Unconfigured Ad Widget

Collapse

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Site about Victorian london

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #2
    Val - that site is more than interesting! I, for one, would like to thank you for drawing my attention to it. Many thanks indeed,

    Chris

    Comment


    • #3
      its quite an eye opener isnt it Chris ???? made me feel very sad.

      Comment


      • #4
        incredible site - got "lost" for over an hour and I only meant to have a quick look

        JANE

        Comment


        • #5
          no apologies for nudging up, its well worth a read

          Comment


          • #6
            Thanks Val, very intresting site
            Rosi



            We are the famous CFC

            Comment


            • #7
              hyer Rosi I found it fascinating

              Comment


              • #8
                I've had this site in my favourites for ages. It has so much interesting stuff on it - check out the descriptions of Bethnal Green. Some of the worst streets mentioned were where my lot lived.....
                Sue

                Comment


                • #9
                  a lot of mine lived in and around Bethnal Green Sue, they must have had a horrible life, this site really brings it home to you

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    That is a very good site - I remember finding it when I was helping somebody on GR with Drury Lane flower girls ages ago.

                    I haven't got anyone in London, but it's still useful for the insight it gives into the way people lived then.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Funny you should post this. I was reading a book last night 'The Good Old Days' by Gilda O'Neill. There is a description there of Brick Lane where many of my ancestors lived at various times:


                      "It is now night, and we are in the neighbourhood of Brick Lane. Let us look at the public houses hereabouts, and observe what is going on within and without their walls. They are frequented by the depraved, dissolute and the drunken. The male habituees are very bad, but the female are even worse. Drunkard after drunkard staggers in at the doorway, and is freely supplied with drink. Outside the scenes are revolting in the extreme. Men in a ferocious stage of intoxication, quarrel, fight and kick, and frenzied women fall upon each other, tearing out hair, scratching and spitting and even inflicting wounds with their teeth. Verily this is a land flowing with beer and blood. The public houses account for the long list of night charges the magistrate has to deal with on Monday morning. Whereas on ordinary mornings the number is around 20, on Mondays it is 60 to 80. They are all of one discription in as much as the offences arise from drink'


                      At first I was shocked, but then started thinking a bit deeper. You have to examine the sources for these. This one was a Q.C. Montagu Williams, on a night out in the East End.

                      In other words usually these were posh or middle class interlopers, moral crusaders, actively seeking out the worse and the shocking to arouse their moral indignation...sometimes through religious zeal, sometimes through a genuine desire towards philanthrophy or sometimes just plain voyeurism. Is it really a balanced picture?

                      Look how many people were actually arrested 60-80 a weekend, hardly representative of a community that was I think around half a million strong perhaps more at that time?

                      Part of me suspects these were the equivalent of the tabloid journalists of today writing about 'chav culture' 'binge drinking' to both outrage and at same time titillate their readership.. 'a cheap holiday in other peoples misery' if you like to quote a more modern source. Of course Montague was confronted by the horrific he went looking for it! What was he expecting in an East End pub, prayers, scones and bell ringing?..Is the behaviour above all that different from most British high streets on a Saturday night today?..how many of us would wish to be judged on the behaviour of those few? I know life wasn't easy in the East End by any means, but I do think the picture was possibly not as 100% black as sometimes painted.
                      Last edited by Richard; 20-03-08, 15:49.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        you could be right Richard but I do believe that most eastenders had a hard life

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Oh of course Val, I certainly don't have blinkers on about how tough life was in the the East End at this time, at all, the appaling infant mortality rates hammers that home all by itself, and I've found ancestors in the Lunatic Asylum, workhouse and sadly more than one suicide.

                          But ridiculous as this will now sound, still part of me thinks it wasn't that bad.

                          My East End side of family were by and large fairly sober sorts, many tee tootallers, some church goers some not, but by and large honest and decent enough, most never been in trouble with the law one uncle that did caused such a family scandal he emigrated!.....In my experience East Enders had very very strong morals, certainly in comparison to some of my agricultural ancestors would today be viewed as thoroughly immoral!

                          It's a bit unfair the sources rarely reflect this but instaead home on in on the seedier side, after all the most famous East enders are probably Jack the Ripper and Ronnie and Reggie, which says it all.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            anyone else looking.....

                            our wiki page on London/mdx has this link as well as alot of others, I wonder how many members actually have seen the amount of info we have collated?

                            Julie
                            They're coming to take me away haha hee hee..........

                            .......I find dead people

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Maybe this could be a feature of the magazine - to focus on one Wiki page every month, explaining what information it contains and how to find it, so that people get used to consulting it?

                              Comment


                              • #16
                                We put as many wiki links into the stories as we can - including this site twice, the latest time in the current edition!!!
                                Caroline
                                Caroline's Family History Pages
                                Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.

                                Comment


                                • #17
                                  Yes, I know there are links, but a lot of people don't seem to be making as much use of the Wiki as they could, so I was thinking more of a dedicated regular feature than just links from other articles.

                                  Comment


                                  • #18
                                    The new tie in with the magazine on the boards is intended to do just that by featuring specifc areas of the wiki. It is hard to tell whether members have used it or not.
                                    Caroline
                                    Caroline's Family History Pages
                                    Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.

                                    Comment


                                    • #19
                                      Of course, if any member wants to write for us .... ?
                                      Caroline
                                      Caroline's Family History Pages
                                      Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.

                                      Comment


                                      • #20


                                        I don't mind doing the odd article, but I don't really have the time to do a regular feature, and I'm not brilliant at journalistic-style writing anyway.

                                        I'll have a think about it, though, and see if I can come up with any bright ideas.

                                        Comment

                                        Working...
                                        X