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For Dave Gates,
Thanks Dave for all your work over the past months concerning the true economic nature of Whitechapel at the end of the 1880"s and 1890"s is very valuable.So often we read of only the one view of Whitechapel as a place saturated in unremitting poverty .But there are chroniclers who lived at the time,who described the Whitechapel Road as one of the more prosperous and vibrant areas of London.Emile Zola lived there for a while ,in the 1890"s after he had been forced to flee from Paris after an article he had written about the Dreyfus affair.He described it as having wide,well lit streets,a good hospital,well stocked shops and market and quite well dressed people in its main streets at least.Zola doesnt deny that back streets and alleys existed where there was severe poverty and destitution but he says that when he compares even these parts of Whitechapel with parts of Paris from which he knows, ,his own city, Paris and even other parts of London such as Covent Garden and Holborn appear even more deprived with more of the desperately poor and the main Whitechapel streets which were wide,well lit, affluent and thriving .didnt compare at all.
George Sims described the Whitechapel High Street in much the same way,especially on Saturdays and Sundays he said when attractive young Jewesses paraded in their fine clothes and the shops and street stalls sold exotic goods of all kinds.He called it his favourite street---the most vibrant,colourful street in London-and Sims was rich and lived in one of the beautiful regency houses around Regents Park.
So your findings concur with their statements.
Best,
Norma
Thanks Dave for all your work over the past months concerning the true economic nature of Whitechapel at the end of the 1880"s and 1890"s is very valuable.So often we read of only the one view of Whitechapel as a place saturated in unremitting poverty .But there are chroniclers who lived at the time,who described the Whitechapel Road as one of the more prosperous and vibrant areas of London.Emile Zola lived there for a while ,in the 1890"s after he had been forced to flee from Paris after an article he had written about the Dreyfus affair.He described it as having wide,well lit streets,a good hospital,well stocked shops and market and quite well dressed people in its main streets at least.Zola doesnt deny that back streets and alleys existed where there was severe poverty and destitution but he says that when he compares even these parts of Whitechapel with parts of Paris from which he knows, ,his own city, Paris and even other parts of London such as Covent Garden and Holborn appear even more deprived with more of the desperately poor and the main Whitechapel streets which were wide,well lit, affluent and thriving .didnt compare at all.
George Sims described the Whitechapel High Street in much the same way,especially on Saturdays and Sundays he said when attractive young Jewesses paraded in their fine clothes and the shops and street stalls sold exotic goods of all kinds.He called it his favourite street---the most vibrant,colourful street in London-and Sims was rich and lived in one of the beautiful regency houses around Regents Park.
So your findings concur with their statements.
Best,
Norma
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