, there were positive impacts to be seen around the world, both local to me, and thousands of miles away, where economies and people could thrive even in tough times.  

I am a 16-year-old A-Level student from Coventry studying History, English Literature and Maths. I have a passion for writing and spreading my ideas and hope to one day become a solicitor. In my spare time I enjoy playing and watching rugby. In my speech I have written about my local area in order to spread my love of Coventry and demonstrate how amazing the city is. I also focus more widely on the impacts of the Great Depression around the world and the recovery efforts put into place.