2. Artifact: Newspaper advertisement
Author: William Little
Issued by: British Association for
the Relief of Extreme Distress in the
Remote Parishes of Ireland and
Scotland
Publication date: Saturday,
January 16, 1847
Publication location:
198 Strand,
Parish of St. Clemens, Danes,
County of Middlesex,
London, UK
From: The Illustrated London News
(Historical Archive 1842 – 2003)
3.
4. Context
Industrial Revolution caused
mass migration to urban areas
Corn Laws forced higher food
prices on urban families
Blight wiped out potato supply
in Ireland, causing widespread
starvation
Relief programs drove people
to the city, created epidemics
Image: WordPress
5. Relation to
Text
Image: HubIMG
Experiences at Lowood reflect
national hunger problems
Both feature committees that
come to the rescue
Exposure of poor conditions @
receive negative public
attention
Jane = Bronte’s mouthpiece on
impoverished communities
6. Important Quotes
“ The scanty supply of food was distressing […] whenever the
famished great girls had an opportunity, they would coax or
menace the little ones out of their portion […] after relinquishing to
a third [girl] the contents of my mug of coffee, I have swallowed the
remainder with an accompaniment of secret tears, forced from me
by the exigency of hunger” (122).
“Several wealthy and benevolent individuals in the county
subscribed largely for the erection of a more convenient building in
a better situation; new regulations were made; improvements in
diet and clothing introduced; the funds of the school were
entrusted to the management of a committee” (149).
“Poverty looks grim to grown people; still more so to children: they
have not much idea of industrious, working, respectable poverty”
(82).
7. Sources
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. N.p.: Smith, Elder, and
Company, 1847. Print.
"Industrial Revolution." History.com. A&E Networks, n.d.
Web. 17 Sept. 2014.
http://www.history.com/topics/industrial- revolution
Little, William. British Association for the Relief of Extreme
Distress in the Remote Parishes of Ireland and
Scotland. Advertisement. Illustrated London News
[London] 16 Jan. 1847: Print.
O'Rourke, John. The History of the Great Irish Famine
of 1847. 2004. Digital file.
Victorian Web. George P. Landow, 8 May 2009. Web. 17
Sept. 2014. <http://www.victorianweb.org/
science/health/ hunger.html>.
