How Useful Are Sources B and F as Evidence of Public Reaction to the Jarrow Crusade?

Source B is about how Bob Maugham, one of the marchers, was treated to a feast by the people in when he was in Leeds which shows how well the crusade marchers were received by the public. For example Bob Maugham talks about how they “got a grand meal in Leeds”. This shows that the people in Leeds were happy about what they were doing. Source B is quite useful as Bob Maugham was a marcher, a primary source of information, which means his information is accurate to some extent. However this source is not as reliable as the source is only talks about how the marchers were treated in Leeds, not any other place. How the marches were treated in Leeds might be different to how they were treated in London, for example. Furthermore, the North West was one of the places where unemployment was highest, so the people in Leeds would have appreciated what the Jarrow Crusade marchers were doing. On the other hand, areas that were not as badly affected by unemployment might not have understood why they were doing these marches so they might not be as empathetic. Also, Bob Maugham is remembering this meal in Leeds 60 years later. It could be that he has forgotten certain, important details or forgotten the less fonder memories, which could change how we look at how the Jarrow Crusade marchers were treated.

Source F is from a book about the Jarrow Crusade written in 2005. It is about the donations that were given to support the crusade. For example “in total the crusade raised £1,567 0s and 5d. Of this, £680 16s and 11d came from the general public.” Half the money came from the general public which shows how well received they were by the public as they were willing to donate money, while they were also suffering. This source is very useful as it was written for a book, so it would have been well researched - such as the statistics of the amount of money collected - most probably by a historian. However the writer/historian’s name has not been stated so we don’t know if he or...