Decent Victorian Social History Books

[Derrick]

Hello
I am new here and my name is Derrick.
I am an amateur short story writer with an interest in the Victorian era.

What I would like to ask of you here is recommendations of reputable and reliable books/resources relating to social history especially the police and police procedures during the latter half of the 19th century.

Thanks in advance
Derrick

[The Grave Maurice]

Hi Derrick,

I imagine that there are quite a few books on this topic but, by coincidence, I read this one recently and found it quite good:

Smith, Phillip Thurmond, Policing Victorian London: Political Policing, Public Order, and the London Metropolitan Police. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1985.

P.S. For future reference, you should have posted this query on the Books thread, mate.

[Derrick]

Sorry about the thread mistake...

Hi Derrick,

I imagine that there are quite a few books on this topic but, by coincidence, I read this one recently and found it quite good:

Smith, Phillip Thurmond, Policing Victorian London: Political Policing, Public Order, and the London Metropolitan Police. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1985.

P.S. For future reference, you should have posted this query on the Books thread, mate.

Thank you TGM for that book ref.
To be honest as a new member I wasn't sure where to post up my cherry breaking intro but I appreciate your advice and I will post this afresh on the books thread.

Best wishes
Derrick

[miss marple]

For popular Victorian Culture, Matthew Sweet's 'Inventing the Victorians' is a great read.
A good social history is' London in the 19th century''By Jerry White
Any book by Professor William Fishman
Jack the Ripper, Scotland Yard Investigates by Stewart P Evans, A good overview of police methods in the ripper investigation.
Cheers Miss Marple

[Jane Coram]

Hi,

William Fishman's, East End 1888 is excellent. Online there is www.victorianlondon.co.uk and http://www.victorianweb.org/history/sochistov.html. Victorian London.org is an incredible site, but quite hard to wade through, as they are all contemporary commentaries, and you do have to be patient and willing to read a lot of waffle by the social commentators of the time, but there is no better resource I've found for information.

Hugs

Jane

xxxxx

[Phil Carter]

Hello Jane,

Agreed... re. Willam Fishman, 1888. I found it a fascinating book reflecting all kinds of social situations and agendae.

best wishes

Phil

[lynn cates]

the other operation

Hello Jane and Phil. Right about Fishman. But don't forget his other book, East End Jewish Radicals 1875-1914.

Cheers.
LC

[Phil H]

Try "The Suspicions of Mr Whicher" by Kate Summerscale.

It's about the Road House killing (involving a yong son of the Kent family) in 1860ish.

A great read, a fascinating case, beautifully written. There's an expensive
(£25 in UK) edition but it's also in p/back.

The detective, Mr Whicher, was the basis of detectives in novels by Wilkie collins (The Moonstone) and Dickens.

As well as exploring the case and offering a solution, the book also explores how the vocabulary of police and detection evolved in that period (sleuthing etc) and how working class policemen prying in middle-class homes was seen as improper and akin to rape. The book has so many levels I was gripped, and recently re-read it, getting even more out of it. My book of last year (I forked out for the original trade p/back edition) I cannot praise it highly enough.

Phil

[jason_c]

For popular Victorian Culture, Matthew Sweet's 'Inventing the Victorians' is a great read.
A good social history is' London in the 19th century''By Jerry White
Any book by Professor William Fishman
Jack the Ripper, Scotland Yard Investigates by Stewart P Evans, A good overview of police methods in the ripper investigation.
Cheers Miss Marple

I agree with you about this book. It lays a few myths to rest too.

[jason_c]

Hi,

William Fishman's, East End 1888 is excellent. Online there is www.victorianlondon.co.uk and http://www.victorianweb.org/history/sochistov.html. Victorian London.org is an incredible site, but quite hard to wade through, as they are all contemporary commentaries, and you do have to be patient and willing to read a lot of waffle by the social commentators of the time, but there is no better resource I've found for information.

Hugs

Jane

xxxxx

Thanks for these links. Hours of browsing material.

[The Grave Maurice]

Dear Gang,

Are we hitting the right note here? Derrick wants books about "social history, especially the police and police procedures during the latter half of the 19th century". No one admires White and Fishman more than I, but neither is strong on policing or police procedure. I was going to suggest Rumbelow's I Spy Blue, but that covers too broad a period for Derrick's interests. Someone must know of a book that fits the bill.

[Derrick]

Many, many thanks for your suggestions.
I will check them out.
I intend for my shortish stories to invoke the mundane of Victorian London life and how the differing classes interact when a crime is committed. Therefore the police and their methods must be accurately portrayed.
TGM BTW I could not find a copy of the Phillip Thurmond Smith on Amazon, EBay or my counties Library. Bummer.

Derrick

[The Grave Maurice]

Derrick,

There are some copies available from ABE, but I'm a little shocked at the prices:

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=Phillip+Thurmond+Smith&sts=t&x=71&y=7

Ask your local library to get it for you on inter-library loan. They nearly always can.

[Jane Coram]

Hi,

Well Stewart Evans and Don Rumbelow's, 'Scotland Yard Investigates' is excellent for police history in the LVP. It doesn't just cover the case, but gives a lot of background information on police procedure as well.
I don't think you can go far wrong with that.

There is actually a lot on crime and police on www.victorianlondon.org as well, in fact a very large section on it, it just takes a bit of ploughing through.

Hugs

Jane

xxx

[Derrick]

TGM and Jane

Many thanks for those pieces of advice guys.

All who have replied have given me more than enough decent looking leads to be going on with.

As TGM advised, I will post anything else relating to this on the "Books" forum.

Many thanks again and best wishes to you all
Derrick