A hard to miss facet of the Victorian era were the slums or working districts of cities brought on and formed in part by the industrial revolution. Frederich Engels in his appeal against industrialization The Condition of the Working Class in England 1844 specifically brings to the forefront one of the most notorious slums in London, Whitechapel. Maybe most notable for its local serial killer Jack the Ripper, Whitechapel was home to approximately 900,000 people. Strawberry tours, a praiseworthy walking touring company in London boasts, “Whitechapel was the worst district in London’s East End, and was considered a “no-go-zone” for those living in London’s other boroughs… And this was all before Jack the Ripper came along” (What Was Life Like in Whitechapel). The poverty and destitution of this area were so great as to attract philanthropists from around the world. Many would spend a few days in the area to immerse themselves in the poor man’s experience. Morbid and sad attractions such as Whitechapel are where the phrase “slumming it” comes from. Even with wealthy donors and missions galore this district never ceased to be in need of such charities.

Not only were most of the inhabitants immigrants and a vast number also homeless, but the poor families with homes were overrun and crowded. Sometimes as many as three families would be confined to sharing one room. The streets however were not much more desirable as they were a dumping ground for sewage and a breeding ground for disease. Mortality rates reached up to 50% in children under the age of five. Because of a dire need for money prostitution was a profession run rampant as well. Slums such as this served as Engel’s battleground for waging war against industrialization through describing his gut wrenching experiences with them.

 Article: “What Was Life in Whitechapel like during the Jack the Ripper Murders?: Strawberry Tours.” RSS2, 24 July 2023.

 Image: 

Gustave Dore. Wentworth St, Whitechapel. Wellcome Collection, JSTOR, https://jstor.org/stable/community.24718829. Accessed 7 Sept. 2023.

 Additional Articles: 

Koven, Seth. Slumming: Sexual and Social Politics In Victorian London. E-book, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2006.

Slum Tourism : Poverty, Power and Ethics, edited by Fabian Frenzel, et al., Taylor & Francis Group, 2012.

Geary, Rick. Jack the Ripper : A Journal of the Whitechapel Murders 1888-1889. NBM ComicsLit, 1995.

Mentor Text: 

ENGELS, FREDERICK. Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844. DOUBLE 9 BOOKS, 2023.