Victorian London : the tale of a city, 1840-1870

to Londoners, The Years 1840 To 1870 Were Years Of Dramatic Change And Achievement. As Suburbs Expanded And Roads Multiplied, London Was Ripped Apart To Build Railway Lines And Stations And Life-saving Sewers. The Thames Was Contained By Embankments, And Traffic Congestion Was Eased By The First Underground Railway In The World. A Start Was Made On Providing Housing For The Deserving Poor. There Were Significant Advances In Medicine, And The Ragged Schools Are Perhaps The Least Known Of Victorian Achievements, In Those Last Decades Before Universal State Education. In 1851 The Great Exhibition Managed To Astonish Almost Everyone, Attracting Exhibitors And Visitors From All Over The World. But There Was Also Appalling Poverty And Exploitation, Exposed By Henry Mayhew And Others. For The Laboring Classes, Pay Was Pitifully Low, The Hours Long, And Job Security Nonexistent. liza Picard Shows Us The Physical Reality Of Daily Life. She Takes Us Into Schools And Prisons, Churches And Cemeteries. Many Practical Innovations Of The Time--flushing Lavatories, Underground Railways, Umbrellas, Letter Boxes, Driving On The Left--point The Way Forward. But This Was Also, At Least Until The 1850s, A City Of Cholera Outbreaks, Transportation To Australia, Public Executions, And The Workhouse, Where Children Could Be Sold By Their Parents For As Little As £12 And Streetpeddlers Sold Sparrows For A Penny, Tied By The Leg For Children To Play With. Cruelty And Hypocrisy Flourished Alongside Invention, Industry, And Philanthropy. "To Londoners, the years 1840 to 1870 were years of dramatic change and achievement. As suburbs expanded and roads multiplied, London was ripped apart to build railway lines and stations and life-saving sewers. The Thames was contained by embankments, and traffic congestion was eased by the first underground railway in the world. A start was made on providing housing for the "deserving poor." There were significant advances in medicine, and the Ragged Schools are perhaps the least known of Victorian achievements, in those last decades before universal state education. In 1851 the Great Exhibition managed to astonish almost everyone, attracting exhibitors and visitors from all over the world." "But there was also appalling poverty and exploitation, exposed by Henry Mayhew and others. For the laboring classes, pay was pitifully low, the hours long, and job security nonexistent." "Liza Picard shows us the physical reality of daily life. She takes us into schools and prisons, churches and cemeteries. Many practical innovations of the time - flushing lavatories, underground railways, umbrellas, letter boxes, driving on the left - point the way forward. But this was also, at least until the 1850s, a city of cholera outbreaks, transportation to Australia, public executions, and the workhouse, where children could be sold by their parents for as little as [pound] 12 and streetpeddlers sold sparrows for a penny, tied by the leg for children to play with. Cruelty and hypocrisy flourished alongside invention, industry, and philanthropy." "The buildings of Victorian London are all around us, but its inhabitants are long gone. This compassionate and wonderfully observant book re-creates the splendor and misery, the inventiveness and energy, the vices and pleasures of that extraordinary age."--Jacket

To Londoners, the years 1840 to 1870 were years of dramatic change and achievement. As suburbs expanded and roads multiplied, London was ripped apart to build railway lines and stations and life-saving sewers. The Thames was contained by embankments, and traffic congestion was eased by the first underground railway in the world. A start was made on providing housing for the "deserving poor." There were significant advances in medicine, and the Ragged Schools are perhaps the least known of Victorian achievements, in those last decades before universal state education. In 1851 the Great Exhibition managed to astonish almost everyone, attracting exhibitors and visitors from all over the world. But there was also appalling poverty and exploitation, exposed by Henry Mayhew and others. For the laboring classes, pay was pitifully low, the hours long, and job security nonexistent.

Liza Picard shows us the physical reality of daily life in Victorian London. She takes us into schools and prisons, churches and cemeteries. Many practical innovations of the time—flushing lavatories, underground railways, umbrellas, letter boxes, driving on the left—point the way forward. But this was also, at least until the 1850s, a city of cholera outbreaks, transportation to Australia, public executions, and the workhouse, where children could be sold by their parents for as little as £12 and streetpeddlers sold sparrows for a penny, tied by the leg for children to play with. Cruelty and hypocrisy flourished alongside invention, industry, and philanthropy.

For readers who enjoy their history told with a sense of gusto, verve, and a keen eye for detail, Liza Picard brings Victorian London to fruitful life. With her trademark wit and passionate interest in the quirky realities of everyday life, Liza Picard vividly recalls all the splendors and horrors of Victorian life. As suburbs expanded and roads multiplied, London was ripped apart to make way for railway lines and stations, sewers, and the world's first subway. "Deserving poor" saw the first public housing projects, and significant advances were made in medicine. Using unpublished diaries of Londoners, Picard uncovers signs of progress in London such as flushing toilets, umbrellas, letter boxes, and traffic regulations. But it was still a city of cholera outbreaks, public executions, and the workhouse, where parents could sell their children for as little as £12. Liza Picard is in top form in what is her best book yet.--Back cover A portrait of Victorian London describes how the mid-nineteenth-century city was transformed by expanding suburbs, transportation innovations, and advances in medicine, in an account based on previously unpublished diaries that offer insight into the era's transitional role between older and modern codes of conduct. By the author of Elizabeth's London. 20,000 first printing.