Abstract
Through examining the texts of a range of social commentators during the nineteenth century, this chapter will argue that a common narrative emerged that deplored the rise of the ‘proletarian’ stoker at the expense of the ‘genuine’ and benign traditional sailor. Likewise, the portrayal of sailortown was transformed from a socially heterogeneous playground to a place of danger and depravity. It will be argued that the Victorian writers’ demonisation of Ratcliffe Highway served as a metaphor for wider anxieties of industrial and urban change. As the nineteenth century progressed, such fears cast Ratcliffe Highway not only as a place of maritime otherness, but a modern, urban space that exuded menacing threats to the stability of class and gender relations.
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- 1.
K. Baedeker (1902), London and its Environs, (Leipsic: Baedeker Publishing), p. 169.
- 2.
S. Hugill (1967), Sailortown, (London: Routledge & Keegan Paul), p. xviii.
- 3.
C. Fox Smith (1923), Sailor Town Days (London, Methuen & Co), p. 27.
- 4.
J. Fingard (1982), Jack in Port: Sailortowns of Eastern Canada (Buffalo: University of Toronto Press), p. 3.
- 5.
V. Burton (2001), ‘Boundaries and Identities in the Nineteenth Century English Port: Sailortown Narratives and Urban Space’, in S. Gunn and R.J. Morris (eds.), Identities in Space. Contested Terrains in the Western City since 1850 (Aldershot: Ashgate), p. 137.
- 6.
R. Lee (2013), ‘The Seafarers’ Urban World: A critical review’, International Journal of Maritime History, 25:23, 7.
- 7.
For a seminal text on sexual and social politics of nineteenth century social investigation, see S. Koven (2004), Slumming. Sexual and Social Politics in Victorian London (Princeton, Princeton University Press).
- 8.
W. Besant (1903), East London (London, Chatto & Windus), p. 41.
- 9.
Besant, East London, p. 41.
- 10.
Quoted in J. Marriott, (2011), Beyond the Tower: A History of East London (New Haven: Yale), p. 84.
- 11.
B. Beaven (2016), ‘The Resilience of Sailortown Culture in English Naval Ports, c.1820–1900’, Urban History, 43:1, 72–95. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0963926815000140.
- 12.
L. Brake and M. Demoor (2009, eds.), The Lure of Illustration in the Nineteenth Century (Basingstoke: Palgrave).
- 13.
L. Schwarz, ‘London and the Sea’, http://www.history.ac.uk/ihr/Focus/Sea/articles/schwarz.html (accessed 6 February, 2014).
- 14.
D. Morris and K. Cozens (2014), London’s Sailortown 1600–1800. A Social History of Shadwell and Ratcliff, an Early-Modern London Riverside Suburb (London: East End History Society).
- 15.
Schwarz, ‘London and the Sea’, (accessed 6 February, 2014).
- 16.
Hugill, Sailortown, p. 114.
- 17.
Hugill, Sailortown, p. 115.
- 18.
F.W. Robinson, ‘A night in the Highway’, Belgravia: a London Magazine, 28, 151, 1879.
- 19.
Hugill, Sailortown, p. 118.
- 20.
See, for example, an account of the Ratcliffe murders in 1811 in J. Flanders (2011), The Invention of Murder (London: Harper Press), p. 1.
- 21.
C. Booth (1896), Life and Labour of the People of London, vol VII (London: Macmillan), p. 359.
- 22.
Booth, Life and Labour of the People of London, p. 359.
- 23.
Booth, Life and Labour of the People of London, p. 359.
- 24.
F. T. Bullen (1900), The Men of the Merchant Service (London: Murray), p. 151.
- 25.
Bullen, The Men of the Merchant Servi ce, p. 154, 257.
- 26.
Bullen, The Men of the Merchant Servi ce, p. 154, 257.
- 27.
East London Observer, 6 August 1859.
- 28.
P. Egan (1869), Tom & Jerry. Life in London. The Day and Night Scenes, (London: John Camden Hotten), p. 320; this volume is a collection of Egan’s work first published in the 1820s.
- 29.
East London Observer, 6 August 1859.
- 30.
Booth, Life and Labour of the People of London, p. 359.
- 31.
Booth, Life and Labour of the People of London, p. 360.
- 32.
Bullen, The Men of the Merchant Service, p. 277.
- 33.
Booth, Life and Labour of the People of London, p. 361.
- 34.
Booth, Life and Labour of the People of London, p. 362.
- 35.
East London Observer, 13 August 1859.
- 36.
C. McKee (2002), Sober Men and True: Sailor Lives in the Royal Navy 1900–1945, (London: Harvard University Press), p. 103.
- 37.
Quoted in T. Chamberlain (2013), ‘Stokers – the lowest of the low? A social history of Royal Navy stokers, 1850–1950’ (unpublished PhD thesis, University of Exeter), p. 71.
- 38.
Bullen, The Men of the Merchant Service, pp. 317–18.
- 39.
Bullen, The Men of the Merchant Service, p. 323.
- 40.
Bullen, The Men of the Merchant Service, p. 324.
- 41.
East London Observer, 24 April 1869.
- 42.
East London Observer, 24 April 1869.
- 43.
East London Observer, 24 April 1869.
- 44.
Bullen, The Men of the Merchant Service, p. 278.
- 45.
Flanders, The Invention of Murder, p. 1.
- 46.
The Copartnership Herald, Vol. II, no. 24, February 1933.
- 47.
For an analysis of the city and the imperial mission, see B. Beaven (2012), Visions of Empire: Patriotism, Popular Culture and the City, 1870–1939 (Manchester: Manchester University Press), chapter 2.
- 48.
J. Ewing Ritchie, The night side of London (London, William Tweedie, 1857), pp. 66–75.
- 49.
Household Words, 6 December 1881, p. 255.
- 50.
Besant, East London, pp. 72–73.
- 51.
The Metropolitan, 14 September 1872.
- 52.
Egan, Tom & Jerry, p. 321.
- 53.
East London Observer, 13 August 1859.
- 54.
See Beaven, ‘The Resilience of Sailortown Culture in English Naval Ports, c.1820–1900’.
- 55.
J. Harris (1995), ‘Between Civic Virtue and Social Darwinism: The Concept of the Residuum’, in D. Englander and R. O’Day (eds.), Retrieved Riches. Social Investigation in Britain, 1840–1914 (Aldershot: Scholar Press), p. 82.
- 56.
East London Observer, 6 August 1859.
- 57.
East London Observer, 10 October 1857.
- 58.
East London Observer, 10 October 1857.
- 59.
East London Observer, 20 December 1862.
- 60.
East London Observer, 20 December 1862.
- 61.
Morris and Cozens, London’s Sailortown 1600–1800, p. 44.
- 62.
Robinson, ‘A night in the Highway’, p. 309.
- 63.
Robinson, ‘A night in the Highway’, p. 310.
- 64.
Fox Smith, Sailor Town Days, p. 6.
Bibliography
Baedeker, K. (1902). London and its environs. Leipsic: Baedeker Publishing.
Beaven, B. (2012). Visions of empire: Patriotism, popular culture and the city, 1870–1939. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Beaven, B. (2016). The resilience of sailortown culture in English Naval Ports, c.1820–1900. Urban History 43:1, 75–95. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0963926815000140.
Besant, W. (1903). East London. London: Chatto & Windus.
Booth, C. (1896). Life and labour of the people of London (Vol. VII). London: Macmillan.
Brake, L., & Demoor, M. (2009). The lure of illustration in the nineteenth century. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Bullen, F. T. (1900). The men of the merchant service. London: Murray.
Burton, V. (2001). Boundaries and identities in the nineteenth century English Port: Sailortown narratives and Urban space. In S. Gunn & R. J. Morris (Eds.), Identities in space. Contested terrains in the western city since 1850. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Chamberlain, T. (2013). Stokers – the lowest of the low? A social history of Royal Navy stokers, 1850–1950. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Exeter.
Egan, P. (1869). Tom & Jerry. Life in London. The day and night scenes. London: John Camden Hotten.
Fingard, F. (1982). Jack in Port: Sailortowns of eastern Canada. Buffalo: University of Toronto Press.
Flanders, J. (2011). The invention of murder. London: Harper Press.
Fox Smith, C. (1923). Sailor town days. London: Methuen & Co.
Harris, J. (1995). Between civic virtue and social Darwinism: The concept of the Residuum. In D. Englander & R. O’Day (Eds.), Retrieved riches. Social Investigation in Britain, 1840–1914. Aldershot: Scholar Press.
Hugill, S. (1967). Sailortown. London: Routledge & Keegan Paul.
Koven, S. (2004). Slumming. Sexual and social politics in Victorian London. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Lee, R. (2013). The seafarers’ Urban world: A critical review. International Journal of Maritime History, 25, 23.
Marriott, J. (2011). Beyond the tower: A history of east London. New Haven: Yale.
McKee, C. (2002). Sober men and true: Sailor lives in the Royal Navy 1900–1945. London: Harvard University Press.
Morris, D., & Cozens, K. (2014). London’s Sailortown 1600–1800. A social history of Shadwell and Ratcliff, an early-modern London riverside suburb. London: East End History Society.
Schwarz, L. (n.d.). London and the sea. http://www.history.ac.uk/ihr/Focus/Sea/articles/schwarz.html. Accessed 6 Feb 2014.
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Beaven, B. (2016). From Jolly Sailor to Proletarian Jack: The Remaking of Sailortown and the Merchant Seafarer in Victorian London. In: Beaven, B., Bell, K., James, R. (eds) Port Towns and Urban Cultures. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-48316-4_9
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