London Labour and the London Poor, Vol. 3

by Henry Mayhew

It was not difficult to see, by the looks of the poor woman whom I next addressed, the distress and privation she had endured. Her eyes were full of tears, and there was a plaintiveness in her voice that was most touching. She was clad in rusty black, and had on a black straw bonnet with a few old crape flowers in it; but still, in all her poverty, there was a neatness in her appearance that told she was much unused to such abject misery as had now come upon her. Hers was, indeed, a wretched story—the victim of her husband’s ill treatment and neglect:—“I have been working at needlework ever since the end of August. My husband is living; but he has deserted me, and I don’t know where he is at present. He had been a gentleman’s servant, but he could attend to a garden, and of late years he had done so. I have been married nine years next April. I never did live happily with him. He drank a very great deal, and when tipsy he used to beat me sorely. He had been out of work for a long time before he got his last situation, and there he had 18s. a-week. He lost his place before that through drink. Oh, sir, perhaps he’d give me all his money at the end of the week within three shillings; but then he’d have more than half of it back again—not every week alike, of course, but that was mostly the case—and in particular, for the last year and a half, for since then he had been worse. While he was with me I have gone out for a day’s charing occasionally, but then I found I was no for’arder at the week’s end, and so I didn’t strive so much as I might have done, for if I earned two shillings he’d be sure to have it from me. I was a servant, before he married me, in a respectable tradesman’s family. I lived three years and a half at my master’s house out of town, and that was where I fell in with my husband. He was a shopman then. I lived with him more than eight years, and always acted a wife’s part to him. I never drank myself, and was never untrue to him; but he has been too untrue to me, and I have had to suffer for it. I bore all his unkindness until August last, when he treated me so badly. I cannot mention to you how—but he deceived me and injured me in the worst possible manner. I have one child, a boy, seven years old last September; but this boy is with him, and I don’t know where. I have striven to find him out, but cannot. When I found out how he had deceived me we had words, and he then swore he wouldn’t come home any more to me, and he has kept to his oath, for I haven’t set eyes on him since. My boy was down at a friend’s house at Cambridge, and they gave him up to the father without my knowledge. When he went away I had no money in the house. Nothing but a few things—tables, and chairs, and a bed in a room. I kept them as long as I could, but at last they went to find me in food. After he had gone I got a bit of needle-work. I worked at the dress-making and several different kinds of work since he left me. Then I used to earn about five shillings a-week; sometimes not so much. Sometimes I have made only two shillings, and lately—that is, within the last six weeks—I have earned scarcely anything. About October last I was obliged to sell my things to pay off my rent and get myself something to eat. After that I went to lodge with a person, and there I stopped till very lately, when I had scarce nothing, and couldn’t afford to pay my rent. Then I was turned out of there, and I went and made shift with a friend by lying down on the boards, beside her children. I lay down with my clothes on. I had nothing to cover me, and no bed under me. They was very poor people. At last my friend and her husband didn’t like to have people about in the room where they slept; and besides, I was so poor I was obliged to beg a bit of what they had, and they was so poor they couldn’t afford to spare it to me. They were very good and kind to me so long as they could hold out anyhow, but at last I was obliged to leave, and walk about the streets. This I did for two whole nights—last Sunday and Monday nights. It was bitter cold, and freezing sharp. I did go and sit on the stairs of a lodging-house on Monday night, till I was that cold I could scarcely move a limb. On Tuesday night I slept in the Borough. A lady in the street gave me threepence. I asked her if she could give me a ticket to go anywhere. I told her I was in the deepest distress, and she gave me all the halfpence she had, and I thought I would go and have a night’s lodging with the money. All these three days and nights I had only a piece of bread to keep down my hunger. Yesterday I was walking about these parts, and I see a lot of people standing about here, and I asked them if there was anything being given away. They told me it was the Refuge, or else I shouldn’t have known there was such a place. Had I been aware of it, I shouldn’t have been out in the streets all night as I was on Sunday and Monday. When I leave here (and they’ll only keep me for three nights) I don’t know what I shall do, for I have so parted with my things that I ain’t respectable enough to go after needlework, and they do look at you so. My clothes are all gone to live upon. If I could make myself look a little decent, I might perhaps get some work. I wish I could get into service again. I wish I’d never left it, indeed: but I want things. If I can’t get any things, I must try in such as I have got on: and if I can’t get work, I shall be obliged to see if the parish will do anything for me; but I’m afraid they won’t. I am thirty-three years old, and very miserable indeed.”

From the opening of the Refuges for the Houseless in 1820, until 1852, as many as 189,223 homeless individuals received “nightly shelter” there, being an average of upwards of 6000 a-year. Some of these have remained three or four nights in the same establishment; so that, altogether, no less than 1,141,558 nights’ lodgings were afforded to the very poor, and 2,778,153 lbs., or nearly 25,000 cwt. of bread distributed among them.

Asylum for the Houseless Poor.

There is a world of wisdom to be learnt at the Asylum for the Houseless Poor. Those who wish to be taught in this, the severest school of all, should pay a visit to Playhouse-yard, and see the homeless crowds gathered about the Asylum, waiting for the first opening of the doors, with their bare feet, blue and ulcerous with the cold, resting for hours on the ice and snow in the streets, and the bleak stinging wind blowing through their rags. To hear the cries of the hungry, shivering children, and the wrangling of the greedy men, scrambling for a bed and a pound of dry bread, is a thing to haunt one for life. There are 400 and odd creatures utterly destitute—mothers with infants at their breasts—fathers with boys holding by their side—the friendless—the penniless—the shirtless, shoeless, breadless, homeless; in a word, the very poorest of this the very richest city in the world.

The Asylum for the Houseless is the confluence of the many tides of poverty that, at this period of the year, flow towards the metropolis. It should be remembered that there are certain callings, which yield a subsistence to those who pursue them only at particular seasons. Brickmakers, agricultural labourers, garden-women, and many such vocations, are labours that admit of being performed only in the summer, when, indeed, the labourer has the fewest wants to satisfy. The privations of such classes, then, come at a period when even the elements conspire to make their destitution more terrible. Hence, restless with want, they wander in hordes across the land, making, in vain hope, for London, as the great emporium of wealth—the market of the world. But London is as overstocked with hands as every other nook and corner of the country. And then the poor creatures, far away from home and friends, find at last to their cost, that the very privations they were flying from pursue them here with a tenfold severity. I do not pretend to say that all found within the walls of these asylums are such as I have described; many, I know, trade upon the sympathy of those who would ease the sufferings of the destitute labourers, and they make their appearance in the metropolis at this especial season. Winter is the beggar’s harvest. That there are hundreds of professional vagabonds drawn to London at such a time, I am well aware; but with them come the unemployed workmen. We must not, therefore, confound one with the other, nor let our indignation at the vagabond who will not work, check our commiseration for the labourer or artisan who cannot get work to do.

The table on the following page, which has been made up with considerable care and no little trouble, shows the number of persons from different counties sheltered at the Asylum for the Houseless Poor in the Metropolis for fourteen years.

	1829 to 1830	1830 to 1831	1831 to 1832	1832 to 1833	1834 to 1835	1840 to 1841	1841 to 1842	1842 to 1843	1843 to 1844	1844 to 1845	1845 to 1846	1846 to 1847	1847 to 1848	1848 to 1849	Total.	Average for each year for 14 years.
North Midland Agricultural.
Lincolnshire	142	40	47	50	17	80	147	110	167	89	43	204	81	85	1302	93·0
Rutlandshire	...	...	...	...	1	5	13	13	8	10	2	24	8	24	108	7·7
Northamptonshire	17	20	31	15	14	77	144	108	125	124	50	227	115	67	1135	81·0
Shropshire	142	36	27	23	11	32	75	74	105	60	41	79	80	42	827	50·0
Herefordshire	18	19	...	...	9	28	61	28	85	43	18	65	54	45	445	31·8
South Midland Eastern Agricultural.
Norfolk	82	94	73	53	37	125	167	226	268	267	135	364	161	163	2215	158·2
Suffolk	53	57	35	29	21	79	164	210	239	188	81	385	100	133	1783	127·2
Cambridgeshire	141	49	44	33	20	70	84	106	150	90	88	204	114	88	1281	91·5
Huntingdonshire	13	5	6	9	2	24	46	41	44	14	8	34	22	25	293	20·9
Essex	101	176	165	17	44	206	324	406	715	519	133	1034	567	392	4799	342·8
Oxfordshire	71	66	15	21	9	75	127	154	234	193	99	303	136	100	1603	114·5
Berkshire	142	93	43	51	33	153	264	382	641	366	244	767	342	287	3788	270·5
Wiltshire	53	62	58	34	21	99	193	201	262	202	97	377	205	87	1951	139·3
South Agricultural and Maritime.
Kent	160	242	150	120	53	271	467	539	989	649	412	1458	845	523	6878	491·3
Sussex	52	64	47	54	27	135	170	175	322	230	136	506	230	147	2195	15·7
Hampshire	129	134	...	...	47	134	286	341	544	406	226	730	441	414	3832	273·7
Dorsetshire	40	27	17	23	11	37	71	62	99	79	25	126	57	46	720	51·4
Devonshire	122	118	141	153	70	83	180	206	375	225	135	453	237	209	2697	192·6
South Midland Agricultural, with dispersed Domestic Manufactures.
Bedfordshire	44	48	27	35	12	43	116	114	131	92	55	171	109	55	1052	75·1
Hertfordshire	93	104	33	24	31	164	240	262	199	259	182	592	377	181	2741	19·6
Buckinghamshire	40	42	24	31	11	84	190	147	258	246	187	314	168	88	1830	130·7
Somersetshire	158	153	195	181	75	210	345	262	535	327	247	871	556	246	4361	311·5
Northern and Midland Manufacturing and Mining.
Lancashire	85	221	230	195	100	285	490	716	404	604	408	1272	748	811	6509	469·2
Cheshire	60	21	20	35	12	37	91	100	108	53	32	170	51	40	830	59·3
Derbyshire	29	19	25	17	6	43	79	70	91	60	39	97	46	48	669	47·8
Nottinghamshire	71	40	16	21	17	43	77	52	128	51	39	107	62	68	784	56·0
Staffordshire	48	50	25	28	7	94	175	136	270	123	50	256	121	129	1521	108·6
Leicestershire	40	44	20	23	14	55	11x	81	168	96	41	163	69	79	1007	71·9
Warwickshire	78	112	72	60	28	163	295	384	51	242	188	562	256	160	2760	197·1
Worcestershire	62	12	27	...	12	49	96	72	114	43	33	128	74	36	758	53·4
Gloucestershire	119	110	32	39	18	82	137	232	352	281	138	267	147	163	2048	146·3
Northern Mining and Agricultural.
Northumberland	9	32	24	15	11	24	49	49	88	74	19	69	51	72	586	41·8
Durham	...	16	6	9	8	19	68	80	134	126	26	110	71	54	727	41·9
Cumberland	18	27	23	33	6	28	35	29	45	48	10	66	32	12	412	29·4
Westmoreland	...	...	5	9	1	10	24	20	24	7	4	19	14	6	143	10·2
Yorkshire	98	120	49	31	52	180	330	306	282	215	121	427	298	126	2635	188·2
Western Mining and Agricultural.
Wales	117	115	593	887	280	138	137	103	160	559	210	878	726	343	5236	374·0
Cornwall	20	29	29	31	5	29	54	67	82	47	22	82	52	32	581	41·5
Metropolitan.
London	107	115	593	887	280	138	137	103	160	559	210	878	726	343	5236	374·0
Middlesex	1742	1251	195	217	150	774	862	576	807	390	227	1065	538	214	9008	643·4
Surrey	263	119	151	127	38	211	294	193	355	195	151	572	329	204	3202	22·9
Ireland	1371	1311	547	403	300	896	1108	1305	1712	1253	772	7576	10756	5068	34378	2455·5
Scotland	213	914	241	210	139	77	136	240	299	400	294	172	623	344	4331	309·3
Guernsey and Jersey	5	14	...	2	3	5	...	7	22	8	8	1	25	47	147	10·5
France	1	...	3	7	7	...	...	1	...	10	2	8	24	14	77	5·5
Italy	2	2	...	...	...	...	...	5	13	1	...	9	5	7	44	3·1
Germany	...	...	7	5	...	24	36	59	60	25	27	38	36	53	370	26·4
Holland	11	9	2	4	...	...	...	4	6	2	...	...	...	...	38	2·7
Prussia	7	9	3	...	...	...	...	6	24	8	2	4	5	...	68	4·0
Spain	6	6	...	...	...	...	...	4	21	13	...	...	...	10	60	4·3
Portugal	7	7	2	11	1	...	...	...	...	...	...	...	2	5	35	2·5
Russia	1	5	3	...	...	...	...	...	4	10	...	2	10	7	42	3·0
Sweden	7	22	4	9	...	...	...	...	8	...	...	...	...	...	50	3·6
Norway	16	8	3	5	1	...	...	6	3	26	4	...	3	...	75	5·3
Australia	...	...	...	...	...	...	...	2	...	6	...	2	4	...	14	1·0
America	2	31	42	32	8	20	52	80	67	56	50	65	76	78	679	48·5
East Indies	9	1	5	3	6	22	39	40	57	12	200	24	38	19	475	33·9
West Indies	20	22	26	11	4	16	21	57	83	44	34	53	25	25	446	31·8
Africa	4	11	6	7	...	...	...	5	50	24	6	2	6	12	132	9·4
															130,625	87·496

	1829 to 1830	1830 to 1831	1831 to 1832	1832 to 1833	1834 to 1835	1840 to 1841	1841 to 1842	1842 to 1843	1843 to 1844	1844 to 1845	1845 to 1846
North Midland Agricultural.
Lincolnshire	142	40	47	50	17	80	147	110	167	89	43
Rutlandshire	...	...	...	...	1	5	13	13	8	10	2
Northamptonshire	17	20	31	15	14	77	144	108	125	124	50
Shropshire	142	36	27	23	11	32	75	74	105	60	41
Herefordshire	18	19	...	...	9	28	61	28	85	43	18
South Midland Eastern Agricultural.
Norfolk	82	94	73	53	37	125	167	226	268	267	135
Suffolk	53	57	35	29	21	79	164	210	239	188	81
Cambridgeshire	141	49	44	33	20	70	84	106	150	90	88
Huntingdonshire	13	5	6	9	2	24	46	41	44	14	8
Essex	101	176	165	17	44	206	324	406	715	519	133
Oxfordshire	71	66	15	21	9	75	127	154	234	193	99
Berkshire	142	93	43	51	33	153	264	382	641	366	244
Wiltshire	53	62	58	34	21	99	193	201	262	202	97
South Agricultural and Maritime.
Kent	160	242	150	120	53	271	467	539	989	649	412
Sussex	52	64	47	54	27	135	170	175	322	230	136
Hampshire	129	134	...	...	47	134	286	341	544	406	226
Dorsetshire	40	27	17	23	11	37	71	62	99	79	25
Devonshire	122	118	141	153	70	83	180	206	375	225	135
South Midland Agricultural, with dispersed Domestic Manufactures.
Bedfordshire	44	48	27	35	12	43	116	114	131	92	55
Hertfordshire	93	104	33	24	31	164	240	262	199	259	182
Buckinghamshire	40	42	24	31	11	84	190	147	258	246	187
Somersetshire	158	153	195	181	75	210	345	262	535	327	247
Northern and Midland Manufacturing and Mining.
Lancashire	85	221	230	195	100	285	490	716	404	604	408
Cheshire	60	21	20	35	12	37	91	100	108	53	32
Derbyshire	29	19	25	17	6	43	79	70	91	60	39
Nottinghamshire	71	40	16	21	17	43	77	52	128	51	39
Staffordshire	48	50	25	28	7	94	175	136	270	123	50
Leicestershire	40	44	20	23	14	55	11x	81	168	96	41
Warwickshire	78	112	72	60	28	163	295	384	51	242	188
Worcestershire	62	12	27	...	12	49	96	72	114	43	33
Gloucestershire	119	110	32	39	18	82	137	232	352	281	138
Northern Mining and Agricultural.
Northumberland	9	32	24	15	11	24	49	49	88	74	19
Durham	...	16	6	9	8	19	68	80	134	126	26
Cumberland	18	27	23	33	6	28	35	29	45	48	10
Westmoreland	...	...	5	9	1	10	24	20	24	7	4
Yorkshire	98	120	49	31	52	180	330	306	282	215	121
Western Mining and Agricultural.
Wales	117	115	593	887	280	138	137	103	160	559	210
Cornwall	20	29	29	31	5	29	54	67	82	47	22
Metropolitan.
London	107	115	593	887	280	138	137	103	160	559	210
Middlesex	1742	1251	195	217	150	774	862	576	807	390	227
Surrey	263	119	151	127	38	211	294	193	355	195	151
Ireland	1371	1311	547	403	300	896	1108	1305	1712	1253	772
Scotland	213	914	241	210	139	77	136	240	299	400	294
Guernsey and Jersey	5	14	...	2	3	5	...	7	22	8	8
France	1	...	3	7	7	...	...	1	...	10	2
Italy	2	2	...	...	...	...	...	5	13	1	...
Germany	...	...	7	5	...	24	36	59	60	25	27
Holland	11	9	2	4	...	...	...	4	6	2	...
Prussia	7	9	3	...	...	...	...	6	24	8	2
Spain	6	6	...	...	...	...	...	4	21	13	...
Portugal	7	7	2	11	1	...	...	...	...	...	...
Russia	1	5	3	...	...	...	...	...	4	10	...
Sweden	7	22	4	9	...	...	...	...	8	...	...
Norway	16	8	3	5	1	...	...	6	3	26	4
Australia	...	...	...	...	...	...	...	2	...	6	...
America	2	31	42	32	8	20	52	80	67	56	50
East Indies	9	1	5	3	6	22	39	40	57	12	200
West Indies	20	22	26	11	4	16	21	57	83	44	34
Africa	4	11	6	7	...	...	...	5	50	24	6

1846 to 1847	1847 to 1848	1848 to 1849	Total.	Average for each year for 14 years.
204	81	85	1302	93·0
24	8	24	108	7·7
227	115	67	1135	81·0
79	80	42	827	50·0
65	54	45	445	31·8
364	161	163	2215	158·2
385	100	133	1783	127·2
204	114	88	1281	91·5
34	22	25	293	20·9
1034	567	392	4799	342·8
303	136	100	1603	114·5
767	342	287	3788	270·5
377	205	87	1951	139·3
1458	845	523	6878	491·3
506	230	147	2195	15·7
730	441	414	3832	273·7
126	57	46	720	51·4
453	237	209	2697	192·6
171	109	55	1052	75·1
592	377	181	2741	19·6
314	168	88	1830	130·7
871	556	246	4361	311·5
1272	748	811	6509	469·2
170	51	40	830	59·3
97	46	48	669	47·8
107	62	68	784	56·0
256	121	129	1521	108·6
163	69	79	1007	71·9
562	256	160	2760	197·1
128	74	36	758	53·4
267	147	163	2048	146·3
69	51	72	586	41·8
110	71	54	727	41·9
66	32	12	412	29·4
19	14	6	143	10·2
427	298	126	2635	188·2
878	726	343	5236	374·0
82	52	32	581	41·5
878	726	343	5236	374·0
1065	538	214	9008	643·4
572	329	204	3202	22·9
7576	10756	5068	34378	2455·5
172	623	344	4331	309·3
1	25	47	147	10·5
8	24	14	77	5·5
9	5	7	44	3·1
38	36	53	370	26·4
...	...	...	38	2·7
4	5	...	68	4·0
...	...	10	60	4·3
...	2	5	35	2·5
2	10	7	42	3·0
...	...	...	50	3·6
...	3	...	75	5·3
2	4	...	14	1·0
65	76	78	679	48·5
24	38	19	475	33·9
53	25	25	446	31·8
2	6	12	132	9·4
			130,625	87·496

A homeless painter gave me the following statement. His appearance presented nothing remarkable. It was merely that of the poor artisan. There was nothing dirty or squalid about him:—