Download or read book The Good Old Days Poverty Crime and Terror in Victorian London written by Gilda O'Neill and published by . This book was released on 2016-12-21 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Were things really better in the 'good old days'. The Victorian era is often thought of as an age of propriety, inventions and the British stiff upper lip. However, in a world of extremes between the rich and poor, for most people it was often hellish, violent and filled with death. In The Good Old Days she reveals exactly what it was like for those on the streets that history has forgotten. Meet: The madame whose mysterious East End chambers were visited nightly by the aristocracy. The psychic who 'solved' the Jack the Ripper murders. The conwoman, bigamist and murderer who left twenty-one bodies in her wake. The Lambeth Poisoner, sewer-hunters, oyster sellers and many other colourful characters. O'Neill leads us through fog-bound streets into rat-infested slums, boozers, penny gaffs and brothels to expose the teeming underbelly of London in the reign of Queen Victoria. Praise for The Good Old Days 'A world of hunger, squalor, disease and pain' - Daily Telegraph 'Terrific. A delightful foray through nineteenth century murder and mayhem' - Spectator 'Packed with shocking and tragic tales' - Big Issue Praise for Gilda O'Neill '[Gives a] voice to memories of a changing East End' - The Guardian 'A shocking book which, for once, should dispel the myth that life in the East End was one long knees-up' - Daily Express 'O'Neill chronicles the filth and poverty with leery aplomb, then sobers things up with sharp social commentary' - The Scotsman Gilda O'Neill (1951-2010) took three university degrees and was awarded an honorary doctorate for her work on the East End. In 1990 O'Neill began writing full-time. She published thirteen novels and six works of non-fiction, including East End Tales. She also broadcasted, gave talks and wrote articles about east London history. She tragically died in 2010 from a sudden illness.
Download or read book The Good Old Days written by Gilda O'Neill and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Were things really better in the good old days? The nineteenth century was a time when there were not only massive gulfs being created between the upper, middling and working classes, but there was also a growing awareness of the existence of an even more impoverished underclass â¬" a terrifying demi-monde of criminals, tarts and no-hope low lifes. This was the layer of â¬~ruffians' identified by social investigators such as Charles Booth and Henry Mayhew. The extent of those class divisions and consequent poverty meant that it could honestly be said by commentators of the time that the mores, lives and even language of the poorest in society were less familiar to their more privileged neighbours than those of the inhabitants of what was known then as â¬~darkest Africa'. However, this unfamiliarity certainly didn't prevent a certain amount of experimental visiting â¬" a kind of poverty tourism known as slumming - by toffs who chose to risk their safety for the thrill of mixing with the roughs in the taverns, music halls and case houses down by the docks. But they had to take care. Uniformed gangs would â¬~hold their street' in violent clashes with opposing mobs, and foreign seamen who had jumped ship would set up home near the river, close to the massive wealth hidden behind the high, blind walls of the bonded warehouses, and everyone knew about the alien hoards' propensity for making a living from thievery, opium, and whores... Gilda O'Neill's powerful exploration of the teeming underbelly that was to be found in the fog-bound streets, rat-infested slums, common lodging houses, boozers, penny gaffs and brothels in the heart of the greatest empire that the world has ever seen brings to life the real working class London of Victoria's reign.
Download or read book The Good Old Days written by Gilda O'Neill and published by . This book was released on 2017-10 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Great Pearl Heist written by Molly Caldwell Crosby and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-12-03 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: London, 1913. An exquisite strand of pale pink pearls, worth more than the Hope Diamond, has been bought by a Hatton Garden broker, capturing the attention of both jewelers and thieves. In transit to London from Paris, the necklace vanishes without a trace. Joseph Grizzard, “the King of Fences,” is the leader of a vast gang of thieves in London’s East End. Having risen from the deadly streets to become a wealthy family man, Grizzard still cannot resist the sport of crime, and the pearl necklace proves an irresistible challenge. Inspector Alfred Ward has joined the brand-new division of the Metropolitan Police known as “detectives.” Having caught some of the great murderers of Victorian London, Ward is now charged with finding the missing pearls and the thief who stole them. In the spirit of The Great Train Robbery, this is the true story of a psychological cat-and-mouse game. Thoroughly researched and compellingly colorful, The Great Pearl Heist is a gripping narrative account of this little-known, yet extraordinary crime.
Download or read book Love and Capital written by Mary Gabriel and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2011-09-14 with total page 768 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brilliantly researched and wonderfully written, LOVE AND CAPITAL reveals the rarely glimpsed and heartbreakingly human side of the man whose works would redefine the world after his death. Drawing upon previously unpublished material, acclaimed biographer Mary Gabriel tells the story of Karl and Jenny Marx's marriage. Through it, we see Karl as never before: a devoted father and husband, a prankster who loved a party, a dreadful procrastinator, freeloader, and man of wild enthusiasms-one of which would almost destroy his marriage. Through years of desperate struggle, Jenny's love for Karl would be tested again and again as she waited for him to finish his masterpiece, Capital. An epic narrative that stretches over decades to recount Karl and Jenny's story against the backdrop of Europe's Nineteenth Century, LOVE AND CAPITAL is a surprising and magisterial account of romance and revolution-and of one of the great love stories of all time.
Download or read book London s Shadows written by Drew D. Gray and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2010-07-01 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1888 London was the capital of the most powerful empire the world had ever known, and the largest city in Europe. In the west a new city was growing, populated by the middle classes, the epitome of 'Victorian values'. Across the city the situation was very different. The East End of London had long been considered a nether world, a dark and dangerous region outside the symbolic 'walls' of the original City. Using the Whitechapel murders of Jack the Ripper as a focal point, this book explores prostitution, poverty, revolutionary politics, immigration, the creation of a criminal underclass and the development of policing. It also considers how the sensationalist 'new journalism' took the news of the Ripper murders to all corners of the Empire and to the United States. This is an important book for those interested in the history of Victorian Britain.
Download or read book Crime and Criminals of Victorian England written by Adrian Gray and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2011-01-11 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dark and foggy Victorian streets, the murderous madman, the arsenic-laced evening meal - we all think we know the realities of Victorian crime. Adrian Gray's thrilling book recounts the classic murders, by knife and poison, but it also covers much more, taking the reader into less familiar parts of Victorian life, uncovering the wicked, the vengeful, the foolish and the hopeless amongst the criminal world of the nineteenth century. Here you will encounter the women who sold their children, corrupt bankers, smugglers, highwaymen, the first terrorists, bloodthirsty mutineers and petty thieves; you will meet the 'mesmerists' who fooled a credulous public, and even the Salvation Army band that went to gaol. Gray journeys through the cities, villages, lanes, mills and sailing ships of the period, ranging from Carlisle to Cornwall, showing how our laws today have been shaped by what the Victorians considered acceptable - or made illegal.
Download or read book The Cowkeeper s Wish written by Tracy Kasaboski and published by Douglas & McIntyre. This book was released on 2018-09-15 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the 1840s, a young cowkeeper and his wife arrive in London, England, having walked from coastal Wales with their cattle. They hope to escape poverty, but instead they plunge deeper into it, and the family, ensconced in one of London’s “black holes,” remains mired there for generations. The Cowkeeper’s Wish follows the couple’s descendants in and out of slum housing, bleak workhouses and insane asylums, through tragic deaths, marital strife and war. Nearly a hundred years later, their great-granddaughter finds herself in an altogether different London, in southern Ontario. In The Cowkeeper’s Wish, Kristen den Hartog and Tracy Kasaboski trace their ancestors’ path to Canada, using a single family’s saga to give meaningful context to a fascinating period in history—Victorian and then Edwardian England, the First World War and the Depression. Beginning with little more than enthusiasm, a collection of yellowed photographs and a family tree, the sisters scoured archives and old newspapers, tracked down streets, pubs and factories that no longer exist, and searched out secrets buried in crumbling ledgers, building on the fragments that remained of family tales. While this family story is distinct, it is also typical, and so all the more worth telling. As a working-class chronicle stitched into history, The Cowkeeper’s Wish offers a vibrant, absorbing look at the past that will captivate genealogy enthusiasts and readers of history alike.
Download or read book Eliminate the Impossible written by Alistair Duncan and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Sherlock Holmes, arguably the most famous fictional private detective, is known to many purely through his appearances on film. However he had a life on the page long before he made it to the silver screen. This book looks at the origins of the character, examines the original stories and their inconsistencies before moving on to look at his film career and the many actors who have protrayed him." -- Cover, page [4].
Download or read book The British National Bibliography written by Arthur James Wells and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 870 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Who Were the Real Oliver Twists written by LYNN. HAMILTON and published by Pen and Sword History. This book was released on 2024-05-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist exposed a brutal but commonplace system of child exploitation to Victorian readers. Conditions in workhouses, factories, and child criminal gangs posed lethal and daily hazards to children born to poverty. Several much-needed reforms took place in the aftermath of Oliver Twist's publication. But what were the circumstances of childhood poverty in Victorian London and other English cities? And who were the real Oliver Twists? This book explores how nineteenth century laws and social institutions entirely failed to protect children born to poor and unstable families. Despite a horrible labyrinth of ten-hour workdays, illegal indentures, and forced emigration, however, many children overcame terrible prospects and thrived. Some of these remarkable stories of childhood resilience, innovation, and enterprise have been lost to the general reader. This book brings those stories back to light.
Download or read book Street Life in London written by Adolphe Smith and published by . This book was released on 2014-11-07 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The authors of this book invented photojournalism as they roamed through London creating this book, with Thomson taking pictures and Smith interviewing and writing about the poor people they met on the streets.When you read this book, you will meet a host of Dickensian characters such as: -- John Day: After years of drunkenness, he "chanced to obtain a glimpse of his own countenance reflected in a public-house mirror. His bleared eyes, his distorted features and ignominious, degraded appearance produced so sudden and forcible an impression, that he ... called for a penny glass of beer, and swore that it should be the last."-- Jacobus Parker: Known as the "dramatic shoe-black," he worked for the government and acted in many plays in London theaters. Then, "Suddenly I fell ill, lost the sight of my left eye, and had to leave my regular work ... Now, I am stationed as a shoe-black, at your service, armed with a peddler's licence. ... To tell you the truth, when I think of my past and present, I am surprised to find myself so happy and contented."You will also learn about the trades that helped the poor of Victorian London to survive. You will meet the swagsellers, the mush fakers, the old-clothes dealers, the wall-workers, the ginger-beer makers, the flying dustmen, the street doctors who impress their poor patients by diagnosing them in "crocus Latin," and many others.
Download or read book London Lives written by Tim Hitchcock and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-12-03 with total page 479 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book surveys the lives and experiences of hundreds of thousands of eighteenth-century non-elite Londoners in the evolution of the modern world.
Download or read book Some Danger Involved written by Will Thomas and published by Touchstone. This book was released on 2004-05-18 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An atmospheric debut novel set on the gritty streets of Victorian London, Some Danger Involved introduces detective Cyrus Barker and his apprentice, Thomas Llewelyn, as they work to solve the gruesome murder of a young scholar. When a student bearing a striking resemblance to artists' renderings of Jesus Christ is found murdered -- by crucifixion -- in London's Jewish ghetto, 19th-century private detective Barker must hire an assistant to help him solve the sinister case. Out of all who answer an ad for a position with "some danger involved," the eccentric and enigmatic Barker chooses downtrodden Llewelyn, a gutsy young man whose murky past includes recent stints at both an Oxford college and an Oxford prison. As Llewelyn learns the ropes of his position, he is drawn deeper and deeper into Barker's peculiar world of vigilante detective work, as well as the dark heart of London's teeming underworld. Together they pass through chophouses, stables, and clandestine tea rooms, tangling with the early Italian mafia, a mad professor of eugenics, and other shadowy figures, inching ever closer to the shocking truth behind the murder. Brimming with wit and unforgettable characters, and steeped in authentic period detail, Some Danger Involved is a captivating page-turner that introduces an equally captivating duo while signaling the start of an exciting career for Will Thomas.
Download or read book My East End written by Gilda O'Neill and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2000-09-28 with total page 574 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Every page is a delight. Every chapter made vivid by a writer who has poured heart and soul into her book' Val Hennessy, Daily Mail The East End of London - cockneys, criminals, street markets, pub singalongs, dog racing, jellied eels . . . It is a place at once appealing and unruly, comforting and incomprehensible. Gilda O'Neill, an East Ender herself, shows there is more to this fascinating area than a collection of clichéd images. Using oral history and more traditional sources, she builds up a powerful image of this community - bringing to us, with wit and honesty, the real story of London's East End WHAT READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT MY EAST END: 'A true and detailed account of a community that has been sadly lost' Amazon Reader Review 'Excellent reading for anyone interested in the early life of London, one can't help being mesmerised by the hardships they endured!' Amazon Reader Review 'An extremely interesting and well-researched book' Amazon Reader Review
Download or read book A Visitor s Guide to Victorian England written by Michelle Higgs and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2014-02-12 with total page 151 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An “utterly brilliant” and deeply researched guide to the sights, smells, endless wonders, and profound changes of nineteenth century British history (Books Monthly, UK). Step into the past and experience the world of Victorian England, from clothing to cuisine, toilet arrangements to transport—and everything in between. A Visitor’s Guide to Victorian England is “a brilliant guided tour of Charles Dickens’s and other eminent Victorian Englishmen’s England, with insights into where and where not to go, what type of people you’re likely to meet, and what sights and sounds to watch out for . . . Utterly brilliant!” (Books Monthly, UK). Like going back in time, Higgs’s book shows armchair travelers how to find the best seat on an omnibus, fasten a corset, deal with unwanted insects and vermin, get in and out of a vehicle while wearing a crinoline, and avoid catching an infectious disease. Drawing on a wide range of sources, this book blends accurate historical details with compelling stories to bring alive the fascinating details of Victorian daily life. It is a must-read for seasoned social history fans, costume drama lovers, history students, and anyone with an interest in the nineteenth century.
Download or read book The Napoleon of Crime written by Ben Macintyre and published by Crown. This book was released on 2011-04-05 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the New York Times bestselling author of Prisoners in the Castle, a dramatic portrait of the master thief of the nineteenth century: Adam Worth “Fascinating . . . a brisk, lively, colorful biography of an amazing criminal.”—The New York Times (Best Books of the Year) The Victorian era’s most infamous and iconic thief, the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes’s Professor Moriarty, Adam Worth was known as the Napoleon of crime. Suave, cunning, and fearless, Worth learned early that the best way to succeed was to steal. And steal he did. Following a strict code of honor, Worth won the respect of Victorian society. He also aroused its fear by becoming a chilling phantom, mingling undetected with the upper classes, whose valuables he brazenly stole. His most celebrated heist: Gainsborough’s grand portrait of the Duchess of Devonshire—ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales—a painting Worth adored and often slept with for twenty years. With a brilliant gang that included “Piano” Charley, a jewel thief, train robber, and playboy, and “the Scratch” Becker, master forger, Worth secretly ran operations from New York to London, Paris, and South Africa—until betrayal and a Pinkerton man finally brought him down. The Napoleon of Crime is a grand, dazzling tour into the gaslit underworld of the nineteenth century, and into the doomed genius of a criminal mastermind.
