Terrible Victorian Terraces and Towering Tenements (Life in 1800s East End London)

Victorian working class housing was a dirty hovel of a terrace house or a high rise tenement. By the end of the 1800s widespread recognition of the social ills of slum dwellings resulted in authorities building 'model buildings,' (tenement blocks) to accommodate Londoners, whilst rows and rows of small 'two up, two down' houses, which lacked even basic sanitation, ventilation and light were slowly being demolished and cleared away. Standards varied, but many offered cleaner, brighter rooms to rent than old and dirty terraces, but residents of both still lived cheek by jowl.

Octavia Hill was a philanthropist landlady, who documented her efforts to improve the appalling state of housing. She was a social reformer who took a keen interest in bettering the lives of London's poor, and did much to bring about social housing. This is her account of daily life for residents living in one of these East End housing blocks, as well as her concerns for how the poor would adapt to living in tenements – for, despite the wretched condition of London's terraces, they at least allowed for the separation of trouble makers and undesirables, instead of being grouped together under one roof.

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▶️ Victorian documentaries (Playlist):

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▶️ American Slums and Tenements (Playlist):

CC BY - Creel with sprat by Georges Jansoone; Dwellings for the Working Classes, Peabody Square Shadwell London, A convalescing old lady asking a health visitor if she has recovered, A London school-board capture, Dwellings of the poor in Bethnal Green, Sanitary law and practice a handbook for students of public health by Wellcome Collection

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[eekbeatsofficial]

Sadly Dirty Hovels still exist as Landlords are still greedy and will leave their tenants in danger with all sorts of housing problems,
2023 there's an estimated 1m+ homes unfit for human habitation, Its like some people forget the past and life repeats itself in new generations.
I hope this will change for the better and not the worse in the next few decades

[brianoneil]

This channel inevitably makes me appreciate my humble home, and reassures me that actual history is not vanishing from our view just yet

[hettyphilips]

Public baths, once a week if you were lucky(to bath) because of no bathrooms. Bagwashes to leave your washing to pick up later(if you could afford it), outside toilet with a pile of torn up newspaper for toilet paper.
One cold tap on a Belfast sink in the corner of a kitchen, no hot water, so water had to be boiled to wash, cook etc. Coal fires, no central heating.
Gas lights in Victorian homes. Lighting was by gas before electricity was installed in houses

[everyusernameistakenomfg]

Awesome! I love listening to these while i do chores

[simonyip]

The slums in London could be divided into several different groups.

●Pre industrial revolution housing (10:00 for example), they dated from before the massive growth of London.
●Older larger houses, that were originally built for respectable working class or middle class residents, but had later been divided into single rooms for the poor. (Fournier St/Wilkes St/Princelet St between Brick Lane and Commercial Street in Whitechapel are good examples of originally middle class house's that were slums by the late 19th century with several families in each house).
●Terraced houses that were quite well built, and had been designed for single families, but had later been divided into one or two rooms per family. Built from the beginning of the industrial revolution onwards. (0:40 is a typical example of higher quality terraced houses).
●Terraced and back to back houses that were built badly from the start, using poor quality materials and were badly maintained by the landlords. They were built from the beginning of the industrial revolution. They often had just a single room per floor and some had no backyards and they were built in narrower, more densely built streets and courtyards. (1:07 is a courtyard, built as a cul de sac at a right angle from the wider main street, the entrance would have been an alley or a narrow archway).

The list above is not exhaustive but gives an idea of the housing available to the poor in Victorian times.

[mckenzie]

These places carried on well past the Victorian era. My mother lived in a single room in the 1930s with her 5 sisters and parents. No hot water, and the toilet was outside, 3 floors down.

[michaeldillon]

What a warning to the social disaster of the building of blocks of flats in the 60's. A social disaster .

[capt.bart.roberts]

My father was born and grew up in Peabody Mansions on Cherry Garden Street in Bermondsey. My abiding memory was on enormous landings and tiny three room flats. My Grandma and her youngest son were living there, still in in the 1960s.

[davidlatham]

You now need at least £1 million to live in one of those old hovels.

[bilindalaw-morley]

Thank you. A new look at the life of working clases. The comparison between house, low ride and high rise was particularly interesting. Kudos as always on the presentation
.

[brendachew]

in England we didn't ever have tenements. they were just called blocks of flats. tenements is an American term for what was built in America. don't assume all terraces and back to back houses were slums. I was brought up in a house, one room downstairs and a cellarhead kitchen .outside toilet and two bedrooms upstairs. three kids in one bedroom and baby in cot in with mum and dad. no bathroom. tin bath in front of fire. we loved living there. we didn't know any different .everyone was the same. dad worked and mum worked part time and we were kept clean and well dressed and well fed. we only moved when we grew too big for one bedroom. we moved to a council house on estate just been built. with more bedrooms bathroom and inside toilet .that was beginning of 60s don't assume all houses were slums. most were well kept and were loving homes of hard working people doing the best they could.

[Automedon]

It's remarkable how current this seems. I have been lower income all my life. I have never minded not having the things that many others have or living frugally. But, I always wished that I could find a low income area that wasn't rife with disgusting behavior. Finally I was able to buy a duplex house and was determined to be the best landlord I could possibly be. I kept the rent low (lower than any other in the area) I gave all kinds of perks like half rent at Christmas and garden space. I bought people furniture and helped with utility bills. I had a vision that I could find a decent small family that could use a break- and maintain a friendly neighborly relationship with. Every single renter I had was rife with 'issues '. They ended up making being a landlord not worth the aggravation especially since I occupied the other apartment. I have become very jaded in regards to lower income people. It's a mentality I want nothing to do with.

[williamheale]

As a child in east London i had a friend whose house had an outside toilet, a garden bomb shelter, and still had gas light fittings on the walls.

[wendyrichards]

This was most interesting .I am used to hearing about the clearing of tenements from the inter war years up to the 60s but not about them at the beginning of their lives, when they were obviously considered quite an improvement in many respects .I can quite see how a tiny 2 up 2 down with a little yard would be preferable to many though .

[michaeldillon]

Octavia Hill was instrumental in setting up the National Trust . There is a beautiful memorial bench dedicated to her memory in the woods below Ide Hill nr Sevenoaks in Kent . Those woods are filled with beautiful Bluebells at the moment ( May ) ✌️

[hettyphilips]

Even if you didn't have a pot to *iss in (usually kept under the bed) it was most important to keep your front doorstep spotless, or you would be gossiped about by the neighbours for being slovenly lol.

[ahuddleston]

Renting a room in a Eastend terraced house with 2 up 2 down....hey, I did that back in my Uni years and that wasn't THAT long ago 😅

[mickieg]

Always find these to be as informative as they are thought provoking, thank you for making them, born and raised east London so its really nice to hear more about the history of where I live

[moondancer]

Imagine carrying water all the way to the top floor!