The social investigative journalism that began during late the 1820s, and early 1830s created a new wave of literature, which focused around the lives of slum dwellers and their living conditions. This new fashion of literature, changed how the slum was perceived and how it was depicted. It was now seen as an exotic place to be explored, with an heir of caution. The efficiency of the nation was now under question, which encouraged individuals such as Henry Mayhew to investigate the disgusting living conditions of slum life.
‘London Labour and the London Poor’, originally published in 1851, opened up the lives of slum dwellers to the rest of the British population. Following the works of Mayhew, slum and disgust became synonymous, as issues of religion, morality, race and disease became more exposed. The tastes and habits of slum dwellers highlighted the lack of morality, which was quickly related to religion. Alcoholism was rife within the slum, and for many of its population, it was an escape from the disgusting conditions that they were confined to. However, the Victorian morals deemed the absence of religion as problematic to the efficiency of the nation, which then brought into question issues of race.
The title of this engraving demonstrates the segregation of not only class, but of race. Whitechapel was notorious for its diseased environment and disgusting conditions associated with slum life. This was prominent during the time of the Jack the Ripper murders, when race and poverty were thought of as suspicious.[1] This runs parallel to the idea that the Irish were burdens to the society, due to their immorality and links to criminal behaviour.
‘Among the street-folk there are many distinct characters of people – people differing as widely from each in tastes, habits, thoughts and creed, as one nation from another… They appear to be a distinct race – perhaps, originally, of Irish extraction’ – Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, (1985)[2]
Mayhew’s description of slum dwellers as a separate race, ‘perhaps, originally, of Irish extraction’, demonstrates the position of Irish migrants within Victorian Britain. The Irish, disliked for their race, politics and religion, became the outcasts of society, and were increasingly associated with alcohol, crime, and disease[3]. The outbreak of these diseases, such as cholera, were responsible for provoking intense feelings of disgust towards the slum, as disease did not limit itself to the poor. The conditions of the slum accelerated the spread of disease, which did not recognise the difference between class.[4]
Disgust was not only felt by those who lived in the slum, but by the population at large. The efficiency of the nation was under question, and some spoke of racial degeneration due to areas such as the slum.[5] The way disgust relates to issues such as race, demonstrates the importance of blame and disgust. The three sections of this page are closely linked, as one created concern for the other. The threat of disease caused people to question religion and morality in the slum, which turned attention to immigrants, and their threat to the Victorian ideals.
References:
[1] Haggard, R. F., ‘Jack the Ripper as the Threat of Outcast London’, in Jack the Ripper: Media, Culture, History, (Manchester University Press, 2007), pp.205
[2] Mayhew, H. & Neuburg, V. E., London Labour and the London Poor, (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1985), p.8
[3] Gilley, S. & Swift R., The Irish in Britain, 1815-1939, (United States of America, Barnes & Noble Books, 1989), pp.2
[4] Wilson, John, Treatment of Cholera in the Royal Hospital, Haslar, (London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co., 1849), pp. 14-34
[5] Hall, C. ‘The Nation Within and Without’, in Defining the Victorian Nation: Class, Race, Gender and the British Reform Act of 1867, (Cambridge University Press, 2000), p.188
Exploring the Slum 