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Poverty, Public Health and the State in Britain, c1780–1939

Smiles, Mayhew and Dickens on poverty

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 3

Overview

Recall questions on Self-Help and its influence, Mayhew's method and what he revealed, Dickens's attacks on the workhouse and on political economy.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Numbers

What message did Samuel Smiles promote?

Who and when

What did Mayhew's work reveal?

Who and when

How did Dickens attack the Poor Law?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What message did Samuel Smiles promote?

    Model answer

    In Self-Help (1859) he argued that thrift, hard work and self-improvement, not state aid, were the route out of poverty.

  2. 2

    What did Henry Mayhew contribute to understanding of poverty?

    Model answer

    His London Labour and the London Poor documented in vivid detail the lives and work of the London poor.

  3. 3

    How did Dickens challenge attitudes to the poor?

    Model answer

    Through novels such as Oliver Twist he exposed the cruelty of the workhouse system and stirred public sympathy for the poor.

  4. 4

    What did Smiles argue in Self-Help?

    Model answer

    That character, thrift, perseverance and industry were the route out of poverty, and that state help weakened the qualities that made men succeed.

  5. 5

    Why was Self-Help so influential?

    Model answer

    It sold a quarter of a million copies, expressed the confidence of the mid-Victorian middle class, and justified limited state provision.

  6. 6

    What was Mayhew's method?

    Model answer

    He interviewed street sellers, sweepers and casual workers in London and recorded their own words and earnings in detail for the Morning Chronicle.

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