Whitechapel

• Whitechapel is an area in the East End of London that had a reputation for violence and crime at the end of the 19th century
• History of Whitechapel


  • In the 15th and 16th centuries, Whitechapel was quite a wealthy area
  • During the Industrial Revolution, industries such as iron foundries, breweries and tanneries sprang up there, making the area less pleasant to live in
• Factors influencing poor living conditions in Whitechapel

  • Overcrowding
  • Housing
  • Industry
  • Streets
  • Lighting
  • Health
  • Sanitation
  • Pollution
• Overcrowding in Whitechapel


  Sometimes families of 10 or more would live in a one-bedroom house, with 188.6 people per acre compared to 45 people per acre in other areas of London
• Housing in Whitechapel


  • The houses were often small and constructed from poor materials, poorly ventilated, and there were many 'rookeries' - areas of slum housing
• Industries in Whitechapel


  • Iron foundries, breweries and tanneries (smelly and polluting)
  • 'Sweated' industries like tailoring, shoemaking and match factories (long hours, cramped, unhygienic conditions, low pay)
  • Slaughterhouses, butchers, bakers, docks and railway construction (short-term, low-paid work)
• Many industries in Whitechapel were low paid, with people earning 6 to 12 shillings a week
• Streets in Whitechapel


  • Very narrow streets and alleyways, many ending in courtyards, described as a 'labyrinth'
• Lighting in Whitechapel


  Poor at night due to thick smog and difficulty of lighting the narrow, maze-like streets
• Health of Whitechapel residents

  Poor due to poverty and living conditions, with the death rate twice as high as other areas of London in 1864
• Sanitation in Whitechapel


  • Sewers often overflowed onto the streets, clean water wasn't always readily available, and houses were poorly ventilated
• Attempts to improve housing in Whitechapel

  1. After the Artisans' and Labourers' Dwellings Act in 1875, the area around Flower and Dean Street was demolished, but residents merely moved to nearby areas

  2. In 1881 George Peabody opened the Peabody Estate, which comprised 286 flats with brick walls, better ventilation and shared bathrooms and kitchens
• Pollution in Whitechapel


  Pollution and smoke from factories mixed with fog to form a dense, greenish smog that locals called a 'pea-souper'
• Poverty in Whitechapel


  Infamous as a poverty-stricken area, partly due to poor employment opportunities
• Employment in Whitechapel


  • Tailors, shoemakers and match factories running 'sweated' industries
  • Low wages, generally 6 to 12 shillings a week
  • Short-term employment on the docks or building railways
  • Butchers', bakers' and abattoirs
  • Many lost jobs following an economic depression in the 1870s
• Workhouses in Whitechapel


  • Set up in the early 19th century to provide relief to the poor, with deliberately unpleasant conditions to deter use, residents expected to do tough manual labour, families split up and punished for talking
• In 1870 Dr Barnardo opened an orphanage in the East End of London, offering kinder conditions than workhouses
• Findings of Charles Booth's poverty study

  • In 1891, 37.5% of East End Londoners lived in dire poverty and couldn't afford to feed or clothe themselves properly
  • His maps showed Whitechapel had several 'vicious and semi-criminal' areas, as well as great inequality with some living in comfort and others in terrible poverty in close quarters
• Reasons why people moved to Whitechapel

  Many poor immigrants settled there due to availability of unskilled work and cheap housing
• Reasons why Irish people moved to Whitechapel

  • The potato famine in the 1840s
  • Many young men came hoping to go on to America but lacked the boat fare
  • They got jobs as navvies, building railways, roads and canals, which were physically demanding, unhealthy and badly paid
• Tensions between Whitechapel residents and Irish immigrants


  • Irish immigrants were sometimes seen as drunken, fighting young unmarried men
  • They were Catholic and viewed as inferior by many Victorians
  • Towards the end of the 19th century there was significant racial tension between the Irish and Jewish communities
• Reasons why Jewish people moved to Whitechapel

  • The assassination of the tsar in Russia in 1881 led to pogroms on Jewish communities
  • In the 1880s, 30,000 Jewish eastern Europeans fled to Britain, many moving to Whitechapel
• Reasons why people disliked Jewish immigrants in Whitechapel

  • They didn't mix much with other residents and seemed separate and unfamiliar
  • They were prepared to work for lower wages, undercutting other traders
  • Some Jewish immigrants were sweatshop owners who treated workers badly
  • They worked on Sundays, putting pressure on other traders
  • They spoke a different language, ate different food and wore different clothes
  • They were associated with radical political ideas like anarchism and socialism
• Factors contributing to tensions in Whitechapel

  • Irish nationalists (Fenians) and other Irish workers protesting
  • Socialists
  • Anarchists
  • Poor workers demonstrating
  • Bloody Sunday protest against the detrimental effects of English rule in Ireland
• There were an increasing number of strikes and demonstrations in London at this time, which the police did not always know how to react to
• Reasons for high crime rates in Whitechapel

  Extreme poverty, critical overcrowding, very poor housing and ethnic tensions
• Reasons why drinking, alcoholism and drugs caused crime in Whitechapel

  • Alcohol helped people forget their hard and uncomfortable lives
  • Alcohol was cheap and widely available, with many pubs and 'gin palaces'
  • There were also a number of opium dens
• How drinking caused crime in Whitechapel

  It made people more volatile, reckless and prone to violence, and less able to protect themselves from being victims of crime
• Problems caused by prostitutes in Whitechapel

  • There were an estimated 1,200 prostitutes in Whitechapel in 1888, forced onto the streets when brothels were made illegal in 1885
  • Prostitutes were vulnerable to crimes like theft, assault and rape, and at risk of unwanted pregnancies and illegal abortions
  • Despite some campaigners, the public tended to see prostitutes as immoral sinners
• Activities of gangs in Whitechapel

  • They ran protection rackets, and were involved in illegal pubs and unlicensed boxing matches
• Reactions to Jewish people in Whitechapel

  • Discrimination and a rise in criminal incidents against them
  • They were less likely to report crimes to the police due to language barriers and past experiences
  • There were often attacks on and crimes against Jewish people, purely because of their ethnicity
  • Some Christians preached to the Jews and tried to convert them, leading to tensions
  • Protests against the long hours and low wages in Jewish-owned sweatshops could cause trouble for the police
• Policing in Whitechapel


  H Division of the London Metropolitan Police was responsible for policing the area
• Improvements in Whitechapel after the Jack the Ripper case

  1. The Houses of the Working Classes Act in 1890 replaced slums with low cost housing

  2. The Public Health Amendment Act in 1890 increased the powers of local authorities to improve sewers, pavements and rubbish collection