Documentary, The Victorian Slum - S01E04
#Victorian #Documentary #TheVictorianSlum #VictorianSlum
#Victorian #Documentary #TheVictorianSlum #VictorianSlum
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00:00Industrial superpower and as the country thrived London the beating heart of
00:04empire became the world's richest city but this was a city divided for the
00:12first time geographical lines were drawn between those enjoying the nation's
00:16wealth in the West and those who weren't in the East
00:23this is the story of one poor community living in London's East End
00:30in the heart of modern Stratford a Victorian slum has been recreated and a
00:37group of 21st-century people are moving in
00:43absolutely awful I'm just a bit dumbstruck to survive they'll have to work to keep a
00:50roof over their heads it's absolutely shattering and put food on the table
00:57I'm starving so it's making me a bit emotional to be honest and they'll learn
01:02firsthand what life was like it will call me mom for those at the bottom of the
01:07economic pile so disabled they couldn't do it they didn't eat it didn't eat they
01:11died they'll live through five decades of turbulent history and seismic social
01:19change I am proud to be an East End suffragette power to the people this is the story of how a
01:26quarter of a million slum dwellers in the East End changed our attitude to poverty forever this is the
01:35slum last time the slum dwellers endured the hardship of the 1880s soon as you start getting behind here
01:47you're never going to get back when soaring unemployment there seems to be no end to the
01:52cycle you go out look for work there is no work and a growing population god this is so weird not what
01:59I necessarily expected heaps pressure on the East End slightest little thing can push you over the
02:04edge and you've lost everything welcome to the slum slum tourism brought unwelcome visitors like
02:10entertainment zoo animals yeah people do suggest that the poor are thick and stupid and actually
02:18we're not I'm gonna throw you out I'm afraid and there was revolution in the air lower classes the
02:24poor the have-nots will not be trodden on the slum dwellers fought back strikes publicity and protests
02:32they have no right to take our living away from us all helped to highlight their plight the slum
02:44dwellers are waking up to a new decade the 1890s how was you sleep that's snoring mum's shouting at
02:56dad because he's snoring you were kicking me in the face surprisingly I managed to get a couple of hours
03:01sleep I got no one in the doss house at the minute and each empty bed means I don't earn money I mean I'm
03:11nervous about what is in store I really don't know what's coming during the 1890s Britain finally
03:18emerged from the long depression and with new prosperity there came signs of modernity there
03:23were electric lights in the streets motorized buses and the first cinema opened on London's Regent Street
03:30new technology meant cheaper mass-produced goods filling the shops even in the poorest areas there were
03:36small signs that things were getting better oh my goodness look at this 10 pineapple people would
03:42never have had pineapple before in their lives should they for slum shopkeepers Adrian and Vidka bird
03:47aha the new decade has brought a delivery of new stock cabbage cocoa essence it's real it's real and extras as
03:59well look the flowers and then a little bits and pieces for decorating your clothes and fixing things
04:04and a clock that's something to display proudly on the mantelpiece international trade and domestic
04:12manufacturing rallied providing cheaper goods and foods to Britons with more disposable income but
04:18this new wealth did not touch everyone divisions are beginning to appear between those who have enough and
04:25those without the house have been the lucky ones and now they have a new family business look at that
04:33half and sounds limited that's quite nice Wow fantastic isn't it really good this is more my environment
04:45it's what I'm used to I love how it's just all classy that we actually look kind of well off it looks like a
04:52professional tailors it looks like you're meant it's meant to be worked and not like a sweater's
04:56den it looks like it's a nice environment to make clothes in I'm actually just blown away I don't I don't
05:01really know what to say I actually don't I'm actually quite emotional this is just nearer to what we
05:15would have hoped for yeah I know for Russell since he's been here has worked really hard and also for my
05:19ancestors is what they would have worked for and they work so hard the Howard's journey from sweatshop
05:27workers to owning their own business mirrors that of many Jewish migrants including Mandy's own
05:33ancestors who settled in Britain after fleeing religious persecution in Russia by 1890 Spitalfields and
05:41Whitechapel were home to a thriving Jewish tailoring industry making suits in the East End for those who could not
05:47afford to shop at Savile Row wow you have you have come out in the world so you've got the skill you've
05:54moved beyond sweated labor are you actually feeling more affluent now we are feeling more affluent it's
05:59like the end of the tunnel that we can actually get out of the slum yeah and work our way up which is what
06:04we've been working towards and have the other people have been finding it tough people without skills some
06:08some have found it very tough and my heart really goes out to them because they work so hard they're not
06:13lazy people tall and and there's been massive struggles for them one such family are the potters
06:20with stock stock yes excellent yeah what are the bits and bobs you've got on the back shelves Adrian
06:34Alison and her family are finding out what the 1890s has to offer we were selling products that we know
06:40today by oxo cubes you know we would sell them by the box but we would probably sell them by the single
06:45unit as well have you noticed the porcelain dogs up on the shelf I did how much are you selling those
06:51for hold on to your bonnet that's 17 pounds that's more than the potters entire week's rent I mean that
06:59would feed us for three weeks wouldn't it surprisingly even within the slum at this point people got to a
07:04certain point when they had all of their basic needs covered yeah and then they had extra spending
07:09money I don't think I could spend anything on any frivolous items well we haven't got that sort of
07:17money every and we haven't got that sort of income where we would have that money because currently none
07:22of us are working anyway the new luxuries available at the shop would have been well beyond their means we
07:29have these advertising posters back here and those are left over from putting up do you think you
07:33might want to try one of those in your room or a couple of them you like some as well you got
07:38bubble purse soap or passive I like that one just take one of each see ya Beecham's pills yeah that's
07:49fine yeah the potters have scraped through the decades since injuring his back shortly after arriving
07:56granddad Graham has struggled to find work at a time when men were the main breadwinners old age or
08:03injury could seal a whole family's fate my fears would be to lose the house the room and this is it
08:12you know we put posters up to it to make it brighter it's not the most fantastic place but it's home and I
08:18don't want to lose that it adds a bit of brightness to the room what do you think yeah that's it look a
08:25bit brighter yeah I think it turns in quite well with the mildew but for siblings John and Maria who
08:31do have an income things are on the up we have enough for the rent and we have extra money but
08:37we won't be silly with it we'll get our breakfast every morning two slices of bread and then the
08:41evening two bowls of soup plus we just get out there and work and work and work and make more and more and
08:46more we have come such a long way from the dust house we're in our own room now which is comfortable
08:52we are comfortable but comfortable isn't is not good enough you know we want more at least I want
08:58more you have to keep working get out there do what we can and go as far and as high as possible
09:03because this is the time to do that like many slum women would have Maria has been taking in her
09:09neighbors washing and she now has a burgeoning small business of London's 51,000 laundry workers 95%
09:19were women many were able to grow their enterprise from washing for neighbors to washing uniforms bedding
09:25and tableware for small-scale eateries and lodging houses by expanding her business Maria has just enough
09:33work coming in to hire some extra help their bed sheets I don't know how they're this disgusting
09:38fellow slum dwellers Alison and Heather Potter the sheets are maggoty girls oh so the boiling water
09:46into here and then we've got a dolly now this practice the movement girls together thank you that's it yeah
09:55my laundry business is doing quite good and I got two really good girls to help me today and I loved
10:05giving them the work it's like my hard work is paid off really can add starting from the bottom and now
10:10I'm the boss put holders in and wheel this around like this yeah color is absolutely wonderful you know
10:22we haven't had color with a few managing to scratch out a living in the slum which is how are you today
10:29look at all this stuff there are some takers for the new products in the shop I just want to treat us
10:36to something nice yeah I'll definitely have a tin of corn beef definitely corn beef that's 238 it's fine
10:42including newly available homewares now being manufactured cheaply for the mass market I'm so
10:49excited to have flowers in my house that's the one thing lovely don't go wrong how much is the
10:55clock the clock is 17 pound that's over half of Mandy's weekly rent I think we have to wait till
11:03our first suits done before I can stretch to that but I've got my eye on that to walk in the shop and
11:08actually know that I've got some money in my purse for the first time to not just necessarily buy the
11:13basic bread and butter as soon as I saw them I knew exactly where I was going to put them and they're
11:19going to go on my table in a vase and the vase is going to go on a doily so as you open the door the
11:26first thing you will see I will go straight to the flowers that's where they're going as soon as I get
11:30home I've got to make a suit and embellish a hat changing embellishing the hat the Howarth men are
11:37starting work on their first order one embellished bonnet and one lounge suit an order like this can
11:44earn Russell up to 200 pounds in today's money I'm taking pride in this work it's a lot more enjoyable
11:51running a family business we're just working for us rather than being a sweater working for other
11:55factories really good so we're showing change bits and pieces today I'm gonna cut a hole so you can
12:01actually see out of it but it's gonna go all the way around just gonna drape down there's gonna be a bow at
12:05the back because the Victoria people did love their bows so I'm hopefully it's gonna turn out
12:09all right that father and something like my son goes fishing with me every weekend me my dad don't
12:15have that because I don't like to go fishing I like to go shopping so I think it meant a lot to him to
12:19actually see that sign on the wall dad that's up to the desert Lawrence of Arabia actually embellished
12:27didn't it that looks reasonably embellished while Russell runs the business the family's
12:33relative prosperity means they can afford for Mandy not to work the Victorian ideal was that married
12:41women should remain at home to look after any children and keep a clean and tidy house put some
12:48elbow grease in it not only she OTT she's actually OCD so it's like everything has to be right being a
12:57respectful man in the Victorian era it's a really tough job but being able to stay at home was a
13:03luxury that most slum women could not afford I think this one's all right yeah so this one ready 321
13:11working for Maria is earning Heather and Alison Potter a badly needed income but without Graham working
13:18saying they won't have enough to keep the family afloat 26 27 28 29 29 29 yes yes well done so it's
13:29been a good day considering power of the potters yeah what is power there is a hierarchy to the slum
13:36and we're at the bottom of the pile again the Victorian elite were puzzled by the fact that although society
13:45as a whole was getting richer there was this growing population of poor London the greatest
13:51city on earth was creating an underclass of savages they called them the residuum literally the dregs of
13:56society and the worry was that they would somehow drag the whole population down with them determined to
14:04find out the scale of the problem one man set out to investigate businessman and statistician Charles
14:11Booth started in the East End and hired researchers to collect extensive data on every household from
14:18how much they earned to how they lived in 1891 his findings for wider London were published historian
14:29Jerry white has come to the slum to tell the residents what he discovered who set out to be the first person
14:36to define what poverty was and how many were living in poverty it was a massive inquiry it ran to 17 volumes but
14:45the great iconic product of his investigations was the London poverty map where he set out to color code the
14:55streets of London according to the class of the people who lived in London street by street on his map
15:04streets colored yellow red and pink represented the wealthy middle class and the comfortable working
15:10class households light blue were families living on the poverty line which boost defined as those
15:15earning between 18 to 21 shillings a week dark blue accounting for around a hundred thousand people in
15:22East London was the very poor in chronic want the black streets were inhabited by the much feared
15:29residuum who booth described as vicious and semi criminal but booth concluded that this was just
15:36one percent of the population not the majority of the poor as people had assumed who thinks nothing can
15:44be done with the blackest streets except demolish the streets and disperse the people but if you demolish
15:50the black and disperse them where they're gonna go they'll just move to a blue wall they will but
15:55they won't as it were create this difficult problem which the Victorians saw as the semi criminal and
16:02degraded classes clustering in particularly difficult streets which posed as it were a threat to people
16:08around demolition wasn't the only solution proposed booth suggested setting up labor camps where the
16:15unskilled would get training others favored deportation the evangelical school of industry shipped 12,000
16:24poor children from London's East End to countries like Canada and Australia there was even a eugenics
16:29society who recommended mass sterilization we're going to contemplate sterilizing them for God's sake
16:35the slum dwellers would have been horrified to have known that the forces that had oppressed them in so
16:49many ways so far that they were the people talking about classing them as a different race and exterminating
16:54them basically is horrifying I wondered where you would have put your street where was the black ones again
17:03I don't think we're black are we I think we're not blue because I don't think we're vicious semi-criminals
17:09it's just semi-criminal and degraded equal yet the lives of savages who said I'd say we don't
17:15look certainly don't look you're absolutely right that I would have said this is a dark blue street
17:20I just wondered because it's only the two of us you know and we're making good money although it's
17:26casual labor that it's based on at the moment and so that may have brought us into the light blue
17:31with our new laundry business and so on then yeah I mean that's it wouldn't be long before you got
17:36there but yeah I'm certainly dark blue the news that the poorest made up just one percent of the
17:44population went some way to allay Victorian concerns about a vast and vicious underclass but Booth's
17:51research went further well what Booth found and it was an astonishing finding of the time was that
17:59one in three of the East London a population was living in poverty and for the first time I think
18:06he gave a human face to the poor the myths these were people who were feckless drunken lazy didn't want
18:16to work what he showed was that one of the fundamental problems of London was low wages that even if
18:22people were working 70 hours a week they were working for a pittance and that meant that London
18:28was never seen in the same way again and the London poor were never seen in the same way again whose work
18:33encouraged other social reformers to start their own investigations confectioner seabom roundtree
18:39discovered that the poor in York faced almost identical problems to those in London a survey in
18:44Manchester came to the same conclusion the genie was out of the bottle this wasn't a local issue
18:50but a national epidemic poverty was in the spotlight as never before but the question for
18:55the authorities was what to do about it there seems to be a bit more hope in the community a
19:01bit more spirit a bit more a bit more of a feeling that we can actually go out and make something
19:06about ourselves it's really makes the 90s feel not like there is new hope it's a new day in the slum
19:20and in the 1890s boost findings were beginning to have an effect Britain's attitudes towards the poor
19:26were slowly shifting it was no longer seen as simply part of the natural state but the product of social
19:31environmental and economic factors one way to help people out of poverty was education yes you're
19:39going to school wash hands and faces and get you sent off to school come on left you first
19:47in the past schooling was either provided by charities or had to be paid for by the pupils family then the
20:00nation's first Education Act provided subsidized schooling for most pupils and made it free for
20:05the very poorest during the 1890s schooling became free for all and compulsory for all children between the
20:14ages of five and twelve it also put an obligation on families to make sure their kids actually went
20:20to school this was a shift the state was intervening in family life and this had a big impact on the
20:27lives of a working poor right behave yourself today do you understand me I'll try I'm not joking I try right
20:34do you should I'll try behave myself don't show me up just let me do it
20:39just one sec
20:48stop don't show me up
20:53good morning children good morning mom very quietly sit down if you do not work well in class then you
21:17may be given the cane and it's very painful so we're going to start with some arithmetic two times
21:26seven equals hands up pupils were rigorously drilled in the three R's by the end of the century an
21:34astonishing 97% of the population could read an increase of more than 30% since the 1850s on the seven
21:41very good while James is at school Mandy and Rebecca are getting to grips with more housework
21:51what are you doing got turn it down and then put your cushion in turn it down like that see it's a bit
21:57posh isn't it even at the best of times keeping a slum dwelling clean was an uphill struggle but in
22:04the 1890s this was to become more difficult than ever
22:07this doesn't normally take this long to pump doesn't normally does it I don't think it's
22:12working properly how are we gonna get that fixed should we call Andy yeah we could do that because
22:17he's the one that collects the rent from myself but if nothing's working here he's
22:21the one that's got to come and try and salt it seen the sign up front no
22:26in the mid 1890s London suffered a drought notice is hereby given if it is found necessary to restrict
22:38the supply of water to use only first strictly domestic purposes the East London waterworks
22:44company supplied water from the River Lee it had spent little on maintaining infrastructure and had
22:49already been fined for supplying contaminated water in the 1860s now it restricted supply in the East End
22:56to just six hours a day I bet the bad wasn't done equally so I bet the rich were given some leeway
23:02and the poor got the brunt of it it would be easier to regulate their usage wouldn't it because
23:07they've only got these stamp pipes to add insult to injury the East London waterworks even published
23:14propaganda blaming the poor for contributing to the problem by wasting water for the struggling potters
23:21reliant and work from Maria it's a particular blow this is going to affect us isn't it
23:26greatly we can't clean clothes for that water can we at all and we need boiling water really clean
23:31water we need water for soap everything I'm angry because we wanted to get this washing done we wanted
23:38to earn some money and now we're thwarted and back in 1896 there was nothing you could do who could you go
23:47to the lack of water posed a threat to more than just the poor's livelihoods sanitation in the East End slums
23:55was already rudimentary one outside privy could be shared by scores of people cess pits were rarely
24:02emptied and when it rained sewage overflowed into houses leaving families three foot deep in human waste the
24:10water shortage made the situation even more deadly
24:15while wealthier households had bars in which to store supplies and money to buy bottled water in the
24:22slums sewage stagnated and diarrhea deaths tripled most slum housing was owned by absentee landlords who
24:29made little or no effort to maintain their properties and put profits before the welfare of their tenants
24:35protected by their anonymity there was little recourse for the suffering slum dwellers until a campaigning
24:42journalist decided to bring the poor's plight to the public's attention Bennett Burley a war reporter for
24:49the Daily Telegraph decided to investigate one of London's most notorious slums the old nickel he wrote
24:56to finding 108 people in 39 rat infested rooms Burley exposed dozens of slum landlords in his articles as well as
25:06aristocrats like the Duke of Buckingham he discovered that some local councillors were also implicated but most
25:13shocking to the god-fearing Victorians was that some of the worst properties were on land owned by the Church of
25:19England one of the biggest difficulties in dealing with the appalling living conditions in the East End slums
25:25had always been the lack of a single regulatory body until the 1890s London was governed by 43 separate
25:34vestries underfunded and often corrupt and then finally 50 years after Glasgow and Liverpool London
25:41got its own administration the London County Council funded and elected by London's ratepayers it was
25:48responsible for overseeing all city planning its first priority was the housing crisis the LCC made
25:55funds available to employ extra sanitation inspectors the precursor to our modern environmental health
26:02officers their job was to investigate conditions in the slums women had often been at the forefront of
26:09charitable crusades to improve the health of the poor but during the 1890s middle-class women were
26:16employed for the first time as sanitary inspectors Mandy's newfound Victorian respectability has landed her a
26:23new profession it's so unhealthy in there there's not even a gap for the air to come out it's just
26:29rotten the whole thing is rotten some slums were home to over 20,000 people and rubbish disposal was a
26:36big problem you've got all the food from I don't know how many days ago yeah flies and rats it just needs
26:43all to be cleared get it collected yeah rubbish should have been collected by dustman but because their wages were
26:49topped up with tips which no one in the slums could afford it often festered for weeks and dustman wouldn't
26:55have come to pick this up because it would have been worth their while no and nobody was there to enforce it and
27:00nobody cares because the poor liked to be dirty yeah the London County Council was also put in charge of the
27:05city's common lodging houses with the power to prosecute owners and shut down properties that didn't meet the required standards
27:12oh great oh dear next on Mandy's round Andy's dossers oh this is awful how many beds are in here five six seven eight
27:21that's a fair one from that side and look these have not been cleaned it's just a breeding ground for disease it would
27:27surprise me if they had mice and rats coming in here and the floor hasn't been marked I think ever and then we've got this here
27:33and it just stinks doesn't it look and look at the floor just with that damp itself people will get ill they'll get
27:38infections no it has to be shut down I've got the authority now having gone through my checklist and
27:43looked at all of this I'm shutting this place down hmm I don't think you have any alternative no I've got no
27:47alternative none at all unfortunately okay so much mold in here hundreds of doss houses were given formal
27:56warnings and the worst closed down despite the council's best intentions this only made the housing
28:01problem worse because 31,000 of London's poor relied on them each night the LCC did open its own boarding
28:09house on Drury Lane it had room for 240 lodgers and boasted individual cubicles with beds sinks and lockable
28:17doors but at six pence per night it was 50% more than a common lodging house too expensive for the very
28:24poorest who had to make do with the remaining doss houses or resort to sleeping on the streets
28:29yeah shut me down fabulous so it's less money now you see this shut me down it's a hole wasn't it
28:47but still money I can't earn from it now that's right stop you stop your income you'll find another
28:53job don't worry we've had to diversification is going to be the key
28:57in a time before the welfare state disabled people who found themselves without an income would have had
29:06very few options if I'd have been a real Victorian there's no way I would have been like I am now 11
29:16years post injury and still alive and relatively healthy do you know I mean there's no way many
29:24had to resort to work considered either dishonest or demeaning so I think the first thing we'll make is some
29:30kind of ointment yeah and sell it as a joint reliever some became quacks street doctors selling homemade
29:38medicines which are often little more than sugar pills by survival of the fittest and you got diversified
29:46you don't diversify you don't and we will now do what we need to do to get by I would have been so
29:52browbeaten so told by society that because I'm disabled I was nothing anyway so I've been very happy that I'm
29:59able to go out and make some potions and and some money that way thank you very much indeed all right
30:05in 1890 if you need to make money and you've got slightly low morals it's probably a very acceptable
30:12way to do it Graham you're my board man so you go out advertising bring people in without state pensions
30:20to live on the elderly too had to take what work they could find God there's one of the potions
30:27victorian potions do you want to try some of my potions what are you young man are you sure
30:34described by dickens as pieces of human flesh between two slices aboard these were the sandwich board men
30:41in an era obsessed with respectability and reputation these were humiliating and desperate
30:47ways to make money victorians knew that men and women in these jobs were just one small step away
30:53from the workhouse a lot of people just ignored us some people yeah that's what you find it hard yeah
30:59walking around with an a board on although to some people would be the worst thing you could possibly do
31:04to me I knew was earning money and as the head of the household that's what I feel I should do
31:12gardeners wonder potions my legs are hurting now back at the slum with the drought dragging on for years
31:23a successful laundress like Maria would have had little choice but to move on if she wanted to continue running
31:29her business we came with goals and we've done what we set out to do and now we've made five times our
31:35weekly rent and now it's time to go thank you so long goodbye slum women with the means could leave the
31:45water shortages of the east behind and move west where industrial laundries had tanks in which to store
31:51water in the 1890s the laundry industry expanded rapidly new larger laundries sprang up in clusters
31:59in places like Kensal Newtown known as soap sud island here they received orders from places as far
32:06afield as Scotland and even Paris hello again out of here believe in we're going we're getting out the
32:13slum we better go off into the sunset oh well done thanks and take care see you later I've got full
32:21respect for John and Maria I think they did the Irish immigrants absolutely proud I think their ancestors
32:26would look on what they've done and be very proud that they've got two people like that in their family
32:30bye guys we're going safe journey I think the Irish would have felt extremely proud of themselves because
32:41they really did start from the bottom and then to work their way up with all their strength all their
32:46fight no matter how starving no matter how tired or cold they were to be able to then work their way up
32:51would have been the most proud feeling I think they would have felt forever
32:58I really see everyone diverging now you have some who are possibly skyrocketing in their success and
33:09others still struggling
33:14for the potters Maria and John's departure throws yet more uncertainty over their future we have relied
33:22on Maria who was running her laundry business to give us some work but they're going to move on to
33:28better things and they're not going to take us with them so we're going to find ourselves not having
33:36any work again and a family in our position would never have been able to work their way out
33:43in the 1890s new social reforms were starting to make irrevocable changes to slum life
34:02but compulsory schooling put pressure on families like the potters
34:08we aren't going to earn as much money if your children aren't with you
34:11yeah but that doesn't matter today's not about earning money it's about learning you don't
34:15want to be making matchboxes for the rest of the days do you
34:19with James going to school Russell is also under more pressure to finish his order on time
34:24Rebecca definitely gonna have to work harder because you have to pull the weight of both the family members
34:32the school-aged children were working hard too
34:35some sewing for the girls as well as academic lessons they were taught gender specific practical skills
34:42and for you James we have some woodwork I want you to do some sanding for me
34:47I find it pointless I'd rather be working because I'm bringing home something
34:52this incensed some poor parents whose children were being taught things they already knew and got paid to do at home
35:00my girls enjoy earning the money so that they know that they're contributing to the family part
35:06so they feel that they're somehow letting us down by going to school because they're then not able to earn money for us
35:12but I don't see it like that
35:15however for the Victorian poor people they had two three maybe four children out there earning money for them
35:21so they would be losing half of their family income
35:24well done I'm pleased with that
35:27so now I want you to do some hammering for me we've got
35:30many refused to send their children to school
35:32but the law came down hard on truancy with fines of five shillings
35:36the equivalent of a child's average weekly wage
35:39I'd rather be back in the slum than here because I'd rather be working with my family and getting money and surviving and learning things
35:50compulsory schooling also exposed to the state the terrible conditions in which many slum children were living
35:56one in three was malnourished only one in 81 children owned a toothbrush and many suffered from poor eyesight and rickets
36:04end of school for today so class rise
36:08but even for children in poor health the end of lessons marked the start of their working day
36:13some managed 40 hours of labour a week outside school
36:21even with Rebecca's help Russell is struggling to get his order done on time
36:25it's a sad life to have being cooped up all the time and having to work day in day out
36:30it's the first of all we've done in the shop
36:33it's meant to be finished ended today
36:34I was rushing to do something and I picked the iron up
36:37didn't check it properly put the iron in and shh and burn
36:39it's just... I'm devastated
36:41I've never used anything like this before
36:43I'm adapting myself to use these techniques
36:45and just the fact you can burn something just like that
36:49it's just... I'm absolutely what I want to cry
36:52I'm like undo it and then start again
36:54it's really grating on my dad like you can really tell
36:57and he's going stir crazy
36:59like he's not even talking to any of us
37:01like we're like dad you alright
37:03it's just quite in a way
37:04it's like he's quite mental
37:05genuinely quite worried for him
37:06we haven't got no buttons to go on
37:08look buttons are here Russ
37:09I can get you some buttons I can find
37:11show me
37:15back of trouser buttons
37:16all week
37:17or non-stops
37:18everything is hard to do it here on
37:20in bad mood
37:21have a couple of points
37:22maybe calm yourself down
37:23for many one way to escape from the drudgery of slum life was to drink
37:30it was estimated the poor spent a fifth of their income on alcohol
37:34and working class drunkenness was another target for Victorian social reformers
37:40drop mode
37:41yes
37:42to another long day of alcoholism
37:44within a quarter of a mile of the old nickel there were 112 pubs
37:49with East End pubs shutting for just five hours each night drunkenness was rife
37:55many middle and upper class Victorians thought poverty was caused by excessive drinking
38:00easy tiger
38:04a movement was formed to encourage the poor to turn teetotal
38:07it produced propaganda to highlight the destructive effects of alcohol on the drinker and their family
38:13the temperance movement urged people to sign a pledge to give up drink
38:17in return they promised that a life of sobriety would bring self-respect self-improvement and a happy home
38:24would it help our plight if we signed this
38:27it certainly helped our plight in the long run yes
38:29in what way
38:30so they can't blame us then that drinks causing everything
38:32no I'm not going to sign hell no because I
38:34okay
38:35no no I'm not no not today
38:36I think it's an 1890s man living in the slum
38:39beer was probably a fundamental part of their life
38:42they drank it constantly day in day out
38:44and when the temperance movement came about
38:47they were probably
38:49not too keen on it to put it mildly
38:51it's not too keen on it
38:52come on
38:53throughout the second half of the 1890s London's drought continued
38:58the worst thing is the cleanliness it's disgusting
39:03I can't tell you how bad it makes me feel
39:08it's unsanitary it's revolting
39:12just to get up and smell yourself in the morning makes you feel awful
39:17my body hasn't seen decent water for weeks
39:21and the water it has seen has been stone cold
39:24the feeling of not being clean
39:26and being able just to jump in the shower
39:28it's just so destroyed
39:31despite the intermittent water supply
39:34the Victorian middle and upper classes
39:36at least had indoor bathrooms
39:38if the poor wanted to get clean
39:40they had to look further afield
39:43this is bath time
39:45public bathing had been popular in British cities
39:48since the 1840s
39:49when the urban population began to explode
39:52but Bethnal Green would have to wait until 1898
39:55before it got its first locally funded public bars
39:59bath houses provided facilities to wash
40:04and at some sites to swim
40:06two pence paid for a hot bath and a clean towel
40:09a cold bath was just a penny
40:13I've just got elated
40:15I've felt my skin squeak for the first time in two and a half weeks
40:19it's beyond brilliant
40:21it really is
40:22as the decade drew to a close
40:28the work of social reformers began to have a direct impact on the East End
40:32all right
40:34oh we have a letter
40:35oh
40:36what's that all about then
40:38Mrs Gardner and Potter
40:41we would like to inform you of your immediate employment as general labourers
40:44we are desirous of the communal areas of the dwelling house being whitewashed as part of the sanitary improvements that have been ordered
40:50you will both be remunerated to the value of five pence for each full hour
40:54either they want to put rents up or they're scared about that telegraph bloke
41:00I think they've got to make improvements
41:02let's get cracking us
41:03all right let's go
41:04with the publicity generated by figures like Burley and Booth
41:08the London County Council forced more and more slum landlords to make improvements to their properties
41:13it's looking a lot better
41:15at least it's put a bit of brightness in here
41:17it just seems to be a false air of cleanliness doesn't it
41:20in many cases the improvements were superficial
41:23and did little to improve conditions as a whole
41:26we pay body hours slow down
41:28for Andy and Graham it does at least provide some income
41:31at Howarth and Sons Russell's finished the suit
41:36well done Russ
41:38that's a tall order that was
41:40if you think about the tools that you've had
41:42I think you've done a great job
41:44yeah it's all done
41:46a lot of skills I've used
41:49I've not used for a long time
41:50it's nice to revisit those
41:52it's what made me fall in love with Taylor in the first place
41:5420, 40
41:56they've been paid enough to comfortably cover their costs for the week
41:59it's definitely benefited the family
42:02this skill over the decades
42:03and it's come to fruition
42:05and we're now moving up into the middle class
42:0783 pounds 44 pence
42:09brilliant
42:10fantastic well done
42:11well done
42:12well done daddy
42:13well done well done James
42:14I'm quite proud of the hat
42:16you should be
42:17it wasn't the best hat
42:18you weren't 10 pounds for that hat to rule the family
42:20so now we have money to put away
42:23we have money to treat ourselves with
42:25we've already got the rent money
42:27so life is good
42:35as the end of the 19th century approached
42:37Victorian society turned its attention
42:39to something that had become one of the biggest problems of all
42:42London's population hit five and a half million
42:45Queen Victoria asked Prime Minister Gladstone to start an urgent inquiry
42:49the housing of the Working Classes Act swiftly followed
42:52it gave London County Council the right to demolish the worst slums like the old nickel
42:57and replace them for the first time with social housing
43:00dear Mrs. Howarth it is with great pleasure that I wish to inform you of the compulsory purchase of the dwelling houses of which you are the sanitary inspector
43:14the purpose of purchase is for immediate demolition and reconstruction with houses for the respectable artisan and working classes
43:22so it's all going to be knocked down and rebuilt and we've got to be rehoused
43:28I can't believe it
43:30this was a watershed moment for the East End urban poor
43:33the Victorians must have felt overjoyed that finally that the wretched accommodation where they've been living is going to be demolished and something is going to be done but it's still their home and there must have been this nervousness around what are they going to do where they're going to go and also can they afford the new place where they potentially would be going to
43:40so they must have had this mixed emotion of happiness but really frightened
43:55the London County Council used Charles Boo's poverty maps to identify the areas to demolish and redevelop
44:01they started with the old nickel slum in Shoreditch
44:05it had become a warren of overcrowded narrow streets full of filth and desperation
44:10an inspection of its housing reported 43% unfit for human habitation
44:22demolition began in the 1890s and in its place was London's first ever council housing
44:28the boundary estate was opened in 1900 by the Prince of Wales to cheering crowds
44:34historian and leading expert on the old nickel Sarah wise is showing the slum residents what potentially could have been their new home
44:41the boundary street estates was 20 blocks of about a thousand flats that was going to be home for four thousand seven hundred people and the idea was they wanted something that was going to be morally uplifting for the poor so they really wanted this idea of lights and fresh air and that's why you've got these amazingly broad streets and that's why they wanted something that was going to be morally uplifting for the poor so they really wanted this idea of light and fresh air and that's why you've got these amazingly broad streets
45:03and this central circus the mound for the central circus was made using the bricks and rubble from the demolished slum
45:10compared to what we've been living like to come to something like this is just mind-blowing really and just to be able to get in the fresh air see the sun something green and the victorians it just must have been just heaven for them
45:22one of the reasons it looks as good as it does is that the county council wanted to act as a flagship to charitable and philanthropic developers or even to private builders just to show them this is how good urban living can be the LCC made sure the estate housed facilities which they believed addressed many of the problems that face the urban poor
45:44as well as well as a thousand flats the model development included a huge central laundry a school and a parade of shops they ensured there was no pub on site but provided a club room where residents could socialise and the improvements didn't stop there
45:51each flat you had gas and your own running piped water
45:58That must have been amazing yeah absolutely and the gas was for the lighting and also there was a gas ring on top of a specially designed kitchen range so you had your own little oven and some flats had their own loo's they wanted to do everything they could to do for the lighting and also there was a gas ring on top of a specially designed kitchen range so you had your own little oven
46:28to make sure to make sure cleanliness was given priority but life on the boundary estate came with a long list of regulations
46:35as a costamonger we were selling eels and sheep trotters would we have been able to prepare them in the accommodation that would have been frowned upon yeah it's what would have been called a noxious trade back in those days and they would not have wanted that going on in the premises because apart from anything it would be seen as anti-social
46:55Amongst the rules residents had to abide by when no subletting no keeping of livestock and most significant for the slum dwellers no running of any kind of business or trade from their homes
47:05That's why the council built for runs of workshops 90 workshops in total
47:10The problem with that was they cost an extra four shillings a week on top of your weekly rental
47:16So that's really pretty pricey when you're used to paying only two and six a week all in
47:22Then this building wouldn't have been an option
47:25I think that's right for us
47:26Yes
47:27You see a big split then don't you because it would be all right for us
47:30We'd probably love a place like this
47:32Yeah we'd love it
47:33But then for you it would be impossible to do it
47:35It wouldn't work for you at all
47:36How are they going to live?
47:38It's almost as if whilst the accommodation in the tenement is awful
47:42At least they had a way of making living at least they
47:45You know the few pennies that they may have earned
47:47It kept at least one meal on the table per day
47:50They've got no chance
47:52The estate planners never consulted with the slum dwellers about their specific needs
47:57And it turned out they got it seriously wrong
48:00Sad fact is that of the 5,700 people in the Old Nicol
48:05Only 11 took a flat on the estate
48:09What? 11?
48:10Yeah just 11
48:11That's awful
48:12Yeah
48:13I've seen the space
48:14Because what the London County Council hadn't realised
48:16Was over half of people in the Old Nicol lived in a one room home
48:20So there were 750 one room homes in the Nicol
48:22But on the new estate there were only 15 one room flats
48:26I think that is a travesty
48:29Yeah
48:30Because everybody must have had their hopes raised
48:33They felt that they'd been promised this accommodation
48:36They must have felt as though they'd been lied to
48:39They may very well have thought that finally we've been noticed
48:42That there's going to be change
48:43And then it's whipped from underneath them
48:45In a most devastating way actually
48:47Because you know they lived in the most atrocious conditions
48:49But at least they had somewhere to live
48:51And now they had nowhere
48:53Without enough affordable homes at the boundary estate
48:56Most of the former Old Nicol residents
48:58Were forced into other slums in nearby Bethnal Green
49:01Overcrowding became worse than ever
49:04Accommodation even more squalid
49:06And due to the high demand
49:08Rent rose by almost a third within 10 years
49:11It's just such a wasted opportunity
49:13What a beautiful project this was
49:15It would have made a real difference
49:16To the way people live their everyday lives
49:18But the fact that only 11 families
49:20Could actually afford to live there is such a shame
49:23We're starting to get used to this pattern
49:25Of people trying to do good for people in the slum
49:27And it's not working out
49:28Or causing even more problems than they had to begin with
49:31Back in the slum
49:33The demolition order hangs over them
49:36When properties were knocked down
49:38Landlords were paid extra compensation
49:40For homes in a habitable condition
49:42Which triggered a rush of superficial patching up
49:45So Andy and Graham are still whitewashing
49:48Landlords were actually paid
49:5110% extra compensation
49:55If they had tried to improve living accommodation
49:58Really?
49:59Is that the case?
50:00Graham, rush down
50:02Is that truth?
50:04Yeah, that's the truth
50:05So basically you've been painting all day
50:07To give the landlord an extra 10%
50:10Again, more money
50:11And they're just going to pull it down anyway
50:13End of, finished
50:14They've condos yet again
50:15As the residents in here
50:16We've been ordered to paint it
50:19And it's going to be condemned
50:20So, you know
50:21We've lost that both ways, haven't we?
50:23We knew something was happening
50:24Yeah, we did
50:25We said, didn't we?
50:26I'm not painting
50:27With this
50:28Struggling up and down them stairs
50:30And Graham with his back
50:31Struggling to do walls
50:32For them to earn more money
50:33No, I'm not doing one more lick
50:34No, neither am I mate
50:35There was me thinking
50:36That 1890s
50:37Was actually showing
50:38A little bit of social conscience
50:39And a little bit of care
50:40Towards the poor
50:41Well, it was, wasn't it?
50:42Yeah
50:43Till this
50:44That's foul
50:45To do that to people
50:46That thought
50:47Maybe this was the start
50:48Of something good
50:49For their tenement
50:50And to turn around
50:51And no, we're knocking it down anyway
50:52But thanks for doing that
50:53We pay you a pittance
50:54We won't ask you if you want to do it
50:56We tell you you've got to do it
50:57We will pay you a pittance
50:58And they get 10% extra on the price
51:00I think 2016 me
51:03And 1890s me
51:04Would probably have to pay him a visit
51:05And I don't think he'd like the result of that
51:07The residents have called a meeting
51:10To discuss their fate
51:12As a community
51:13We're a community
51:14We're all going to be split up
51:15They would have all been split up
51:16The friends they would have made
51:17The children
51:18We've all been split up
51:20People like yourself
51:21You may have somewhere to go
51:23And money to go out
51:24And be able to find new lodgings
51:26We wouldn't
51:27I mean it must have been terrifying
51:28For the Victorians at this time
51:30You know, especially people
51:31That are in my situation
51:32That have got young children
51:34Um
51:35Oh, it must have been awful
51:38To just another cloud of uncertainty
51:41Over the head about
51:42God, what is my future going to be like?
51:48As the 1890s come to an end
51:50The slum community faces an uncertain future
51:53Can we pay?
51:56I think it was the first time that poverty
51:58Had actually raised its head
51:59Above the parapet
52:00And to actually say that poverty
52:02Is not a decision that you take
52:04It's a circumstance that's forced upon you
52:06Due to lack of work
52:07The biggest change for me
52:08Is the fact that I've lost my income
52:11And going from Doss Housekeeper
52:13To nothing really
52:15But you can start to see little bits of change
52:18Maybe a couple of chinks of light
52:20At the end of the tunnel for the slum dwellers
52:22When I heard that the slum was going to be demolished
52:25My upset came for those that wouldn't be sure
52:27Where they were going
52:28If they could afford anywhere
52:29I know that we could move to somewhere better
52:32I'd be devastated to leave everybody here
52:34But ultimately, like it's always been in the slum
52:36It is each family for themselves
52:38You have to look after your own first and foremost
52:40Because nobody's going to do it for you
52:42Then comes the community
52:44My worries for the next decade
52:46Are having somewhere to live
52:48To have enough money to feed the family
52:50And my fears are that we will end up
52:53Without a roof over our heads
52:57Next time, the residents change decade for the final time
53:00It's a new century
53:02The monarchy goes on
53:04Long live the king
53:05A time of huge upheaval
53:09I feel like it's progress
53:11It's like a new adventure now
53:12While some exercise their rights
53:14The poor were desperate to voice their opinion
53:17Others still have a fight on their hands
53:19I've just heard the men
53:20They're talking about politics
53:21Shame we can't vote
53:22And a lucky few experience life beyond the slum
53:25For the actual Victorian kids that got a chance to do this
53:28It must have been a whole new world for them
53:30Yes, run!
53:32Woo!
53:36And the Victorian slum concludes next Monday at 9
53:39And this episode is now available on iPlayer
53:42Where you'll also find options to purchase it from BBC Store and other suppliers
53:46Comedy Time next here on BBC 2
53:48With the many faces of Morgana Robinson in the agency
53:51In the agency
53:52In the agency
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