London Labour and the London Poor

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London Labour and the London Poor is an extraordinary work of Victorian journalism by Henry Mayhew. In the 1840s he observed, documented and described the state of working people in London for a series of articles in a newspaper, the Morning Chronicle. The articles go into deep, almost pedantic detail concerning the trades, habits, religion and domestic arrangements of the thousands of people working the streets of the city.

The articles are particularly notable for attempting to justify numerical estimates with other information, such as census data and police statistics. Thus if the assertion is made that 8,000 of a particular type of trader operate in the streets, Mayhew compares this to the total number of miles of street in the city, with an estimate of how many traders operate per mile. In this the articles are almost scholarly, especially compared to the journalism of the 20th century and later. It should be noted, however, that the readership of the newspaper were probably well-educated with an appetite for facts, unlike the average mass-market reader a century later.

London in the 1840s was more like a 21st century Third world megalopolis than a 20th century city. A significant portion of the population had no fixed place of work, and indeed many had no fixed abode. In classic fashion, the city teemed with outsiders, migrants from other parts of Britain and even Europe. The standard British stereotypes - the Improvident Poor, the Canny Scot, the Ignorant Irish - were probably created at this time.

Items of commerce - food, drink, textiles, household goods - were distributed, not by trucks but by an army of carts and wagons. While goods were sold from storefronts, there were also thousands upon thousands of street-traders, generally lumped together as costermongers. For the traders in the wholesale markets these street vendors were often their best customers, as they always dealt in ready cash. In contrast, other customers frequently required goods to be supplied on credit, and were slow to pay if their own revenues dried up. Then, as later, many in the chain of trade suffered from high prices charged by their suppliers and low prices paid by their customers.

Thus one man, lured into the tea trade by promises of rich returns, found that his customers paid him a mere six to nine pence more than his supplier charged for a pound of tea, when he was paid at all. With the 80 to 100 customers that he could reasonably expect to support, his income was meager even by the standards of the day. Many in his trade resorted to adulteration, especially using used tea leaves collected from the servants in rich houses for a few pennies. These were dried and mixed with "new" tea. Other methods of adulteration made use of herbs and even copper salts. Tea trading was subject to licensing, which added expenses of fees, payable not to the municipality but to the supplier, with all the possibilities for abuse implied by that.

Contents 1 Extract 2 Use by Larkin 3 The Big City or the New Mayhem 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Extract

I was quite pleased at the prospect presented to me in such glowing terms, and, depending not a little on my own industry and perseverance, I embraced the opportunity and introduced myself forthwith to the Company. They advised me in the first place to take out a licence for selling teas, to secure me against any risk of fines or forfeitures. The cost of a licence, after payment of 2s. 11 1/2d. preliminary expenses, is 11s. per annum, to be paid quarterly, as it becomes due, and it is paid by the Company for their agents. The licence is granted for the place of abode of the ‘traveller,’ and strictly prohibits him from hawking or exposing his wares for sale at places other than at such place of abode, but he may of course supply his customers where he will, and serve them at their places of abode respectively.

Everything thus prepared, I commenced operations, but soon found that this tea dealing was not so advantageous as I had anticipated. I found that the commission allowed by the Company on cheap teas was very low. For those generally used by the working people, ‘4s. tea,’ for instance, or that at 4s. per pound, I had to pay to the Company 3s. 6d. per pound, thus allowing the travelling dealer or agent for commission only 6d. in the pound, or 1 1/2d. per quarter. Now 80 or 100 customers is considered a fair connection for a dealer, and allowing each customer to take a quarter of a pound at an average, 80 good customers at that rate would bring him in 10s., or 100 customers 12s. 6d. clear profit weekly.

Vic Gallery

On a good attractive night, the rush of costers to the threepenny gallery of the Coburg (better known as "the Vic") is peculiar and almost awful.

The long zig-zag staircase that leads to the pay box is crowded to suffocation at least an hour before the theatre is opened; but, on the occasion of a piece with a good murder in it, the crowd will frequently collect as early as three o'clock in the afternoon. Lads stand upon the broad wooden bannisters about 50 feet from the ground, and jump on each others' backs, or adopt any expedient they can think of to obtain a good place. The walls of the well-staircase having a remarkably fine echo, and the wooden floor of the steps serving as a sounding board, the shouting, whistling, and quarrelling of the impatient young costers is increased tenfold. If, as sometimes happens, a song with a chorus is started, the ears ache with the din, and when the chant has finished it seems as though a sudden silence had fallen on the people. To the centre of the road, and all round the door, the mob is in a ferment of excitement, and no sooner is the money-taker at his post than the most frightful rush takes place, every one heaving with his shoulder at the back of the person immediately in front of him. The girls shriek, men shout, and a nervous fear is felt lest the massive staircase should fall in with the weight of the throng, as it lately did with the most terrible results. If a hat tumbles from the top of the staircase, a hundred hands snatch at it as it descends. When it is caught a voice roars above the tumult, "All right, Bill, I've got it" -- for they all seem to know one another -- "Keep us a pitch and I'll bring it."

At each step up the well-staircase the warmth and stench increase, until by the time one reaches the gallery doorway, a furnace-heat rushes out through the entrance that seems to force you backwards, whilst the odour positively prevents respiration. The mob on the landing, standing on tiptoe and closely wedged together, resists any civil attempt at gaining a glimpse of the stage, and yet a coster lad will rush up, elbow his way into the crowd, then jump up on to the shoulders of those before him, and suddenly disappear into the body of the gallery.

The gallery at "the Vic" is one of the largest in London. It will hold from 1500 to 2000 people, and runs back to so great a distance, that the end of it is lost in shadow, excepting where the little gas-jets, against the wall, light up the two or three faces around them.

The articles were collected and published in three volumes in 1851. A fourth volume in 1861 contained articles about prostitutes, thieves and beggars.

[edit] Use by Larkin

The poet Philip Larkin referenced an extract from London Labour And The London Poor for his poem Deceptions. The extract details a rape: "Of course I was drugged, and so heavily I did not regain consciousness until the next morning. I was horrified to discover that I had been ruined, and for some days I was inconsolable, and cried like a child to be killed or sent back to my aunt."

[edit] The Big City or the New Mayhem

In the early 1950s, Punch published a series of articles based upon and to some extent parodying London Labour and the London Poor. Although these articles were humorous, their purpose was still to document and describe the lives of working people in London. In 1953 the articles, which were written by Alex Atkinson and illustrated by Ronald Searle were published in a single volume under the title The Big City or the New Mayhem.

[edit] References

London Labour and the London Poor; selections made and introduced by Victor Neuburg, Penguin Classics 1985, ISBN 0-14-043241-8
London Labour and the London Poor: Volume I, Dover Publications (1968), Paperback ISBN 0-486-21934-8
London Labour and the London Poor: Volume II, Dover Publications (1968), Paperback ISBN 0-486-21935-6
London Labour and the London Poor: Volume III, Dover Publications (1968), Paperback ISBN 0-486-21936-4
London Labour and the London Poor: Volume IV, Dover Publications (1983), Paperback, ISBN 0-486-21937-2

[edit] External links

• London Labour and the London Poor: Volume 1 Bolles London collection
• London Labour and the London Poor: Volume 2 ditto
• London Labour and the London Poor: Volume 3 ditto
• London Labour and the London Poor: Extra Volume ditto