Street Characters of London 1861-62

[LWhite64]

This might fit better in the Civilian area, but thought it might be of interest.

http://www.victorianlondon.org/mayhew/mayhew-street-characters.htm

[Parault]

Re: Street Characters of London 1861-62

Intresting site Mr. White

[Michael Comer]

Re: Street Characters of London 1861-62

That's some great stuff. What a range of vocations! A street dog seller and a bird's nest seller no less! I'm curious to what the bird's nest seller is wearing over his coat. Is it a smock of some sort? It almost looks like a woman's undergarment.

The Lucifer Match girl is kind of scary looking I think. Maybe there's a connection between her and the name of her product?

[Hank Trent]

Re: Street Characters of London 1861-62

I'm curious to what the bird's nest seller is wearing over his coat. Is it a smock of some sort? It almost looks like a woman's undergarment.

A smock is what I thought too. It looks like the neck is entirely unfastened so the collar and neckline are spread way wide. I think the rows of vertical lines are meant to representing the smocking.

The Lucifer Match girl is kind of scary looking I think.

First thing I thought was that she had Down's Syndrome. Any thoughts?

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Rob Weaver]

Re: Street Characters of London 1861-62

Wonderful character studies. Yes - that match girl is obviously what we today would call mentally challenged. The bird's nest seller is wearing a frock. Formerly popular in the US among people who worked outdoors like farmers, carters and woodsmen, I think they were largely passe by the 1860s. Although in The Oregon Trail, Parkman mentions wearing a shirt "frocklike," which I would interpret to mean outside his trousers, possibly belted in the middle.

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Street Characters of London 1861-62

...is obviously what we today would call mentally challenged

Really?

Try functionally illiterate at best. She was member of London's Victorian untouchables, a class of beings living in abject urban poverty and filth. The poor child never had a chance regardless of her measurable aptitude or genetics. These people eked out pitiful livings, many performing the most abhorrent tasks imaginable. The images presented here are the warm and fizzy side of London street life.

Rather than try to interpret a facsimile of an etching based on an original photographic image, I recommend one of several dozen excellent texts dealing with London’s street life and underworld. They are fascinating views of the cast system at nearly its worst… and occasionally some of its charms.

You can start with the primers;

Victorian London Street Life in Historic Photographs by John Thomson

Victorian Babylon: People, Streets and Images in Nineteenth-Century London by Lynda Nead

& & & & &

The MUD-LARK has inspired me for years. This is one segment of London street life that has actually thrived. On several occasions I have joined them on the Thames foreshore and have walked away with a pocket fill of treasures.

And since I’m recommending books, try the bible of aspiring mud-larks; All the Best Rubbish by Ivor Noel Hume

[clconboy]

Re: Street Characters of London 1861-62

Jack Black, Her Majesty's Rat-Catcher.....

That is a nice sash!

[Hank Trent]

Re: Street Characters of London 1861-62

Really?

Try functionally illiterate at best. She was member of London's Victorian untouchables, a class of beings living in abject urban poverty and filth. The poor child never had a chance regardless of her measurable aptitude or genetics. These people eked out pitiful livings, many performing the most abhorrent tasks imaginable. The images presented here are the warm and fizzy side of London street life.

And over on this side of the Atlantic, you had the homeless street children, most notably of New York City, who were in a similar situation. A couple decades after our period, Jacob Riis photographed them, though I doubt that similar boys in the 1860s looked too much different than this: http://www.authentichistory.com/post.../riis/157.html

There's an article here: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m..._n6137400/pg_1

Edited to clarify, though the article emphasizes young pickpockets in the period, it has a lot of good background on homeless children in general.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net