Whitechapel Flashcards
What were houses like in Whitechapel
They were overcrowded, broken, cramped and damaged
Bad smells and diseases, outdoor toilets etc
Define a rookery
A slum area in a town or city where rates of poverty and crime were high
What was a lodging house for
Places where very poor people could stay in overcrowded conditions, people would pay for a room for either one or two nights, having to work all day to afford it
What were lodging houses also called
Doss houses
What is flower and Dean street famous for
Being a well known rookery of lodging houses
Define census
An official count of the population. It may hold details such as ethnicity, occupation and age
Why would people go to a workhouse
If they could not afford a bed for the night or were young old or sick
describe negatives of going to a workhouse
very strict rules
families were separated
constant hunger
rules on how they worked
rules on what time they went to bed and got up
poor sanitation
frequent illness
lots of violence
where was the Whitechapel workhouse
at South grove
what was the workhouse infirmary
a hospital for the workers at the workhouse
what was a casual ward
a place where people could get a bed for one night
why were the rules of the workhouse so harsh
because inmates were expected to work to earn their bed, and all of this was to deter people from staying at the expense of the taxpayers who funded the Workhouse Union
who bought Royal mint Street land that had lots of lodging houses on
the metropolitan board and then it was sold to George Peabody
what was George Peabody’s charity called
the peabody trust
what did the peabody trust want to do to the land they bought
design and build new flats that were affordable to tenants
what did the new Peabody estate provide
better living conditions
improved ventilation
brick walls so live could not live in them
shared courtyards
shared laundry rooms
shared bathrooms with a bath
shared kitchens
what type of people did Peabody insist should be tenants of the Peabody estate flats
they were selected carefully to ensure they would look after housing, were poor, of moral character and good members of society
what happened to tenants in the Peabody estate flats who did not pay their rent
they were thrown out, which caused overcrowding elsewhere in the district because the rent was still too high for some
why was alcohol abuse such a big problem in whitechapel
because it was how people would cope with the difficulties of unemployment wand homelessness
what did alcohol consumption lead to
an increase in the number of crimes committed by drunks
and the number of crimes committed to drunks who became vulnerable
what did unemployment and the overcrowded living conditions in whitechapel lead to
crime being committed regularly including petty theft and drunkenness
why would some people in whitechapel commit crimes
it was a way of responding to financial difficulty
unemployment
homelessness
some people would w_____ that the c_________ in the l______ houses would s______ crime from the habitual criminals who were living close to ‘d_____’ people
some people would worry that the conditions in the lodging houses would spread crime from the habitual criminals, who were living close to ‘decent’ people
some people believed there was a criminal u_______, sometimes called the r_______ (people born into poverty who often turned to crime in order to s______)
some people believed there was a criminal underclass, sometimes called the residuum (people born into poverty who often turned to crime in order to survive)
