London labour and the London poor : a cyclopaedia of the condition and earnings of those that will work, those that cannot work, and those that will not work. / by Henry Mayhew.

  • Mayhew, Henry, 1812-1887.
Date:
1861-1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: London labour and the London poor : a cyclopaedia of the condition and earnings of those that will work, those that cannot work, and those that will not work. / by Henry Mayhew. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    43/585
    suming upon the license they have so long enjoyed, no longer hesitate to ply their usual calling in the most public and offensive manner, frequently pursuing their traffic in the ■ open streets during the hours of divine service, and disturbing whole congregations by their noisy vociferations around the very doors of our churches. These evils call loudly for more stringent legal measures, and it is to be hoped the time is not far distant when some improvement will take place. As one means of directing public attention to this subject, by the circulation of appeals and tracts, and of promoting the introduction of salutary legal provisions for the repression of such acts of desecration, the Society for Promoting the Due Oh- servance of the Lord's Day is entitled to a large measure of support. The efforts made by the Society to awaken public opposition to the obnoxious provisions of Lord Chelmsford's Sunday Trading Bill, were probably mainly instrumental in securing its rejection. One of the noblest repressive agencies within the metropolis is the Moyal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, established in 1824, which employs a number of agents to frequent the markets and public thoroughfares, for the pur- pose of bringing to punishment persons detected in the commission of acts of cruelty to animals. It seeks, moreover, by means of suitable tracts, to diffuse among the public a just sense of the duty of humanity and forbearance towards the lower orders of creation. Allusion was made during the present year to the objects embraced by this Society from upwards of two thousand London pulpits, which will doubtless have the effect of directing the attention of the benevolent public to an instrumentality which has already achieved a large amount of good ; and only requires to be better known to enjoy a corresponding measure of support. 4. Beformative Agencies. Must be understood as referring solely to individuals, and include all such measures as are employed to effect an external change of character, and render those, who are vicious and depraved, honest and respectable members of society.] While, however, agencies of this kind are reformative in their relation to persons, they have also a preventive aspect, when viewed in their bearings upon the entire community; for the reformation of every vicious man is a social boon, inasmuch as it removes one individual from a course of vice, and thus diminishes the aggre- gate of crime. As a nucleus of reformatory operations, and a centre of information and encouragement, the Meformatory and Befuge Union was established in 1856. It seeks to diffuse information respecting the various agencies at present in exist- ence, and to encourage and facilitate the establishment of new institutions. In connection with the Union is a Female Mission for the rescue of the fallen. The Mission maintains a staff of female missionaries, whose business it is to dis- tribute tracts among the fallen women of the metropolis, to converse with them in the streets, and visit them in their houses, in the hospitals, or in the workhouses. These missionaries, as a rule, leave their homes between eight and nine o'clock at night, remaining out till nearly twelve, and occasionally till one in the morning. They are located in different parts of London, near to the nightly walks and haunts of those they desire to benefit. They have the means of rescuing a large number who have been placed in the Homes or restored to their friends. There are upv/ards of fifty metropolitan institutions for the reception of the destitute and the reformation of the criminal, or those who are exposed to temp- tation, capable of accommodating collectively about 4,000 persons of both sexes. Nine of these institutions are designed especially for the reception and training of juvenile criminals, sentenced under the Youthful Offenders' Act, and two for vagrants sentenced to detention under the Industrial School Act. Three are