Free The Worst Street in London: Foreword by Peter Ackroyd by Fiona Rule

noisy, dirty and frenetic as mid-19th century London. In order to lessen the inevitable homesickness and to keep a rein on rental expenditure, many set up home with members of their extended kin. The Keating family arrived in Dorset Street in the late 1840s. Like so many other Irish immigrants to the East End the head of the family, John Keating, was a boot maker who brought not only his young wife and child with him but also his mother-in-law, brother-in-law, niece and an apprentice. Although the family comprised six adults and a seven-year-old, they all lived in one room at number 25 Dorset Street while John attempted to make a go of his business.
    The arrival of famine refugees on the streets of Spitalfields was not well received by the locals, including other Irishmen. The migrants soon gained a reputation for attempting to fit far too many members of their family into one room in order to save money (see the Keatings above). The resulting noise and constant comings and goings irritated their neighbours who did not understand that the extreme overcrowding was due to poverty rather than choice. In 1853, John Garwood unkindly noted ‘in the days of Queen Elizabeth, it was customary to divide the Irish in to three classes: the Irish, the wild Irish and the extreme wild Irish... The same divisions may be made in the days of Queen Victoria... And the class of Irish with which we are most familiar in the courts and alleys of London, are by no means the most favourable specimens of the nation.’
    Many Londoners resented the fact that the majority of refugees used their city as a stepping-stone to their goal of reaching America. This even caused divisions between the immigrants and their own countrymen. Garwood explained, ‘of the Irish immigrants who remain in London, few have any such intention at first. But they gradually become accustomed to the place and its habits, and at length settle down in it. Their descendants are called “Irish Cockneys,” and the new-comers are called “Grecians.’ By these names they are generally distinguished among themselves. And the two divisions of this class are most distinct. The animosity which subsists between them is very bitter, far beyond that which often unhappily exists between the Irish and the English. The Cockneys regard the Grecians as coming to take the bread out of their own mouths, and consider their extensive immigration as tending to lower their own wages. Having also succeeded in raising themselves, at least some steps, from that abject poverty and nakedness which distinguished them on their first arrival, they now look on the Grecians as bringing a discredit on their country by their appearance and necessities. There are constant quarrels between the two, and they are so estranged that they will not live even in the same parts of the town, after the first flow of generous hospitality has passed over.’
    To the immense relief of all concerned, the 1850 Irish potato crop finally survived. However, it did not yield as much as it had done before the outbreak of the fungal virus and many communities continued to exist in great hardship. By this time, over one million people had died as a result of the worst famine to occur in Europe in the 19th century. As the statistics on page 63 show, the amount of contributions towards passages out of the country steadily increased into the 1850s and, although the worst of the famine was over, the Irish continued their exodus in the hope that a better life could be found elsewhere. Their migration was helped immeasurably by competition between the steam-boat companies who slashed their prices in order to attract more custom. Passage from Cork to London, which normally cost around 10 shillings, could be obtained for as little as one shilling. There were even reports of some companies bringing passengers over to the British mainland for no charge whatsoever.

Chapter 10
     

The McCarthy Family
    One Irish family that took advantage of