2025 AQA AS HISTORY Component 1G Challenge and
Transformation: Britain, c1851–1964 – Victorian and
Edwardian Britain, c1851–1914 Question Paper & Mark
Scheme (Merged) Wednesday 14 May 2025 [VERIFIED]
AS
HISTORY
Challenge and transformation: Britain, c1851–1964
Component 1G Victorian and Edwardian Britain, c1851–1914
Wednesday 14 May 2025 Afternoon Time allowed: 1 hour 30 minutes
Materials
For this paper you must have:
an AQA 16-page answer book.
Instructions
Use black ink or black ball-point pen.
Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Paper Reference is
7041/1G.
Answer two questions.
In Section A answer Question 01.
In Section B answer either Question 02 or Question 03.
Information
The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
The maximum mark for this paper is 50.
You will be marked on your ability to:
– use good English
– organise information clearly
– use specialist vocabulary where appropriate.
Advice
You are advised to spend about:
– 50 minutes on Section A
– 40 minutes on Section B.
IB/M/Jun25/G4002/V3 7041/1G
, 2
Section A
Answer Question 01.
Extract A
The actions of the Fenians in 1867 caused many Liberals to wonder if the time had come
to steer Ireland away from acts of desperation through a sustained attempt at constructive
reform. One of the people who began to think this way was Gladstone. After 1868,
Gladstone’s Irish legislation signalled a fresh way of looking at Irish problems. It marked
a new harmony between English Liberalism and Irish Catholicism. In particular, the 1881 5
Land Act did much to meet the immediate demands of Irish tenants. It established
the principle of co-partnership in the soil between landlord and tenant. It did this by giving
the tenant the famous ‘three Fs’ – fair rents, fixity of tenure and free sale.
Adapted from FSL Lyons, Ireland Since the Famine, 1973
Extract B
In 1870, Gladstone guided his first Irish Land Act through parliament. However, the act
was not especially bold and it proved disappointing in operation. Subsequently,
the agricultural depression of the 1870s gave a new intensity to the Irish question.
Irish tenants could not pay their rents. Evictions resulted; but evictions led to attempts on
the lives of landlords and agents. Gladstone felt bound to restore law and order and 5
a Coercion Act was passed in 1881. At the same time, Gladstone accepted the need for
a second Irish Land Act. However, this Act was a concession which Parnell and
the Land League did not think went far enough. Once again, the Liberal government was
satisfying no-one.
Adapted from D Read, England, 1868–1914, 1979
0 1 With reference to these extracts and your understanding of the historical context, which
of these two extracts provides the more convincing interpretation of Gladstone’s
attempts to improve Anglo-Irish relations in the years 1868 to 1881?
[25 marks]
IB/M/Jun25/7041/1G
Transformation: Britain, c1851–1964 – Victorian and
Edwardian Britain, c1851–1914 Question Paper & Mark
Scheme (Merged) Wednesday 14 May 2025 [VERIFIED]
AS
HISTORY
Challenge and transformation: Britain, c1851–1964
Component 1G Victorian and Edwardian Britain, c1851–1914
Wednesday 14 May 2025 Afternoon Time allowed: 1 hour 30 minutes
Materials
For this paper you must have:
an AQA 16-page answer book.
Instructions
Use black ink or black ball-point pen.
Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Paper Reference is
7041/1G.
Answer two questions.
In Section A answer Question 01.
In Section B answer either Question 02 or Question 03.
Information
The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
The maximum mark for this paper is 50.
You will be marked on your ability to:
– use good English
– organise information clearly
– use specialist vocabulary where appropriate.
Advice
You are advised to spend about:
– 50 minutes on Section A
– 40 minutes on Section B.
IB/M/Jun25/G4002/V3 7041/1G
, 2
Section A
Answer Question 01.
Extract A
The actions of the Fenians in 1867 caused many Liberals to wonder if the time had come
to steer Ireland away from acts of desperation through a sustained attempt at constructive
reform. One of the people who began to think this way was Gladstone. After 1868,
Gladstone’s Irish legislation signalled a fresh way of looking at Irish problems. It marked
a new harmony between English Liberalism and Irish Catholicism. In particular, the 1881 5
Land Act did much to meet the immediate demands of Irish tenants. It established
the principle of co-partnership in the soil between landlord and tenant. It did this by giving
the tenant the famous ‘three Fs’ – fair rents, fixity of tenure and free sale.
Adapted from FSL Lyons, Ireland Since the Famine, 1973
Extract B
In 1870, Gladstone guided his first Irish Land Act through parliament. However, the act
was not especially bold and it proved disappointing in operation. Subsequently,
the agricultural depression of the 1870s gave a new intensity to the Irish question.
Irish tenants could not pay their rents. Evictions resulted; but evictions led to attempts on
the lives of landlords and agents. Gladstone felt bound to restore law and order and 5
a Coercion Act was passed in 1881. At the same time, Gladstone accepted the need for
a second Irish Land Act. However, this Act was a concession which Parnell and
the Land League did not think went far enough. Once again, the Liberal government was
satisfying no-one.
Adapted from D Read, England, 1868–1914, 1979
0 1 With reference to these extracts and your understanding of the historical context, which
of these two extracts provides the more convincing interpretation of Gladstone’s
attempts to improve Anglo-Irish relations in the years 1868 to 1881?
[25 marks]
IB/M/Jun25/7041/1G
