The Dark Side of Life in Victorian Halifax

by Judith Fingard

Book by Fingard, Judith

Genres: History

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Ronan O'Driscoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fine resource for the period.

[Madeleine McLaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book about the downtrodden in Halifax in the Victorian Age. Drunkenness, petty crime and violence of prostitutes and drunks and what the middle class tried to do about it. Good historical read.

[Paganus Kiley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provides a missing perspective on life in Victorian Halifax. Having lost a relative to this existence in Halifax in the late 19th century, this gives a glimpse on what his life was probably like. He died a "lunatic" in the poor house.

[J. Pearce · Rating 4 out of 5]

People should be aware that Judith Fingard teaches in my department.

This book reconstructs the lives of people living in the poor neighbourhoods of Halifax during the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. Due to the lack of written sources from these people in this period, the lives of the people Fingard is writing about are reconstructed primarily from documentation regarding imprisonment. Obviously this creates a particular view, but I feel Fingard well accounts for that in the work.

Fingard also uses records from various helping institutions that were founded in Halifax during the Victorian era. She examines records of the Poor House, various women's aid institutions, and the Society for Prevention of Cruelty.

The biggest problem I had with reading this was there are an awful lot of names that are occasionally difficult to keep track of. I also felt it skimped a lot on racial analysis, touching only lightly on the developments of middle-class racism and how this impacted a less-segregated lower class society.

I found everything after the first chapter very readable, and would recommend this book to people who are interested in reading about lower class experiences in Victorian Canada, and people who are interested in the development of Victorian institutions. (It's also interesting to read as a Haligonian.)

It is my intention to purchase a copy of this book.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tells of a very Dickensian version of a city that I love and miss.

Dry. Definitely interesting. Would make a very good novel.