McMillan and Jowett tried to persuade the Parliament to introduce legislation which encouraged all education authorities to provide free school meals for children.

McMillan argued that if the state insisted on compulsory education, it must take responsibility for the proper nourishment of school children.

A report published in 1889 indicated that over 50,000 pupils in London alone were attending school "in want of food".

The 1904 Report into Physical Deterioration followed the large rejection of men from service in the Boer War, as they were malnourished.

This legislation in the United Kingdom, or its constituent jurisdictions, article is a stub.