0:00:03 > 0:00:05150 years ago,
0:00:05 > 0:00:09Victorian Britain became the world's first industrial superpower.
0:00:09 > 0:00:14And as the country thrived, London - the beating heart of Empire -
0:00:14 > 0:00:15became the world's richest city.
0:00:18 > 0:00:20But this was a city divided.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23For the first time, geographical lines were drawn
0:00:23 > 0:00:26between those enjoying the nation's wealth in the West...
0:00:28 > 0:00:30..and those who weren't, in the East.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36This is the story of one poor community
0:00:36 > 0:00:38living in London's East End.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44In the heart of modern Stratford...
0:00:44 > 0:00:46a Victorian slum has been recreated.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51And a group of 21st-century people are moving in.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56Oh! Oh! Absolutely awful.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59I'm just a bit dumbstruck.
0:00:59 > 0:01:00To survive...
0:01:00 > 0:01:01Oh!
0:01:01 > 0:01:04..they'll have to work to keep a roof over their heads...
0:01:04 > 0:01:06It's absolutely shattering.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11..and put food on the table.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14I'm starving. It's making me a bit emotional, to be honest.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18And they'll learn first-hand what life was like...
0:01:18 > 0:01:19You will call me ma'am.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22..for those at the bottom of the economic pile.
0:01:22 > 0:01:24If they were disabled, they couldn't do it.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26They didn't eat. They didn't eat, they died.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30They'll live through five decades of turbulent history...
0:01:30 > 0:01:31Look at the newspaper!
0:01:32 > 0:01:34..and seismic social change.
0:01:35 > 0:01:39I am proud to be an East End suffragette.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41Power to the people.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44This is the story of how a quarter of a million slum dwellers
0:01:44 > 0:01:48in the East End changed our attitude to poverty forever.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52This is The Slum.
0:01:59 > 0:02:01Last time...
0:02:01 > 0:02:02the 1870s.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04I've always wanted one of these machines.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07The residents moved into mass production.
0:02:07 > 0:02:0922 pairs of trousers.
0:02:09 > 0:02:10- SHE GASPS - Oh, my God.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12I think we'll be working late tonight.
0:02:12 > 0:02:13Oh, my God.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17- Bread, that's now 97p. - Oh!
0:02:17 > 0:02:18But an economic nosedive...
0:02:18 > 0:02:2130% reduction in prices is a big bombshell.
0:02:21 > 0:02:23..meant harder work...
0:02:23 > 0:02:27He treats us like employees, not family, when we're working.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30- Just about past. - What do you mean just about?
0:02:30 > 0:02:32..just to scrape by.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34You know, being the only breadwinner,
0:02:34 > 0:02:37I've got to work twice as hard to earn money,
0:02:37 > 0:02:39and then still I've nothing.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41And I'm running out of options.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43Oh, wow!
0:02:43 > 0:02:44There were hopeful new arrivals...
0:02:44 > 0:02:45The Irish are moving up.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47Ssh! (We are packing.)
0:02:47 > 0:02:49..and a desperate departure.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51I don't know how these people did it, I mean...
0:02:51 > 0:02:52If I was a Victorian woman,
0:02:52 > 0:02:56I would rather take my chances elsewhere and start afresh.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58Wow. She's just gone. Unbelievable.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07It's nearly touching at the back now.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09There was a big gap before at the waist.
0:03:09 > 0:03:11Slum diet's working, then.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15It's the residents' third week in the slum
0:03:15 > 0:03:18and the start of a new decade, the 1880s.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23I don't know what's going to happen in the next decade.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26As a family, we just take it day by day,
0:03:26 > 0:03:28but there's always that worry.
0:03:30 > 0:03:32For slum dwellers like the Potters,
0:03:32 > 0:03:36it's an ongoing battle to make ends meet.
0:03:36 > 0:03:37Seems to be no end to the cycle.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41You know, you get up, you go out, you look for work, there is no work.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43It's absolutely soul destroying.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45- Morning!- Good morning.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49We've got some lovely bacon here. 75p, or the normal bread and marge.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53I think it's going to be normal bread and marge, yeah?
0:03:53 > 0:03:55- Yeah, two slices of bread. - With marge?
0:03:55 > 0:03:57'We worked so hard in the 1870s just to get by.'
0:03:57 > 0:04:00My greatest fear for the 1880s is that it gets worse.
0:04:02 > 0:04:07In the 1870s, Britain was gripped by a dire economic depression.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10By the 1880s, things were reaching crisis point.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14There was an influx of cheap labour into the East End,
0:04:14 > 0:04:19which led to greater competition for jobs and drove down wages.
0:04:19 > 0:04:24Pressure was mounting on those who were already living on the edge.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28Russell, the big bit or the smaller bit?
0:04:28 > 0:04:29The smaller bit.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33I'd do whatever I can to pay my rent,
0:04:33 > 0:04:36doesn't matter how hard we work, I don't care how little we sleep,
0:04:36 > 0:04:38and I actually don't care how hungry we go,
0:04:38 > 0:04:40the main thing is we put as much money as we can away.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42Because as soon as you start getting behind here,
0:04:42 > 0:04:44you're never going to get back.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48In the 1870s, the Howarth family got by
0:04:48 > 0:04:52working from home as sweated tailors, finishing factory orders.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57In the 1880s, even with the economy in dire straits,
0:04:57 > 0:04:59London's population was still expanding
0:04:59 > 0:05:02by more than 40,000 a year.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06- Oh!- Oh, my God. - Oh, my God, there's a Singer.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09- So, this is a workshop, yeah? - Yeah, definitely a workshop.
0:05:09 > 0:05:11- High-five.- Oh, my God.
0:05:11 > 0:05:12This is special.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15As the depression worsened, factories cut costs,
0:05:15 > 0:05:18creating an opportunity for East End tailors
0:05:18 > 0:05:21to set up entire workshops, fulfilling factory orders
0:05:21 > 0:05:25by exploiting the cheap and unregulated workforce
0:05:25 > 0:05:27in the East End slums.
0:05:27 > 0:05:29Compared to working at home,
0:05:29 > 0:05:31this, to me, just feels like a palace.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34Last time, the Howarths were sweated workers.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37Now they will be the sweaters.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40But their new business means their weekly rent
0:05:40 > 0:05:44has almost doubled - to £30 in today's money.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47So the pressure is on to make the workshop pay.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51We need to work really hard and get ourselves out of this,
0:05:51 > 0:05:53but we're going to be employing people and not paying them fairly,
0:05:53 > 0:05:56so we are not going to be paying them for a fair day's work, are we?
0:05:56 > 0:05:58No. Running a sweaters workshop's going to be tough, I think.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02If we don't deliver any work, then no money's going to come in,
0:06:02 > 0:06:05and then we're paying them and we don't actually make any money,
0:06:05 > 0:06:06we actually lose money.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09We could be in the doss house if we don't get the work done.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14The success of a sweated workshop
0:06:14 > 0:06:17relied on a willingness to work others to the bone.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21And in an already saturated labour market,
0:06:21 > 0:06:24there was no shortage of people desperate for work.
0:06:25 > 0:06:29The 1880s saw a huge influx of Jewish immigrants
0:06:29 > 0:06:31fleeing from poverty and persecution
0:06:31 > 0:06:33in places like Russia and Eastern Europe.
0:06:33 > 0:06:35They came here to the East End,
0:06:35 > 0:06:37despite the fact that a lot of them had relatives
0:06:37 > 0:06:39writing letters saying, "Don't come,
0:06:39 > 0:06:42"conditions here are truly dreadful."
0:06:42 > 0:06:46But what they were fleeing was even worse.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49In 1881, in Russia, Jews were blamed
0:06:49 > 0:06:51for the assassination of Tsar Alexander.
0:06:51 > 0:06:55Government-sponsored massacres, known as pogroms, followed.
0:06:55 > 0:06:56Thousands were killed.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00The pogroms spawned attacks and oppression
0:07:00 > 0:07:04that lasted decades and forced many to flee their homeland
0:07:04 > 0:07:07and seek refuge in cities like London.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10The number of Jewish immigrants almost doubled.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13Around 30,000 arrived, and this made them the second largest
0:07:13 > 0:07:16immigrant population after the Irish.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23Tomas is a 21st-century Polish economic migrant.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25Not what I necessarily expected.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27It's so grey.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32Lee and Yasha are both descendants of European Jews
0:07:32 > 0:07:34who sought refuge in London.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40They seem smiley, don't they?
0:07:40 > 0:07:42- Yeah.- God, give it an hour.
0:07:44 > 0:07:4875-year-old Yasha's father fled Russia in the early 20th century.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54I'm just very grateful to have this amazing opportunity
0:07:54 > 0:07:56to experience the circumstances of London
0:07:56 > 0:07:58when the Jews arrived in the East End of London.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01They come to a new nation looking for something new -
0:08:01 > 0:08:03for a new home, new opportunities.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10Lee's grandfather was an Austrian child refugee
0:08:10 > 0:08:13brought to England at the start of the Second World War.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16They came here just so that they could live.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19Just so that they could be somewhere
0:08:19 > 0:08:22and it not be an offence to be Jewish.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25I reckon they've just come in, Russ, and they're going to be looking for work.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29I reckon these are the people we're going to have to look to employ.
0:08:29 > 0:08:30Oh, my God, this is so weird.
0:08:32 > 0:08:36In the 1880s, refugees arriving at London's docks
0:08:36 > 0:08:39were often greeted off the boat by sweating sharks
0:08:39 > 0:08:42who promised them work and brought them to the sweaters' dens
0:08:42 > 0:08:45of the East End.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47- This is the workshop.- OK.
0:08:48 > 0:08:50Russell is obviously in charge of the work,
0:08:50 > 0:08:52but I'm actually in charge of the workshop itself.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55So I'll be walking around making sure everybody is as productive
0:08:55 > 0:08:56as they possibly can be.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00Sweaters' dens maximised the productivity of their workers
0:09:00 > 0:09:02by operating a strict set of rules.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06There is no slacking on the job, which includes stopping to eat, OK?
0:09:06 > 0:09:09There is no excessive talking.
0:09:09 > 0:09:10All right?
0:09:10 > 0:09:14The most serious one is any stealing or damaging any of the garments,
0:09:14 > 0:09:17because we have to replace them, which comes out of our profit,
0:09:17 > 0:09:18which is going to feed my children.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21If any of the rules are broken, then you will be fined,
0:09:21 > 0:09:22and that will be taken out of any wages
0:09:22 > 0:09:26that you could potentially earn.
0:09:26 > 0:09:27Like their forebears,
0:09:27 > 0:09:30the workers have arrived with no money for food and shelter.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33They won't be paid until the first order is complete.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37New orders could come at any time.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41New order, six men's pairs of trousers and six waistcoats.
0:09:41 > 0:09:46Turning them around quickly was the only way to make a sweatshop pay.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49You've got to do this by tomorrow. We need to work quickly.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52But new employees were unfamiliar with the process.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54Had a slight accident.
0:09:55 > 0:09:57You see the iron here?
0:09:57 > 0:10:00Really, very, very hot. Wrap it.
0:10:00 > 0:10:01Got it? Pick it up.
0:10:01 > 0:10:03Known as greeners...
0:10:03 > 0:10:04Little bit of water.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06..they were given the lowliest tasks,
0:10:06 > 0:10:09such as underpressing and basic machining.
0:10:09 > 0:10:10Just sew on the white chalk mark.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14Mandy and Russell will need to get their greeners up to speed fast
0:10:14 > 0:10:17if they're going to get their first order done today.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20Oh, no, I think my bobbin's gone.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23Never crank it towards you, because if you do,
0:10:23 > 0:10:26it will break the cotton, which is really annoying.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28If anybody is struggling, could you let me know, please?
0:10:28 > 0:10:31Cos I can call Russell over rather than you just wait and wait and wait
0:10:31 > 0:10:32because time is money.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36- Oh, God.- You have to understand, they've got to work quickly.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39The idea is that they need to make us money.
0:10:39 > 0:10:44So they're lovely, lovely, but ultimately they're not my friends.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46My mum, I've never seen her like that before.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49She, she is embracing the sweatshop thing.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53The fact there was no laws whatsoever just blows my mind.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56To keep up the pace in the 1880s,
0:10:56 > 0:10:59sweated workers put in more than 18 hours a day,
0:10:59 > 0:11:00six days a week.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03Put one on, while that one's heating up you're using one,
0:11:03 > 0:11:04and then you can go out and swap over.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07They were paid amongst the lowest wages in the slums,
0:11:07 > 0:11:10the equivalent of just 34p an hour.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14They'd need four times that to pay for a bed in the doss house.
0:11:14 > 0:11:16This is where they sort of took advantage of the immigrants.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19They probably couldn't even speak English, or read, or write,
0:11:19 > 0:11:20or anything like that.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23These conditions are still round the world, in Bangladesh,
0:11:23 > 0:11:27in China, people get treated and taken advantage of.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29It was a dog eat dog world.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32They probably had the attitude I had to go through it, I had to do it,
0:11:32 > 0:11:35I had to survive it, and if you're strong enough you will survive it,
0:11:35 > 0:11:37but that's not my problem. I'm in it to get out of this,
0:11:37 > 0:11:40so I will earn as much money out of you as I possibly can.
0:11:44 > 0:11:45Without a trade to rely on,
0:11:45 > 0:11:48the Potters have struggled through the decades.
0:11:48 > 0:11:53But families like theirs could make a living from the streets.
0:11:53 > 0:11:55Oh!
0:11:55 > 0:11:57Known as costermongers, or street peddlers,
0:11:57 > 0:11:59they bought cheap food to sell on.
0:12:02 > 0:12:03You have to cut down there.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05A staple of the East End diet,
0:12:05 > 0:12:08eels were an affordable source of protein,
0:12:08 > 0:12:10known as the meat of the poor.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14People usually prepared street food in their own homes,
0:12:14 > 0:12:17but the Potters are borrowing the shop's kitchen.
0:12:17 > 0:12:19I think we've not done a bad job.
0:12:21 > 0:12:23Bought for five a penny,
0:12:23 > 0:12:27sheep's trotters could also be sold on the street for a small profit.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30We'll see if we can get enough so that we can make the rent,
0:12:30 > 0:12:32and be able to feed us.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40The Potters are heading to Spitalfields
0:12:40 > 0:12:45in the heart of the East End to try and make their £13 rent.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47Come and get your jellied eels.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49Jellied eels, 17p.
0:12:49 > 0:12:50No. You're all right.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52Come and get your jellied eels.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57Spitalfields would have thronged with people plying their trade
0:12:57 > 0:13:02outside pubs like the Ten Bells, here since 1851,
0:13:02 > 0:13:06where people paid pennies for snacks to soak up their gin and beer.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10In the 1880s, the lack of other work
0:13:10 > 0:13:13meant the number of costermongers soared by almost 40%
0:13:13 > 0:13:15to more than 12,000.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18Come and get your Potters' trotters.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22It's a little bit like kebabs.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26It's quite fatty, isn't it?
0:13:26 > 0:13:31Back then, around 80,000 sheep's trotters were consumed each week.
0:13:31 > 0:13:32Hello.
0:13:32 > 0:13:37Now, though, the Potters will need to sell 72 trotters or eels
0:13:37 > 0:13:39just to make their rent.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42Would you be interested in any sheep's trotters?
0:13:42 > 0:13:46- Sorry, what is it?- Sheep's trotter. - It's a sheep's trotter.
0:13:47 > 0:13:48No, I'm all right.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51What is the difference between a tube and a foolish Dutchman?
0:13:51 > 0:13:55One is a hollow cylinder and the other is a silly Hollander.
0:13:57 > 0:14:02As well as street selling, children found other ways to make money.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05Would you like to hear a joke for 8p?
0:14:05 > 0:14:08They performed acrobatics, sang ditties,
0:14:08 > 0:14:11or told the jokes of the day to passers-by,
0:14:11 > 0:14:14all to try and earn a few pennies.
0:14:14 > 0:14:18- Ready.- If all the seas were dried up what would Neptune say?
0:14:18 > 0:14:20I don't know. I don't know.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22I really haven't got a notion.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24Oh!
0:14:24 > 0:14:27When is a pretty girl like a ship?
0:14:27 > 0:14:28- I don't know.- Go on.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30When she is attached to a buoy.
0:14:30 > 0:14:31Oh!
0:14:31 > 0:14:34- Amazing.- It's all right.
0:14:34 > 0:14:36It's quite embarrassing,
0:14:36 > 0:14:39but every penny counts when you're in Victorian times,
0:14:39 > 0:14:43because it could be the 1p that gets you your meal.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45Potters' trotters!
0:14:48 > 0:14:49What are you eating there?
0:14:49 > 0:14:52- Fish and chips.- That with fish and chips would be absolutely superb.
0:14:52 > 0:14:5417p, just try it.
0:14:54 > 0:14:56Graham injured his back while working,
0:14:56 > 0:14:59shortly after his arrival at the slum.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02Now he finally has a chance to earn.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05Do you eat fish? That's all it is.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08My parents were brought up on those.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10It is nice. Yes, yes, it is, yes.
0:15:10 > 0:15:1117p.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14- Thank you. - Thank you very much indeed.
0:15:14 > 0:15:16- Goodbye.- I think my dad's a natural salesman.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18It's what he's done all his life.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20Heather cooked them freshly this morning.
0:15:20 > 0:15:21He's enjoying it.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23I think it's probably done him the world of good to get out.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25- So, one for takeaway? - Yes. Thank you.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28With more people arriving all the time,
0:15:28 > 0:15:30the East End slums of the 1880s were filling up
0:15:30 > 0:15:34with unskilled men desperate to support their families.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38Employment rates were running at around 10% for casual labourers.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41But the real problem was underemployment.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43If you were unskilled,
0:15:43 > 0:15:47then you would be lucky to get two weeks of poorly paid work a month.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50And that affected the lives of everyone in the slum.
0:15:54 > 0:15:56Slum residents John and Andy
0:15:56 > 0:16:00are meeting social historian Carl Chinn at the West India docks,
0:16:00 > 0:16:02a few miles from the East End,
0:16:02 > 0:16:05to find out about job opportunities in the 1880s.
0:16:08 > 0:16:10The dock would have been the first port of call
0:16:10 > 0:16:12for many casual labourers,
0:16:12 > 0:16:16but by the 1880s, everything was a fight.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18This is why we're here today, lads.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20This grand, imposing pillar.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22Its twin is across the street.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25This was the entrance to the West India docks.
0:16:25 > 0:16:30Between the pillars there would have been great, big, heavy gates.
0:16:30 > 0:16:36In the 1880s, at gates like these, along the Thames in London,
0:16:36 > 0:16:39thousands upon thousands of desperate men would gather
0:16:39 > 0:16:42every morning looking for casual work.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44In the East End of London alone,
0:16:44 > 0:16:49over 10,000 men were trying to get dock work,
0:16:49 > 0:16:52which was sufficient for only 6,000.
0:16:52 > 0:16:57For centuries the spoils of Empire - tea, sugar, tobacco, spice -
0:16:57 > 0:17:00had passed through London's docks.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03In the 1860s, when the docks were thriving,
0:17:03 > 0:17:07it had offered casual labourers hard work but decent pay.
0:17:07 > 0:17:09By the 1880s, the economic depression
0:17:09 > 0:17:12and competition from new docks down the stream
0:17:12 > 0:17:15left the East End in crisis.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19Too poor to travel elsewhere, men still came, desperate for work,
0:17:19 > 0:17:21often waiting hours for the chance of a job.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26When those gates open, there is a mad rush for the men to get through
0:17:26 > 0:17:29and be the first to get called for work.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33Ben Tillett later founded the Dock Workers' Union.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37He wrote in his memoirs about a place called the cage.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40As the men were driven through the gates,
0:17:40 > 0:17:44they were herded, almost, into a shed, as if they were cattle.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47And that shed had iron bars all around it.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51And around the iron bars, the foremen looking out
0:17:51 > 0:17:55deciding who they were going to choose to work that day.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59The younger men were flinging themselves across those in front.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03Men who were so enfeebled by hunger and weakness
0:18:03 > 0:18:08fell below onto the ground, and they were trampled to death underfoot.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11Those were the conditions that the casuals had to put up with.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16It's horrific. It beggars belief that people, like you say,
0:18:16 > 0:18:18were treated like cattle, like commodities,
0:18:18 > 0:18:20like pieces of flesh just to move items.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24To come here, you know, in the hope to be able to support their families
0:18:24 > 0:18:27and to come in and find yourself in the cage. It's...
0:18:27 > 0:18:30I can't imagine that desperation for work.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33It's unbelievable.
0:18:33 > 0:18:34I can't even...
0:18:37 > 0:18:40And the job that you casuals would have had
0:18:40 > 0:18:43would have been at the bottom of the pile, to unload the bails,
0:18:43 > 0:18:47the barrels, the crates, and, of course, the bags of sugar.
0:18:48 > 0:18:52This is what you've punched, pushed, shoved, fought for.
0:18:52 > 0:18:54And you know how much you are going to get for it?
0:18:54 > 0:18:56- It'll be a pittance, isn't it? - Yeah.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58- 5p an hour. - 5p an hour?
0:18:58 > 0:19:01- 5p an hour.- That's crazy.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03Andy, do you think you would have got work?
0:19:03 > 0:19:05To be honest, I can't see me even getting through the gate.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08Why would a foreman pick someone with quite an obvious disability?
0:19:08 > 0:19:12I'm older than John. I'm bottom of the pile, aren't I?
0:19:12 > 0:19:13You're on your way out, then.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17John? Young, fitter, probably would have been picked.
0:19:17 > 0:19:19Get cracking with your work, mate.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21Andy's got nothing from the dock,
0:19:21 > 0:19:24but for John, things aren't much better.
0:19:24 > 0:19:25In the 1860s,
0:19:25 > 0:19:30a docker's daily wage was equivalent to £22 in today's money.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33But by the 1880s, fierce competition for fewer jobs
0:19:33 > 0:19:35had forced wages down,
0:19:35 > 0:19:38and they'd have been lucky to get two hours work,
0:19:38 > 0:19:40earning them just £4.40.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42It's horrific.
0:19:42 > 0:19:44And you are just bringing it backwards and forwards
0:19:44 > 0:19:46all day long.
0:19:46 > 0:19:50Moving goods around the quays and warehouses was dangerous, too.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53The sacks would rub the skin off their backs,
0:19:53 > 0:19:56and half of all workers sustained serious injuries.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03There are even accounts of men dying from exhaustion on their doorsteps
0:20:03 > 0:20:06clutching their day's pay.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09It makes you, kind of, angry that somebody in those days
0:20:09 > 0:20:11was willing to go out and fight for this work,
0:20:11 > 0:20:15but nothing could secure it from one day to the next.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18It's ruthless. There's no security
0:20:18 > 0:20:21and there's always somebody ready to take your place
0:20:21 > 0:20:22as soon as you can't do it.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32In the East End sweatshops, working conditions were just as bad.
0:20:32 > 0:20:36Sweated workers were fined for mistakes, for talking,
0:20:36 > 0:20:40and charged over the odds for bread and tea.
0:20:40 > 0:20:41Don't be too stingy with the sugar.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46With a list of rules to enforce,
0:20:46 > 0:20:5012-year-old James is getting a taste for being boss.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57You can't stop work to drink your tea.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00Or you get fined £1.02.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02You need to work...
0:21:02 > 0:21:03while you're drinking your tea.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06How are you supposed to be drinking while working?
0:21:09 > 0:21:11It's for you to sort out. It's not my problem,
0:21:11 > 0:21:13because I'm not drinking and working at the same time.
0:21:13 > 0:21:14It's your problem.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19I'm quite enjoying bossing people around.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23I feel like I'm quite a big person in the scheme of...
0:21:23 > 0:21:27Like, Dad's at the top and I'm beneath him.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29And all of the workers are at the bottom.
0:21:29 > 0:21:31I stitched the wrong side first.
0:21:32 > 0:21:34- That is a... - That's a definite fine.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36That's £2.72.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41Fines meant bosses could get away with paying workers
0:21:41 > 0:21:44even less than their already meagre wage.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48There is an account of one young Jewish greener
0:21:48 > 0:21:52who worked 22 hours in every 24.
0:21:52 > 0:21:54Finally, despair led him
0:21:54 > 0:21:58to hang himself in the room he shared with his wife.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02The circumstances under which they were working were very uncomfortable
0:22:02 > 0:22:03and not very happy at all.
0:22:03 > 0:22:07There is no fairness in the mistreatment of people like that.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10These immigrants must have arrived here
0:22:10 > 0:22:12with lots of hope in their hearts.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14And they would have felt that once they found themselves in the slums,
0:22:14 > 0:22:18being taken advantage of, and being mistreated, you know,
0:22:18 > 0:22:21they must have become absolutely desperate.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25As the end of the day approaches, the order's still not finished,
0:22:25 > 0:22:28which means no pay for the Howarths or their workers.
0:22:28 > 0:22:29- Gentlemen?- How's it going?
0:22:29 > 0:22:32- Not so well.- Oh, no. - Not so well?
0:22:32 > 0:22:34We've come to you looking for help.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38What's happening, basically, is that we are really working hard,
0:22:38 > 0:22:40but unfortunately the work has not been completed,
0:22:40 > 0:22:42and our boss, Russell, is not getting paid,
0:22:42 > 0:22:45- so he's not paying us.- Oh.
0:22:45 > 0:22:46We are absolutely starving.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49If you're really desperate, you would ask for credit,
0:22:49 > 0:22:52and then we would call that putting it on tick.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55But, at the moment, I can't really extend any credit.
0:22:55 > 0:22:57We can only extend the credit
0:22:57 > 0:22:59if we know that you have a means of paying it back.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02- What have you got?- There is a beautiful-looking bowler hat.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05It's got its bow tie. Everything is still there.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07- Has it got a maker's name on it? - And warm.
0:23:07 > 0:23:09Are you looking to pawn until tomorrow?
0:23:09 > 0:23:13We should... Yes, hoping we will be paid tomorrow.
0:23:13 > 0:23:18- OK.- I'll give you £2.50 on it, right? The repay on that is 20%.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21So you will owe us £3.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24It's extortionate. But we haven't got another option.
0:23:24 > 0:23:29Immigrant workers arriving in the slums faced stark choices.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31Even after pawning their most treasured possessions,
0:23:31 > 0:23:35they still had to choose whether to spend a few pennies on eating
0:23:35 > 0:23:37or finding a place to sleep.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40When it comes to putting things on tick for them,
0:23:40 > 0:23:43they are transient. It's got to be cash upfront, I think,
0:23:43 > 0:23:44for anything they buy.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47If we just go now and, say, just out of kindness start giving stuff away,
0:23:47 > 0:23:49we're not going to be around for very long.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52- No, we're not. - And that lets everybody down.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00For the Potters it's been a profitable day.
0:24:00 > 0:24:05- £9.92. - Brilliant.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08They're well on the way to making this week's rent.
0:24:09 > 0:24:14Really, really pleased to be able to go out with an empty pot
0:24:14 > 0:24:18and come home with some money.
0:24:18 > 0:24:19So we've got to be really careful
0:24:19 > 0:24:23and budget whatever money we've got carefully.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26The majority of that will go on food.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29It's been a really good day today.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32With your own enterprise, you are in more control.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35I'm really proud of our family.
0:24:39 > 0:24:44Yasha, Tomas and Lee have prioritised accommodation over food.
0:24:44 > 0:24:46OK, guys, you've got to come later.
0:24:46 > 0:24:48Sign your name there for me. Just write it and sign.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52Using the money from Yasha's pawned hat to pay for a night's shelter,
0:24:52 > 0:24:55their arrival brings doss house keeper Andy
0:24:55 > 0:24:57some badly needed income.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01That's fabulous news for me. Making money from our lovely immigrants.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05You two are going to settle down comfortably on the chair.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10Back in the day it had to be a horrible experience,
0:25:10 > 0:25:14having to trade-in your own clothes in order to pay for your bed.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16I hope this is wide enough.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20My grandfather, he was a refugee.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22This is a lot like his experience,
0:25:22 > 0:25:26because he would have come to England and...
0:25:26 > 0:25:29not really speak the language, not knowing what was going on.
0:25:29 > 0:25:35To imagine that people had to live in this environment everyday
0:25:35 > 0:25:37is absolutely terrifying.
0:25:37 > 0:25:39The very nature of it is so precarious.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43Everything's reduced to survival, isn't it?
0:25:47 > 0:25:49Well, what we know about tomorrow
0:25:49 > 0:25:51is that we are going to get paid for the work we did today.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54- Yeah.- At least we can use the money to eat properly.
0:26:01 > 0:26:03Oh!
0:26:04 > 0:26:06Oh!
0:26:07 > 0:26:10John's Sister Maria is up early.
0:26:10 > 0:26:14I'm checking if you've got any laundry you want to do.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16With John only getting a couple of hours' work,
0:26:16 > 0:26:21she's trying to earn the rest of the money they need for food and rent...
0:26:21 > 0:26:24Just, it's 30p, because it's only undergarments.
0:26:24 > 0:26:26..by offering to do her neighbour's washing.
0:26:26 > 0:26:27- Thank you very much.- Thanks.
0:26:30 > 0:26:3230p and you'll get that out, yeah? You'll get that nice and clean?
0:26:32 > 0:26:36- Yeah.- You do a nice, good job on that and I might have more for you.
0:26:36 > 0:26:37- Oh, good.- All right?
0:26:37 > 0:26:39- See you later. - See you later, all right.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42These casual arrangements were common in the slums
0:26:42 > 0:26:45where you could scrape a living washing the clothes of workers
0:26:45 > 0:26:48doing long hours in the sweat shops.
0:26:50 > 0:26:52- All right.- Take care.- Thank you.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54And we've got a pound for everything, yeah?
0:26:54 > 0:26:56- OK.- Put it there. - Saves us a huge amount of time.
0:26:56 > 0:26:58Put it there, sister.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07I think this is the worst part, because you're over the fire,
0:27:07 > 0:27:11it blows so much smoke in your face that your eyes are watering.
0:27:12 > 0:27:13I hate doing this.
0:27:17 > 0:27:19After an uncomfortable night in the doss house...
0:27:19 > 0:27:22Oh, my God, I hate this bench.
0:27:23 > 0:27:28..Yasha, Tomas and Lee go straight back to work at the sweaters' den.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33With rent day fast approaching,
0:27:33 > 0:27:36sweatshop owner Russell needs them to complete
0:27:36 > 0:27:39their delayed first order.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41A lot of pressure. A massive job, getting it done.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44Speed and accuracy is vital.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50Trying to train new people how to do stuff.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53Keep it straight. We don't want it going wonky,
0:27:53 > 0:27:55otherwise the trousers will be no good.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59Trying to be the owner of a sweatshop is really tough.
0:28:01 > 0:28:03Russell is a trained tailor,
0:28:03 > 0:28:05but it's Mandy that has a generation's old connection
0:28:05 > 0:28:06with tailoring.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10She and daughter Rebecca are meeting historian Dr Anne Kershen
0:28:10 > 0:28:13to find out more about their family history.
0:28:13 > 0:28:17Here's the census that shows your great-grandfather
0:28:17 > 0:28:21- on your paternal side. - So it's my dad's.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24So he was born in Odessa.
0:28:24 > 0:28:26Russia. So he's Russian.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29For his occupation it's got down here tailor.
0:28:29 > 0:28:31He had...
0:28:32 > 0:28:37He had one, two, three, four, five, six children.
0:28:39 > 0:28:40Six children?
0:28:40 > 0:28:44Five were born in Kaminitz in Russia.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47One was born in London.
0:28:49 > 0:28:53There was a severe pogrom in Kishinev,
0:28:53 > 0:28:56where 50 people were killed.
0:28:56 > 0:28:58Kaminitz was not that far away.
0:28:59 > 0:29:01Many fled these massacres
0:29:01 > 0:29:04with no more than a bundle of precious possessions,
0:29:04 > 0:29:06spending everything they had
0:29:06 > 0:29:10to get as many family members out as they could.
0:29:10 > 0:29:12Those with money went to America.
0:29:12 > 0:29:14London was the cheaper destination.
0:29:14 > 0:29:18They sailed in steerage, enduring three days below decks
0:29:18 > 0:29:20in cramped conditions.
0:29:23 > 0:29:28Your paternal great-grandfather had the foresight, fortune whatever,
0:29:28 > 0:29:31to bring his entire family.
0:29:31 > 0:29:33- To get them out of there.- Get them out of there
0:29:33 > 0:29:35and settle in the East End.
0:29:35 > 0:29:39Probably made quite an arduous journey so to do.
0:29:39 > 0:29:42Men often came first, hoping to secure employment
0:29:42 > 0:29:44so their family could follow.
0:29:44 > 0:29:46Most didn't speak English.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49Many couldn't read or write.
0:29:49 > 0:29:52What we have here is your grandfather's birth certificate.
0:29:52 > 0:29:54David Lenov.
0:29:54 > 0:29:57And there's something significant on the birth certificate,
0:29:57 > 0:29:59and I don't know whether you can notice it,
0:29:59 > 0:30:00if you look at it carefully.
0:30:00 > 0:30:02His father couldn't write.
0:30:02 > 0:30:04No, because he's got "the mark of".
0:30:04 > 0:30:06He's got the cross.
0:30:06 > 0:30:09He may well have been able to read Hebrew sufficiently
0:30:09 > 0:30:11to be Bar Mitzvah,
0:30:11 > 0:30:13but he obviously couldn't read English,
0:30:13 > 0:30:17and probably couldn't read, write Hebrew or Yiddish.
0:30:17 > 0:30:19Looking at the family tree...
0:30:20 > 0:30:25..what's significant is the fact that all of your ancestors
0:30:25 > 0:30:28were engaged in economic activities
0:30:28 > 0:30:30that were part of the sweating system.
0:30:30 > 0:30:35Seamstress, tailor, tailor's presser, buttonhole hand,
0:30:35 > 0:30:38were sweated trades.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42Are you crying? Oh!
0:30:45 > 0:30:48I know, it's quite emotional, isn't it?
0:30:48 > 0:30:50Sorry, it's very emotional.
0:30:54 > 0:30:57Mandy's ancestors would have done the jobs
0:30:57 > 0:31:02and worked in conditions similar to those in her own workshop.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05Knowing it's your own family that was treated like that,
0:31:05 > 0:31:07you know, it's really upsetting.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10They were prisoners within their workplace.
0:31:10 > 0:31:12They couldn't answer back. They couldn't do anything,
0:31:12 > 0:31:14because they'd lose their job.
0:31:14 > 0:31:15It doesn't sit right with me,
0:31:15 > 0:31:18that I'm that person that's being, you know,
0:31:18 > 0:31:21really strict with what was my great-great-grandfather.
0:31:22 > 0:31:26It's-it's wrong, every way you look at it, it's just wrong.
0:31:26 > 0:31:28It's not comfortable.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32Gentlemen, wages.
0:31:33 > 0:31:35With their first order finished at last,
0:31:35 > 0:31:39the Howarths are finally in a position to pay their workers.
0:31:41 > 0:31:45Lee, you've earned £3.60. Yasha, you've earned £3.60.
0:31:45 > 0:31:47- It's a hard couple of days' work. - Thank you very much.
0:31:47 > 0:31:49- Thank you, gentlemen.- Yeah! - Not easy doing this.
0:31:49 > 0:31:51Thank you for working so hard.
0:31:51 > 0:31:52Thank you.
0:31:52 > 0:31:54I've already pawned my hat, as you know,
0:31:54 > 0:31:56I'm going to get my hat back now.
0:31:58 > 0:31:59After paying out wages,
0:31:59 > 0:32:03the Howarths are still short of the £30 weekly rent.
0:32:03 > 0:32:06They'll need their workforce to complete another order
0:32:06 > 0:32:07to stay afloat.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12But James's time as a sweatshop boss is over.
0:32:12 > 0:32:15- Give me the book.- No, I can't. - Give me the book.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17Thank you. And pencil.
0:32:20 > 0:32:21OK.
0:32:22 > 0:32:26I hate how the sweaters' den was run and everything it stood for.
0:32:26 > 0:32:28And to know that someone that's related to me
0:32:28 > 0:32:31and has helped me be in the place that I am today,
0:32:31 > 0:32:34might have been treated like immigrant workers,
0:32:34 > 0:32:38it makes me feel a bit sick, to be honest.
0:32:45 > 0:32:49After a successful day of sales yesterday,
0:32:49 > 0:32:54the Potters get ready to head out with another batch of street food.
0:32:54 > 0:32:55Oops.
0:32:55 > 0:32:58Aye up, what's all these chains on the cart?
0:32:58 > 0:33:00What the hell?
0:33:00 > 0:33:02We can't take them out, can we?
0:33:02 > 0:33:05"Street traders, costermongers and stallkeepers
0:33:05 > 0:33:08"have been found to be obstructing the public highway...
0:33:08 > 0:33:10"has been impounded."
0:33:10 > 0:33:12They're stopping us working and earning money, aren't they?
0:33:12 > 0:33:14Yeah, it's disgraceful.
0:33:14 > 0:33:15They are forcing us into starvation.
0:33:15 > 0:33:17That's right.
0:33:17 > 0:33:19As the 1880s progressed,
0:33:19 > 0:33:22pressure on everyone in the East End was building.
0:33:22 > 0:33:24In Bethnal Green, shopkeepers,
0:33:24 > 0:33:26terrified that the surge in costermongers
0:33:26 > 0:33:30was affecting business, managed to get street selling banned.
0:33:31 > 0:33:35Barrows were impounded, produce confiscated,
0:33:35 > 0:33:39and fines imposed on anyone caught flouting the ban.
0:33:39 > 0:33:43They have no right to take our living away from us,
0:33:43 > 0:33:44and that's what they've done.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48I'm 59, you know, I've had a bad back.
0:33:48 > 0:33:52I'm done, that's me. If I can't sell my stuff on the street,
0:33:52 > 0:33:55I'm completely without any income whatsoever.
0:33:55 > 0:33:57It's beyond comprehension, actually,
0:33:57 > 0:34:02that you can think that somebody can make up, out of nowhere,
0:34:02 > 0:34:06one rule like that, that they can destroy so many lives,
0:34:06 > 0:34:10and the only thing that I can think that they might have done it for
0:34:10 > 0:34:13was to push them down a notch further.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17Just keep pushing them down, keep pushing the poor down.
0:34:19 > 0:34:24By the mid-1880s, there were more people out of work than ever before.
0:34:24 > 0:34:27And the word unemployment enters the Oxford English dictionary
0:34:27 > 0:34:29for the first time.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32The poor relief system was stretched to its absolute limits.
0:34:32 > 0:34:36In the East End there were 17,000 people living in workhouses
0:34:36 > 0:34:38or in hospitals.
0:34:38 > 0:34:41In Shoreditch, death rates were four times the city's average.
0:34:44 > 0:34:48Although most people thought the poor only had themselves to blame,
0:34:48 > 0:34:51there were philanthropists who, driven by a sense of religious duty,
0:34:51 > 0:34:54decided to do what they could to help.
0:34:54 > 0:34:56It was just a drop in the ocean,
0:34:56 > 0:34:57but it generated publicity
0:34:57 > 0:35:01and got people interested in life in the slums.
0:35:01 > 0:35:05But not all of the interest generated was philanthropic.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08- We're here for a tour.- We'd really like to see how you live.
0:35:08 > 0:35:10- You want to have a look around?- Yes. - Yes. If you don't mind.
0:35:10 > 0:35:12OK. Can we do that?
0:35:12 > 0:35:14Right, well, welcome to the slum, come on in.
0:35:14 > 0:35:17In the 1880s it became fashionable
0:35:17 > 0:35:19for middle and upper-class Victorians
0:35:19 > 0:35:22to go on guided tours of the poorer parts of Britain.
0:35:22 > 0:35:25It was called slumming.
0:35:25 > 0:35:27Journalists were also drawn to the slums.
0:35:27 > 0:35:30Some wrote sensational stories.
0:35:30 > 0:35:34What evolved was a new genre of writing called slum fiction,
0:35:34 > 0:35:39which fuelled a fascination with the squalor and depravity of slum life.
0:35:39 > 0:35:43Here was a place where the normal rules of Victorian respectability
0:35:43 > 0:35:44seemed not to apply,
0:35:44 > 0:35:47and the upper classes couldn't get enough of it.
0:35:47 > 0:35:52Poverty had become a form of entertainment.
0:35:52 > 0:35:54It's definitely a bit smelly.
0:35:54 > 0:35:56Obviously watch your shoes.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59This is our courtyard.
0:35:59 > 0:36:01To lead a group of rich people
0:36:01 > 0:36:06just to see how the scum slum dwellers live is...
0:36:06 > 0:36:10I mean, that's very, very distasteful by my modern mind.
0:36:10 > 0:36:12Scraps.
0:36:12 > 0:36:14But I can certainly understand why, in the 1880s,
0:36:14 > 0:36:18someone in my position would do it to earn a few extra pennies.
0:36:18 > 0:36:20This is called a copper.
0:36:20 > 0:36:26This would be used communally to heat water, to cook.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29It's bad enough being here, but being shown off as a sort of like,
0:36:29 > 0:36:32- entertainment...- Zoo animals. - Yeah.
0:36:32 > 0:36:33Well, if they buy something from us,
0:36:33 > 0:36:36we could make a couple of quid out of this to help with the rent.
0:36:36 > 0:36:37Yeah, absolutely.
0:36:37 > 0:36:39Well, anything would help at this point, wouldn't it?
0:36:39 > 0:36:41- Nobody else is going to be buying any.- No.
0:36:41 > 0:36:45OK, so, obviously our privy consists of a wooden hut.
0:36:47 > 0:36:49This particular form of tourism...
0:36:49 > 0:36:51Hmm...
0:36:51 > 0:36:55..came with slum tour operators and even guidebooks.
0:36:55 > 0:36:57Looking up, they're staring up at our place.
0:36:57 > 0:36:59- Are they?- Yeah.
0:36:59 > 0:37:00They're not.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06This is a tour group...
0:37:06 > 0:37:11and they would like to come in and ask you a few questions.
0:37:11 > 0:37:12Is there anything good about it?
0:37:12 > 0:37:17The good about it is that it ends after about 20 hours of the day.
0:37:17 > 0:37:19It's very hard work.
0:37:19 > 0:37:20This is our space.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23When you come it is like we're a show to you,
0:37:23 > 0:37:25- do you know what I mean? - That's how it was.
0:37:25 > 0:37:28So, for us, I feel really demeaned by that.
0:37:28 > 0:37:30I'm going to throw you out, I'm afraid.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33Come on, let them get on with their work.
0:37:34 > 0:37:36So, what was that? Freak show.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39What is the enjoyment about coming to see people struggle?
0:37:39 > 0:37:41Through history you have got all of these gross people.
0:37:41 > 0:37:43The elephant man, who used to be put in a cage.
0:37:43 > 0:37:45Yeah, yeah, that's exactly what it felt like.
0:37:45 > 0:37:47Yeah, the curiosity of people won't change, will it?
0:37:47 > 0:37:49How much can these people take?
0:37:49 > 0:37:52They've got no money, they've got no food,
0:37:52 > 0:37:57they're working their butt off day in day out,
0:37:57 > 0:38:00day in day out, no day off, no time off.
0:38:00 > 0:38:01- And then...- What option?
0:38:01 > 0:38:04And then they had people come in and stare at them
0:38:04 > 0:38:06whilst they're doing it.
0:38:06 > 0:38:11Our local shopkeeper and his wife, called Mr and Mrs Bird.
0:38:11 > 0:38:13- There we are. - Very enlightening, yeah.
0:38:13 > 0:38:15We've got some delicacies here for you.
0:38:15 > 0:38:17- What is that? - You can purchase them if you want,
0:38:17 > 0:38:19those are lamb's feet and jellied eels.
0:38:19 > 0:38:21- Jellied eel. - Try it, see what you think.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24- Give us two.- OK, no problem.
0:38:24 > 0:38:28With street selling banned, it's the shopkeepers who can cash in
0:38:28 > 0:38:30on the appetite for East End fare.
0:38:34 > 0:38:36- Oh, come on. - I can't do it, I can't do it.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42It's a real tenement building, isn't it?
0:38:42 > 0:38:43Yeah, there's no lift.
0:38:45 > 0:38:48How do, guys? Come on in, chaps.
0:38:48 > 0:38:50I'm running a tour today.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53These guys have come to have a look and see how we live.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56This is a typical room that would be used for a family.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59There's five in here at the moment.
0:38:59 > 0:39:01Do you want to tell them a little bit about yesterday?
0:39:01 > 0:39:04No, I wouldn't. First of all, I'd like to know why you're here.
0:39:04 > 0:39:06OK, well, I can explain that one.
0:39:06 > 0:39:08- Apologies there, she didn't need to be rude.- I did.
0:39:08 > 0:39:11OK, what this is called is class tourism.
0:39:11 > 0:39:16Basically, people like to come and see how the bottom of society live.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19And are you being paid for this, Andy?
0:39:19 > 0:39:24It will be a paid position for myself, possibly, yes.
0:39:24 > 0:39:26What do you do? What do you work as?
0:39:26 > 0:39:29We're costermongers, we're street sellers.
0:39:29 > 0:39:32It sounds like you're quite entrepreneurial.
0:39:32 > 0:39:33Well, we're not stupid.
0:39:33 > 0:39:37But people do suggest that the poor are thick and stupid,
0:39:37 > 0:39:41and they like to be poor. And, actually, we're not.
0:39:41 > 0:39:43Maybe we should get a photo here.
0:39:43 > 0:39:45Excuse me, no.
0:39:45 > 0:39:47CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS
0:39:49 > 0:39:52All right, well, it's about time we left the Potters.
0:39:52 > 0:39:54If we can start filing out.
0:39:57 > 0:39:59The minute they walked in the door...
0:39:59 > 0:40:01- Immediate. - ..my heart rate went up.
0:40:01 > 0:40:06The first time was when she took that photo, I wanted to punch her.
0:40:06 > 0:40:07- Thank you so much.- Thank you.
0:40:07 > 0:40:09Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
0:40:09 > 0:40:10Bless you. Thank you.
0:40:10 > 0:40:16The Victorian upper-class paid to mock and jeer the poor.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19It's just another nail in the coffin of saying,
0:40:19 > 0:40:20"You might as well be dead."
0:40:24 > 0:40:28Seriously don't know how they could have possibly have carried on.
0:40:28 > 0:40:30Just finding it too hard to talk.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46I think over the last three decades,
0:40:46 > 0:40:51it's just got intolerably harder and harder.
0:40:55 > 0:40:57You cannot let it happen.
0:40:57 > 0:40:59Somebody has to do something.
0:41:22 > 0:41:27This morning I'm feeling the anger we felt yesterday
0:41:27 > 0:41:30and the fact that human beings
0:41:30 > 0:41:33aren't going to treat us like chattel
0:41:33 > 0:41:36and we are going to start fighting back.
0:41:41 > 0:41:451886 marks a turning point in the story of the East End poor.
0:41:45 > 0:41:50After years of falling wages and terrible working conditions,
0:41:50 > 0:41:53labourers like the costermongers began to get organised.
0:41:57 > 0:42:01West Enders had enjoyed their forays into the East End slums.
0:42:01 > 0:42:05Now it was time for the poor to pay the West End a visit.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10John and the Potters are meeting Dr Louise Raw,
0:42:10 > 0:42:15a leading expert on British labour history to find out what happened.
0:42:15 > 0:42:17Here we are in Trafalgar Square -
0:42:17 > 0:42:20the heart of London, the centre of London,
0:42:20 > 0:42:23and also, at this point in history,
0:42:23 > 0:42:28the centre of a clash between the West End and the East End,
0:42:28 > 0:42:30between the rich and the poor.
0:42:32 > 0:42:35On the 8th of February 1886,
0:42:35 > 0:42:39John Burns, a member of the Socialist Democratic foundation,
0:42:39 > 0:42:41one of the country's first Socialist parties,
0:42:41 > 0:42:43hijacked a demonstration
0:42:43 > 0:42:45to highlight the plight of the unemployed.
0:42:46 > 0:42:51John Burns was literally up behind us on the plinth there.
0:42:51 > 0:42:55And he was addressing a huge crowd of about 13,000.
0:42:55 > 0:42:58Not just men, but women and children, too.
0:42:58 > 0:43:03He asked the crowd, show your hands, how many of you are out of work?
0:43:03 > 0:43:06Almost every hand went up.
0:43:07 > 0:43:11He takes them through the poshest bits of London.
0:43:11 > 0:43:14Through Pall Mall, Saint James' Street,
0:43:14 > 0:43:16where the gentlemen clubs are.
0:43:16 > 0:43:21It's so unusual to see the poor out of their place,
0:43:21 > 0:43:23literally, and geographically,
0:43:23 > 0:43:26when the crowd gets to the Carlton Club,
0:43:26 > 0:43:28the members pour out onto the balconies
0:43:28 > 0:43:32and they hoot at you, they jeer, they boo at the crowd going past.
0:43:32 > 0:43:36But in that situation, you're starving, you can't get work,
0:43:36 > 0:43:39you can't help your family, your children are starving,
0:43:39 > 0:43:41and all the well-to-do can do is laugh at you.
0:43:44 > 0:43:46There's a lot of anger from the crowd.
0:43:46 > 0:43:50They find some broken paving stones and they start chucking things back.
0:43:52 > 0:43:54I have all of this anger inside me
0:43:54 > 0:43:57and the frustration of not doing anything that, so what?
0:43:57 > 0:44:00I don't care what happens to me now.
0:44:00 > 0:44:03I can't get any lower.
0:44:03 > 0:44:05So, yes, I would have thrown stones.
0:44:05 > 0:44:07I think I would have thrown stones, definitely.
0:44:07 > 0:44:10- Yeah.- I probably would have been one of the first.
0:44:10 > 0:44:13The anger that builds up, it's got to go somewhere.
0:44:13 > 0:44:15And if there's broken paving stones there,
0:44:15 > 0:44:18they're going through windows. Absolutely no doubt at all.
0:44:21 > 0:44:24What followed became known as the West End riots.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27Windows were smashed and shops looted
0:44:27 > 0:44:29on Oxford Street and Piccadilly.
0:44:31 > 0:44:34This is the Morning Post the next day.
0:44:34 > 0:44:38Clubs and shops attacked, premises pillaged,
0:44:38 > 0:44:41the monster demonstration of the unemployed in London
0:44:41 > 0:44:44ended in a disgraceful riot
0:44:44 > 0:44:49and the sacking of many shops by these savage animals.
0:44:49 > 0:44:52There's no mention of the provocation
0:44:52 > 0:44:54that actually starts all of this.
0:44:54 > 0:44:57The following summer, large numbers of the unemployed
0:44:57 > 0:44:59camped out in Trafalgar Square.
0:44:59 > 0:45:04This time they were watched over by 2,000 police.
0:45:04 > 0:45:08The upper-class fascination with the sordid lives of the poor had turned
0:45:08 > 0:45:10to a fear of bloody revolution.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13Posh London and the rest of the country is starting to
0:45:13 > 0:45:16really ramp up the fear, the fear of the East End.
0:45:16 > 0:45:18"You're all immoral, you're criminals,
0:45:18 > 0:45:20"you're lazy, you're feckless,
0:45:20 > 0:45:23"you're drunks." Ramp up the fear of the poor.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26But instead of revolution
0:45:26 > 0:45:28the next few years saw a growth in activism,
0:45:28 > 0:45:32as membership of trade unions in Great Britain grew faster
0:45:32 > 0:45:35than at any other point in history.
0:45:35 > 0:45:37- Stop it.- Oh! How do you stop it?
0:45:37 > 0:45:39You put your foot on it again.
0:45:39 > 0:45:45In 1888, the Costermongers' and Stallkeepers' Protection Society was formed.
0:45:45 > 0:45:48They set to work to try and overturn the ban on street selling
0:45:48 > 0:45:51where possible with the help of sympathetic printers
0:45:51 > 0:45:55and local activists to spread the word about their cause.
0:45:55 > 0:45:57That's it, absolutely fine.
0:45:57 > 0:46:01I mean, I can imagine that the people stood there
0:46:01 > 0:46:05using a machine like this, it would have seemed so hi-tech.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09I'm sure it probably gave them a bit of wind in their sails to go forth
0:46:09 > 0:46:13and spread the message that the lower classes, the poor,
0:46:13 > 0:46:15the have-nots will not be trodden on.
0:46:21 > 0:46:23In the East End in 1888,
0:46:23 > 0:46:27700 costermongers took to the streets to petition
0:46:27 > 0:46:30the authorities against the street selling ban.
0:46:30 > 0:46:32People really starved.
0:46:32 > 0:46:35- Here?- Yes, right on this street here.
0:46:35 > 0:46:39- Right.- This is where the costermongers used to sell their wares.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42So, your name and your signature on the other side there.
0:46:42 > 0:46:43This is the first time, really,
0:46:43 > 0:46:46that we've had the opportunity to get the support of the public.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49In the 1880s when it happened, they got 10,000 signatures.
0:46:49 > 0:46:53If you could just sign it for us, that would be absolutely superb.
0:46:53 > 0:46:54Do you want me to hold the dog?
0:46:54 > 0:46:56Costermongering means nothing,
0:46:56 > 0:46:58you have to explain the term to start with.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01But we've got no income coming in whatsoever,
0:47:01 > 0:47:04and once you tell the people that, the general public,
0:47:04 > 0:47:05they're interested in that.
0:47:05 > 0:47:09We are street sellers. We've been told that we are not allowed
0:47:09 > 0:47:11to sell on the streets any more.
0:47:11 > 0:47:13Thank you very much.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16I've got to understand what they were fighting for
0:47:16 > 0:47:20and what they actually did, and I wish to honour them.
0:47:21 > 0:47:23- You can't go out and sell.- Perfect.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26The common people on the street seem to support us.
0:47:26 > 0:47:29It shows it's not just a problem from 1880s. It's, you know,
0:47:29 > 0:47:33a problem that can be related to now, so, power to the people.
0:47:36 > 0:47:38Towards the end of the decade,
0:47:38 > 0:47:40London was hit by a series of strikes.
0:47:40 > 0:47:44In 1888, 500 girls working at the local match factory
0:47:44 > 0:47:48walked out in protest at conditions.
0:47:48 > 0:47:52A year later, 100,000 dockers marched through
0:47:52 > 0:47:56the streets of London demanding a pay rise of 1p an hour.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01After a succession of peaceful strikes, fears of revolution
0:48:01 > 0:48:05subsided and the workers gained widespread support from the public,
0:48:05 > 0:48:08who'd lined the street and cheered them as they passed.
0:48:10 > 0:48:14"The great strike of London tailors and sweaters' victims."
0:48:14 > 0:48:18In 1889, three Jewish tailors unions
0:48:18 > 0:48:22joined forces and launched a five-week strike in the East End.
0:48:22 > 0:48:25No more than two hours overtime to be worked in any one day.
0:48:25 > 0:48:29So, no longer 20 hours working days, maximum of 14.
0:48:29 > 0:48:31They were supported by the dockers
0:48:31 > 0:48:33who gave them £100 towards their cause.
0:48:33 > 0:48:36It would have been terrifying, cos your work is so precarious,
0:48:36 > 0:48:39you don't really have the opportunity to complain.
0:48:39 > 0:48:40When you complain, you get fined.
0:48:40 > 0:48:43And to think that you could lose your job, like, what would you do?
0:48:43 > 0:48:44It must have taken a lot of courage,
0:48:44 > 0:48:47I would have thought, to actually get it going.
0:48:47 > 0:48:50In the 1880s, with few workers' rights,
0:48:50 > 0:48:53striking meant risking what little livelihood you had
0:48:53 > 0:48:55and seeing your family starve.
0:48:58 > 0:49:00- We've got another order. - Another order?
0:49:00 > 0:49:02Another one.
0:49:02 > 0:49:05Guys, we've got 16 pairs of trousers to make by tomorrow.
0:49:05 > 0:49:07So we need to work quickly, please.
0:49:07 > 0:49:10This is the third day we've been working here
0:49:10 > 0:49:15and these circumstances are really...ridiculous.
0:49:15 > 0:49:18It's difficult. It's very harsh, it is.
0:49:18 > 0:49:21This isn't right. If we all decided we are not going to work with you,
0:49:21 > 0:49:24you're going to be in trouble. I think you should consider
0:49:24 > 0:49:25your terms and conditions.
0:49:25 > 0:49:28You're on the edge the whole time in slum life.
0:49:28 > 0:49:31I strike in solidarity with all those men and women
0:49:31 > 0:49:34who did so in 1889.
0:49:35 > 0:49:36I hope you will follow me.
0:49:38 > 0:49:41Bye-bye. Thank you.
0:49:47 > 0:49:50I absolutely understand why they wanted to strike
0:49:50 > 0:49:53because the hours that they're supposed to work and the conditions
0:49:53 > 0:49:55that they're expected to work in
0:49:55 > 0:49:56for the pay they're getting is disgusting.
0:49:56 > 0:50:00So, how they haven't walked out sooner, I have no idea, to be fair.
0:50:00 > 0:50:03Oh, I would have gone on strike in a flash.
0:50:03 > 0:50:05I would have been gone!
0:50:07 > 0:50:10While Yasha, Lee and Tomas strike...
0:50:10 > 0:50:12Right, let's carry on, shall we?
0:50:12 > 0:50:15..the Howarths have no choice but to work into the night.
0:50:27 > 0:50:29For decades, the upper classes had either believed
0:50:29 > 0:50:32those in poverty chose to live in squalor,
0:50:32 > 0:50:35or just ignored the existence of the slums altogether.
0:50:38 > 0:50:41Now the poor were no longer invisible.
0:50:41 > 0:50:42Over the course of a decade,
0:50:42 > 0:50:45they'd gone from entertaining spectacle,
0:50:45 > 0:50:47to a force to be reckoned with.
0:50:47 > 0:50:52And, in 1889, there was good news for some of the slums' inhabitants.
0:50:52 > 0:50:55The first two hours overtime to be paid at ordinary rate.
0:50:55 > 0:50:59And the second hour, two hours to be paid at the rate of time and a half.
0:50:59 > 0:51:01A raise!
0:51:01 > 0:51:03This would have been a great improvement.
0:51:03 > 0:51:07The tailors' strike succeeded in securing a 12-hour working day
0:51:07 > 0:51:10and a proper lunch break for sweated workers.
0:51:10 > 0:51:14I think it makes me so happy to know that people did eventually
0:51:14 > 0:51:16come together and organise strikes.
0:51:18 > 0:51:22I didn't realise what it's like not having workers' rights until I went
0:51:22 > 0:51:25through this experience. There's no rules, there's no regulations,
0:51:25 > 0:51:28and the systems are designed around the abuse of people.
0:51:28 > 0:51:30- Let's go.- Let's go.
0:51:30 > 0:51:35In the 1880s, winning a strike was no guarantee you'd keep your job.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38In some small workshops of the East End, bosses would often
0:51:38 > 0:51:40be unwilling to take striking workers back
0:51:40 > 0:51:42and they would have to move on.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46There's no question that the whole subject matter
0:51:46 > 0:51:49appears to be relevant to today's migrants.
0:51:49 > 0:51:52People seeking a better life than what they had.
0:51:52 > 0:51:55Fleeing persecution and looking for...
0:51:55 > 0:51:57fairness on the other end.
0:51:57 > 0:52:01And, of course, I'm sure there are elements of exploitation
0:52:01 > 0:52:05that took place in the 1880s that is being repeated even today.
0:52:10 > 0:52:13For the Potters, there's news of the costermongers' campaign.
0:52:14 > 0:52:16Oh! Have you seen these posters?
0:52:16 > 0:52:18- What does that say?- Oh!
0:52:18 > 0:52:21- Victory!- "To costermongers and stallkeepers..."
0:52:21 > 0:52:22"There has been a great victory.
0:52:22 > 0:52:25"Montague Williams, the Justice of the Peace,
0:52:25 > 0:52:29"found no cause for the vestries' complaint of obstruction."
0:52:29 > 0:52:32- Yeah!- We've won.
0:52:32 > 0:52:34Let's get the barrows out.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37After a long battle, public support for their cause
0:52:37 > 0:52:41meant the Costermongers Society finally won back the right
0:52:41 > 0:52:43to sell on Bethnal Green's streets.
0:52:43 > 0:52:47This victory did show that the Victorian poor
0:52:47 > 0:52:51did have power if they spoke. Not just one voice,
0:52:51 > 0:52:53but a mass of voices.
0:52:53 > 0:52:55It is a very big deal.
0:52:55 > 0:53:02From feeling so demoralised and oppressed...
0:53:03 > 0:53:06..this must have been a glorious victory.
0:53:06 > 0:53:09Potters' Trotters back in business.
0:53:09 > 0:53:13It means the Potters can get back out and sell again.
0:53:20 > 0:53:22By working all night,
0:53:22 > 0:53:25the Howarths have earned enough to pay their rent.
0:53:27 > 0:53:31- How are we, Howarths?- I see the rent book before I see Andy.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34How was it this week? Did you find it hard?
0:53:34 > 0:53:36It was hard, it's been hard this week. Really hard.
0:53:36 > 0:53:40Trying to train up three unskilled guys in the workshop.
0:53:40 > 0:53:42It's like pulling teeth.
0:53:42 > 0:53:46As a sweaters' den boss, you're glad you're doing better,
0:53:46 > 0:53:48but you don't like taking advantage of these people.
0:53:48 > 0:53:49- See you later on.- Goodbye.
0:53:49 > 0:53:51Thank you.
0:53:51 > 0:53:53KNOCK ON DOOR
0:53:53 > 0:53:56Mr and Mrs Bird. £30.60.
0:53:56 > 0:53:58With their regulars struggling,
0:53:58 > 0:54:01the Birds have the slum tour to thank for making their rent.
0:54:03 > 0:54:06I've been tight again this week, to say the least.
0:54:06 > 0:54:09The real hard things I've found mentally is that it just
0:54:09 > 0:54:11never seems to get any better.
0:54:11 > 0:54:12- KNOCK ON DOOR - Come in.
0:54:12 > 0:54:14It's only me, Maria.
0:54:14 > 0:54:15How are you, darling, you all right?
0:54:15 > 0:54:18The weekly rent is £8.16.
0:54:18 > 0:54:22Maria's home-grown laundry business has earned enough
0:54:22 > 0:54:25- to keep her and John's room. - £1.17 from you.
0:54:25 > 0:54:27So, I will let you get on with some work so you can make
0:54:27 > 0:54:30- next week's rent money. - Yeah. All right.- OK?
0:54:30 > 0:54:32All right, darling, well, you take care.
0:54:32 > 0:54:33How you doing, guys?
0:54:33 > 0:54:35Do you remember what your rent is?
0:54:35 > 0:54:36£13.26, Andy.
0:54:36 > 0:54:37- OK to do that today?- Yeah.
0:54:37 > 0:54:39£13.25...
0:54:39 > 0:54:42And for the Potters, paying up is a real victory.
0:54:42 > 0:54:43Absolutely perfect.
0:54:43 > 0:54:44That's a relief.
0:54:44 > 0:54:48However, the pressure is back on. Once you know you've got your rent
0:54:48 > 0:54:50you can, sort of, relax a little bit,
0:54:50 > 0:54:52but then when you hand it over, you know that...
0:54:52 > 0:54:54It starts all over again.
0:54:56 > 0:55:01But with the ban on street trading lifted, it's time for a celebration.
0:55:04 > 0:55:07And there was no better way than the costermongers' derby.
0:55:07 > 0:55:09Oh!
0:55:11 > 0:55:12Go, go...!
0:55:12 > 0:55:15Traditionally, the costers competed in basket-carrying races...
0:55:17 > 0:55:18Yes!
0:55:19 > 0:55:23..with prizes for the fastest runner...
0:55:23 > 0:55:24and the highest stack.
0:55:24 > 0:55:27- Go on, Andy.- Go on, Andy!
0:55:27 > 0:55:28Come on, Andy.
0:55:28 > 0:55:29Come on!
0:55:29 > 0:55:32There was a closeness here and a community that we've built up very,
0:55:32 > 0:55:35very quickly. In fact, anything like it was in the Victorian era,
0:55:35 > 0:55:37then actually the slums themselves
0:55:37 > 0:55:39were not necessarily an unhappy place.
0:55:39 > 0:55:42It was a difficult place to live, but there's a huge heart here.
0:55:42 > 0:55:44CHEERING
0:55:44 > 0:55:47Oh! That's lovely. I'll have a bit more, Andy.
0:55:47 > 0:55:49At the end of a gruelling week,
0:55:49 > 0:55:52it's a chance for the residents to come together and share.
0:55:53 > 0:55:57All we've really had, since we got here, was bread, butter, cheese,
0:55:57 > 0:56:00the occasional hot meal, and cabbage.
0:56:00 > 0:56:03A lot of cabbage. Never had a trotter in my life.
0:56:03 > 0:56:05And it isn't the best thing I've ever tasted.
0:56:05 > 0:56:07But, like, living in a slum, it's lovely.
0:56:07 > 0:56:09There's some good company.
0:56:09 > 0:56:12- Cheers.- Jacket potato and a trotter.
0:56:12 > 0:56:14It's the happiest I've been in two weeks.
0:56:14 > 0:56:16Proper food. It's not just, like...
0:56:18 > 0:56:22..a quarter slice of bread. It's, like, a whole feast.
0:56:22 > 0:56:25The first one that I'm going to award is to Heather.
0:56:26 > 0:56:29Pearl buttons had long been a feature of costermonger life.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32- Well done, darling.- Well done.
0:56:32 > 0:56:35Sewn onto their clothes, it signalled their selling talents
0:56:35 > 0:56:37and gave a sense of identity and pride.
0:56:37 > 0:56:40Does everyone agree that Graham should have won, as well?
0:56:40 > 0:56:41- ALL:- Yes!
0:56:41 > 0:56:44Costermongers adorned in buttons became known as
0:56:44 > 0:56:46the coster kings and queens,
0:56:46 > 0:56:49the forerunners of the well-known Pearly Kings and Queens
0:56:49 > 0:56:51the East End is famous for.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59There is a feeling of solidarity between us as a community
0:56:59 > 0:57:04and also the people that we're trying to represent felt solidarity.
0:57:04 > 0:57:05They rose up together.
0:57:05 > 0:57:09I think that's wonderful that these people who had nothing
0:57:09 > 0:57:12were willing to risk it all just to make a better life for themselves
0:57:12 > 0:57:13and their families.
0:57:13 > 0:57:15Hope is everything, really.
0:57:16 > 0:57:21During those dark periods, I don't think there was much hope at all.
0:57:21 > 0:57:24But now it seems as though the sun has come out.
0:57:26 > 0:57:31There will always be that feeling in the back of your mind
0:57:31 > 0:57:34that it could change so very quickly.
0:57:34 > 0:57:37But, while the sunshine and the rays are there,
0:57:37 > 0:57:40we've got to make the most of it.
0:57:40 > 0:57:42CHEERING
0:57:46 > 0:57:48Next time, the 1890s.
0:57:48 > 0:57:53Victorian social science puts the East End poor on the map.
0:57:53 > 0:57:55One in three was living in poverty.
0:57:55 > 0:58:00And, for the first time, he gave a human face to the poor.
0:58:00 > 0:58:02Ushering in a time of great change.
0:58:02 > 0:58:04Equals 63...
0:58:04 > 0:58:08If you do not work well, then you will be given the cane.
0:58:08 > 0:58:12But, for most, life is still a struggle.
0:58:12 > 0:58:15A family in our position
0:58:15 > 0:58:18would never have been able to work their way out of the slum.