describe two features of rookeries in the Whitechapel district in the late 19th centruey (4 marks)
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Answer:
A "rookery" is a colloquial English term given in the 18th and 19th centuries to a city slum occupied by poor people and frequently also by criminals and prostitutes. Such areas were overcrowded, with low-quality housing and little or no sanitation. Poorly constructed dwellings, built with multiple storeys and often crammed into any area of open ground, created densely-populated areas of gloomy, narrow streets and alleyways.
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Answer:
A "rookery" is a colloquial English term given in the 18th and 19th centuries to a city slum occupied by poor people and frequently also by criminals and prostitutes. Such areas were overcrowded, with low-quality housing and little or no sanitation. Poorly constructed dwellings, built with multiple storeys and often crammed into any area of open ground, created densely-populated areas of gloomy, narrow streets and alleyways.
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Whitechapel Case Study
Local Context of Whitechapel
Whitechapel was one of London’s poorest districts in the 19th century. It had great problems with gangs, homelessness, immigration and crime.
Pollution and poor sanitation
· London was a heavily polluted city. The wind would carry smoke and gas fumes that cause health problems. At times, you could not even see your own hand in front of your face.
· Sanitation was very poor. There was little safe drinking water and sewers ran into the streets.
Overcrowded housing
· Most housing was in overcrowded slum areas called rookeries. They were full of dirt, disease and crime.
· Houses were divided into apartments- there could be more than 30 people in one apartment.
· In 1877, one rookery contained 123 rooms, with accommodation for 757 people- families in here were on the brink of starvation.
· 1881 census shows the total population of Whitechapel to be 30,709 people, but there were only 4,069 occupied houses. This shows how overcrowded and dense the population was.
· Another type of accommodation was lodging houses- these offered only a bed in squalid conditions. They would operate on three 8-hour sleeping shifts a day, so beds could be used by the most number of people.
· These lodging houses were smelly, full of rats and totally awful. There were over 200 lodging houses in Whitechapel where more than 8000 people lived.
Model housing- the Peabody Estate
In 1875 parliament passes the Artisan’s Dwelling Act as part of London’s earliest slum clearance programme. In Whitechapel, an area of slum was replaced with 11 new blocks of flats. They were designed by Henry Darbishire and paid for by George Peabody- a wealthy American who had moved to London.
This estate opened in 1881 and provided 286 flats. Weekly rents started reasonably at 3 shillings for a one room flat and went up to six shillings for three rooms. Considering that the average wage was 22 shillings and 6 pence a week, some poor working class families could spend as much as a third on rent.
Work in Whitechapel
Whitechapel’s most famous factory was the Bell Foundry- this was where Big Ben was created. Most of Whitechapel’s citizens worked in ‘sweated’ trades like tailoring, shoe-making. The work premises- called sweatshops- were small, cramped, dark and dusty. Some workers had to work twenty hours a day and slept on site. Wages were also low.
Workhouses and orphanages
· Workhouses were set up in the 19th Century as part of the poor relief system.· They gave food and shelter to those too poor to survive in the community.· Inmates were the old, sick, disabled, orphans and unmarried mothers.· Conditions were deliberately made worse that those a labourer could provide for his family.· The aim was to keep costs down by putting people off entering the workhouse- it was meant as a last resort.
Inmates of workhouses were expected to do tough manual labour and wear uniform. Families would be split up and could be punished from trying to talk to each other.
Dr Thomas Barnardo
Thanks to the work of Barnardo, many younger people who would normally have been sent to a workhouse found themselves in a better setting.
· Barnardo’s first project was a school for children whose parents had died in an outbreak of infectious disease.· In 1870 he opened an orphanage for boys.· He later opened one for girls.· By 1905, the year of his death, there were nearly 100 Barnardo homes, caring for an average of 85 children each.
Tensions in Whitechapel
Immigration
Irish immigrants
· The Irish population expanded rapidly in the East End from the 1840s.
· The first immigrants were young men planning on then moving on to America but who had run out of money before a ship could take them there.
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