London Labour and the London Poor, Vol. 3
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A Cyclopædia of the Condition and Earnings OF THOSE THAT WILL WORK THOSE THAT CANNOT WORK, AND THOSE THAT WILL NOT WORK
BY HENRY MAYHEW
THE LONDON STREET-FOLK COMPRISING STREET SELLERS · STREET BUYERS · STREET FINDERS STREET PERFORMERS · STREET ARTIZANS · STREET LABOURERS
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS
VOLUME THREE
THE STREET-FOLK.
LONDON LABOUR AND THE LONDON POOR.
In “the Brill,” or rather in Brill-place, Somers’-town, there is a variety of courts branching out into Chapel-street, and in one of the most angular and obscure of these is to be found a perfect nest of rat-catchers—not altogether professional rat-catchers, but for the most part sporting mechanics and costermongers. The court is not easily to be found, being inhabited by men not so well known in the immediate neighbourhood as perhaps a mile or two away, and only to be discovered by the aid and direction of the little girl at the neighbouring cat’s-meat shop.
My first experience of this court was the usual disturbance at the entrance. I found one end or branch of it filled with a mob of eager listeners, principally women, all attracted to a particular house by the sounds of quarrelling. One man gave it as his opinion that the disturbers must have earned too much money yesterday; and a woman, speaking to another who had just come out, lifting up both her hands and laughing, said, “Here they are— at it again!”
The rat-killer whom we were in search of was out at his stall in Chapel-street when we called, but his wife soon fetched him. He was a strong, sturdy-looking man, rather above the middle height, with light hair, ending in sandy whiskers, reaching under his chin, sharp deep-set eyes, a tight-skinned nose that looked as if the cuticle had been stretched to its utmost on its bridge. He was dressed in the ordinary corduroy costermonger habit, having, in addition, a dark blue Guernsey drawn over his waistcoat.
Henry Mayhew
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
THE DESTROYERS OF VERMIN.
The Rat-Killer.
Rats.
A Night at Rat-Killing.
Jimmy Shaw.
Jack Black.
The Sewerman.
The Penny Mouse-trap Maker.
Flies.
“Catch-’em-Alive” Sellers.
The Fly-paper Maker.
Of Bugs and Fleas.
Her Majesty’s Bug-Destroyer.
Black-Beetles.
Beetle Destroyers.
Crickets.
I.—STREET EXHIBITORS.
Punch.
The Fantoccini Man.
Guy Fawkeses.
Guy Fawkes (Man).
Guy Fawkes (Boy).
An Old Street Showman.
The Chinese Shades.
Exhibitor of Mechanical Figures.
The Telescope Exhibitor.
Exhibitor of the Microscope.
Peep-Shows.
Acrobat, or Street-Posturer.
The Street Risley.
The Strong Man.
The Street Juggler.
The Street Conjurer.
Statement of another Street Conjurer.
The Street Fire-King, or Salamander.
The Snake, Sword, and Knife-Swallower.
Street Clown.
The Penny-Gaff Clown.
The Canvas Clown.
The Penny-Circus Jester.
Silly Billy.
Billy Barlow.
Strolling Actors.
Ballet Performers.
The Tight-Rope Dancers and Stilt-Vaulters.
Street Reciter.
Blind Reader.
Gun-Exercise Exhibitor—One-legged Italian.
“Old Sarah.”
“Farm-yard” Player.
Blind Performer on the Bells.
Blind Female Violin Player.
Blind Scotch Violoncello Player.
Blind Irish Piper.
The English Street Bands.
The German Street Bands.
Of the Bagpipe Players.
Scotch Piper and Dancing-Girl.
Another Bagpipe Player.
French Hurdy-gurdy Player, with Dancing Children.
Poor Harp Player.
Organ Man, with Flute Harmonicon Organ.
Italian Pipers and Clarionet Players.
Italian with Monkey.
The Dancing Dogs.
Concertina Player on the Steamboats.
Tom-tom Players.
Another “Tom-Tom” Player.
Performer on Drum and Pipes.
Street Negro Serenaders.
Statement of another Ethiopian Serenader.
Street Glee-Singers.
Street Ballad-Singers, or Chaunters.
The Whistling Man.
Whistling and Dancing Boy.
“Whistling Billy.
Street Photography.
Statement of a Photographic Man.
The Penny Profile-Cutter.
Blind Profile-Cutter.
Writer without Hands.
Chalker on Flag-stones.
The Happy Family Exhibitor.
The Original Happy Family.
Exhibitor of Birds and Mice.
The Doll’s-Eye Maker.
The Coalbackers.
The Coalmeters.
The Coalporters.
The Ballast-Getters.
The Ballast-Lightermen.
The Ballast-Heavers.
Meeting of the Ballast-Heavers’ Wives.
NUMBER OF SHIPS WOOD-LADEN DISCHARGED AT THE DIFFERENT DOCKS IN 1849.
TIMBER-DOCK LABOURERS.
The Timber and Deal Trade.
Account of the Casual Labourers.
The London Dock.
The West India Docks.
The St. Katherine’s Dock.
The Mercantile Marine.
Turnpike-Roads and Stage-Coaches.
The Railways.
Inland Navigation.
The Thames Watermen.
The Lightermen and Bargemen.
Steam Navigation.
Origin of Omnibuses.
Omnibus Proprietors.
Omnibus Drivers.
Omnibus Conductors.
Omnibus Timekeepers.
Hackney-Coach and Cabmen.
Hackney-Coaches and Cabs.
Introduction of Cabs.
The Watermen.
Suggestions for Regulating the Trade.
Account of Crime amongst Cabmen.
The Carrying Trade.
The London Carmen
THE AGES OF APPLICANTS FOR SHELTER AT THE CENTRAL ASYLUM, PLAYHOUSE-YARD, WHITECROSS-STREET, IN THE YEAR 1849.
Characteristics of the various Classes of Vagrants.
Statements of Vagrants.
Statement of a Returned Convict.
Lives of the Boy Inmates of the Casual Wards of the London Workhouses.
Increase and Decrease of Number of Applicants to Casual Wards of London Workhouses.
Estimate of Numbers and Cost of Vagrants.
Routes of the Vagrants.
London Vagrants’ Asylums for the Houseless.
Asylum for the Houseless Poor.
Description of the Asylum for the Houseless.
Charities and Sums given to the Poor.
FOOTNOTES
Transcriber's Note
