and the people: Britain, c1783–1885
Verified Question paper and Marking Scheme Attached
A-level
HISTORY
Component 1F Industrialisation and the people: Britain, c1783–1885
Thursday 23 May 2024 Morning Time allowed: 2 hours 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 7042/1F.
• Answer three questions.
In Section A answer Question 01. In
Section B answer two questions.
Information
• The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
• The maximum mark for this paper is 80.
• 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:
– 1 hour on Question 01 from Section A
– 45 minutes on each of the two questions answered from Section B.
, 2
Section A
Answer Question 01.
Extract A
In the short term, the Great Reform Act of 1832 strengthened the landed class. It deprived the radicals of
their middle-class leadership. Instead, there was now an alliance of land and industry. In the long term, the
Reform Act opened the door to more dramatic changes. Within 30 years, politicians recognised that they
would have to trust working men with the vote. Before long, the aristocracy would have to share an influence
which they had been used to exercising alone. But it would be a sharing of powers, albeit unequally and 5
uneasily. It would not be the crude suppression of the aristocracy by the middle classes. By 1867, Britain
was well on the way to a middle-class dominated parliament. For all its imperfections, the Great Reform Act
set a modern industrial state firmly on the path to gradual, non-violent change. This is why it deserves to be
remembered as a major piece of legislation with far-reaching consequences.
10
Adapted from E Evans, The Great Reform Act of 1832, 1983
Extract B
The political world after the Great Reform Act of 1832 was less corrupt but the change did not take place
rapidly nor did it begin in 1832. It would be wrong to use the Reform Act to explain trends in politics that
started long before this reform and needed many years to complete. These included the development of
modern parties and the rising influence of public opinion and the press. This is not to say the Great Reform
Act achieved nothing, but the continuity of the political system was tough enough to survive the Act. While 5
many small pocket boroughs were abolished, over 40 survived into the 1860s and landlords and
industrialists dominated some newly enfranchised industrial towns in a similar way. Corrupt constituencies
survived as did the sale of borough seats. There was no limit to how much could be spent on parliamentary
elections. Great peers still sent their nominees to the Commons and the wealthy used their social and
economic influence for political purposes. 10
Adapted from N Gash, Politics in the Age of Peel, 2012
IB/M/Jun24/G4002/7042/1F
, 3
Extract C
The 1832 Reform Act had been presented by middle-class reformers and the Whigs as a new statement of
people’s rights. Its failure to live up to these claims in its eventual terms led working-class radicals to
demand a new charter of their own. This popular movement escalated because the reformed parliament
and its middle-class reform had failed to live up to the hopes and expectations of those working-class people
who had supported reform. By 1836 even more moderate radicals, like Place and Roebuck, had come to 5
share the view of more extreme radicals that the Reform Act had been a sham. Radicals could now see that
the Reform Act had actually strengthened the old political system structures and that radicalism had been
defeated. All radicals felt that they must form a single movement to campaign for further political reform.
Chartism, and its radical successors before 1867, was not a logical progression from the Great Reform Act
but advocated a new world which the old world was not ready for. 10
Adapted from E Royle, Chartism, 1996
0 1 Using your understanding of the historical context, assess how convincing the arguments in these
three extracts are in relation to the significance of the impact of the 1832 Great Reform Act over the
next 30 years.
[30 marks]
Turn over for Section B
IB/M/Jun24/G4002/7042/1F Turn over ►