Section B: the local context of Whitechapel 

The problems of housing and overcrowding 

1. Out of a Whitechapel population of 30,000, perhaps 1000 were homeless.  

2. The majority of housing was in overcrowded slum areas known as rookeries. Houses were divided into several apartments, and there could be up to 30 people in one apartment.  

3. The 1881 census shows the total population of the Whitechapel District as over 30,500 – and there were only just over 4000 occupied houses. This contrasted sharply with the large, comfortable houses in wealthier parts of London.  

4. Accommodation was also offered by lodging houses which offered little more than a bed in squalid conditions. Some lodging houses had three eight-hour sleeping shifts a day, so beds could be shared between three people. This was a key cause of disease, especially in the summer.  

5. It is estimated that there were over 200 lodging houses in Whitechapel, where more than 8000 people (a quarter of the Whitechapel population) lived.  

6. Sanitation in Whitechapel was also very poor; there was little healthy drinking water and sewers ran in the streets.  

Attempts to improve housing 

1. In 1875 parliament passed the Artisans’ Dwellings Act which was part of a slum clearance programme. In Whitechapel, one area of cramped housing was replaced with 11 new blocks of flats, known as the Peabody Estate (after George Peabody, the wealthy American who paid for them).  

2. The Peabody Estate opened in 1881 and provided 286 flats. Weekly rent started at a reasonable three shillings for a one-room flat.  

Employment 

1. The most famous factory in Whitechapel was Bell Foundry, where Big Ben was cast.  

2. However, many residents worked in ‘sweated’ trades like tailoring, shoe-making and making matches. The work premises were known as sweat shops and were small and dark. Hours were long (some sweatshop workers worked up to 20 hours a day), and wages were low.  

3. Others worked in railway construction or as labourers on the docks, but this work varied day by day and employment was not guaranteed.  

4. As the economy became severely depressed in the 1870s, unemployment spread.  

Workhouses and orphanages 

1. Workhouses had been set up earlier in the 19^th century and were run by Poor Law administrators.  

2. They offered food and shelter to those too poor to survive independently. Inmates would often be old, sick, disabled, orphaned, or unmarried mothers.  

3. Conditions were deliberately made worse to put people off from entering. Inmates were expected to do tough manual labour and wear uniforms. Families were split up.  

4. The campaigner and philanthropist Dr Thomas Barnardo set up an orphanage for boys in 1870 to try to improve conditions for orphaned children. He later opened up a girls’ home. By the time he died in 1905 there were nearly 100 Barnado’s homes nationally.  

Links between environment and crime 

1. Overcrowded accommodation led to theft and domestic abuse.  

2. Unemployment and unreliable work led to stealing, and orphans could depend on petty crime and begging. 

3. Other problems like alcoholism and prostitution led to disorder on the streets and assaults on women.  

4. Often discontent boiled over as violent demonstrations.