London Labour and the London Poor Volume I


Read by Peter Yearsley

(4.5 stars; 6 reviews)

Subtitled, "A Cyclopaedia of the condition and earnings of those that will work, those that cannot work, and those that will not work."

"The history of a people from the lips of the people themselves .. their labour, earnings, trials and sufferings, in their own unvarnished language, and to pourtray the condition of their homes and their families by personal observation of the places ..." "My earnest hope is that the book may serve to give the rich a more intimate knowledge of the sufferings, and the frequent heroism under those sufferings, of the poor ..."

Henry Mayhew was a social researcher and journalist; he compiled a four volume work in minute detail on the lives of the poor in London, of which this is the first volume, published in 1851.

(Peter Yearsley)

Notes:
1 The reader has attempted different voices to separate the interviewees from the narrator, but makes no claim to the accents being appropriate to the speakers.
2 Very occasionally, the language used may be uncomfortable to a modern listener.
3 Sections 34, 52, and 89 consist of analyses of the data collected in the preceding sections. Mayhew himself implies that it might not be too interesting for some of his readers. Listeners to this recording could miss out these sections without fear that they are missing much.
4 Where expletives and proper names have been abbreviated in the text as, for example, "D---d", or "Mrs M---", these have been rendered as "D blank D" and "Mrs M blank" as appropriate.
5 There are some pages of errata at the end of the book, which mainly involve corrections to the many numbers given in the text. The corrections have been included in the recording. However, many arithmetical errors still exist; these have been left unchanged.

Definitions and slang:
1 In Mayhew's time, a chandler was a dealer in household items such as oil, soap, paint, and groceries.
2 "ing-uns" are frequently mentioned as being sold by the costermongers. This is clarified in the text as being their name for onions.
3 The phrase "Han-sellers" in section 55 is clarified as "hand-sellers" in a later section.
4 A "pottle" is a volume of half a gallon (four pints).
5 A quartern loaf weighs four pounds.
6 "Sawney" is bacon.
7 "Tin" is a nickname for money in general, while a "brown" is the nickname for a copper/bronze coin (a farthing, half-penny, penny, etc.).
8 A "wink" seller sells periwinkles.
9 "Woman- (or girl-) of the streets" seems often to be a euphemism for prostitutes.
(53 hr 21 min)

Chapters

Preface; The Street-Folk - part 1 30:49 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 2 31:21 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 3 34:35 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 4 31:23 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 5 33:25 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 6 39:33 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 7 30:47 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 8 49:39 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 9 56:30 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 10 33:47 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 11 37:07 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 12 40:29 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 13 26:58 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 14 36:57 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 15 31:18 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 16 57:29 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 17 41:23 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 18 47:48 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 19 41:23 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 20 26:14 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 21 51:27 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 22 47:28 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 23 54:55 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 24 38:44 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 25 34:39 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 26 36:28 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 27 31:48 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 28 42:55 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 29 43:54 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 30 44:07 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 31 36:39 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 32 51:05 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 33 33:47 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 34 34:04 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 35 29:13 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 36 30:52 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 37 26:03 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 38 29:38 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 39 34:18 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 40 39:24 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 41 46:47 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 42 31:20 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 43 43:17 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 44 24:56 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 45 41:05 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 46 42:15 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 47 48:32 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 48 31:00 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 49 32:28 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 50 40:45 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 51 33:44 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 52 20:38 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 53 39:22 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 54 53:33 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 55 40:32 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 56 45:20 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 57 26:21 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 58 27:34 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 59 31:21 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 60 30:12 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 61 35:28 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 62 34:04 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 63 31:03 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 64 25:37 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 65 31:43 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 66 41:03 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 67 31:06 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 68 24:57 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 69 35:01 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 70 34:47 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 71 30:52 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 72 37:42 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 73 37:50 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 74 31:38 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 75 26:34 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 76 29:35 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 77 33:39 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 78 26:54 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 79 26:13 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 80 24:06 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 81 38:15 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 82 35:13 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 83 42:19 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 84 31:39 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 88 40:49 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 85 34:39 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 86 21:38 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 87 27:17 Read by Peter Yearsley
The Street-Folk - part 89 38:39 Read by Peter Yearsley

Reviews


(5 stars)

Fascinating peek into the socio-economics in the Victorian era, and read by Peter Yearsley who is superb, clear, and witty. Some aspects of the text include stereotypes, racism, classicism from that era and are jarring to the modern ear.

Quite a long book with great narration


(5 stars)

Detailed and we'll narration