Voices of Victorian London - In Sickness and in Health

Verbatim, unflinching interviews with poor working Victorians from a journalist whose interviews, published in a national newspaper, influenced Charles Dickens' creation of characters in his novels History is written by historians, and the voices of ordinary people are rarely featured, but this unique collection of interviews from the middle of the 19th century allows their voices to be heard. The journalist Henry Mayhew tramped the streets of London interviewing working people; this selection from his work London Labour and the London Poor shows how they coped with the ups and downs of health and illness while continuing with the daily trial of scratching a living and feeding their families. The people Mayhew met showed remarkable resilience and a surprising sense of humor about their lot in life. Henry Mayhew conducted hundreds of interviews that provided a first-hand account of costermongers and street-sellers, of sewer-scavengers and chimney-sweeps, creating an intimate and detailed portrait that offered unprecedented insight into their day-to-day struggle for survival.