Vagabonds: Life on the Streets of Nineteenth-century London
Very often when choosing our favourite historical periods, we conclude our remarks with the get-out, ‘Only if I was rich.’ Jensen’s superb survey, mainly covering the first two thirds of the 19th century, conversely shows us that if you were not rich, one period was just as miserable as another. Writing with an elegance and emotional intelligence that exceeds many novels, he presents us with the lives of beggars (children and adults), match sellers, buskers, milkmaids, pickpockets, prostitutes and the odd famous actor – Edmund Kean was born in very humble surroundings. Often these people tell us their stories in their own words.
Jensen has mined a huge variety of little-known archival sources (and amusingly says he is deliberately excluding anything by Henry Mayhew, whom he does not trust), many recently digitised. We are left with the sense that despite poverty, monotony and grinding hard work, these people’s human spirit, optimism and humour helped them triumph over their surroundings – they, after all, did not usually consider themselves victims. This book provides an invaluable source to anyone setting their fiction in this world, which is also an immensely entertaining and informative read in its own right. One of the best history books I have read recently.
