Centre Number: 55229
Centre Name: Carter Community School
Candidate Number: 0639
Candidate Name: Ethan Hare
Unit A953
History Around Us
How far does your study of Poole and the Newfoundland Cod trade show it
to have importance in Georgians period of prosperity 1750-1850?
Intro
Poole has a diverse history it dates back to the iron age, the romans and Saxons has not been
important until the Georgian period, where John Cabot found Newfoundland and Poole
established a fishing trade with the country, the Newfoundland trade was where British
merchants would travel to Canada and catch cod and salt them/dry them and sell the fish all
over Europe. One of the people who benefitted the most were the Merchants who travelled to
Newfoundland to fish, a good example of their wealth is sources 9 and 10 where they built
mansions to show how rich they were evidence of how rich they were is that they had large
glass windows and lots of chimneys. This led to the golden age which took place between
1750-1820 this is what made Poole important to Georgian prosperity. In the controlled
assessment I will be talking about how important Poole was to Georgian prosperity.
Agree
Poole was important to Georgian prosperity because during the Georgian period Poole went
through a golden age between 1750-1820 which is when Poole established its fishing trade.
We know that Poole was important to Georgian prosperity because of source 1 A speech by
Dai Watkins, a Poole museum expert who talks about how two of the Poole merchants left 11
million pounds and 4 million pounds in todays currency this shows that Poole was important
to Georgian prosperity because people were getting extremely rich like other cities or towns
in England. This source is not entirely reliable because Dai Watkins might have exaggerated
to get people to visit the museum and Poole and the purpose of his job is to make Poole look
important, we also have no evidence to show what was in their will. Another source that
Centre Number: 55229
Centre Name: Carter Community School
Candidate Number: 0639
Candidate Name: Ethan Hare
Unit A953
History Around Us
shows how important Poole was is 13 Daniel Defoes a tour through the whole island of
Britain where he says We came to Poole a considerable sea port and indeed the most
considerable this part of England this demonstrations it is important to Georgian prosperity
because it says that Poole is extremely important to the southern parts of England and he has
travelled through the whole of England and has said its the most considerable. Its not as
trustworthy either because it doesnt give reasons why the port is so important furthermore, it
does not give the opinions of others who have toured to island of Britain. A source what says
why Pooles port is so important is Source 6 List of ships owned by the Lester family it
shows that Poole must have been important because it had a lot of ships docked, the only
downfall to this source is we dont know how many of them ships were linked with
Newfoundland trade but if you link it with Source 7 Benjamin Lesters diary 1788 arrivals at
trinity it tells us how many ships were linked to the Newfoundland the source is not that
useful because it does not tell us what the ships are doing in Newfoundland, yet if you link
Source 7 with Source 8 Fish landed by our bankers it shows us that theyre catching fish in
Newfoundland the downfall to this source is it does not tell us who benefitted. Source 5
Parish records, inhabitants in Dorsetshire 1801, 1811, 1821, 1831, 1841, 1851 is also a good
example of Georgian prosperity because it shows how people moved to Poole during the
Georgian period when Poole was in its golden age we can tell this because in 1811 there were
only 4816 people living in the town of Poole as where in 1821 Poole had 6390 inhabitants this
show that Poole was important because it shows just like cities Pooles population increased.
This source is not entirely reliable as it does not give a reason for the people moving into the
town of Poole. Sources 10 Mansion House and 11 Western House are also good links to
show that Poole was important to Georgian prosperity is because similar to cities the rich
Centre Number: 55229
Centre Name: Carter Community School
Candidate Number: 0639
Candidate Name: Ethan Hare
Unit A953
History Around Us
Georgians such as factory owner would also build these mansions to show their wealth by
making them with large glass windows and lots of chimneys and possibly pillars in front of
the doors. These sources have two disadvantages as we do not know how many of these
mansions there were as some may have been dismantled to make room for other housing, also
many of the other houses have been destroyed since the Georgian period so we cant tell who
else was effected with the money from the wealth made from the Merchants and other
businesss.
Disagree
Poole was not important to Georgian prosperity because unlike the cities who were still on
an economical increase Poole started to fall into an economic depression after the Napoleonic
war as France and other countries were able to fish from Newfoundland. We can tell that
Poole went into an economic depression because in Source 28 Notice relating to the
bankruptcy of two companies 1838 it shows how two of Pooles Merchants went bankrupt
after France got access to Newfoundland. A disadvantage to this source is that it does not give
us the real reason for the merchants to go out of business. Another example of Poole going
through an economic depression is Source 18 A letter by George Garland 1818 as he says I
am also clearly of opinion that as we carry so little fishing and should have less occasions for
boats. This shows where Poole has lost full control of Newfoundland the price of fish has
gone down so less people are fishing to make money. It also tells us that there may be less
fish in Newfoundland so instead of sending five boats and catching very little fish you might
as well send two ships and catch the same amount as the five ships. This source is not entirely
reliable as we do not know why there is less fishing happening and it is a letter from one
Centre Number: 55229
Centre Name: Carter Community School
Candidate Number: 0639
Candidate Name: Ethan Hare
Unit A953
History Around Us
person rather than the opinions of many people. An alternative show that shows the decline of
Georgian prosperity is Source 20 Poole rate books citied in the origin and development of
trinity up to 1900 by Gordon Hancock, 1981 it shows the loss of ships of the Lester family
from 21 ships in 1793 to 11 ships in 1800. This source is not entirely reliable as it does not
explain to us why the Lester family had lost 10 ships in 7 years they may have been
sold/destroyed. From my own knowledge I know another reason for Pooles decline is the
railway what was built to try and speed up the transport of goods but instead it led to the
decline as they did not realise that the ships would no longer be needed to transport items
around as the trains could get items transported faster. One other Source that shows that Poole
was not important to Georgian prosperity is Source 15 Timelines TV factories and machines
in the source it says how factories led to Britains global dominance not the fishing trade. This
shows that in the later parts of the Georgian period Poole was not as important as Poole did
not go through and industrial revolution which means Poole could not important to Georgian
prosperity. This source in not totally dependable as the show does not say how Poole did help
in the earlier part of Georgian prosperity and is made to say how important factories were and
no other businesses were mentioned. Overall Poole was not important to Georgian prosperity
as like Source 15 explains during the end of the Georgian period it says that the factories led
to global dominance this means that factories would have started to make the most money in
the later parts of the period, because Poole did not go through an industrial revolution until the
Victorian period so there for Poole was not important to the later part of Georgian prosperity.
JUDGEMENT
Centre Number: 55229
Centre Name: Carter Community School
Candidate Number: 0639
Candidate Name: Ethan Hare
Unit A953
History Around Us
Overall, Poole was and also was not important to Georgian prosperity because in Source 15 it
explains that the fishing trade did not lead the overall to prosperity of Georgian Britain we can
tell this as Poole did not go through an industrial revolution until the Victorian period and like
it says in Source 15 factories led to global dominance. From my own knowledge I also know
that Poole was not the most important to Britains Georgian prosperity as Poole went into an
economic depression in a fairly early part of the period which means it could not have helped
with the improvement to the prosperity of Britain during the time period of 1750-1850. Poole
did also have its importance to the wealth of Britain as before the Napoleonic war Poole had
exclusive access to Newfoundland which is when the price of fish was quite expensive, as less
people were fishing so they could charge a lot more for the fish, which means Poole could
make lots of money from selling it to the other countries in the world which means Poole was
contributing a lot to the prosperity of Britain during the Georgian period as Poole was making
the most money from the Cod trade. Poole also was important in my opinion as in the Sources
22, 23, 24, 25 and 26 Maps of Poole 1751-1945 these sources show how Poole has grown
since the start of the Georgian period this shows how Poole was important to Georgian
prosperity as in the maps it shows how Poole was a fairly small sea town we can tell that it
was a fishing town because most of the houses were located on the sea front and as time has
gone on Poole has expanded which means Poole has made money and that also means that
Poole has made money which means Poole has helped with Georgian prosperity.
Word Count 1,672
Primary
