hard work and poverty on the streets of Victorian London


Captured 150 years ago by John Thomson, the images show the huge variety of occupations people undertook to make ends meet.One harrowing image shows a woman sat on the streets. According to the magazine, she had been living with her son-in-law but was removed from her home and had no option but to live penniless on the street with her son. One picture shows the ‘wall working’ – a system of advertising where posters were hung on a fence or a wall on a public thoroughfare.