Whitechapel Flashcards
Solidfy whitechapel
How was london in 1800s
It was a very pollutated area. The large amount of factories led to a lot of smoke and fumes
How was sanitation in 1800s
Sanitation was poor. There was very little drinking water. Sweres ran into street. Majority of housing was overcroded slum areas - rookers
What were rookeries
Overcrowded slum areas. They had dirt, disease and crime
Structure of houses
Divided inot several apartments. Up to 30 people in 1 appartment sharing beds so densely packed together it was difficult to move about
1881 Census
There were 30709 people but only 4069 ocupied houses.
What are lodgin houses
Offereed little more than a bed in a squalid condition. Some lodgin houses had 8 3 hour sleep shifts aday so beds could be used by the maximum number of people. The smell and the heat in summer coupled with the presence of rats meant this ofrm of accommodation was truly awful. It is estimated that there were 200 lodging houses at this time in Whitechapel housing 8000 people
What was the The Peabody Estate
In 1875 pariament passed the Artisans Dwelllings Act as part of London’s earliest slum clearance programmes. A maze of narrow courtyards fulled with cramped and unhealthy houses were replaced with 11 NEW BLOCKS OF FLATS.The peobody estate opened in 1881 and provided 286 flats
Who designed and made The Peabody Estate
They were designed by Henry Darbishire and paid for by George Peabody, a wealthy American who moved to london.
Prices of the Peabody Estate
Weekly rents started at a reasonable three shillings (15p) for one room flat and went up to six shillings for 3. The average working wage for a labourer at this time was 22 shillings and 6 pence (£1.12) and some poor wrking-cclass families spent as much as a third of this on rent.
Whitechapels most famous factory
Bell foundry, where big ben was cast
What were sweated trades
Tailoring,shoemaking or making matches.
What were the work premisies
Sweat shops - were small,cramped and dusty, with natural light. Hours were long ( some sweat shop workers worked 20 hours a day and slept on site) and wages were low
What were Workhouses
Workhouses had been set up earlier in the 19th century as part of the poor relief system and were run by Poor Law administrators. They offered food and shelter to those too poor to survive in the community. Inmates of workhouses included the sick, old, disabled, orphans and unmarried mothers.
Conditions were deliberately made worse than those that could be provided by a labourer for his family. The aim was to keep the costs down by putting poor people off from entering the workhouse - except as a last resort. Inmates were expected to do tough manual labour and wear a uniform.
Families were split up and could be punished for trying to talk to each other. Vagrants, who stayed just a few nights were held separately from long term residents, as they were thought to be lazy and a bad influence on the others.
What was irish immigration to whitechapel / how did it cause tensions
The Irish population expanded rapidly in the East End from the 1840s. The first immigrants were young men who came to London with plans to move to America, but ran out of money before they could find a ship to take them there. The Irish settled into areas near the river and made their living as ‘navigators’ or ‘navvies’ who did labouring jobs on canals, roads and railways, or as dockers on the River Thames. Violence amongst the Irish was commonplace, especially when drunk. As a result, they were not well liked by some in the Whitechapel area.
What were FENIANS and how did they cause tensions
In the mid and late 19th century Irish Nationalists were demanding freedom from rule by the UK. The fight was led by Fenians, a mainly Catholic group, who were seen as a fanatical, religious terrorist movement. Fenians organised a bomb attack on Clerkenwell prison, in December 1867, and there was a huge surge in anti-Irish feeling. A new department of the Metropolitan police, known as special branch, was formed to counter Irish terrorism. Terrorist attacks by Fenians made life harder for Irish immigrants as in the press and popular imagination, they were seen as probable Fenians and potential traitors. On a single day, 24 January 1885 (known as Dynamite Saturday), the Fenians launched almost simultaneous attacks on London Bridge, the House of Commons and the Tower of London and further causing tension in Whitechapel.
What were Eastern European Jews and how did they cause tensions
Many Jews came to Whitechapel from Russia, Poland and Germany as they faced a wave of violence and abuse in those countries. By 1888, the Jewish population of parts of Whitechapel had grown to 95% of the total as Jewish settlers became small communities. The Jewish settlers were widely resented by the local population and this based around cultural differences and conflicting attitudes to work. Compared to poor, working class locals in Whitechapel, foreign Jewish workers seemed quick to find employment or set up businesses. The locals resented their success. Some established Jewish immigrants preferred employing newer arrivals to locals and new arrivals would accept lower wages. Many Jewish immigrants ran tailoring businesses on the sweatshop model. Businesses that followed government rules about fair working conditions couldn’t compete with the prices charged by the sweatshop owners.. Local shopkeepers suspected Jewish demands for Sunday trading were an attempt to drive them out of business. Religious and cultural rules about food and clothing made the new immigrants stand out and locals were suspicious of the unfamiliar customs and languages.
Who were Anarchists and how did they cause tentions
From the middle of the 19th Century, social and economic problems across Europe caused the growth of revolutionary political movements that thought the answer was to overthrow existing governments. Anarchy was a political movement that opposed all forms of organised government. In 1871, Anarchists
and other revolutionaries briefly took control of Paris, but most attempts at revolution failed. When this happened, the leaders fled and often headed for Britain. Britain was seen as a politically tolerant country. Some began to feel that East London had become a refuge for other nations’ terrorists. In 1893, Special Branch began an undercover operation to monitor the activities of Eastern European revolutionaries and anyone with an Eastern European accent was suspected of terrorism. However, the number of bombings and outrages supposedly committed by Anarchists in Europe was greatly exaggerated.
Who were socialists and why did they caused tension
Another potentially revolutionary group were the socialists. Socialists are those who believe poor people would get a better deal if the government took over industries and services and ran them for the good of all (not for profit). Socialist leaders (known as radicals) wanted a revolution to bring down the existing capitalist system (a system where individuals are free to own businesses or property and can make a profit). The Social Democratic federation (SDF) was founded in Britain in 1881. It was the first Socialist party in this country and represented farm workers, industrial labourers and the rights of women. The SDF was involved in the Trafalgar Square demonstration of 1887 that led to bloody Sunday ( a protest that was dealt with harshly by the Met Police). They saw the police as the public face of a government that did not care for downtrodden people at a time of economic depression. In the autumn of 1888, campaigning began for the first ever elections to the newly-formed London County Council. Whitechapel was thought to be a promising district to get an SDF councillor elected. The Socialists hoped to show up the incompetence of the present government, by highlighting the stupidity of the police. They found an opportunity during the hunt for Jack the Ripper.
OOther reasons for rising tensions in whitechapel
By 1888, the high unemployment and acute housing shortage in the East End focused national attention on immigration.
⦁ As tension between immigrant and local populations over housing and jobs, everyday language and life increased, anti-semitic attitudes and beatings of Jews became common.
⦁ On streets where both Eastern European and Irish immigrants mixed, tensions were particularly high and the police considered them to be especially violent areas.
⦁ These problems were partly caused by language barriers. The police were not able to understand Yiddish (the Jewish language) and many Jews and Eastern Europeans did not learn English as they settled into their own communities. One superintendent in the police recommended that his officers have lessons in Yiddish so they could communicate and effectively police the community. Some felt that the Jews were ruining their businesses. This was because: Many new arrivals were working in sweatshops and goods were being made and sold cheaper than elsewhere. This undercut local prices and annoyed some local businessmen. Blacklegging during disputes and taking work at any price. This was where Jews would continue to work when trade unions were striking and so they were undermining the strike or were considered to be taking work from locals.
Whitechapel Police force
It had 20 divisions, H division, Run by a superintendent and chief inspector, with the support of 27 inspectors and 37 seargeants. The seargents supervised around 500 ordinary officers, or contables, who went out on the beat
The criminal investigation department
CID Was setup in 1878 with 216 officers, This finally seemed to lear up confusions between crime proventins and crime detection, However detection standards did not improve as the Ripper investigation showed and the problem of corruption in serviced countinued
things that made life diffult for H divison
Work was boring and sometimes dangerous, Pay was not that good, Quality of recruits was variable. Economic depression led to police protests. Hated by the people. Overstreched, Drunk addicts, Protitutions. 62 borthers and 1200 prostitutes. Not illegal bul looked down upon.
