London Characters and Crooks

by Henry Mayhew

Slipcover Present in VG condition, Tight Seemingly Unread, No Chipping or Tears to Edges, No Markings or Creasing.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Victorian

535 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Henry Mayhew (1812-1887) was an English social researcher, journalist, playwright and advocate of reform. He was one of the co-founders of the satirical and humorous magazine Punch in 1841. He is also known for his work as a social researcher, publishing an extensive series of newspaper articles in the Morning Chronicle that was later compiled into the book series London Labour and the London Poor (1851), a groundbreaking and influential survey of the city's poor.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The pavement and the road are crowded with purchasers and street-sellers. The housewife in her thick shawl, with the market-basket on her arm, walks slowly on, stopping now to look at the stall of caps, and now to cheapen a bunch of greens. Little boys, holding three or four onions in their hand, creep between the people, wriggling their way through every interstice, and asking for custom in whining tones, as if seeking charity. Then the tumult of the thousand different cries of the eager dealers, all shouting at the top of their voices, at one and the same time, is almost bewildering. "So-old again," roars one. "Chestnuts all'ot, a penny a score," bawls another. "An 'aypenny a skin, blacking," squeaks a boy. "Buy, buy, buy, buy, buy– bu-u-uy!" cries the butcher. “Half-Quire of paper for a penny," bellows the street stationer. "An 'aypenny a lot ing-uns." “Twopence a pound grapes." “Three a penny Yarmouth bloaters." “Who'll buy a bonnet for fourpence?" “Pick 'em out cheap here! three pair for a halfpenny, bootlaces." “Now's your time! beautiful whelks, a penny a lot." “Here's ha'p‘orths," shouts the perambulating confectioner. "Come and look at 'em! here's toasters!" bellows one with a Yarmouth bloater stuck on a toasting fork. "Penny a lot, fine russets," calls the apple woman: and so the Babel goes on.”
The author Henry Mayhew is an interesting character. He was the thirteenth of seventeen children. He was sent to Westminster School but ran away to sea. He did a variety of things, but was mainly a journalist, co-founding Punch. He perpetually struggled with money and was often in debt, avoiding creditors. He mixed in Christian Socialist circles and is best remembered for his extensive research into the London poor, done over many years. This is a version of the research. There are lots of interviews and transcripts of conversations, so your hear the voices of those interviewed.
Mayhew speaks to the many and varied people who worked, entertained and begged on the streets. He talked to those who picked pockets, robbed houses, sold their bodies. There are many children interviewed, often living on the streets in rags and selling what they could and their voices are heartbreaking. Almost everything is sold on the streets, including many types of animals. There are scavengers who collect and sell what they can. This includes those who collected animal excrement (used in tanneries), those who went into sewers to scavenge, rag collectors, Mud-larks (those who scavenged on the banks of the Thames) and pure-finders (collectors of human excrement). Mayhew also interviews chimney sweeps, dock workers, crossing sweepers, transport workers and watermen. There are several chapters on the varieties of street entertainers.
There is a great deal of information captured here and it is striking how close so many of them are to complete penury and starvation. They tell tales of abusive childhoods, the dangers of the streets and deaths from starvation and sheer poverty. This is a good antidote to those who hark back to Victorian values and want us to return there. The capital of the Empire was built on and relied on poverty and oppression. We owe a debt of gratitude to Mayhew for recording London life at the bottom of the pyramid in such detail.

[P.J. MacNamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought a lot of lovely books when I joined the Folio Society back in the 90s, and some of them I have still not read to this day. A lot of them I sold on ebay 15 years ago. This is one of about 20 that I still have. It's a big, heavy book, and as expected, it's rather beautiful, but as the previous reviewers have pointed out, it is hard work. I've tried to read it twice before and given up, so this time I'm going to start in the middle and see if I do any better.

Wish me luck!



***

Update, 5 days later:

Oh dear, this is not going so well. Again. I will stick with it through the weekend and see if it improves.


***

Well I finally got to the end. It was something of an endurance test and I feel like I've achieved something, but strangely, I don't feel as if I've learned much and I didn't have much fun along the way.

A weighty tome. Hard work. Needs a lot of time and concentration. But not entirely irrelevant or entirely without merit.

[Catherine Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful window into the lives of the working poor and unemployed poor of London in the mid. nineteenth century. A great resource for historians of the period or for people wishing to write fiction set in this time period. What struck me the most was how people hung on to life by doing some very menial work and earning next to nothing and barely eating from one day to the next. There were even people who scraped by picking up dog excrement with their bare hands. Children seem to have been treated worse than animals and as highly disposable. It is a warning to us all to fight the way the greedy capitalists are trying to turn back the clock to the days before social awareness and responsibility.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very poorly written - couldn't finish it

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A most interesting but somewhat depressing read.

[Amanda Artist Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enormous book about Victorian life? I'm carrying it home.

[Aidan]

Very boring and repetitive. Stuck it out for 169 pages, then gave up.