2025 AQA AS HISTORY 7041/1G Challenge and transformation: Britain, c1851–1964
Component 1G Victorian and Edwardian Britain, c1851–1914
Question paper and Marking scheme Merged
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.
, 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
Component 1G Victorian and Edwardian Britain, c1851–1914
Question paper and Marking scheme Merged
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.
, 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
