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Hi All,
Here's part of a House of Commons debate, 4th March 1889, which touches upon housing for the working classes and, unfortunately without naming names, shines a light into the subject of who was making a tidy profit out of a lot of the human misery in Whitechapel.
The Hon. Harry Lawson (St. Pancras W.)—
"I should like to give from my personal knowledge an instance that has not yet been made public. The Whitechapel murders were committed within a small area of ground. The right hon. Gentleman knows very well the small streets and alleys contiguous to the Commercial Road make up a very plague-spot of human misery. Well, in consequence of the scare caused by the murders there was a general exodus from the numerous lodging-houses of the district. In one of these the number of occupied beds was reduced from 130 to 20 in one night. It came to the ears of a number of gentlemen, some of them Members of this House, that the whole of these foul dwellings were situated on a single property, and that a great many of the house-owners fearing that they would be unable to earn their livelihood, wished to dispose of the fag-ends of their leases. Well, an offer was made to the ground landlords of the property, a most respectable family. They were a little apprehensive that, as the scandals went on, for fear that their names might be published, for fear that it should be proclaimed throughout the land, that for years they and their respectable agent had been allowing the covenants to remain unperformed, and in taking in the form of ground rents the wages of infamy.
"Well, the panic passed away, and though a reasonable offer was made, which at first they were ready to accept, they ended by raising their terms and demanded such a high figure that it was impossible to deal with them, and the negotiations for sale fell through, so the place is left a disgrace to the owners and a source of ruin to the neighbourhood. If a public authority had tried to deal with this area they would have found themselves obliged to pay the price required for the goodwill of crime and vice under the existing law. "Severance" and "compensation for compulsory sale" are pretty terms for the protection of rights of property, but I appeal to the House whether the family of ground landlords who owned this plague spot in Whitechapel would not have got off very easily if they had received the price of the bare ground without a penny for the dens erected upon it, considering the purposes to which it had been applied and the profit they had made out of the land for so many years."
It is known that Lord Salisbury was a West End slum landlord, but does anyone know who might be the "most respectable family" mentioned above?
Regards,
Simon
Here's part of a House of Commons debate, 4th March 1889, which touches upon housing for the working classes and, unfortunately without naming names, shines a light into the subject of who was making a tidy profit out of a lot of the human misery in Whitechapel.
The Hon. Harry Lawson (St. Pancras W.)—
"I should like to give from my personal knowledge an instance that has not yet been made public. The Whitechapel murders were committed within a small area of ground. The right hon. Gentleman knows very well the small streets and alleys contiguous to the Commercial Road make up a very plague-spot of human misery. Well, in consequence of the scare caused by the murders there was a general exodus from the numerous lodging-houses of the district. In one of these the number of occupied beds was reduced from 130 to 20 in one night. It came to the ears of a number of gentlemen, some of them Members of this House, that the whole of these foul dwellings were situated on a single property, and that a great many of the house-owners fearing that they would be unable to earn their livelihood, wished to dispose of the fag-ends of their leases. Well, an offer was made to the ground landlords of the property, a most respectable family. They were a little apprehensive that, as the scandals went on, for fear that their names might be published, for fear that it should be proclaimed throughout the land, that for years they and their respectable agent had been allowing the covenants to remain unperformed, and in taking in the form of ground rents the wages of infamy.
"Well, the panic passed away, and though a reasonable offer was made, which at first they were ready to accept, they ended by raising their terms and demanded such a high figure that it was impossible to deal with them, and the negotiations for sale fell through, so the place is left a disgrace to the owners and a source of ruin to the neighbourhood. If a public authority had tried to deal with this area they would have found themselves obliged to pay the price required for the goodwill of crime and vice under the existing law. "Severance" and "compensation for compulsory sale" are pretty terms for the protection of rights of property, but I appeal to the House whether the family of ground landlords who owned this plague spot in Whitechapel would not have got off very easily if they had received the price of the bare ground without a penny for the dens erected upon it, considering the purposes to which it had been applied and the profit they had made out of the land for so many years."
It is known that Lord Salisbury was a West End slum landlord, but does anyone know who might be the "most respectable family" mentioned above?
Regards,
Simon
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