The Great Depression
The 1930s are remembered for mass unemployment. However, there was already mass unemployment in the 1920s in Britain. For most of the decade it hovered between 10% and 12%. Then, in the early 1930s, the economy was struck by depression. By the start of 1933 unemployment in Britain was 22.8%.
“Everyday Life In Britain In The 1930s”, Tim Lambert, Society in 1930s Britain, http://www.localhistories.org/1930slife.html, retrieved 21/07/2019.
The Labour Government has no effective response to the economic crisis that followed the Stock Market Crash of 1929. By the end of 1930, unemployment has doubled to over two and a half million. Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald’s government is struggling to cope with the crisis, failing to reconcile two contradictory aims: achieving a balanced budget, and maintaining assistance to the poor and unemployed, whilst tax revenues are falling.
1931
On 16 May 1931, John Oliver Oliver begins his military career in Horncastle, Lincolnshore, where he attests for six years’ Army service, as a gunner with the Royal Regiment of Artillery. And on 27 May he is posted to the 1st Training Brigade Royal Artillery Depot.
On 16 July, John is awarded a 3rd Class Certificate of Education at Woolwich.
In August, the Labour Government of Ramsay MacDonald resigns and is replaced by a National Government of people drawn from all parties also under MacDonald.
On 12 September, Gunner J O Oliver’s first posting is to the 23rd Medium Battery, 6th Medium Brigade (Royal Artillery).
1932
On 16 April 1932, Gunner John O Oliver is appointed to Driver IC [Internal Combustion] and on 26 April, at the Royal School of Artillery (Larkhill, Wiltshire) he qualifies to be in charge of a Military Transport Vehicle — his first driving licence.
John attains his 2nd Class Certificate of Education in English, Army and Empire, Map Reading and Mathematics, on 12 September.
On 1 October John is posted to the 27th Medium Battery, 7th Medium Brigade (Royal Artillery).
On 8 December John is serving with the British Army in India, transported aboard HMT Lancashire.
1933 – 1934
On 30 January 1933, Adolf Hitler, the Führer of the Nazi Party, is appointed as Chancellor of Germany.
On 24 March 1933, Gunner J O Oliver, stationed more than 4,000 miles away from Nazi Germany, is posted to 1st (Field) Brigade Headquarters in India.
In August, Winston Churchill makes his first public speech warning of the dangers of German rearmament, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles.
1935
In March, John passes in Maths at Quetta, India and on 4 March, he is posted to the 11th Battery, 1st (Field) Brigade (RA).
Quetta, a Pashto word meaning “fortress”, is the provincial capital and largest city of Balochistan, in current-day Pakistan. As a strategic position on the western frontier, Quetta had been occupied by the British in 1876 and subsequently incorporated into British India. By 1935, Quetta had developed into a bustling city with a number of multi-storey buildings and was known as “Little London”.
In the early hours of the morning of 13 May, Quetta would be hit by a massive earthquake resulting in the death of 20,000 people in the city and an estimated 40,000 more in the surrounding settlements.
On 16 October, at Hyberbad, Sind, John attains his 1st Class Certificate of Education in English, Mathematics, Geography and Map Reading.
1936
On 13 January 1936, John is appointed to the rank of Lance Bombardier, and employed as the STO’s [Stores and Transport Officer’s] Clerk.
King Edward VIII succeeds his father George V on 20 January 1936, but is quickly met with difficulties due to his love affair with Wallis Simpson, an American who had already been married twice.
On 1 May John relinquishes the appointment of Driver and is employed as a Victualling Agent [responsible for obtaining and supplying food provisions] on 7 June. On 9 June he extends his service to 12 years with the Colours.
In December, King Edward decides to abdicate in order to be able to marry Wallis Simpson, and his brother George VI is crowned King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death.
1937
Following the abdication crisis in 1936, Neville Chamberlain becomes the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 28 May 1937.
On 12 November 1937, L/Bdr J O Oliver relinquishes his appointment, due to “unsuitability”, and returns to the rank of Gunner and the very next day he is employed as “Q” [Quartermaster] Clerk.
On 5 December he is once again appointed to the rank of Driver.
1938
In January 1938, John is employed as a Documentary Clerk, retaining the rank of Driver.
A little more than a year before the start of the Second World War, tensions are rising: on 13 March, Austria is annexed by Germany. On 27 September, US President Franklin D Roosevelt sends a letter to German Führer Adolf Hitler seeking peace. In an attempt to appease Hitler, on 30 September, the Munich Agreement is signed by Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Italy, allowing Germany to annex the Czechoslovak Sudetenland area in exchange for peace.
By 31 October John is back in the UK after serving more than 5 years in India and on 30 November he is posted to the Royal Artillery Detachment of the Chemical Defence Experimental Station (CDES) at Porton.
In 1930 Britain ratified the 1925 Geneva Protocol with reservations, which permitted the use of chemical warfare agents only in retaliation. By 1938, the international situation was such that the Cabinet authorised offensive chemical warfare research and development and the production of war reserve stocks of chemical warfare agents by the chemical industry.
Carter, G B (2000). Chemical and Biological Defence at Porton Down 1916-2000. London: The Stationery Office. pp. 126–127. ISBN 0-11-772933-7.
John Oliver Oliver 