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GCSE History Essay

Hi, I need help! I've got a history homework due tomorrow and I don't know what to write. Could anyone help me out? The essay needs to be roughly a page long.

The question is: Why do Source C and D have different views about the conditions of workhouses?

Questions to answer:
What is the message that each source is trying to say?
Why do they have different messages?
What are its strengths and weaknesses of each source?
Which view of the workhouse do you think is most likely to be true ?
Conclusion?

Source C:
What was the menu today, Tuesday? Roast mutton and potatoes, with bread. The young men and women each had four and a half ounces of meat, twelve ounces of potatoes, and four ounces of bread. For breakfast the ration was four ounces of bread, one pint and a half of porridge or one pint of cocoa; and for supper it will be six ounces of bread and one pint and a half of broth.
Now we reach the aged married couples' quarters- ten little rooms and a general room at the end for meals. Admirable is the only word for it. The brightly painted walls, the pictures, the furniture, the photographs and knick-knacks belonging to the inmates, who are allowed to bring in such property and arrange it as they choose. If an old couple must spend their last days in the workhouse, one could wish them no brighter or healthier quarters.
TW Wilkinson, a professional writer. Taken from his article called London's Homes for the Homeless from the non-fiction book entitled Living London (1902)

Source D:
I am writing with regard to the enquiries as to the sanitary conditions of the Cardiff Union Workhouse. The atmosphere of some of the apartments which are occupied by the invalid inmates, day and night, have become impregnated with malefic miasma, that many inmates have become diseased. Here they are living in squalid filthy lodgings and are no further away from destitution and squalor than where they previously came from.
The paupers mortality has been affected to a great extent, especially the children. It would be very desirable to reduce the number of children here or indeed remove them entirely from the Workhouse, especially as the vast majority of deaths in this workhouse are of children.
James Lewis, Doctor to the Cardiff Workhouse, writing a letter to the Poor Law Inspector, who was conducting a government enquiry into the conditions in the country's Workhouses. (1849)

I'll be very grateful if anyone could help me out as soon as possible. Thank you!
Hi there, I’ve just moved this thread for you so you might be more likely to get a response :smile:
Reply 2
Original post by Lily54321
Hi, I need help! I've got a history homework due tomorrow and I don't know what to write. Could anyone help me out? The essay needs to be roughly a page long.

The question is: Why do Source C and D have different views about the conditions of workhouses?

Questions to answer:
What is the message that each source is trying to say?
Why do they have different messages?
What are its strengths and weaknesses of each source?
Which view of the workhouse do you think is most likely to be true ?
Conclusion?

Source C:
What was the menu today, Tuesday? Roast mutton and potatoes, with bread. The young men and women each had four and a half ounces of meat, twelve ounces of potatoes, and four ounces of bread. For breakfast the ration was four ounces of bread, one pint and a half of porridge or one pint of cocoa; and for supper it will be six ounces of bread and one pint and a half of broth.
Now we reach the aged married couples' quarters- ten little rooms and a general room at the end for meals. Admirable is the only word for it. The brightly painted walls, the pictures, the furniture, the photographs and knick-knacks belonging to the inmates, who are allowed to bring in such property and arrange it as they choose. If an old couple must spend their last days in the workhouse, one could wish them no brighter or healthier quarters.
TW Wilkinson, a professional writer. Taken from his article called London's Homes for the Homeless from the non-fiction book entitled Living London (1902)

Source D:
I am writing with regard to the enquiries as to the sanitary conditions of the Cardiff Union Workhouse. The atmosphere of some of the apartments which are occupied by the invalid inmates, day and night, have become impregnated with malefic miasma, that many inmates have become diseased. Here they are living in squalid filthy lodgings and are no further away from destitution and squalor than where they previously came from.
The paupers mortality has been affected to a great extent, especially the children. It would be very desirable to reduce the number of children here or indeed remove them entirely from the Workhouse, especially as the vast majority of deaths in this workhouse are of children.
James Lewis, Doctor to the Cardiff Workhouse, writing a letter to the Poor Law Inspector, who was conducting a government enquiry into the conditions in the country's Workhouses. (1849)

I'll be very grateful if anyone could help me out as soon as possible. Thank you!


Rough guide:


What is the message that each source is trying to say? First source is trying to paint the workhouse in a positive light i.e 'If an old couple must spend their last days in the workhouse, one could wish them no brighter or healthier quarters.' Think of the reputation workhouses had and why the author would do that.

Second source is describing the crampiness and how overrun and underfunded workhouses were at the time.

Why do they have different messages? First source sounds like propaganda; he is writing for a book, and while it is non-fiction, I would say that it would sell better if the workhouse is painted as a cheerful place!

Second source is written by a doctor; clearly he is going to see the true horrors of the workhouse.

What are its strengths and weaknesses of each source? First source paints a warm, calm sense of the workhouse, but fails to mention how cramped and dirty they could get.

Second source only focuses on the hygiene aspect of the workhouse, and the overcrowding.

Which view of the workhouse do you think is most likely to be true ?

Second one. A doctor of a workhouse would understand better than a visiting writer. Workhouses had a reputation, known for being reserved for the poorest of the poor, overrun and dirty.

Sorry this is a rough outline, I've not done source work in a while! :h:

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