The London Underworld in the Victorian Period: Authentic First-Person Accounts by Beggars, Thieves and ProstitutesThe first and possibly the greatest sociological study of poverty in 19th-century London, this survey by a journalist invented the genre of oral history a century before the term was coined. Henry Mayhew vowed "to publish the history of a people, from the lips of the people themselves — giving a literal description of their labour, their earnings, their trials and their sufferings, in their own 'unvarnished' language." With his collaborators, Mayhew explored hundreds of miles of London streets in the 1840s and 1850s, gathering thousands of pages of testimony from the city's humbler residents. Their stories revealed aspects of city life virtually unknown to literate society. A sprawling, four-volume history resulted from Mayhew's investigations. This extract focuses on the criminal class--pickpockets, prostitutes, rag pickers, and vagrants, whose true stories of degradation, horror, and desperation rival Dickensian fiction. A classic reference source for sociologists, historians, and criminologists, Mayhew's work is immensely readable. As Thackeray wrote, these urban vignettes conjure up "a picture of human life so wonderful, so awful, so piteous and pathetic, so exciting and terrible, that readers of romances own they never read anything like to it." |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 64
Page 2
... called “The Society for the Suppression of Vice,” of which its secretary, Mr. Wilberforce, thus speaks:— “The particular objects to which the attention of this Society is directed are as follow, viz.— “1. The prevention of the ...
... called “The Society for the Suppression of Vice,” of which its secretary, Mr. Wilberforce, thus speaks:— “The particular objects to which the attention of this Society is directed are as follow, viz.— “1. The prevention of the ...
Page 11
... called herself Lady—— met her admirer at a house in Bolton Row that she was in the habit of frequenting. At first sight Lord—— became enamoured, and proposed sur le champ, after a little preliminary conversation, that she should live ...
... called herself Lady—— met her admirer at a house in Bolton Row that she was in the habit of frequenting. At first sight Lord—— became enamoured, and proposed sur le champ, after a little preliminary conversation, that she should live ...
Page 20
... called the “amateurs,” to contradistinguish them from the professionals, who devote themselves to it entirely as a profes- sion. To be unchaste amongst the lower classes is not always a subject of reproach. The commerce of the sexes is ...
... called the “amateurs,” to contradistinguish them from the professionals, who devote themselves to it entirely as a profes- sion. To be unchaste amongst the lower classes is not always a subject of reproach. The commerce of the sexes is ...
Page 26
... following extraordinary passage , whilst writing about low houses : - " An enlightened medical gentleman assured me that near what is called the Fleet Ditch almost every house is the lowest and most infamous 26 Henry Mayhew and Others.
... following extraordinary passage , whilst writing about low houses : - " An enlightened medical gentleman assured me that near what is called the Fleet Ditch almost every house is the lowest and most infamous 26 Henry Mayhew and Others.
Page 33
... called pudgy, having the nostrils dilated; and she abused the police for disturb- ing her when she wished to go to sleep, a thing, from what I saw, I imag- ined rather difficult to accomplish, as she had nothing to recline upon but a ...
... called pudgy, having the nostrils dilated; and she abused the police for disturb- ing her when she wished to go to sleep, a thing, from what I saw, I imag- ined rather difficult to accomplish, as she had nothing to recline upon but a ...
Other editions - View all
The London Underworld in the Victorian Period: Authentic First-Person ... Henry Mayhew Limited preview - 2005 |
The London Underworld In The Victorian Period - Authentic First-Person ... Henry Mayhew Limited preview - 2013 |
The London Underworld in the Victorian Period - Authentic First-Person ... Henry Mayhew No preview available - 2008 |
Common terms and phrases
appearance asked beggars begging booty boys brothels brother burglars called carry character Clerkenwell clothes coat cohabit committed companions convicted costermongers Court dark detected ditto door dressed entered father felonies female frequently friends gentleman girls give hand handkerchief Haymarket Holborn impostors jewellery Kaggs labour lady Lane live lodging lodging-houses London look Mendicity metropolis Metropolitan districts months mudlarks neighbourhood never night o’clock occasionally officers Oxford Street parish party passed pawnbrokers penal servitude persons pick pickpockets plunder pocket police policeman poor prison prostitutes public-house ragged received Regent’s Park respectable Road robbery sailor seen seldom sell sent servants shillings shops Shoreditch Society Somers Town sometimes Spitalfields steal stolen Street thief thieves told took walk watch Waterloo Road week West-end Westminster Whitechapel window woman women young