Reproducing these new statutes was a part of the publication, and their quantity alone was then so large, he complained, that it “almost exhausts our still meagre paper quota”.

This was no short term problem because that March he advised that the national paper shortage had led effectively to a ban on publication of periodicals (presumably later issues were backdated).

The ban had been “imposed arbitrarily and without discrimination by the Minister of Fuel and Power” who had been acting apparently without statutory authority.

The complaint involved the minister having not made any attempt to assess the purpose or relative importance of the suspended periodicals.

Worse, perhaps, an announcement had been made by the minister and that was supplemented by explanations from “minions at the Ministry”.

There was enough space in the February issue to explain the new arrangements for compulsory National Service, a requirement of two years in the armed forces which was later to reduce progressively to 18 months.

The new scheme made liberal provision for deferment which “should enable each man concerned” to decide whether to complete his apprenticeship and then do his National Service or do his National Service first and complete his apprenticeship.

A new, post-war era, had definitely been entered as any National Service “performed” after 31 December 1946 was not regarded as entitling an apprentice to any reduction in the period of apprenticeship.

National Service performed prior to that crucial date did continue to be treated as reducing the period of apprenticeship, although in what proportions was not specified then. These were, doubtless, only a few of the problems facing the legal profession. For the whole of the population of Britain 1947 was a momentous year, which included food rationing then still in force.

This attractively produced new book by David Kirby sets out in popular narrative form the huge range of wider historical events which place the complaints of the editor of the Scots Law Times in context.

For the first three months of the year, the public endured the worst winter in living memory, with drastic fuel shortages and power cuts; Ramsgate Magistrates Court conducted business by candlelight.

Heavy snow gave way to widespread flooding in the spring, and by the summer, the economic crisis had deepened, forcing renewed cutbacks.

The hardships of 1947 can only be considered in the context of the testing times of 1930s and the demands of total war in the 1940s, and there is in the narrative a recognition of the enduring hardships.

By reference to an extensive range of local newspapers, contemporary articles, films and other archives ordinary life in town halls, hospitals, schools, dance halls, and at sports events are described.

The narrative is more than social history as the political tensions between strong central government and the long-established local authorities is amply explained. The growth of central government to provide universal national health arrangements was deeply contentious with evidence that existing provisions based on voluntary service was acceptable.

Amid the misery of freezing homes, meagre food supplies and threadbare clothing, the British were on the brink of a new era of social transformation – the beginnings of the “Welfare State”.

Not all of life seems to have been bad but much of it was dismal. Adults now were children then, and doubtless many still alive recall vividly crucial events on a personal level.
The author as a small child was taken by his mother to a bus stop to meet his father for the first time, on the latter’s return after several years absence on wartime army service.

Most commendably, David Kirby has consulted many distinctly local newspapers so that he presents national, that is to say truly British, developments by reference to the local implications and opinions.

This engaging book offers an excellent explanation of the time and all the hardships when society and people began to change in very important ways that led on to where we are now.

Britain, 1947: Hope Amid Hardship by David Kirby. Published by Hurst & Co. 400pp, £30.