Pre 20 Century Non Fiction Henry Mayhew Description of a Mudlark "London Labour and the London Poor"

Created for students to build confidence in reading texts written prior to 1914, this is an account from Henry Mayhew’s “London Labour and the London Poor” of an interview with a child working as a mudlark. Useful alongside the study of “A Christmas Carol” as another insight into poverty in the 19th century. There are 11 multiple-choice questions here (answers provided). The questions are intended to be straightforward but the Word document is easily editable for you to add or remove questions or change the level of difficulty to suit your own class.

This could be used as a homework or a pre-reading activity so that students are already familiar with the text before you use it in class. Alternatively, the questions could be used to structure a guided reading activity. Some questions lend themselves to being developed in order to deepen understanding.