- 7 minutes ago
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:03150 years ago Victorian Britain became the world's first industrial superpower and as the country
00:10thrived London the beating heart of empire became the world's richest city but this was a city
00:19divided for the first time geographical lines were drawn between those enjoying the nation's
00:25wealth in the West and those who weren't in the East this is the story of one poor community living
00:36in London's East End in the heart of modern Stratford a Victorian slum has been recreated
00:48and a group of 21st century people are moving in oh absolutely awful I'm just a bit dumbstruck to
00:59survive they'll have to work to keep a roof over their heads it's absolutely shattering
01:08and put food on the table I'm starving so it's making me a bit emotional to be honest
01:15and they'll learn firsthand what life was like you will call me mom for those at the bottom of the
01:21economic pile they were disabled they couldn't do it they didn't eat they didn't eat they died
01:26they'll live through five decades of turbulent history look at the newspaper and seismic social
01:33change I am proud to be an East End suffragette part of the people this is the story of how
01:42a
01:42quarter of a million slum dwellers in the East End changed our attitude to poverty forever
01:50this is the slum
01:59last time the slum dwellers endured the hardship of the 1880s as soon as you start getting behind
02:04here you're never going to get back when soaring unemployment there seems to be no end to the
02:09cycle you go out look for work there is no work and a growing population god this is so weird
02:16not
02:17what I necessarily expected heaps pressure on the East End slightest little feeling can push you over
02:23the edge and you've lost everything welcome to the slum slum tourism brought unwelcome visitors like
02:30entertainment zoo animals yeah people do suggest that the poor thick and stupid and actually we're
02:39not I'm gonna throw you out afraid and there was revolution in the air lower classes the poor the
02:45have-nots will not be trodden on the slum dwellers fought back strikes publicity and protests they have no
02:54right to take our living away from us all helped to highlight their plight victory the slum dwellers
03:19mom's shouting at dad because he's snoring you were kicking me in the face surprisingly I managed to
03:25get a couple of hours sleep I've got no one in the doss house at the minute and each empty
03:32bed means I
03:32don't earn money I mean I'm nervous about what is in store I'm really don't know what's coming
03:40during the 1890s Britain finally emerged from the long depression and with new prosperity there came
03:47signs of modernity there were electric lights in the streets motorized buses and the first cinema
03:54opened on London's Regent Street new technology meant cheaper mass-produced goods filling the shops
04:01even in the poorest areas there were small signs that things were getting better oh my goodness look at
04:08this tin pineapple people would never have had pineapple before in their lives would they for
04:13slum shopkeepers Adrian and Vibka bird aha the new decade has brought a delivery of new stock cabbage cocoa
04:21essence it's real it's real and extras as well look at the flowers and then a little bits and pieces
04:32for decorating your clothes and fixing things and a clock that's something to display proudly on the
04:40that international trade and domestic manufacturing rallied providing cheaper goods and foods to
04:46Britons with more disposable income but this new wealth did not touch everyone divisions are beginning to
04:54appear between those who have enough and those without the house have been the lucky ones and now they
05:02have a new family business look at that half and sons limited that's quite nice isn't it wow fantastic isn't
05:16it really
05:16good this is more my environment it's all what I'm used to I love how it's just all classy like
05:24we actually
05:24look kind of well off it looks like a professional tailors it looks like you're meant it's meant to be
05:29worked in
05:30not like a sweater's den it looks like it's a nice environment to make clothes in I'm actually just
05:35blown away I don't I don't really know what to say I actually don't I'm actually quite emotional
05:49this is just nearer to what we would have hoped for yeah I know for Russell since he's been here
05:54has
05:54worked really hard and also for my ancestors it's what they would have worked for and they work so
06:00hard the Howard's journey from sweatshop workers to owning their own business mirrors that of many
06:08Jewish migrants including Mandy's own ancestors who settled in Britain after fleeing religious
06:14persecution in Russia by 1890 spittle fields and Whitechapel were home to a thriving Jewish tailoring
06:22industry making suits in the East End for those who could not afford to shop at Savile Row wow you
06:30have you have come out in the world so you've got the skill you've moved beyond sweated labor are you
06:36actually feeling more affluent now we are feeling more affluent it's like the end of the tunnel that we can
06:41actually get out of the slum yeah and work our way up which is what we've been working towards and
06:46have
06:46the other people have been finding it tough people without skills some some have found it very tough
06:50and my heart really goes out to them because they work so hard they're not lazy people tall and there's
06:56been massive struggles for them one such family are the potters with stock
07:11stock yes excellent good huh what are the bits and bobs you've got on the back shelf Adrian Alison and
07:18her
07:18family are finding out what the 1890s has to offer we were selling products that we know today like
07:24oxo cubes you know we would sell them by the box but we would probably sell them by the single
07:30unit as
07:30well have you noticed the porcelain dogs up on the shelf I did how much are you selling those for
07:36hold
07:36on to your bonnet that's 17 pounds each no that's more than the potter's entire week's rent I mean that
07:45would feed us for three weeks wouldn't it surprisingly even within the slum at this point people got to a
07:50certain point when they had all of their basic needs covered and then they had extra spending money I
07:56don't think I could spend anything on any frivolous items well we haven't got that sort of money and
08:05we haven't got that sort of income where we would have that money because currently none of us are
08:10working anyway the new luxuries available at the shop would have been well beyond their means we have
08:18these advertising posters back here and those are left over from putting up do you think you might want
08:22to try one of those in your room or a couple of them you like some as well you got
08:27a bottle
08:27so oh pesto I like that one just take one of each see ya beecham's pills yeah that's fine
08:41the potters have scraped through the decades since injuring his back shortly after arriving granddad
08:48Graham has struggled to find work at a time when men were the main breadwinners old age or injury could
08:55seal a whole family's fate my fears would be to lose the house the room and this is it you
09:04know we put
09:05posters up to it to make it brighter it's not the most fantastic place but it's home and I don't
09:11want
09:11to lose that brightness to the room what do you think yeah that's it look a bit brighter yeah I
09:20think it turns in quite well with the mildew but for siblings John and Maria who do have an income
09:26things are on the up we have enough for the rent and we have extra money but we won't be
09:32silly with
09:32it we'll get a breakfast every morning two slices of bread and then the evening two bowls of soup plus
09:38we just get out there and work and work and work and make more and more and more we have
09:43come such
09:43a long way from the das house we're in our own room now which is comfortable we are comfortable but
09:50comfortable isn't is not good enough you know we want more or at least I want more you have to
09:55keep
09:55working get out there do what we can and go as far and as high as possible because this is
10:01the time to
10:02do that like many slum women would have Maria has been taking in her neighbors washing and she now
10:09has a burgeoning small business of London's 51,000 laundry workers 95% were women many were able to
10:20grow their enterprise from washing for neighbors to washing uniforms bedding and tableware for small
10:25scale eateries and lodging houses by expanding her business Maria has just enough work coming in to
10:34hire some extra help their bed sheets I don't know how they're this disgusting fellow slum dwellers
10:40Allison and Heather Potter the sheets are maggoty girls oh so the boiling water into here and then
10:48we've got a dolly like this practice the movement girls together swinging that's it yeah my laundry
11:03business is doing quite good and I got two really good girls to help me today and I loved giving
11:08them
11:08the work it's like my hard work has paid off really can add starting from the bottom and now I'm
11:13the boss
11:14put hold it in and wheel this around like this yeah color is absolutely wonderful you know we haven't
11:26had color with a few managing to scratch out a living in the slum which is how are you today
11:34look at all
11:34this stuff there are some takers for the new products in the shop I just want to treat us to
11:42something
11:42nice yeah I definitely have a tin of corn beef definitely corn beef that's 238 it's fine including
11:50newly available homewares now being manufactured cheaply for the mass market I'm so excited to have
11:56flowers in my house that's the one thing how's that for you lovely can't go wrong how much is the
12:02clock
12:02the clock is 17 pound that's over half of Mandy's weekly rent I think we have to wait till our
12:11first
12:11suits done before I can stretch to that but I've got my eye on that to walk in the shop
12:16and actually
12:17know that I've got some money in my purse for the first time to not just necessarily buy the basic
12:22bread
12:23and butter as soon as I saw them I knew exactly where I was going to put them and they're
12:28going
12:28to go on my table in a vase and the vase is going to go on a doily so as
12:35you open the door the first thing
12:36you will see I will go straight to the flowers that's where they're going as soon as I get home
12:41I've got to make a suit and embellish a hat James is embellishing the hat the Howarth men are starting
12:48work on their first order one embellished bonnet and one lounge suit an order like this can earn
12:56Russell up to 200 pounds in today's money I'm taking pride in this work it's a lot more enjoyable
13:03running a family business we're just working for us rather being a sweater working for other factories
13:08really good sort of shine change bits and pieces today I'm gonna cut a hole so you can see out
13:14of it
13:15but it's gonna go all the way around it's just gonna drape down there's gonna be a bow at the
13:19back
13:19because the victorian people did love their bows so I'm hopefully it's gonna turn out all right but
13:24father and something like my son goes fishing with me every weekend me my dad don't have that because
13:30I don't like to go fishing I like to go shopping so I think it meant a lot to him
13:33to actually see
13:34that sign on the wall dad it's a desert Lawrence of Arabia actually embellished didn't it that looks
13:43reasonably embellished while Russell runs the business the family's relative prosperity means
13:50they can afford for Mandy not to work the Victorian ideal was that married women should remain at home
13:59to look after any children and keep a clean and tidy house put some elbow grease in it not only
14:09she OTT
14:09she's actually OCD so it's like everything has to be right being a respectable man in the Victorian
14:17era is a really tough job but being able to stay at home was a luxury that most slum women
14:23could not
14:24afford I think this one's all right yeah it's all this one ready three two one working for Maria is
14:33earning Heather and Alison Potter a badly needed income but without Graham working they won't have
14:38enough to keep the family afloat 26 27 28 29 29 yes yes well done so it's been a good
14:50day considering
14:51power of the potters yeah what is power there is a hierarchy to the slum and we're at the bottom
14:59of
14:59the pile again the Victorian elite were puzzled by the fact that although society as a whole was getting
15:08richer there was this growing population of poor London the greatest city on earth was creating an
15:15underclass of savages they called them the residuum literally the dregs of society and the worry was that
15:21they would somehow drag the whole population down with them determined to find out the scale of the
15:30problem one man set out to investigate businessman and statistician Charles Booth started in the East
15:37End and hired researchers to collect extensive data on every household from how much they earned to how they
15:49lived in 1891 his findings for wider London were published historian Jerry White has come to the slum to tell
15:58the
15:58residents what he discovered who set out to be the first person to define what poverty was and how many
16:06were living in poverty it was a massive inquiry it ran to 17 volumes but the great iconic product of
16:16his
16:16investigations was the London poverty map where he set out to color code the streets of London
16:25according to the class of the people who lived in London street by street on his map streets colored
16:34yellow red and pink represented the wealthy middle class and the comfortable working-class households
16:40light blue were families living on the poverty line which boost defined as those earning between 18 to 21
16:47shillings a week dark blue accounting for around a hundred thousand people in East London was the very poor in
16:56chronic want the black streets were inhabited by the much feared residuum who Booth described as vicious and
17:04semi-criminal but Booth concluded that this was just one percent of the population not the majority of the poor
17:11as people had assumed
17:14Booth thinks nothing can be done with the blackest streets except demolish the streets and disperse the
17:22people but if you demolish the black and disperse them where they're gonna go they'll just move to a blue
17:28wall
17:28they will but they won't as it were create this difficult problem which the Victorians saw as the
17:35semi-criminal and degraded classes clustering in particularly difficult streets which posed as it
17:42were a threat to people around demolition wasn't the only solution proposed Booth suggested setting up
17:50labor camps where the unskilled would get training others favored deportation the evangelical school of
17:58industry shipped 12,000 poor children from London's East End to countries like Canada and Australia
18:04there was even a eugenics Society who recommended mass sterilization we're gonna contemplate sterilizing
18:12them for God's sake you know what is that all about you know dreadful sending them send in abroad you
18:20know
18:20just don't get any sense the slum dwellers would have been horrified to have known that the forces that
18:27had oppressed them in so many ways so far that they were the people talking about classing them as a
18:32different race and exterminating them basically it's horrifying I wondered where you would have put your
18:41streets where was the black ones again I don't think we're black are we I think we're not blue
18:46dark blue because I don't think we're vicious semi-criminals are we there's no crimes in here no no
18:52vicious semi-criminal and degraded he called the lives of savages booth said I'd say we're dark blue
18:57certainly dark blue you're absolutely right that I would have said this is a dark blue street I just
19:02wondered because it's only the two of us you know and we're making good money although it's casual labor
19:09that it's based on at the moment and so that may have brought us into the light blue with a
19:15new
19:15laundry business and so on then yeah I mean that's it wouldn't be long before you got there but yeah
19:21I'm
19:21certainly dark blue the news that the poorest made up just one percent of the population went some way
19:29to allay Victorian concerns about a vast and vicious underclass but booth's research went further
19:38well what booth found and it was an astonishing finding of the time was that one in three of the
19:47East London population was living in poverty and for the first time I think he gave a human face to
19:55the
19:55poor the myths that these were people who were feckless drunken lazy didn't want to work what he
20:03showed was that one of the fundamental problems of London was low wages that even if people were
20:10working 70 hours a week they were working for a pittance and that meant that London was never seen in
20:16the same way again and the London poor were never seen in the same way again whose work encouraged other
20:22social reformers to start their own investigations confectioner seabomb roundtree discovered that
20:28the poor in York faced almost identical problems to those in London a survey in Manchester came to the
20:35same conclusion the genie was out of the bottle this wasn't a local issue but a national epidemic
20:41poverty was in the spotlight as never before but the question for the authorities was what to do about
20:48it there seems to be a bit more hope in the community a bit more spirit a bit more a
20:54bit
20:55more of a feeling that we can actually go out and make something of ourselves it really makes the 90s
21:00feel not like there is new hope it's a new day in the slum and in the 1890s boost findings
21:14were
21:15beginning to have an effect Britain's attitudes towards the poor were slowly shifting it was no
21:21longer seen as simply part of the natural state but the product of social environmental and economic
21:27factors one way to help people out of poverty was education yes you're going to school wash your hands
21:36face and faces and get you sent off to school come on live you first
21:43you're good oh it's cold in the past schooling was either provided by charities or had to be paid for
21:53by the pupils family then the nation's first education act provided subsidized schooling for
21:59most pupils and made it free for the very poorest during the 1890s schooling became free for all and
22:09compulsory for all children between the ages of 5 and 12 it also put an obligation on families to make
22:16sure their kids actually went to school this was a shift the state was intervening in family life and
22:24this had a big impact on the lives of the working poor right behave yourself today do you understand
22:30me I'll try I'm not joking I try right do as you tell try behave myself don't show me up
22:36just let me do it
22:39let me do it James James no please you've got to have a clean face just one sec
22:51stop you're on I don't show me up don't show me up I love you go bye James let's go
22:58come on hurry up
23:09good morning children good morning mom very quietly sit down if you do not work well in class
23:19then you may be given the cane and it's very painful so we're going to start with some arithmetic
23:28two times seven equals hands up pupils were rigorously drilled in the three R's by the end of the century
23:38an astonishing 97 percent of the population could read an increase of more than 30 percent since
23:44the 1850s on the seven very good while James is at school Mandy and Rebecca are getting to grips
23:56with more housework what are you doing got to turn it down and then turn it down like that see
24:03it's a
24:03bit posh isn't it even at the best of times keeping a slum dwelling clean was an uphill struggle but
24:11in
24:11the 1890s this was to become more difficult than ever this doesn't normally take this long to pump
24:17doesn't normally does it I don't think it's working properly how are we going to get that fixed should
24:22we call Andy yeah we could do that because he's the one that collects the rent from myself but if
24:28nothing's working here he's the one that's got to come and try and salt it seen the sign up front
24:34in the mid 1890s London suffered a drought notice is hereby given that it is found necessary to
24:48restrict the supply of water to use only for strictly domestic purposes the East London waterworks company
24:55supplied water from the River Lee it had spent little on maintaining infrastructure and had
25:00already been fined for supplying contaminated water in the 1860s now it restricted supply in the East End
25:08to just six hours a day I bet the band wasn't done equally so I bet the rich were given
25:13some leeway
25:14and the poor got the brunt of it it would be easier to regulate their usage wouldn't it because
25:20they've only got the stamp pipes to add insult to injury the East London waterworks even published
25:27propaganda blaming the poor for contributing to the problem by wasting water for the struggling
25:34potters reliant on work from Maria it's a particular blow this is going to affect us isn't it greatly we
25:41can't clean clothes for that water can we at all and we need boiling water really clean water we need
25:46water
25:47for salt everything I'm angry because we wanted to get this washing done we wanted to earn some money and
25:56now we're thwarted and back in 1896 there was nothing you could do who could you go to
26:05the lack of water the lack of water posed a threat to more than just the poor's livelihoods sanitation in
26:11the East End slums was already rudimentary one outside privy could be shared by scores of people
26:19sass pits were rarely emptied and when it rained sewage overflowed into houses leaving families three foot deep in human
26:27waste the water shortage made the situation even more deadly
26:35while wealthier households had bars in which to store supplies and money to buy bottled water in the slums sewage
26:42stagnated and diarrhea deaths tripled most slum housing was owned by absentee landlords who made little or no effort to
26:51maintain their properties and put profits before the welfare of their tenants protected by their anonymity there was little recourse
27:00for the suffering slum dwellers
27:01until a campaigning journalist decided to bring the poor's plight to the public's attention
27:08bennett burley a war reporter for the daily telegraph decided to investigate one of london's most notorious slums the old
27:17nickel he wrote of finding 108 people in 39 rat infested rooms
27:25burley exposed dozens of slum landlords in his articles as well as aristocrats like the duke of buckingham he discovered
27:33that some local councillors were also implicated but most shocking to the god-fearing victorians was that some of the
27:41worst properties were on land owned by the church of england
27:44one of the biggest difficulties in dealing with the appalling living conditions in the east end slums had always been
27:52the lack of a single regulatory body
27:55until the 1890s london was governed by 43 separate vestries underfunded and often corrupt and then finally 50 years after
28:06glasgow
28:06and liverpool london got its own administration the london county council funded and elected by london's ratepayers it was responsible
28:16for overseeing all city planning
28:18its first priority was the housing crisis the lcc made funds available to employ extra sanitation inspectors
28:27the precursor to our modern environmental health officers their job was to investigate conditions in the slums
28:36women had often been at the forefront of charitable crusades to improve the health of the poor
28:42but during the 1890s middle-class women were employed for the first time as sanitary inspectors
28:49mandy's newfound victorian respectability has landed her a new profession
28:54it's so unhealthy in there there's not even a gap for the air to come out it's just rotten the
29:00whole thing is rotten
29:02some slums were home to over 20 000 people and rubbish disposal was a big problem
29:08you've got all the food from i don't know how many days ago yeah flies and rats it just needs
29:15all to be cleared
29:16get it collected yeah rubbish should have been collected by dustman but because their wages were topped up with tips
29:23which no one in the slums could afford it often festered for weeks
29:28dustman wouldn't have come to pick this up because it wouldn't have been worth their while
29:31no and nobody was there to enforce it nobody cared because the poor liked to be dirty yeah
29:36the london county council was also put in charge of the city's common lodging houses
29:42with the power to prosecute owners and shut down properties that didn't meet the required standards
29:47oh boy oh dear next on mandy's round andy's dossers
29:53oh this is awful how many beds are in here five six seven eight that's a fair one from that
29:59side of
29:59and look these have not been cleaned it's just a breeding ground for disease
30:03it wouldn't surprise me if they have mice and rats coming in here
30:07and the floor hasn't been mopped i think ever and then we've got this here
30:10and it just stinks doesn't it look and look at the floor just with that damp itself people will get
30:15ill they'll get infections yeah it has to be shut down i've got the authority now having gone
30:20through my checklist and looked at all of this i'm shutting this place down
30:24i don't think you have any alternative no i've got no alternative none at all unfortunately
30:28okay so much mold in here hundreds of doss houses were given formal warnings and the worst closed down
30:37despite the council's best intentions this only made the housing problem worse
30:42because 31 000 of london's poor relied on them each night the lcc did open its own boarding house on
30:50drury lane
30:50it had room for 240 lodgers and boasted individual cubicles with beds sinks and lockable doors
30:59but at six pence per night it was 50 percent more than a common lodging house
31:03too expensive for the very poorest who had to make do with the remaining doss houses
31:08or resort to sleeping on the streets
31:11ha ha you shut me down fabulous
31:19so it's less money now
31:22you've seen this
31:26you shut me down
31:29it was a hole wasn't it
31:32but there's still money i can't earn from it now
31:34that's right it stopped you stopped your income
31:37you'll find another job don't worry
31:39you've had to
31:41diversification is going to be the key
31:46in a time before the welfare state disabled people who found themselves without an income would have had very few
31:52options
31:54if i'd have been a real victorian there's no way i would have been like i am now eleven years
32:02post injury and still alive and relatively healthy do you know what i mean there's no way
32:11many had to resort to work considered either dishonest or demeaning
32:17so i think the first thing we'll make is some kind of ointment
32:20yeah
32:21and sell it as a joint reliever
32:24some became quacks street doctors selling homemade medicines which were often little more than sugar pills
32:32right
32:32well it's survival of the fittest and uh you gotta diversify if you don't diversify you don't earn
32:37we will now do what we need to do to get by
32:41i would have been so browbeaten so
32:45told by society that because i'm disabled i was nothing anyway
32:48so i would have been very happy that i'm able to go out and make some potions and earn some
32:53money that way
32:54thank you very much indeed
32:55all right
32:56in 1890
32:59if you need to make money and you've got slightly low morals
33:02it's probably a very acceptable way to do it
33:05graham you're my board man so you go out advertising
33:09bring people in
33:11without state pensions to live on the elderly too had to take what work they could find
33:18gardeners wonder potions
33:22victorian potions
33:23do you want to try some of my potions
33:25like you young man
33:26are you sure
33:28described by dickens as pieces of human flesh between two slices of board
33:33these were the sandwich board men
33:36in an era obsessed with respectability and reputation
33:40these were humiliating and desperate ways to make money
33:44victorians knew that men and women in these jobs were just one small step away from the workhouse
33:50a lot of people just ignored us
33:52some people put faces
33:54yeah that's what you're finding hard
33:55yeah
33:57walking around with an a board on although to some people would be the worst thing you could possibly do
34:02to me i knew i was earning money
34:04and as the head of the household that's what i feel i should do
34:10gardeners wonder potions
34:12my legs are hurting now
34:17back at the slum with the drought dragging on for years
34:21a successful laundress like maria would have had little choice but to move on
34:25if she wanted to continue running her business
34:29we came with goals and we've done what we set out to do and now we've made
34:33five times our weekly rent and now it's time to go
34:38thank you so long
34:40goodbye slum
34:43women with the means could leave the water shortages of the east behind and move west
34:48where industrial laundries had tanks in which to store water
34:53in the 1890s the laundry industry expanded rapidly
34:56new larger laundries sprang up in clusters in places like kensel newtown known as soapside island
35:04here they received orders from places as far afield as scotland and even paris
35:10hello
35:11hello
35:12we're getting out of here
35:13you're leaving
35:13we're going we're getting out of the slum
35:15we better go off into the sunset
35:17oh well done
35:19well done as well
35:20well done as well
35:20thanks and
35:21take care
35:22see you later
35:23i've got full respect for john and maria
35:25i think they did the irish immigrants absolutely proud
35:28i think their ancestors would look on what they've done and
35:30be very proud that they've got two people like that in their family
35:37bye guys
35:37how are you off
35:39we're going
35:40aww safe journey
35:43safe journey
35:43i think the irish would have felt extremely proud of themselves because they really did start from the bottom
35:48and then to work their way up with all their strength all their fight no matter how starving no matter
35:54how tired or cold they were
35:55to be able to then work their way up would have been the most proud feeling i think they would
35:59have felt forever
36:01bye
36:02bye
36:03bye
36:03bye
36:08i really see everyone diverging
36:11now you have some who are possibly skyrocketing in their success and others still struggling
36:23for the potters maria and john's departure throws yet more uncertainty over their future
36:29we have relied on maria who was running her laundry business to give us some work
36:35but they're going to move on to better things
36:38and
36:40they're not going to take us with them
36:42so we're going to find ourselves not having any work again
36:48and
36:49a family in our position
36:51would never have been able to work their way out of the slum
37:06in the 1890s new social reforms were starting to make irrevocable changes to slum life
37:15but compulsory schooling put pressure on families like the potters
37:20we're not going to earn as much money if your children aren't with you
37:23yeah but that doesn't matter today's not about earning money it's about learning
37:27you don't want to be making matchboxes for the rest of the days do you
37:32with james going to school russell is also under more pressure to finish his order on time
37:39rebecca's definitely going to have to work harder
37:40because you have to pull the weight of both the family members
37:46the school-aged children were working hard too
37:49some sewing for the girls
37:52as well as academic lessons they were taught gender specific practical skills
37:58and for you james we have some woodwork i want you to do some sanding for me
38:03i find it pointless i'd rather be working because i'm bringing home something
38:08this incensed some poor parents whose children were being taught things they already knew
38:15and got paid to do at home
38:18my girls enjoy earning the money so that they know that they're contributing to the family part
38:24so they feel that they're somehow letting us down by going to school
38:28because they're then not able to earn money for us
38:31but i don't see it like that
38:34however for the victorian poor people they had
38:37two three maybe four children out there earning money for them
38:41so they would be losing half of their family income
38:45well done i'm pleased with that
38:47so now i want you to do some hammering for me we've got
38:50many refused to send their children to school
38:53but the law came down hard on truancy with fines of five shillings
38:57the equivalent of a child's average weekly wage
39:01i'd rather be back in the slum than here because
39:04i'd rather be working with my family and getting money and surviving
39:10and learning things
39:13compulsory schooling also exposed to the state
39:15the terrible conditions in which many slum children were living
39:18one in three was malnourished
39:21only one in 81 children owned a toothbrush
39:24and many suffered from poor eyesight and rickets
39:27end of school for today so class rise
39:32but even for children in poor health the end of lessons marked the start of their working day
39:37some managed 40 hours of labour a week outside school
39:45even with rebecca's help russell is struggling to get his order done on time
39:51it's a sad life to have being cooped up all the time and having to work day in day out
39:57it's the first all we've done in the shop
39:59it's meant to be finished end of today
40:00i was rushing to do something and i picked the iron up didn't check it properly
40:04put the iron in and it's shhh and burnt
40:05it's just i'm devastated
40:09i've never used anything like this before i'm adapting myself to use these techniques
40:14and just the fact you can burn something just like that
40:16it's just i'm absolutely what i want to cry
40:19i've got undo it and then start again
40:22it's really grating on my dad like you can really tell
40:25and he's going stir crazy
40:27like he's not even talking to any of us
40:30like we're like dad you alright
40:31it's just quite in a way it's like he's quite mental
40:33genuinely quite worried for him
40:35we haven't got no buttons to go on
40:36look buttons are here russ i can get you some buttons i can find
40:40show me
40:44i have trouser buttons
40:45all week
40:46or non-stop
40:50have a couple of pints where we calm yourself down
40:55for many one way to escape from the drudgery of slum life was to drink
41:00it was estimated the poor spent a fifth of their income on alcohol
41:06and working class drunkenness was another target for victorian social reformers
41:12drop mode
41:13yes
41:13to another long day of alcoholism
41:17within a quarter of a mile of the old nickel there were 112 pubs
41:22with east end pubs shutting for just five hours each night drunkenness was rife
41:28many middle and upper class victorians thought poverty was caused by excessive drinking
41:33oh yeah easy tiger
41:37a movement was formed to encourage the poor to turn teetotal
41:41it produced propaganda to highlight the destructive effects of alcohol on the drinker and their family
41:48the temperance movement urged people to sign a pledge to give up drink
41:52in return they promised that a life of sobriety would bring self-respect self-improvement and a happy home
42:01would it help our plight if we signed this
42:03it would certainly help our plight in the long run yes
42:05how in what way
42:07so they can't blame us then that drinks causing everything
42:09no i'm not going to sign hell no because i
42:11no no not no not today
42:13i think as an 1890s man living in the slum
42:17beer was probably a fundamental part of their life
42:20they drank it constantly day in day out
42:22and when the temperance movement came about they were probably
42:27not too keen to put it mildly
42:31throughout the second half of the 1890s london's drought continued
42:38the worst thing is the cleanliness it's disgusting
42:42i can't tell you how bad it makes me feel
42:47it's unsanitary it's revolting
42:52just to get up and smell yourself in the morning makes you feel awful
42:58my body hasn't seen decent water for weeks
43:02and the water it has seen has been stone cold
43:04the feeling of not being clean
43:06and being able just to jump in the shower
43:09it's just so destroyed
43:13despite the intermittent water supply
43:15the victorian middle and upper classes at least had indoor bathrooms
43:19if the poor wanted to get clean they had to look further afield
43:24this is bath time
43:28public bathing had been popular in british cities since the 1840s
43:32when the urban population began to explode
43:36but bethnal green would have to wait until 1898
43:39before it got its first locally funded public bars
43:46bath houses provided facilities to wash and at some sites to swim
43:50two pence paid for a hot bath and a clean towel
43:56a cold bath was just a penny
43:59i've just felt elated i've felt my skin squeak for the first time in two and a half weeks
44:05it's beyond brilliant it really is
44:13as the decade drew to a close the work of social reformers began to have a direct impact on the
44:20east end
44:20all right
44:21oh we have a letter
44:23oh
44:25what's that all about then
44:28mrs gardner and potter
44:29we would like to inform you of your immediate employment as general labourers
44:33we are desirous of the communal areas of the dwelling house being whitewashed as part of the sanitary improvements that
44:39have been ordered
44:39you will both be remunerated to the value of five pence for each full hour
44:45either they want to put rents up or
44:47they're scared about that telegraph bloke
44:50i think they've got to make improvements
44:52let's get cracking us
44:53right let's go
44:55with the publicity generated by figures like burley and booth
44:58the london county council forced more and more slum landlords to make improvements to their properties
45:05it's looking a lot better at least it's put a bit of brightness in here
45:08it just seems to be a false air of cleanliness doesn't it
45:12in many cases the improvements were superficial and did little to improve conditions as a whole
45:19we pay body hours load up
45:20for andy and graham it does at least provide some income
45:26at howarth and sons russell's finished the suit
45:30well done russ that was a tall order that was
45:33if you think about the tools that you've had i think you've done a great job
45:38yeah it's all done
45:42a lot of skills i've used i've not used for a long time so it's sort of nice to revisit
45:46those
45:46it's what made me fall in love for taylor in the first place
45:48it's 20
45:51they've been paid enough to comfortably cover their costs for the week
45:54it's definitely benefited the family this skill over the decades and it's come to fruition
46:00and we're now moving up into the middle class
46:0383 pounds 44 pence
46:05brilliant
46:06fantastic well done
46:07well done daddy
46:09well done well done james
46:10i'm quite proud of the hat
46:12you should be
46:13it wasn't it wasn't the best
46:14you weren't 10 pounds for that hat towards the family
46:17so now we have money to put away we have money to treat ourselves with
46:22we've already got the rent money so life is good
46:32as the end of the 19th century approached victorian society turned its attention to something that had become one of
46:39the biggest problems of all
46:40london's population hit five and a half million
46:43queen victoria asked prime minister gladstone to start an urgent inquiry
46:48the housing of the working classes act swiftly followed
46:51it gave london county council the right to demolish the worst slums like the old nickel
46:57and replace them for the first time with social housing
47:07dear mrs howarth it is with great pleasure that i wish to inform you of the compulsory purchase of the
47:13dwelling houses of which you are the sanitary inspector
47:16the purpose of the purchase is for immediate demolition and reconstruction with houses for the respectable artisan and working classes
47:25so it's all going to be knocked down and rebuilt and we've got to be rehoused
47:31i can't believe it
47:34this was a watershed moment for the east end urban poor
47:38victorians must have felt overjoyed that finally that the wretched accommodation where they've been living is going to be demolished
47:45and something is going to be done but it's still their home
47:47and there must have been this nervousness around what are they going to do where they're going to go and
47:50also can they afford the new place where they potentially would be going to
47:54so they must have had this mixed emotion of happiness but really frightened
48:01the london county council used charles boo's poverty maps to identify the areas to demolish and redevelop
48:08they started with the old nickel slum in shoreditch
48:12it had become a warren of overcrowded narrow streets full of filth and desperation
48:17an inspection of its housing reported 43 percent unfit for human habitation
48:31demolition began in the 1890s and in its place rose london's first ever council housing
48:37the boundary estate was opened in 1900 by the prince of wales to cheering crowds
48:44historian and leading expert on the old nickel
48:47sarah wise is showing the slum residents what potentially could have been their new home
48:53the boundary street estates was 20 blocks of
48:58about a thousand flats that was going to be home for four thousand seven hundred people
49:04and the idea was they wanted something that was going to be morally uplifting for the poor
49:09so they really wanted this idea of lights and fresh air and that's why you've got these amazingly broad streets
49:15and this central circus
49:18the mound for the central circus was made using the bricks and rubble from the demolished slum
49:24compared to what we've been living like to come to something like this is just
49:28mind-blowing really and just be able to get the fresh air
49:32see the sun something green
49:34for the victorians it just must have been just
49:37heaven for them
49:38one of the reasons it looks as good as it does is that the county council wanted to act as
49:43a
49:43flagship to charitable and philanthropic developers or even to private builders
49:49just to show them this is how good urban living can be
49:52the lcc made sure the estate housed facilities which they believed addressed many of the problems that face the urban
49:59poor
50:03as well as a thousand flats the model development included a huge central laundry
50:09a school
50:11and a parade of shops
50:13they ensured there was no pub on site but provided a club room where residents could socialize
50:20and the improvements didn't stop there
50:24each flat you had gas and your own running piped water
50:30that must have been amazing
50:32yeah absolutely
50:34and the gas was for the lighting and also there was a
50:37a gas ring on top of a specially designed kitchen range
50:41so you had your own little oven and some flats had their own
50:45loos they wanted to do everything they could to make sure that cleanliness was given priority
50:50but life on the boundary estate came with a long list of regulations
50:55as a costamonger we were selling eels and sheep trotters would we have been able to prepare them in the
51:03accommodation
51:04that would have been frowned upon
51:06it's what would have been called a noxious trade
51:09back in those days and they would not have wanted that going on in the premises
51:12because apart from anything it would be seen as anti-social
51:16amongst the rules residents had to abide by were no subletting no keeping of livestock
51:21and most significant for the slum dwellers no running of any kind of business or trade from their homes
51:28that's why the council built four runs of workshops 90 workshops in total
51:34the problem with that was they cost an extra four shillings a week on top of your weekly rental
51:40so that's really pretty pricey when you're used to paying only two and six a week
51:45all in then this building wouldn't have been an option
51:49I think that's right for us
51:50you see a big split then don't you because it would be alright for us
51:55we'd probably love a place like this
51:58but then for you it would be impossible to do it
52:01how are they going to live
52:03it's almost as if whilst the accommodation in the tenement is awful
52:08at least they had a way of making living
52:10at least they you know the few pennies that they may have earned
52:13it kept at least one meal on the table per day
52:16they've got no chance
52:18the estate planners never consulted with the slum dwellers about their specific needs
52:24and it turned out they got it seriously wrong
52:27sad fact is that of the 5700 people in the old nickel
52:33only 11 took a flat on the estate
52:37what? 11?
52:38yeah just 11
52:39that's awful
52:41yeah I've seen the space
52:42because what the London County Council hadn't realised was over half of people in the old nickel
52:47lived in a one-room home
52:49so there were 750 one-room homes in the nickel
52:52but on the new estate there were only 15 one-room flats
52:56I think that is a travesty
52:59yeah
52:59because everybody must have had their hopes raised
53:03they felt that they'd been promised this accommodation
53:07they must have felt as though they'd been lied to
53:10they may very well have thought that finally we've been noticed that there's going to be change
53:14and then it's whipped from underneath them in a most devastating way actually
53:19because you know they lived in the most atrocious conditions
53:21but at least they had somewhere to live
53:23and now that nowhere
53:25without enough affordable homes at the boundary estate
53:28most of the former old nickel residents were forced into other slums in nearby Bethnal Green
53:35overcrowding became worse than ever
53:38accommodation even more squalid
53:40and due to the high demand rent rose by almost a third within 10 years
53:45it's just such a wasted opportunity
53:47what a beautiful project this was
53:49it would have made a real difference to the way people live their everyday lives
53:52but the fact that only 11 families could actually afford to live there is such a shame
53:58we're starting to get used to this pattern of people trying to do good for people in the slum
54:02and it not working out or causing even more problems than they had to begin with
54:07back in the slum the demolition order hangs over them
54:12when properties were knocked down landlords were paid extra compensation for homes in a habitable condition
54:18which triggered a rush of superficial patching up
54:22so Andy and Graham are still whitewashing
54:25landlords were actually paid 10% extra compensation
54:33if they had tried to improve living accommodation
54:36really? is that the case? Graham, brush down
54:41is that truth?
54:43yeah, that's the truth
54:44so basically you've been painting all day to give the landlord an extra 10%
54:49again, more money
54:50and they're just going to pull it down anyway
54:52end of, finished
54:53they've conned us yet again
54:54as the residents in here
54:56we've been ordered to paint it
54:59and it's going to be condemned
55:01so, you know, we've lost that both ways, haven't we?
55:03we knew something was up
55:04yeah, we did, we said, didn't we?
55:05I'm not painting with this struggling up and down them stairs
55:10and Graham with his back struggling to do walls for them to earn more money
55:13no, I'm not doing one more lick
55:15no, neither am I mate
55:16there was me thinking that 1890s were actually showing a little bit of social conscience
55:20and a little bit of care towards the poor
55:22well it was, wasn't it?
55:24yeah
55:27that's foul
55:27to do that to people that thought
55:30maybe this was the start of something good for their tenement
55:32and to turn around and then
55:34no, we're knocking it down anyway
55:35but thanks for doing that, we pay you a pittance
55:38we won't ask you if you want to do it
55:39we tell you you've got to do it
55:41we will pay you a pittance
55:42and they get 10% extra on the price
55:46I think 2016 me and 1890s me
55:49would probably have to pay him a visit
55:50and I don't think he'd like the result of that
55:53the residents have called a meeting to discuss their fate
55:57as a community, we're a community
56:00we're all going to be split up
56:01they would have all been split up
56:02the friends they would have made, the children
56:05we've all been split up
56:06people like yourself, you may have somewhere to go
56:09and money to go out and be able to find new lodgings
56:13we wouldn't
56:14I mean it must have been terrifying for the Victorians at this time
56:17you know, especially people that are in my situation
56:19that have got young children
56:23God, it must have been awful
56:25to just another cloud of uncertainty over their head about
56:30God, what is my future going to be like?
56:36as the 1890s come to an end
56:38the slum community faces an uncertain future
56:44I think it was the first time that poverty had actually raised its head above the parapet
56:49and to actually say that poverty is not a decision that you take
56:54it's a circumstance that's forced upon you due to lack of work
56:57the biggest change for me
56:59is the fact that I've lost my income
57:01and going from Doss Housekeeper to nothing really
57:06but you can start to see little bits of change
57:09maybe a couple of chinks of light at the end of the tunnel for the slum dwellers
57:14when I heard that the slum was going to be demolished
57:17my upset came for those that wouldn't be sure where they were going
57:20if they can afford anywhere
57:21I know that we could move to somewhere better
57:24I'd be devastated to leave everybody here
57:26but ultimately, like it's always been in the slum
57:29it is each family for themselves
57:30you have to look after your own first and foremost
57:33because nobody's going to do it for you
57:35then comes the community
57:37my worries for the next decade are having somewhere to live
57:41to have enough money to feed the family
57:44and my fears are that we will end up without a roof over our heads
57:51next time, the residents change decade for the final time
57:55it's a new century
57:58the monarchy goes on
57:59long live the king
58:00a time of huge upheaval
58:02I feel like it's progress
58:06it's like a new adventure now
58:08while some exercise their rights
58:10the poor were desperate to voice their opinion
58:13others still have a fight on their hands
58:15I've just heard the men, they're talking about politics
58:18shame we can't vote
58:19and the lucky few experience life beyond the slum
58:22for the actual Victorian kids that got a chance to do this
58:25it must have been a whole new world for them
58:28yes, run!
58:29woo!
58:34and the Victorian slum concludes next Monday at 9
58:37and this episode is now available on iPlayer
58:40where you'll also find options to purchase it from BBC store and other suppliers
58:45comedy time next here on BBC 2
58:47with the many faces of Morgana Robinson in the agency
58:50on this episode and we'll see
58:51the WC
58:52the WC
58:52the WC
58:53the WC
58:53the WC
58:57You