The desperate cry of “Save my darling, save my darling!” echoed around Clapham Common at around eleven o’clock on the night of the 4th of May 1871. Edward Hanniford, native of Devon and local fishmonger, rushed from his shop on the Polygon towards the cry. Police Constable Reasy, who was on his beat, also hurried towards the commotion. Both men …
Charles Dickens’s Deputy, or, The Other Mystery of Edwin Drood
On an August Friday in 1888, with the temperature at 80o in the shade, two seemingly mismatched friends met up in London. The older of the two, William Richard Hughes, was in his late fifties, while the younger, Frederic George Kitton, was in his early thirties. Hughes was an important financial official, the Treasurer of the City of Birmingham. Kitton …
Charbonnel et Walker: Sweet Rivalry
The prestigious chocolatiers Charbonnel et Walker have been in business since 1875; now their flagship shop can be found at One, The Royal Arcade — the end that opens on to Old Bond Street end. But who were Charbonnel and Walker? A quick look on the company’s website will tell you that the founders — Mademoiselle Charbonnel and Mrs Walker …
Wife Beater, Cheater and Abductor? Mr Cambray Asks to Go to Prison
Those present at the Clerkenwell Police Court on Saturday the 13th of May 1871 probably sighed inwardly when the case against Leonard Albert Cambray was called. Yet again a member of the working classes had drunk too much and attacked his wife. For the forward thinking the only way of ending this vicious cycle was to encourage temperance, educate the …
The Crimes of the Light-Fingered Clerk
Although Mrs Jane Carolan had not wanted to take a lodger, at least it was some comfort to her that the young man occupying a room in her house at 16 Union Road in Clapham was respectable. A solicitor’s clerk, he was always well-dressed, and he seemed intent on self-improvement, if the large number of library books he borrowed was …
A Writer Walks on the Wild Side, or, The Story of Elizabeth Banks
If you read my recent piece on George Ruby, the crossing sweeper, and his relationship with the tragic Jo in Dickens’ Bleak House, you may well have wondered what life was really like for these poor wretches. They qualify all too readily for the title of overlooked Londoner. And yet there was one particular crossing sweeper about whom we know …
A Brother Betrayed, or, The Crime and Punishment of John Vivian
On the 20th of August 1838 a young man stood in the dock at the Old Bailey. His name was John Vivian, and he was twenty-four years old. He was five feet eight inches in height, and of slender build. The charge was burglary, and the inventory of stolen goods was pretty impressive. Eighteen spoons worth £9 10s. Sixteen forks …
Rescuing George Ruby, or, Charles Dickens and the Crossing Sweeper
The story of Jo, the crossing sweeper in Bleak House, is one of Charles Dickens’s most searing indictments of child poverty. Jo exists at the very edge of human society, with no family and no home, relying on the charity of strangers. Utterly marginalised, his ignorance is so profound that he sees nothing odd in having only one short name. …
The Man who Moved the Crystal Palace by Horse and Cart
If you read my post on Loddiges nursery and the Empress Josephine’s palm tree, you might have wondered who the man on the horse is. Well, the answer is one Thomas Younghusband, and I know this because he wrote a letter to The Times on 29 July 1854, that is to say, two days after the transporting of the tree …
A Wife on Both Sides of the River, or, A Brush with a Bigamist
Regular readers of London Overlooked will recall our tribute to the “German siffleur”, the remarkable whistler who entertained certain quarters of nineteenth-century London with his imitations of birds and animals. He was of, course, the celebrated David von Joel. And it will be remembered that London could not quite decide what to make of him. The reviews that he received …