Source Analysis

Question 1

Stating What the Document is

Answer 1

This is an excerpt from Brynmawr by Hilda Jennings in 1934

Jennings was a sociologist & social worker involved with Quaker-sponsored Brynmawr Experiment during Great Depression

Book presents account of life in Brynmawr, small mining town in South Wales impacted by industrial decline & mass unemployment

Question 2

Historical Context

Answer 2

Source situated in depth of Great Depression, period of global economic decline

Britain, traditional industries - coal mining, shipbuilding & steel suffered catastrophic decline

South Wales including Brynmawr among hardest hit regions

Unemployment rates soared, many men reliant on meagre unemployment benefits or Poor Law relief system

Question 2

Historical Context - Jennings

Answer 2

Jennings wrote at time when gov policy was largely laissez-faire & unemployment support was minimal

Means-tested nature of unemployment help made life psychologically precarious for jobless workers & their families

Question 3

Specific Points 1

Answer 3

“Individual men & their families of course react in different ways”

• Jennings opens with nuanced observation, rejecting a one-size-fits-all view of unemployment
• Progressive stance for the time, emphasising individuality & psychological diversity of those affected

Question 4

Specific Points 2

Answer 4

“Each Friday he will have a short period of sickening anxiety lest the clerk should single him out and tell him that he is to be sent to the ‘Court of Referees’”

• Highlights emotional strain & institutional fear ingrained in experience of claiming benefits
• Reference to ‘Court of Referees’ that decided on benefit eligibility reveals how scrutiny added psychological distress to material hardship

Question 5

Specific Points 3

Answer 5

“Contributed his ‘Penny’ to the Unemployed Lodge”

• Detail suggests persistence of solidarity & communal structures among unemployed miners, notably Miners’ Federation
• Also reflects traditional working-class institutions offered a sense of identity & support even in economic crisis

Question 6

Specific Points 4

Answer 6

“Beneath the surface this similarity does not reign”

• Jennings explores various coping mechanisms & psychological responses
• Humanises the unemployed & demonstrates how economic hardship intersects with personal character & political awareness

Question 7

Specific Points 5

Answer 7

“Others work on allotment or garden”

• Mention of self-directed activity shows some men & families sought purpose & dignity through practical domestic labour
• Image of homemade furniture & domestic compromise conveys creativity & constrained reality of the time

Question 8

Historical Significance 1

Answer 8

Jennings’ account is significant for several reasons

Offers a rare & compassionate sociological insight into lived experiences of unemployment during interwar period, specifically a working-class Welsh community

Question 9

Historical Significance 2

Answer 9

Document challenges contemporary stereotypes of “idle poor” illustrating emotional complexity & active, though limited, agency among unemployed

Question 10

Historical Significance 3

Answer 10

Reflects early 20th-century concerns about mental health, community cohesion & limitations of state welfare

Question 11

Historical Significance 4

Answer 11

Part of Brynmawr Experiment, Jennings’ work connects to broader attempts at social reform led by Quakers & other activists who sought to mitigate worst effects of industrial decline

Question 12

Other Sources

Answer 12

Valued account, bias as involved, factual

Over 100,000 businesses shut down between 1929 and 1931

Some had borrowed money to keep going before the crash and could not afford to pay back their loans.