Afeefah's speech was imaginative and powerful. It drew a compelling contrast between the two lines of medical notes that survive for a long-term inmate of the Barnsley workhouse and the diary of the daughter of an educated landowning family. It thoughtfully interpreted the silences in the historical record as well as the surviving sources. It was a moving clarion call for acknowledging that some lives have mattered more than others and for the need to consider those who have been forgotten as well as those who have been remembered.