Comprehensive guide covering essential IELTS preparation strategies and techniques to help you achieve your target band score.
Originally published September 2020. Last reviewed 3 July 2026.
An immense mausoleum of white marble, built in Agra between 1631 and 1648 by order of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favourite wife, the Taj Mahal is the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world’s heritage.
The Taj Mahal is located on the right bank of the Yamuna River in a vast Mughal garden that encompasses nearly 17 hectares, in the Agra District in Uttar Pradesh. It was built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal with construction starting in 1632 AD and completed in 1648 AD, with the mosque, the guest house and the main gateway on the south, the outer courtyard and its cloisters were added subsequently and completed in 1653 AD. The existence of several historical and Quaranic inscriptions in Arabic script have facilitated setting the chronology of Taj Mahal. For its construction, masons, stone-cutters, inlayers, carvers, painters, calligraphers, dome builders and other artisans were requisitioned from the whole of the empire and also from the Central Asia and Iran. Ustad-Ahmad Lahori was the main architect of the Taj Mahal.
The Taj Mahal is considered to be the greatest architectural achievement in the whole range of Indo-Islamic architecture. Its recognised architectonic beauty has a rhythmic combination of solids and voids, concave and convex and light shadow; such as arches and domes further increases the aesthetic aspect. The colour combination of lush green scape reddish pathway and blue sky over it show cases the monument in ever changing tints and moods. The relief work in marble and inlay with precious and semi precious stones make it a monument apart.
The uniqueness of Taj Mahal lies in some truly remarkable innovations carried out by the horticulture planners and architects of Shah Jahan. One such genius planning is the placing of tomb at one end of the quadripartite garden rather than in the exact centre, which added rich depth and perspective to the distant view of the monument. It is also, one of the best examples of raised tomb variety. The tomb is further raised on a square platform with the four sides of the octagonal base of the minarets extended beyond the square at the corners. The top of the platform is reached through a lateral flight of steps provided in the centre of the southern side. The ground plan of the Taj Mahal is in perfect balance of composition, the octagonal tomb chamber in the centre, encompassed by the portal halls and the four corner rooms. The plan is repeated on the upper floor. The exterior of the tomb is square in plan, with chamfered corners. The large double storied domed chamber, which houses the cenotaphs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan, is a perfect octagon in plan. The exquisite octagonal marble lattice screen encircling both cenotaphs is a piece of superb workmanship. It is highly polished and richly decorated with inlay work. The borders of the frames are inlaid with precious stones representing flowers executed with wonderful perfection. The hues and the shades of the stones used to make the leaves and the flowers appear almost real. The cenotaph of Mumtaz Mahal is in perfect centre of the tomb chamber, placed on a rectangular platform decorated with inlaid flower plant motifs. The cenotaph of Shah Jahan is greater than Mumtaz Mahal and installed more than thirty years later by the side of the latter on its west. The upper cenotaphs are only illusory and the real graves are in the lower tomb chamber (crypt), a practice adopted in the imperial Mughal tombs.
The four free-standing minarets at the corners of the platform added a hitherto unknown dimension to the Mughal architecture. The four minarets provide not only a kind of spatial reference to the monument but also give a three dimensional effect to the edifice.
The most impressive in the Taj Mahal complex next to the tomb, is the main gate which stands majestically in the centre of the southern wall of the forecourt. The gate is flanked on the north front by double arcade galleries. The garden in front of the galleries is subdivided into four quarters by two main walk-ways and each quarters in turn subdivided by the narrower cross-axial walkways, on the Timurid-Persian scheme of the walled in garden. The enclosure walls on the east and west have a pavilion at the centre.
The Taj Mahal is a perfect symmetrical planned building, with an emphasis of bilateral symmetry along a central axis on which the main features are placed. The building material used is brick-in-lime mortar veneered with red sandstone and marble and inlay work of precious/semi precious stones. The mosque and the guest house in the Taj Mahal complex are built of red sandstone in contrast to the marble tomb in the centre. Both the buildings have a large platform over the terrace at their front. Both the mosque and the guest house are the identical structures. They have an oblong massive prayer hall consist of three vaulted bays arranged in a row with central dominant portal. The frame of the portal arches and the spandrels are veneered in white marble. The spandrels are filled with flowery arabesques of stone intarsia and the arches bordered with rope molding.
Integrity is maintained in the intactness of tomb, mosque, guest house, main gate and the whole Taj Mahal complex. The physical fabric is in good condition and structural stability, nature of foundation, verticality of the minarets and other constructional aspects of Taj Mahal have been studied and continue to be monitored. To control the impact of deterioration due for atmospheric pollutants, an air control monitoring station is installed to constantly monitor air quality and control decay factors as they arise. To ensure the protection of the setting, the adequate management and enforcement of regulations in the extended buffer zone is needed. In addition, future development for tourist facilities will need to ensure that the functional and visual integrity of the property is maintained, particularly in the relationship with the Agra Fort.The tomb, mosque, guest house, main gate and the overall Taj Mahal complex have maintained the conditions of authenticity at the time of inscription. Although an important amount of repairs and conservation works have been carried out right from the British period in India these have not compromised to the original qualities of the buildings. Future conservation work will need to follow guidelines that ensure that qualities such as form and design continue to be preserved.
Taj Mahal Antonym Trivia Across and Down Worksheet Find the Antonym of the highlighted word from the word box. Complete the crossword puzzle. Antonyms are the words or phrases that represent the opposite meaning.
Taj Mahal Antonym trivia Worksheet Find the antonym of the highlighted word from the word box. Complete the crossword puzzle. Antonyms are the words or phrases that represent the opposite meaning.
Taj Mahal Synonym Antonym Worksheet Write a synonym and an antonym for each word. Use the words in the word box to fill the blanks. Antonyms are the words or phrases that represent the opposite meaning.Synonyms are the words or phrases that represent a similar meaning.
Taj Mahal Synonym Passage Worksheet Replace the words in the passage with appropriate synonyms. Synonyms are the words or phrases that represent a similar meaning.
Taj Mahal Synonym Trivia Across and Down Worksheet Find the Synonym of the highlighted word from the word box. Complete the crossword puzzle. Antonyms are the words or phrases that represent the opposite meaning.
Taj Mahal Synonym trivia Worksheet Complete the puzzle with the words that are synonyms to the hints. Synonyms are the words or phrases that represent a similar meaning.
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on reading text 2.
Robotics in Healthcare – Get ready!
While there are concerns about machines replacing people in the workforce, the benefits are tempting. Imagine how a machine that doesn’t need sleep or food, doesn’t have prejudices that we humans so often have could change the way we treat people who are sick and vulnerable. With some preparation and forethought, we can make sure the human touch stays relevant in medicine while taking advantage of our metallic allies. For this reason, here are some interesting examples of robotics in healthcare.
Surgery is an unpleasant experience at best. The waiting lists can be long depending on available manpower and resources. daVinci helps alleviate the problem. It has been used in a wide variety of fields from head and neck to urologic surgery. The surgeon is in complete control of the system at all times, however as the machine has greater reach and flexibility, smaller incisions made with more precision are enough to access the problem areas.
During a hospital stay, patients interact with nurses the most. They draw blood, check your vital signs, check on your condition and take care of your hygiene if needed. They are often overwhelmed by physically and mentally daunting tasks, and the result is often an unpleasant experience for everyone involved. Robotic nurses will help carry this burden in the future. They are designed to be able to carry out repetitive tasks. This way the staff has more energy to deal with issues that require human decision-making skills and empathy. Certain robots can even take your blood sample.
But robotics in healthcare is so much more than drawing blood. With a remote controlled robot, such as the ones developed by Anybots Inc caretakers can interact with their patients, check on their living conditions and the need for further appointments. This would help efficiency a great deal by eliminating the time-consuming home visits. Companies producing and the ones maintaining the system will have to make great efforts to alleviate privacy concerns. As with every such device, it must be near impossible to access for non-authorized personnel. With the proper safeguards in place, these robots can greatly improve the lives of caretakers and patients alike.
Chances are you have been in a situation before where, if an accident were to happen, medical professionals would not have been able to reach you in time. To some of us in the developed world, it’s a rare occurrence. But even in 2016 billion live outside of the reach of conventional emergency services. With InTouch Health, patients in remote areas have access to high-quality emergency consultations for stroke, cardiovascular, and burn services. On the patient’s side, it can be accessed on a tablet or personal computer, and clinicians can also use the same type of devices as best suits their needs.
You have seen them in movies, taken advantage of them in video games and now they are here for real: exoskeletons. With the help of these devices paralysed people can walk, rehabilitation of stroke or spinal cord injury patients. They can enhance strength in order to allow a nurse to lift an elderly patient. While they have many exciting uses, it’s important to remember that currently, they are costly to make and power, so at least at first they will not be available for everyone. Although, in some cases, insurance companies had to cover the costs. Because of this, it has the potential to deepen already existing social and economic inequalities. Decision makers have to lay the groundwork to regulate the use of such devices. They will have to stay up to date on their capabilities to prevent misuse.
The great thing about robots is that they can be built to be so durable that they can overtake tasks that for humans would be simply too dangerous. Take Petman for example: designed for testing chemical protection clothing. It moves freely and can even adjust suit temperature and simulate sweating to provide realistic conditions.
Such solutions not only minimise the risk to human testers, in the long run, mechanisation of the supply chain makes production cheaper as well. Robots don’t need vacations, to eat or sleep. With a new generation of them more sturdy, agile and flexible than ever they increase productivity in all kind of factories.
Hospital acquired infections (such as MRSA) are among the leading causes of death in the US. According to CDC statistics used by Xenex show that in the United States, 1 in every 25 patients will contract an HAI. Of those, 1 in 9 will die. In addition to the human cost, it takes its toll financially as well. These infections cost more than $30 billion dollars a year. Xenex, a Texas-based company produces a unique robot. It uses high-intensity ultraviolet light to disinfect any space in a health care facility quickly and efficiently. The Xenex Robot is more effective in causing cellular damage to microorganisms than other devices designed for disinfection. It reduces the number of hospital-acquired infections. It’s yet another example of how robotics in healthcare helps hospital staff to decrease workload and will lead to a much friendlier environment.
As with nurses, pharmacists are burdened with tasks that could be eliminated by utilising the advancing robotics in healthcare. Heavy lifting, as always, is a big help, but a robot could process information much faster and much more accurately than humans. This way it could make more precise recommendations after sifting through the patient’s available medical data. Pharma dispensers could work as an ATM does, so no matter time of day patients can get access to their prescriptions. If robots were used for such tasks, pharmacists would have the time and the incentive to participate in the social aspect of healing: educate people of preventive measures, give practical advice and therefore make sure that healthcare truly becomes caring.
Questions 14-17
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in text 2?
In boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet, write
YES – if the statement agrees with the views or claims
NO – if the statement contradicts the views or claims
NOT GIVEN – it is impossible to say what the writer’s views/claims are
14. Governments should do more to ensure that Robotics are readily available in the hospital systems.
15. Surgical procedures can be enhanced.
16. In the future, the healthcare system will increase its dependency on robots.
17. Hospitals in the United States reported that infections caught in hospital care cost the nation over 50 billion each year.
Questions 18-21
Complete the sentences below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the text for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 18-21 on your answer sheet.
18. In the future, medical robots will provide many ………………………… in the health care system.
19. Some machines or robotics will use data to increase …………………………………
20. With help from ………………………………… many people can walk.
21. Many robots can perform tasks that people cannot because they are too ………………………….
Questions 22-26
Look at the following names and list of statements below.
Match each name with the correct statement, A-H.
Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 22-26 on your answer sheet.
22. daVinci
23. Anybots Inc
24. InTouch Health
25. Petman
26. Xenex
List of Findings
A. Can perform autonomous head and neck surgery.
B. Provide specialist equipment for surgical procedures that give accurate lacerations.
C. Develop robots that can take blood.
D. Make health care workers that can investigate on patients easily.
E. Can offer healthcare services to those who live in remote places.
F. Can assist in lifting patients with spinal cord injuries.
G. Can perform jobs that are too risky for humans.
H. Ensures that spaces are kept clean, safe from the spread of epidemic particles.
If you need help to answer these questions with extra practice please read the posts below >>
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You should spend around 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on reading text 1.
Questions 1-7
Text 1 has seven paragraphs, A-G.
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-x, in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i. New regulations
ii. New rules introduced for those that leave trash on the roads
iii. Environmental destruction
iv. Improving the Environment
v. Guidelines to be followed
vi. The consequences
vii. How wildlife is being affected
viii. The clean up has started
ix. Public incentives
x. The future of littering
1. Paragraph A ……………………………….
2. Paragraph B ……………………………….
3. Paragraph C ……………………………….
4. Paragraph D ……………………………….
5. Paragraph E ……………………………….
6. Paragraph F ……………………………….
7. Paragraph G ……………………………….
Government publishes new anti-littering strategy
A
Litter louts could be hit with £150 fines as part of ambitious new plans to tackle rubbish in England. Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom unveiled the Government’s first Litter Strategy for England to reduce the near £800m burden to the taxpayer of clean-up costs. Under the new measures, the most serious litterers could be hit with the £150 fines, while vehicle owners could receive penalty notices when it can be proved litter was thrown from their car – even if it was discarded by somebody else.
B
The new motoring rules, which are already in force in London, make owners liable even if they didn’t throw the litter themselves.
Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom said:
Litter is something that affects us all – blighting our countryside, harming our wildlife, polluting our seas, spoiling our towns, and giving visitors a poor impression of our country.
Our litter strategy will tackle this antisocial behaviour by building an anti-litter culture; making it easier for people to dispose of rubbish; and hitting litter louts in the pocket.
We want to be the first generation to leave our environment in a better state than we found it, and tackling litter is an important part of our drive to make the country a better place to live and visit.
C
Further new measures drawn up by the environment, transport and communities departments include:
Issuing new guidance for councils to be able to update the nation’s ‘binfrastructure’ through creative new designs and better distribution of public litter bins, making it easier for people to discard rubbish.
Stopping councils from charging householders for disposal of DIY household waste at civic amenity sites (rubbish dumps) – legally, household waste is supposed to be free to dispose of at such sites.
Recommending that offenders on community sentences, including people, caught fly-tipping, help councils clear up litter and fly-tipped waste.
Working with Highways England to target the 25 worst litter hotspots across our road network to deliver long-lasting improvements to cleanliness.
Creating a ‘green generation’ by educating children to lead the fight against litter through an increased number of Eco-Schools and boosting participation in national clean-up days.
Creating a new expert group to look at further ways of cutting the worst kinds of litter, including plastic bottles and drinks containers, cigarette ends and fast food packaging.
D
Communities Minister Marcus Jones said:
It’s time we consigned litter louts and fly-tippers to the scrap heap of history. Through our first ever National Litter Strategy we plan to do exactly that.
Our plans include targeting the worst litter hotspots, cracking down on litter louts with increased fines and getting people to bin their rubbish properly.
For too long a selfish minority have got away with spoiling our streets. It’s time we sent them a clear message – clean up or face having to cough up.
E
Transport Minister John Hayes said:
Litter on our roads is a major and costly problem to deal with. It makes our roads look messy, can threaten wildlife and even increase the risk of flooding by blocking drains.
To combat this needless blight on our landscape, I am working with Highways England to target the worst 25 litter hotspots on our road network, on which hundreds of thousands of sacks are collected every year with the clean-up bill running into millions of pounds.
By increasing fines and working with local authorities, the Government is taking decisive action to clean up our environment.
F
The strategy also outlines measures to protect seas, oceans and marine life from pollution. It builds on the success of the 5p plastic bag charge, which has led to a 40% decrease in bags found on the beach. Funding will also be made available to support innovative community-led projects to tackle litter that could turn local success stories into national initiatives.
G
The Government will follow the strategy with a new national anti-littering campaign in 2018, working with industry and the voluntary sector to drive behaviour change. The consultation on the new enforcement measures officially opens today. Guidance will then be issued to councils to accompany any new enforcement powers, to make sure they are targeted at cutting litter while preventing over-zealous enforcement or fines being used to raise revenue.
Questions 8-13
Complete the sentences below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 8-13.
8. The litter removal costs close to 800m funded by the ………………………………………..
9. Combatting the litter problem now will help the ………………………………….. in the future.
10. Informing people about keeping the environment clean will start by …………………………………………..
11. As a punishment for littering, people will either have to ………………………………… or pay.
12. The success of having to pay for plastic bags has seen a ………………………………….. in bags found on the shore.
13. Officials will push this new regime and promote…………………………………………
If you need help to answer these questions with extra practice please read the posts below >>
We hope you found this post useful in helping you to study for the IELTS Test. If you have any questions please let us know in the comments below or on the Facebook page.
The best way to keep up to date with posts like this is to like us on Facebook, then follow us on Instagram and Pinterest.
If you need help preparing for the IELTS Test, join the IELTS Achieve Academy and see how we can assist you to achieve your desired band score. We offer an essay correction service, mock exams and online courses.
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on reading text 2.
Hating the Elite
A
Many deride the wealthy elite as symbols of inequality in democratic societies supposedly founded on equality. Why do people hate them so much? If we hate them, why do we tolerate them? Hunter-gatherer bands had few clear status distinctions apart from those of age and gender. Headmen, and occasionally head women, functioned as servant leaders who spent much of their time offering free counselling and conflict resolution services to members of the band. In these societies, headmen were more likely to marry a second wife but received no other benefits of office. Successful hunters had high status in the group and were in greater demand as extramarital partners, but they were always careful to avoid seeming boastful.
B
Anthropologists struggle to explain why inequality first arose but the transition to agriculture is a plausible explanation. Neolithic farmers in Europe had inherited status as revealed by analysis of objects buried with them (grave goods). Men buried with stone adzes (likely used to construct their wooden houses) were of higher status than others and acquired this rank from being raised on fertile loess soil that they inherited from their fathers. Fertile land is a valuable resource and much early warfare involved territorial aggression over land. Warfare required increased social organisation and political leadership increases a person’s status. The conversion of material wealth into political power may be the most common mechanism through which inequality arises. Arguably, the Native American Potlatches were not so very different from Hugo Chavez giving away refrigerators to Venezuela’s poor.
C
The same theme is expressed in Egypt’s Pharaohs controlling their population by creating a monopoly on storable food, such as wheat. The first large city – Uruk – was maintained by a highly productive agricultural system that was based on extensive irrigation. The rulers controlled the public works necessary to provide irrigation water and their administration was by means of an elaborate hierarchy of civil servants with slaves at the bottom and the monarch at the top. Agriculture may have been the earliest form of heritable wealth, but it pales in significance compared to the power of money and modern financial institutions. Unequal distribution of wealth today reflects ownership of financial assets (particularly stocks and bonds). Steady appreciation of these assets over time means that developed countries are increasingly divided into haves and have-nots. That creates problems.
D
Income inequality produces two main kinds of adverse effect. First, it produces or aggravates, many health problems. Second, it undermines social trust thereby impeding the smooth functioning of a society. The health problems are by now fairly well appreciated. Low-income groups have a substantially lower life expectancy. This is another way of saying that they experience a wide variety of health problems that subtract from their longevity. The underlying mechanisms are complex and cause range from environmental pollution to psychological stress, bad diet, and poor lifestyle, all of which are strongly associated with income. Unequal societies lack social trust. There is a pervasive feeling that the social contract is broken so that no one can be expected to obey laws, participate in politics, or invest in their local communities. Of course, some segments of the community are more disaffected than others and their communities are the most dysfunctional and crime-plagued. All of these problems are so serious, and so clearly produced by inequality that inequality itself can be considered a problem that must somehow be addressed, difficult though that might be.
E
Elites elicit hatred because they control resources that others wish they could enjoy. Moreover, humans have always preferred equality in social interactions, judging from the flatness of hunter-gatherer societies. So why do we accept a hereditary elite instead of insisting upon liberty, equality, and brotherly love, as expressed in the slogan of the French Revolution? One fairly obvious answer is in terms of the power structure, whether political or economic. Neolithic farmers who occupied loess soil were healthier and stronger than rivals that enabled them to repel; rivals and perpetuate their hereditary advantage of controlling better land. Analogous advantages are built into other kinds of elites, whether it is the higher earning power of more intelligent people or the systematic advantages enjoyed by financial elites compared to workers.
F
Economists cannot help but be impressed by the fact that financial wealth increases exponentially across generations whereas wages increase more slowly. This means that the financial system, of itself, exacerbates inequality. It is a giant squid that sucks value out of worker effort and secretes it in the accounts of the wealthy, a process that continues until there is a financial collapse. Such shocks may bankrupt the wealthy – unless they get bailed out by the government. The fact that elites may sometimes get bailed out is often dismissed as a side effect of corruption in government but it also suggests that wealthy institutions, such as banks play an essential role in facilitating the smooth functioning of economies. Much as we may hate the elites, there is also a sense that we are actually worse off without them and levelling experiments from the French Revolution to China’s Cultural Revolution did not go well. Whether the authority of the monarch, the lending power of the banker, the enterprise of an entrepreneur, or the glamour of a celebrity, the elites may satisfy practical or psychological needs of their victims. Or we are just stuck with them because they have all the power.
Questions 14-18
Text 2 has six paragraphs, A-F.
Which paragraphs contain the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.
NB you may use any letter more than once.
14. The class system started many years ago and now has grown out of control.
15. The upper class have formed good connections with finance companies and the government.
16. The ownership of certain items gives a person status.
17. Many people are envious of what the elected population have.
18. The suggestion that fortunate workers held more status.
Questions 19 and 20
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Write the correct letters in boxes 19-20 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO of these possible reasons for hating the elite are mentioned in the text?
A. They are obnoxious.
B. They are financially prosperous.
C. They promote a certain type of lifestyle.
D. They are mostly bankers.
E. They hold power in society.
Questions 21 and 22
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Write the correct letters in boxes 21 and 22 on your answer sheet.
The list below shows possible forms of proof that people hate the elite.
Which TWO possible forms of proof does the writer say has been found?
A. People have started petitions.
B. They control the media and the masses do not want this.
C. There have been large-scale protests.
D. They have been saved by financial institutions when needed, furthering the gap between those who have and those who have not.
E. In social situations, the elite are ignored.
Questions 23-26
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in text 2?
In boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet, write
YES – if the statement agrees with the views or claims
NO – if the statement contradicts the views or claims
NOT GIVEN – it is impossible to say what the writer’s views/claims are
23. The elite should receive more funds from the government.
24. There are problems between the elite and society.
25. The elite has been integral in helping to shape and form communities.
26. There is evidence to support the writers claims that people hate the elite.
If you need help to answer these questions with extra practice please read the posts below >>
We hope you found this post useful in helping you to study for the IELTS Test. If you have any questions please let us know in the comments below or on the Facebook page.
The best way to keep up to date with posts like this is to like us on Facebook, then follow us on Instagram and Pinterest.
If you need help preparing for the IELTS Test, join the IELTS Achieve Academy and see how we can assist you to achieve your desired band score. We offer an essay correction service, mock exams and online courses.
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on reading text 3.
Juvenile Crime in the 19th Century
Novels such as Oliver Twist have made Victorian child-thieves familiar to us, but to what extent did juvenile crime actually, exist in the 19th century? Drawing on contemporary accounts and printed ephemera, Dr Matthew White uncovers the facts behind the fiction. The success of Oliver Twist owes much to the biting satire and keen social observations contained within its pages. The misery of workhouses, the morally corrosive effects of poverty and the degradation of life in Victorian slums all received Dickens’s close attention. The novel’s prominent theme though is criminality, witnessed most vividly in the activities of Fagin’s gang of nimble-fingered child-thieves. But how realistic was Dickens’s portrayal of criminality among Victorian boys and girls?
Although youth crime had been a concern since the 1700s, a decline in formal apprenticeships and the disruptive effects of industrialisation on family life after 1800 did much to create fears among the general public about the activities of criminal gangs of boys and girls in London and elsewhere.
Sensational stories of crime and violence filled the pages of the popular press after 1800 with details of juvenile crime appearing in newspapers, broadsides and pamphlets. The activities of so-called ‘lads-men’ were regularly reported. These were criminal bosses who supposedly trained young boys to steal and then later sold the stolen goods they received from them. Thomas Duggin, for example, was an infamous ‘thief-trainer’ who worked in London’s notorious St Giles slum in 1817, and as late as 1855 The Times newspaper reported the activities of Charles King, a man who ran a gang of professional pick-pockets. Among King’s gang was a 13-year-old boy named John Reeves, who stole over £100 worth of property in one week alone. Similarly, Isaac ‘Ikey’ Solomon was a well-known receiver of stolen goods in the 1810s and 1820s who was arrested several times, and on one occasion escaped from custody. Solomon gained notoriety for being a trainer of young thieves and was for some time (incorrectly) considered to be the inspiration behind Dickens’s character of Fagin owing to his similar Jewish heritage.
‘Flash-houses’ also received regular attention from the police during the first half of the century. These were pubs or lodging houses where stolen property was ‘fenced’, and was considered by the police and magistrates to be ‘nurseries of crime’. One report in 1817 described flash-houses as containing ‘distinct parties or gangs’ of young boys, while later in 1837 a police witness recalled how one lodging house in London had ‘20 boys and ten girls under the age of 16’ living together, most of whom were ‘encouraged in picking pockets’ by their ‘captain’.
Evidence from the courts and newspaper articles during the first half of the 19th century suggests that juvenile crime was indeed a genuine problem. Dr Valerie Watters reported that the picking of pockets was especially troublesome, particularly the theft of silk handkerchiefs, which had a relatively high resale value and could thus be easily sold. Field Lane in London for example (the setting of Fagin’s den in Oliver Twist) was the home to several notorious receivers of stolen goods, where it was believed more than 5,000 handkerchiefs were handled each week. Often these were hung on poles outside the shops for sale to passers-by, many of whom went there to buy back their own stolen property.
Crowded places such as fairs, marketplaces and public executions were particularly profitable for young thieves. In 1824, for example, a 15-year-old boy, Joseph Mee, was charged with picking pockets at a public execution taking place at the Old Bailey; a youth described by the magistrate as a ‘hardened and unconcerned’ offender. At Greenwich Fair in 1835 13-year-old Robert Spencer was caught by a policeman drawing a handkerchief from the pocket of a gentleman in the crowd, while later in 1840 another constable stated in court how he witnessed 11-year-old Martin Gavan and another boy ‘try several pockets’ before stealing a gentleman’s handkerchief among a crowd that had gathered around a traffic accident.
Around three in every four petty thefts of personal property recorded in the county of Middlesex in the first quarter of the 19th century were committed by people under 25 years old, the vast majority of whom were teenagers or younger boys. Between 1830 and 1860, over half of all defendants tried at the Old Bailey for picking pockets were younger than 20 years of age.
London Labour and the London Poor Mayhew described life in the capital’s ‘low-lodging houses’, where he found several young boys engaged in daily petty thefts, including one who recounted how he was regularly drunk at the age of 10. Mayhew also described the activities of ‘Mudlarks’: boys and girls aged between eight and 15, who plundered goods from barges moored on the River Thames. However, historians have debated the true extent of juvenile crime in the 19th century. Changes in the way that children could be prosecuted after 1847, more sophisticated ways of gathering statistics and an over-emphasis on child criminality by moral reformers may have contributed to an exaggeration of an assumed increase in ‘juvenile delinquency’.
To modern eyes, the treatment of juvenile criminals in the 19th century appears particularly savage. After 1800 children between the ages of seven and 14 were considered incapable of forming criminal intentions, but could nevertheless be found guilty where this was proven beyond doubt. In theory, children convicted of serious felonies, therefore, faced the full penalty of the law: namely sentences of imprisonment, transportation and death.
Historian Martin Jones said, ‘In reality, death sentences bestowed on children were almost always commuted to lesser sentences on the grounds of leniency’. Of the 103 children aged 14 or under who were sentenced to death at the Old Bailey between 1801 and 1836, not one was executed. Typically, when two 13-year-olds and a 12-year-old were convicted of a burglary in 1821, they were ‘recommended to mercy on account of their youth’: a phrase that was regularly recorded by the courts. The last execution of a juvenile in England was probably that of John ‘Any Bird’ Bell, at Maidstone in Kent in 1831: a 14-year-old who committed a cold-blooded murder of a 12-year-old boy during a bungled robbery. His sentence by this time was already considered exceptional.
Death sentences for girls and boys under 16 years of age were in practice usually commuted to transportation. By the 1830s, each year around 5,000 prisoners, some of whom were as young as 10, were carried by ship to penal colonies in Australia, to serve sentences of seven or 14 years (and occasionally life). Once safely arrived, the convicts were set to work on public projects (such as building harbours or prisons) or were otherwise given manual tasks as servants to private employers, all of which (it was hoped) would help reform the offenders. Transportation was finally abolished in 1857 following concerns about the deterrent effect of the sentence on would-be criminals.
Questions 27-30
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 27-30 on your answer sheet.
27. What does the writer state about juvenile crime in the 19th century in the first paragraph?
A. Poverty caused young people to commit crimes.
B. Many children were sold to workhouses.
C. The children were often in gangs.
D. That the novel Oliver Twist by Dickens gives us an insight.
28. What are we told about the punishments for juvenile crimes?
A. Children under the age of 15 were given light sentences.
B. The laws did not affect children younger than 8.
C. Young offenders received the same sentences as adults with the same punishments for heinous crimes.
D. Many children were allowed to complete their sentence in a workhouse.
29. The writer refers to death sentences and transportation in order to
A. Show the serious way in which all crimes were dealt with in the 19th century.
B. Relay the facts of available punishments for juveniles.
C. Explain which crimes would receive those punishments.
D. Justify the need for such serious punishments.
30. In the sixth paragraph, we are told that
A. Serious crimes were committed regularly.
B. Pickpockets were rife.
C. Young offenders worked in gangs and shared profits.
D. Many youths were held accountable for their actions.
Questions 31-35
Look at the following opinions and the list of people below.
Match each opinion with the correct person, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D, in boxes 31-35 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
31. Stealing from people was easy for children with small hands, particularly smaller luxury items
32. Children were often given shorter more lenient sentences.
33. The most problematic crime was stealing from pockets.
34. Wanted to find out the truth about youth crimes in the 19th Century.
35. Regular minor thefts were performed daily by young boys.
List of People
A. Dr Matthew White
B. Mayhew
C. Martin Jones
D. Dr Valerie Watters
Questions 36-39
Complete the summary using the lists of words, A-H below.
Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 36-39 on your answer sheet.
Juvenile Crime In The 19th Century
According to Dr Matthew White, there have been varied accounts of juvenile crime in the 19th century, with vivid accounts coming from the novels of 36. ……………………………. In truth, many youths were recruited into 37. …………………………. and trained to perform variously skilled robberies on unsuspecting victims. Pickpockets often stole 38. ………………………………….. which were easy to sell on for a high price. The consequences for crimes in the 19th century varied but were known to be severe, including 39. ………………………………. and even death.
List of words >>
A. imprisonment
B. pockets
C. Dickens
D. items
E. gangs
F. Fagin
G. handkerchiefs
H. transportation
Question 40
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in box 40 on your answer sheet.
40. The writer’s purpose in writing the article is to
A. illustrate how the judiciary system worked in the 19th Century.
B. criticise the treatment of convicted children.
C. explain the various crimes and punishments of young people beginning from around the 1700’s.
D. promote the advantages of the youth justice system from that time.
If you need help to answer these questions with extra practice please read the posts below >>
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