London Labour and the London Poor: Selection (Classics) (89 page)

1
. See
The Life and Remains of Douglas Jerrold
by his son Blanchard Jerrold (W. Kent, 1849).

2
. See Jerrold, op. cit., pp. 191–224; M. H. Spielmann,
The History of ‘Punch
’ (Cassell, 1895); A. A. Adrian,
Mark Lemon, First Editor of ‘Punch
’ (OUP, 1966).

3
. The journalistic world of nineteenth-century London remains largely unexplored. For signposts see Jerrold, op. cit., and Spielmann, op. cit.; C. and M. Cowden Clarke,
Recollections of Writers
(1878); H. S. Edwards,
Personal Recollections
(1900); G. Hodder,
Memories of My Time
(1870); C. Mackay,
Forty Years’ Recollections
(1877), and
Through the Long Day
(1887); G. A. Sala,
Life and Adventures
(1895); H. R. Vizetelly,
Glances Back Through Seventy Years
(1893); E. Yates,
Recollections and Experiences
(1885).

4
. The estrangement following the quarrel was so serious that when Blanchard Jerrold wrote the life of his father he did not mention Henry Mayhew in the Preface, though the latter’s brother Horace was singled out as one who had been of help during its writing.

5
. op. cit., p. 268.

6
. A. Humpherys,
Travels into the Poor Man’s Country
(University of Georgia Press, 1977; Caliban Books, 1980), p. 9.

7
. It is worth noting in this connection that in the mid-1840s Henry Bohn had taken over David Bogue’s copyrights. See F. A. Mumby,
Publishing and Bookselling
(Jonathan Cape, 1949), p. 263.

8
. See Bibliography, under heading ‘Mayhewiana’.

9
. J. L. Bradley (ed.),
Henry Mayhew: Selections from London Labour and the London Poor
(OUP, 1965), Introduction, p. xxxii.

10
.
London Labour and the London Poor
, Vol. 2, p. 298.

11
. ‘The Political Education of Henry Mayhew’,
Victorian Studies
, Vol. XI, no. 1 (1967), p. 51.

12
. Quoted in E. P. Thompson and E. Yeo,
The Unknown Mayhew
(Merlin Press, 1971; Penguin, 1973), pp. 102–3.

13
. ibid.

14
. H. S. Edwards,
Personal Recollections
(1900), p. 60.

15
. Compare, for example, Mayhew’s descriptions of a coffee-stall keeper (p. 84 ff.) with the character of Daniel Standing in Hesba Stretton’s best-selling novel
Jessica’s First Prayer
(1867). On the other hand, in Augustus Mayhew’s
Paved with Gold
(1858) the watercress market (Book 2, ch. 2,
passim
) is described with total realism. Clearly the author had been influenced by his brother Henry.

16
. One can never be precise about literary influences. However, Sala did possess a set of Mayhew. He owned the first three volumes of
London Labour and the London Poor
in the 1865 edition and a first edition of Vol. 4. All the volumes, with Sala’s signature in one of them, are in my possession.

17
. His
The Seven Curses of London
(1869) is now available as a paperback.

18
. It will be quite apparent that I have done scant justice to a whole group of nineteenth-century authors who wrote non-fiction about the poor of London. Those mentioned are all of some importance. So far as I am aware, no survey of their work exists. With regard to fiction, there are two admirable studies: P. J. Keating,
The Working Classes in Victorian Fiction
(Routledge, 1971), and Sheila M. Smith,
The Other Nation: The Poor in the English Novels of the 1840s and 1850s
(OUP, 1980). Both have references to Mayhew.

19
. op. cit., p. viii.

20
. op. cit., pp. 30–31.

21
. See Bibliography for some of the most important reprints.

*
We rely for certain facts, statistics, &c., upon Reports of the Society for the Suppression of Vice; information furnished by the Metropolitan Police; Reports of the Society for the Prevention of Juvenile Prostitution; Returns of the Registrar-General; Ryan, Duchatelet, M. les Docteurs G. Richelot, Léon Faucher, Talbot, Acton, &c., &c.; and figures, information, facts, &c., supplied from various quarters: and lastly, on our own researches and investigations.

*
Imprisoned for three months.