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The Victorian Underworld
Beneath the respectable surface of Victorian society lay a criminal world as diverse, as turbulent, and at times as vicious as any that has existed. Policemen could only stand in awe of the occupations and illegal practices which grew up.
Kellow Chesney begins his book by taking a general look at the society and its penal methods. Then, ranging over the whole spectrum of underworld life from travelling showmen and religious fakes to cracksmen, garrotters, and incorrigible pickpockets, he recreates in detail the squalid lives and the 'lays' of those who thronged the rookeries and alleys of Victorian cities. Curious stories emerge from this world of crime and penury, and, throughout, the study highlights the vast substratum of vice feeding on that 'most enlightened age'.
Kellow Chesney begins his book by taking a general look at the society and its penal methods. Then, ranging over the whole spectrum of underworld life from travelling showmen and religious fakes to cracksmen, garrotters, and incorrigible pickpockets, he recreates in detail the squalid lives and the 'lays' of those who thronged the rookeries and alleys of Victorian cities. Curious stories emerge from this world of crime and penury, and, throughout, the study highlights the vast substratum of vice feeding on that 'most enlightened age'.
470 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1970
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670 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
February 21, 2013
I came to this looking for a London "Low Life," and it kind of is. However, Kellow Chesney is not Luc Sante. Or to put another way, if Luc Sante is your cool, history obsessed neighbor who will gladly pour your a whiskey and tell you about how many gang murders happened in your tenement corridor in 1890, Kellow Chesney would probably get the vapors if he passed a woman in provocative clothing coming out of an H&M yesterday. And that's part of the charm of his book. It takes a special kind of person to write about the horrors for Victorian slums in the same appalled histrionic tone as an actual Victorian (as Chesney did in approximately 1970), which makes this book a good deal funnier than was likely intended. The provocative adjectives abound. Things are frequently "pestilential, putrid, foul, dank, revolting, mouldering, nightmarish and horrifying" to say nothing of your standard issue "sordid." Chesney's obvious fascination with the salacious details matches his horror at having to report them. At the end of every chapter, I figure he had to revive with smelling salts.
Which is not to disparage the book. It is a very good, readable overview of the condition of those living outside of conventional English, Victorian society in (roughly) the Dickens era. The mid-19th century criminal glossary alone is well worth the price of admission.
A note: it is somewhat dated in its understanding of race, sex and ethnicity. The chapter on "The Wanderers" especially hasn't aged well.
Which is not to disparage the book. It is a very good, readable overview of the condition of those living outside of conventional English, Victorian society in (roughly) the Dickens era. The mid-19th century criminal glossary alone is well worth the price of admission.
A note: it is somewhat dated in its understanding of race, sex and ethnicity. The chapter on "The Wanderers" especially hasn't aged well.
July 2, 2017
An engaging, sympathetic and clear-eyed view of the Victorian underworld. Chesney is sympathetic where it is called for but still sees evil for evil (baby farmers are one example). He shows how society and what is seen as its underbelly are more connected than can be seen in a superficial look.
Two notes: it would have been good if the descriptions of Gustave Dore's drawings had been with the pictures rather than at the end. And there is a good cant dictionary at the end of the book.
Two notes: it would have been good if the descriptions of Gustave Dore's drawings had been with the pictures rather than at the end. And there is a good cant dictionary at the end of the book.
January 25, 2021
Packed with vivid anecdotes and shocking accounts of poverty, this is a wonderfully engaging and lively journey into the dark alleys and iniquitous dens of the nineteenth century: illuminating and vastly entertaining.
June 10, 2012
Very interesting book, belonging on the same shelf as Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier or Down and Out in Paris and London. Basically like time-traveling back to the 1840s or 1850s for a tour of the seediest, grimiest, most dangerous urban and rural English environments, and spending time getting to know the local criminals, charlatans, and ne'er-do wells about the particulars of their lives.
Looking at the Table of Contents, we see chapters devoted to rookeries (urban ghettos where the police were loathe to invade, and where ever manner of human depravity flourished); A chapter on the borders of the underworld where street market workers ("costermongers" - street vendors of produce) and traveling workmen ("Navvies" - or navigators) would frequently associate with the criminal classes; "Gonolphs, footpads and the swell mobs" - a chapter devoted to the various types of cardsharks, confidence men, pickpockets, and other urban swindlers, along with the common tactics and swindles they employed; "Cracksmen and fences" - about robbers, housebreakers, burglars, lock-pickers, and the vast criminal network they inhabited; "Beggars" - all about the various sheisty swindlers and the deceitful ruses which could bring in tidy sums for the nefarious characters willing to employ them; and "Magsmen, macers, and showfulmen" - all about the exploits of skilled forgerers, counterfeiters, and scam artists in general. There really were some ingenious scams that people used.
Remaining chapters contained details about underworld betting on sports like bear-baiting, prize-fighting, cock-fighting, rat-killing matches by trained dogs, and even the hoopla surrounding public executions, and of course, an investigation into Victorian-era prostitution. These were the Bad Old Days.
Each chapter gives a broad overview of the underworld activity, the types of characters who conducted it, a discussion of their trades and skills, and then recounts some highlights and tales, such as the most successful highway train heists of the 1850s, London's biggest counterfeiting schemes and how they were done, or a visit to an underworld rat-killing betting match and an overview of the shady characters present.
Helpfully includes a dictionary of underworld slang and various woodcuts throughout, by Gustav Doré and others, of various underworld scenes featuring Dickensian tramps and other low-down sheisty cheats.
Though apparently out of print (I found my copy late one night in Strasbourg, France, perched invitingly on an building ledge — I snatched it and made off into the misty night without delay!), this book is not to be missed. Also worth noting that many of today's slang terms were borne from Victorian England - including Swag: "Goods, stolen property; cheap manufacturer's articles."; Chavy: "child", and Pig: "Policeman, detective."
Looking at the Table of Contents, we see chapters devoted to rookeries (urban ghettos where the police were loathe to invade, and where ever manner of human depravity flourished); A chapter on the borders of the underworld where street market workers ("costermongers" - street vendors of produce) and traveling workmen ("Navvies" - or navigators) would frequently associate with the criminal classes; "Gonolphs, footpads and the swell mobs" - a chapter devoted to the various types of cardsharks, confidence men, pickpockets, and other urban swindlers, along with the common tactics and swindles they employed; "Cracksmen and fences" - about robbers, housebreakers, burglars, lock-pickers, and the vast criminal network they inhabited; "Beggars" - all about the various sheisty swindlers and the deceitful ruses which could bring in tidy sums for the nefarious characters willing to employ them; and "Magsmen, macers, and showfulmen" - all about the exploits of skilled forgerers, counterfeiters, and scam artists in general. There really were some ingenious scams that people used.
Remaining chapters contained details about underworld betting on sports like bear-baiting, prize-fighting, cock-fighting, rat-killing matches by trained dogs, and even the hoopla surrounding public executions, and of course, an investigation into Victorian-era prostitution. These were the Bad Old Days.
Each chapter gives a broad overview of the underworld activity, the types of characters who conducted it, a discussion of their trades and skills, and then recounts some highlights and tales, such as the most successful highway train heists of the 1850s, London's biggest counterfeiting schemes and how they were done, or a visit to an underworld rat-killing betting match and an overview of the shady characters present.
Helpfully includes a dictionary of underworld slang and various woodcuts throughout, by Gustav Doré and others, of various underworld scenes featuring Dickensian tramps and other low-down sheisty cheats.
Though apparently out of print (I found my copy late one night in Strasbourg, France, perched invitingly on an building ledge — I snatched it and made off into the misty night without delay!), this book is not to be missed. Also worth noting that many of today's slang terms were borne from Victorian England - including Swag: "Goods, stolen property; cheap manufacturer's articles."; Chavy: "child", and Pig: "Policeman, detective."
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April 16, 2009From BoingBoing.net:
After reading yesterday's post about the role that Henry Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor played in the birth of steampunk, William Gibson wrote in to add:
"I've never actually read Mayhew, but feel I've long had him, through brilliant osmosis, with Kellow Chesney's Victorian Underworld, which is easily one of my favorite books ever. People assume, when I tell them that, that Chesney would mainly have influenced The Difference Engine, but actually this was very consciously the basis of the criminal society of Neuromancer, et al. It was a Victorian model, as I saw what's since come to be called neoconservatism producing a neo-Victorian world. Not a bad call, either!
I literally had The Victorian Underworld on my desk constantly, throughout the writing of Neuromancer, and for years after."
After reading yesterday's post about the role that Henry Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor played in the birth of steampunk, William Gibson wrote in to add:
"I've never actually read Mayhew, but feel I've long had him, through brilliant osmosis, with Kellow Chesney's Victorian Underworld, which is easily one of my favorite books ever. People assume, when I tell them that, that Chesney would mainly have influenced The Difference Engine, but actually this was very consciously the basis of the criminal society of Neuromancer, et al. It was a Victorian model, as I saw what's since come to be called neoconservatism producing a neo-Victorian world. Not a bad call, either!
I literally had The Victorian Underworld on my desk constantly, throughout the writing of Neuromancer, and for years after."
February 13, 2018
A fascinating book but one so full of information it's took me and age to read ..as a reference book it is great but I think it shows it's age(originally published in the seventies) by maybe being overtly scholarly and I think it would have benefited from maybe focusing more on individual cases of Victorian criminality offering maybe a more human perspective than focusing on the larger sociological and statistical impact of crime.
All said however it's a fine read and with all this talk of 'victorian values ' trotted out by politicians every now and again a reminder that these weren't wholly enlightened times....then again are our current politicians particularly enlightened?
I guess it's cherry picking the good from the bad but in honesty values which include extreme poverty, a lack of health care , no real welfare state(charitable concerns and the workhouse being about it) and child labour don't really seem to be much to aspire too...that said I suspect the politicians are more into the 'know your place' ethos of Victorian culture...
Such poverty in a society will always create the foundation for criminality and I think that is what I will take mostly from this book....it has been a long read..at times it hasn't been the most engaging due to the breadth of the subject matter....however in the same way lots of info has seeped in due to that....
All said however it's a fine read and with all this talk of 'victorian values ' trotted out by politicians every now and again a reminder that these weren't wholly enlightened times....then again are our current politicians particularly enlightened?
I guess it's cherry picking the good from the bad but in honesty values which include extreme poverty, a lack of health care , no real welfare state(charitable concerns and the workhouse being about it) and child labour don't really seem to be much to aspire too...that said I suspect the politicians are more into the 'know your place' ethos of Victorian culture...
Such poverty in a society will always create the foundation for criminality and I think that is what I will take mostly from this book....it has been a long read..at times it hasn't been the most engaging due to the breadth of the subject matter....however in the same way lots of info has seeped in due to that....
August 11, 2023
An extraordinarily detailed review of criminality in the middle of the nineteenth century, and how it changed under the influence of economic and social changes, plus the efforts of a small number of dedicated reformers. It's nice to meet Dickens and Mayhew here, as I recently came across them when reading Terry Pratchett's Dodger.
The book was written in 1970, which still feels like 'modern times' to me, but I was surprised at how old-fashioned Chesney's writing (and attitudes) felt at times.
The book was written in 1970, which still feels like 'modern times' to me, but I was surprised at how old-fashioned Chesney's writing (and attitudes) felt at times.
September 15, 2023
This is a tell it like it is rather than the sugar coating of many novels are, this is fact not fiction. Probably more in the style of a reporter than an author, but, it you want the bare facts then this is a good read and purely written to be informative about the real Victorian crime scene.
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February 2, 2022The structure of the criminal world in Neuromancer
specially Mollys world
Machineries of prostetic memory
information wants to be free
-slogan of computer underground and cyberpunk ethic
specially Mollys world
Machineries of prostetic memory
information wants to be free
-slogan of computer underground and cyberpunk ethic
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 9, 2015
It was a fun read, not as complete as the other book of the same title, but well worth it as a look at the side of the Victorian world we don't normally think about. Michael Crichton apparently mined it pretty heavily for his The Great Train Robbery.
Persons of delicate sensibilities, be warned: a lot of what went on in Victorian slums was not nice and not very PC. A very popular sport was one where rats were set loose and then a dog was set on them; the more rats killed, the higher the dog scored. Prostitution was a huge industry, centered around the Haymarket and Soho districts, and all tastes were catered to. And public executions were treated as wonderful spectacles, good for the whole family. People would pay good money for a particular window to see the execution.
Persons of delicate sensibilities, be warned: a lot of what went on in Victorian slums was not nice and not very PC. A very popular sport was one where rats were set loose and then a dog was set on them; the more rats killed, the higher the dog scored. Prostitution was a huge industry, centered around the Haymarket and Soho districts, and all tastes were catered to. And public executions were treated as wonderful spectacles, good for the whole family. People would pay good money for a particular window to see the execution.
February 27, 2020
True to its billing, this is a snapshot of the Victorian-era English underworld, populated by "the dangerous classes" of costermongers, navvies, ruffians, beggars, prostitutes, confidence men, forgers, and the like. If you're seeking a self-indulgent thrill in reading about miserable slum dwellers lying around in verminous filth, you may have come to the right place. (Perhaps nothing matches the description of a neighborhood that had a dunghill higher than a house.)
Or maybe you haven't come to the right place, because after a promising start, the book becomes pretty tedious. The author's prose is decidedly less clear than mud and he frequently resorts to using long quotes from other sources. When you're relaying such colorful material (reminder: verminous filth and a dunghill higher than a house), it takes a special talent to make it dull.
Or maybe you haven't come to the right place, because after a promising start, the book becomes pretty tedious. The author's prose is decidedly less clear than mud and he frequently resorts to using long quotes from other sources. When you're relaying such colorful material (reminder: verminous filth and a dunghill higher than a house), it takes a special talent to make it dull.
April 6, 2008
For those who think crime is a modern problem and that modern society is more violent and more crime-ridden than earlier societies this book will come as a revelation. It’s not only the scale of crime in Victorian times that is shocking, the extent of the suffering and the horror of life in that period for such a large proportion of the population is almost beyond belief. The most fascinating thing about the book is the depiction of the various underworld sub-cultures – each type of crime had its own sub-culture and there were also various begging sub-cultures – and the criminal rookeries. A fascinating book which I highly recommend.
August 28, 2019
een lekkere tweedehands Penguinpaperback uit 1970, jawel, met een blauwe rug! Prachtig hoofdstuk over de connecties tussen de onderwereld en de sport in het midden van de 19e eeuw. Illegale bokswedstrijden met 10.000 bezoekers en intimidatie van de scheidsrechters, vergeven paardenracewedstrijden, hanengevechten.
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September 3, 2012Remember the musical "Oliver!" and those poor urchins pick-pocketing to eke out a living on London's harsh streets?
That was pretty much CAKE compared to how life actually worked for the poor then.
Fascinating, horrifying, intriguing stuff.
More later when I'm finished.
That was pretty much CAKE compared to how life actually worked for the poor then.
Fascinating, horrifying, intriguing stuff.
More later when I'm finished.
October 25, 2012
Unusual homophobia appears from nowhere from the author in the 'Prostitution' chapter, hilarious scribbling in pencil from a disgusted student reacting to Chesney's views was very entertaining.
Despite being very helpful and illuminating, that end left me with an uneasy feeling about it.
Despite being very helpful and illuminating, that end left me with an uneasy feeling about it.
July 26, 2014
England in the late 19th century is brought to light in this very interesting and revealing book The book shows the origines of many phrases and words used today. More importantly it discusses the dirty work done in order to survive.
December 17, 2014
Was a great help on my paper and a really interesting read. I may have to read it again when I am not struggling under a deadline. But definitely one of the more interesting books I have read for a paper.
August 19, 2012
A interesting book if one is likes the way people lived and survived in poverty during the victorian era
February 23, 2014
Fascinating!
March 25, 2011
Pickpockets and beggars and prostitutes, oh my!
July 23, 2015
C'est très vivant et complet. On s'y croirait.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews