Shona
11-12-12, 15:38
Last year, the OH bought me Henry Mayhew's book 'London Labour and the London Poor'. For anyone who has people in their family tree who lived in London in the 1840s and 1850s, it's a must read.
The blurb in the back of the book neatly sums up the content.
The book orginated in a series of newspaper articles written by the great journalist Henry Meyhew...a dozen years later, it had grown into the fullest picture we have of labourers in the greatest city of the 19th century. It is an account of the hopes, customs, grievances and habits of the working classes that allows them to tell their own stories. From coster-mongers to ex-convicts, from chimney sweeps to vagrants, the underprivileged of London are brought to life - their plight expressed through a startling blend of first-person accounts, Mayhew's perceptions and sharp statistics.
I was reading about costermongers the other day. Meyhew explains that 'costermonhers entertain the most imperfect idea of the sanctity of marriage. To their minds it merely consists in the fact of a man and a woman living together and sharing the gains they may each earn. The expense of a church ceremony is considered as a useless waste of money and the new pair are received by their companions as cordially as if every form of law and religion had been complied with'.
Great stuff. Puts a lot of flesh on the bones.
The blurb in the back of the book neatly sums up the content.
The book orginated in a series of newspaper articles written by the great journalist Henry Meyhew...a dozen years later, it had grown into the fullest picture we have of labourers in the greatest city of the 19th century. It is an account of the hopes, customs, grievances and habits of the working classes that allows them to tell their own stories. From coster-mongers to ex-convicts, from chimney sweeps to vagrants, the underprivileged of London are brought to life - their plight expressed through a startling blend of first-person accounts, Mayhew's perceptions and sharp statistics.
I was reading about costermongers the other day. Meyhew explains that 'costermonhers entertain the most imperfect idea of the sanctity of marriage. To their minds it merely consists in the fact of a man and a woman living together and sharing the gains they may each earn. The expense of a church ceremony is considered as a useless waste of money and the new pair are received by their companions as cordially as if every form of law and religion had been complied with'.
Great stuff. Puts a lot of flesh on the bones.