Pearson Edexcel · A-Level · History
Course version: 9HI0 · Version from Sept 2015
Industrialisation and social change in Britain, 1759–1928: forging a new…
Full specification wording
Paper 3, Option 34.1: Industrialisation and social change in Britain, 1759–1928: forging a new society - 2 The world of childhood: Reasons for changes in attitudes to children, 1759–1928, including the influence of Prince Albert and of Kingsley’s Water Babies, Barrie’s Peter Pan, Dickens’s A Christmas Carol.
Attitudes to children changed as industrial society, religion and culture reshaped ideas of innocence and duty.
Checked against the Pearson Edexcel 9HI0 specification (opens in a new tab) on .
- Point 2 of 2
- 4 key terms
Study notes
From the checked teaching notes for this specification point.
The idea
Attitudes to children changed as industrial society, religion and culture reshaped ideas of innocence and duty. Prince Albert's patronage of the 1851 Great Exhibition and his support for children's welfare helped make childhood a public concern. Literature carried emotional arguments: Dickens's A Christmas Carol (1843) presented poor children such as Ignorance and Want as objects of pity; Kingsley's The Water-Babies (1863) attacked child sweeps and neglect; Barrie's Peter Pan (1904) celebrated imaginative, protected childhood. These works, alongside evangelical philanthropy and rising living standards, encouraged legislation and schooling.
What earns the marks
- Explains Prince Albert's public role in promoting children's welfare and national exhibitions.
- Explains Dickens's A Christmas Carol as exposing child poverty and encouraging sympathy.
- Explains Kingsley's The Water-Babies as a critique of child labour and neglect.
- Explains Barrie's Peter Pan as idealising a protected, imaginative childhood.
- Links literary and royal influences to wider social, religious and economic change.
- Assesses the relative weight of cultural influence against legislation and philanthropy.
Common mistakes and how to put them right
Treating the named texts as direct causes of legislation.
Put it right by presenting them as shaping public opinion that pressured reform.
Confusing Prince Albert's influence with that of Queen Victoria.
Put it right by specifying Albert's own patronage and welfare interests.
Ignoring chronology; correct by dating each text and linking it to the phase of reform it influenced.
Exam tips
- Use each named text with its date and a specific message about childhood.
- Explain the mechanism of influence: publicity, sympathy, pressure on Parliament.
- Balance cultural factors with economic and political causes in conclusions.
Try the lesson
The start of the Paper 3, Option 34.1: Industrialisation and social change in Britain, 1759–1928: forging a new society - 2 The world of childhood: Reasons for changes in attitudes to children, 1759–1928, including the influence of Prince Albert and of Kingsley’s Water Babies, Barrie’s Peter Pan, Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. lesson, made from checked teaching notes for this specification point.
Have a go first
How did Charles Dickens’s novel A Christmas Carol contribute to changing attitudes towards children in the nineteenth century?
Listen
Attitudes to children changed as industrial society, religion and culture reshaped ideas of innocence and duty. Prince Albert's patronage of the 1851 Great Exhibition and his support for children's welfare helped make childhood a public concern. Literature carried emotional arguments: Dickens's A Christmas Carol (1843) presented poor children such as Ignorance and Want as objects of pity; Kingsley's The Water-Babies (1863) attacked child sweeps and neglect; Barrie's Peter Pan (1904) celebrated imaginative, protected childhood. These works, alongside evangelical philanthropy and rising living standards, encouraged legislation and schooling. A strong answer earns marks for these points. Explains Prince Albert's public role in promoting children's welfare and national exhibitions. Explains Dickens's A Christmas Carol as exposing child poverty and encouraging sympathy. Explains Kingsley's The Water-Babies as a critique of child labour and neglect. Explains Barrie's Peter Pan as idealising a protected, imaginative childhood. A common slip: Treating the named texts as direct causes of legislation. Instead, presenting them as shaping public opinion that pressured reform. Exam tip: Use each named text with its date and a specific message about childhood.
Key words
Say what each word means before you turn the card.
Changing ideas of childhood
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Literature and social reform
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Royal and public patronage
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Innocence and protection
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See every definition
- Changing ideas of childhood
- Industrial society, religion and culture reshaped ideas of innocence and duty, making childhood a public concern.
- Literature and social reform
- Works such as A Christmas Carol, The Water-Babies and Peter Pan shaped public opinion that pressured reform.
- Royal and public patronage
- Prince Albert's public role promoted children's welfare and national exhibitions, helping make childhood a public concern.
- Innocence and protection
- Peter Pan celebrated imaginative, protected childhood, while other works presented poor children as objects of pity.
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