"[The] invention about 1880 of the term 'East End' was rapidly taken up by the new halfpenny press, and in the pulpit and the music hall...A shabby man from Paddington, St. Marylebone or Battersea might pass muster as one of the respectable poor. But the same man coming from Bethnal Green, Shadwell or Wapping was an 'east ender', the box of Keating's bug powder must be reached for, and the spoons locked up. In the long run, this cruel stigma came to do good. It was a final reminder to the poorest to get out of the East End at all costs..."(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_End_of_London)
The East End originally referred to the area of London east of the Roman and medieval walled city and north of the River Thames. The East End was composed of the following hamlets or boroughs:
- Tower Hamlets
- Hackney
- Bethnal Green
- Hoxton
- Spitalfields
- Wapping
- Whitechapel
- Shoreditch
Since the 1600's, London's East End has been the centre for receiving new immigrants. Immigrants to London were attracted to the East End due to its location close to the docks where they arrived, the abundance of unskilled labour jobs and the inexpensive housing. In the 17th Century, French Protestants who suffered religious persecution in France, fled to England and settled in London's East End. They were followed by Irish weavers during the Potato Famine in the 1840's. The Ashkenazi Jews took up residence in the East End and by 1800, they were 20,000 strong. With the construction of the St. Katharine Docks and the clearance of slums within the walled city, came more displaced persons. In the 20th Century Bengladeshi's arrived in the London neighbourhood.
London's immigrants found work in several industries. The single most popular industyr among the Huegenots was silk weaving. The Irish immigrants took jobs as weavers. The Ahskenazi Jews often worked as costermongers or street traders. Many of the Bangladeshi immigrants worked at the market on Petticoat Lane.
In the 1800's, the East End was also home to poor British families. Most of the street children that Dr. Thomas Barnardo accepted in his shelter were of British background. The label "East Ender? did not have a positive connotation.
"[The] invention about 1880 of the term 'East End' was rapidly taken up by the new halfpenny press, and in the pulpit and the music hall...A shabby man from Paddington, St. Marylebone or Battersea might pass muster as one of the respectable poor. But the same man coming from Bethnal Green, Shadwell or Wapping was an 'east ender', the box of Keating's bug powder must be reached for, and the spoons locked up. In the long run, this cruel stigma came to do good. It was a final reminder to the poorest to get out of the East End at all costs..."
Likely because of the adversity that East Enders experienced, they grew to be resilient people.
For more information, read The People of the Abyss by Jack London.
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