The Historic Environment - Whitechapel Flashcards
Housing
Many residents couldn’t afford their own housing so stayed in lodging houses where they could pay a nightly fee for a bed and access to a kitchen - 25% of Whitechapel lived in lodging houses and there were 200 of them.
Most people lived in overcrowded slum areas known as rookeries. They were incredibly overcrowded with poor sanitation and there would up to 30 people in one apartment and sharing beds was a necessity.
Pollution and poor sanitation
London was a heavily congested industrial city in the 19th century. Sanitation was very poor and sewers ran into the streets with very little healthy drinking water nor places to wash. Malnutrition and disease was widespread and the infant mortality rate was 50%.
Employment
An economic depression in the 19th century led to high levels of unemployment and many women turned to prostitution to survive. Those who worked:
- worked for long hours for low pay in ‘sweated’ trades in factories in cramped, dangerous, unhygienic conditions
- worked building railways or dockyards. This work was better but less regular so weekly income varied
Jewish immigrants
There was a huge influx in Eastern European immigrants into Whitechapel in the 1880s; the amount of poverty meant they settled in poorer areas of London. They tended to stick together due to their cultural and religious differences and by 1888 some places population were 95% Jews. Jews were willing to accept lower wages and worse working conditions angering other workers leading to Anti-Semitism.
Problems with policing in Whitechapel: The environment
Dark, narrow alleyways and courts. Many doorways and crowded rookeries made chasing criminals difficult.
Problems with policing in Whitechapel: Gangs
Large professional gangs acted as thieves and pickpockets. They hired men, women and children who were well-trained in stealing and escaping the law.
Problems with policing in Whitechapel: Attacks on Jews
Many locals in Whitechapel were suspicious of Jews and feared them due to their lack of social mixing and integration. Some police were anti-Semitic and the language barrier prevented them from catching criminals.
Problems with policing in Whitechapel: Alcohol
Many pubs and gin houses sold alcohol at cheap prices. Drunkenness often led to violence and frequently caused crime as people turned to this to fuel their addiction.
Problems with policing in Whitechapel: Prostitution
There was 1200 prostitutes in the Whitechapel area by 1888 and worked on the streets or brothels. They were vulnerable to violence and were often widowed or divorced women who became bankrupt and homeless.
Whitechapel Vigilance Committee 1888
Set up by businessmen due to lack of progress in the Jack the Ripper case. They patrolled the streets at night with torches and whistled. They disrupted with police investigations and hampered the police by sending false leads and encouraging criticism of the police in the local newspaper.
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