What did Victorian street sellers sell?

What did Victorian street sellers sell?

They sold middle class Victorians everything from toys, shrimp and even the old clothes of smallpox victims. And these remarkable photographs reveal the daily lives of adult and child street sellers including the Old Clo’ Man and Kentish Herb Woman in Greenwich, South East London, between 1884 and 1887.

What were markets like in Victorian times?

In Victorian Britain, many towns and cities had market arcades, with small shops and stalls in a long, narrow space, usually covered with iron girders and glass, often enclosing old alleyways.

What was the most common job in the Victorian times?

Occupations in Victorian England

Agriculture 14.2%
Building 6.3%
Manufacturing 31.6%
Transport 4.9%
“Dealing” (Stores) 7.8%

What are street sellers called?

Noun. A peddler, huckster, who travels about to sell easily transportable goods. hawker. huckster. pedlar.

What did street sellers sell?

Street-sellers were responsible for supplying slum inhabitants as well as some working-class and middle-class people with a range of items such as food, clothing, stationary and miscellaneous goods, for example, old cooking ware.

What did people buy in the Victorian era?

Grocers’ shops sold dried goods such as tea, coffee, sugar and rice; butchers’ shops sold meat; and dairy shops sold milk, cream, eggs, butter and cheese. Basic foods were: beef, mutton, pork, bacon, cheese, eggs, bread, potatoes, rice, oatmeal, milk, vegetables in season, flour, sugar, treacle, jam and tea.

How did the economy transform during the Victorian era?

The transformation of the economy For a few decades in the 19th century British manufactured goods dominated world trade. Most mass manufactured items were produced more efficiently and competitively in Britain than elsewhere. No other country could at first compete so Britain became the workshop of the world.

What was the worst Victorian jobs?

10 of the Worst Jobs in the Victorian Era

  1. Leech Collector.
  2. Pure finder.
  3. Tosher.
  4. Matchstick makers.
  5. Mudlark.
  6. Chimney sweep.
  7. Funeral Mute.
  8. 8. Rat catcher.

How did the rich earn a living in Victorian times?

Rich Victorian men had jobs such as doctors, lawyers, bankers and factory owners. Until near the end of the Victorian era, parents had to pay to send their children to school. There were some charity schools to help educate the poor, but most families needed their children working and earning money.

Are street vendors legal?

In 2018, the State of California and the City of Los Angeles passed legislation to legalize street vending. Yet, three years later, the report states, “most sidewalk food vendors remain exposed to the daily threat of ticketing, harassment, and fines, which perpetuate an unending cycle of criminalization and poverty.”

How do I become a street vender?

In general, though, a street vendor needs to obtain:

  1. A sales tax permit from the revenue agency of your state.
  2. A tax certificate.
  3. A business license from the county clerk’s office.
  4. A vendor or peddler’s license.

What was a hawker in the 1800s?

Although the words costermonger, hawker and pedlar were used interchangeably, the costermonger or hawker was, technically speaking, someone who sold his wares by crying them out in the street. The pedlar travelled the countryside with his wares, visiting houses along the way to sell them.

What was street life like in the Victorian era?

Life was lived on the Victorian Street. People ate, sold food, bought clothes and furniture, drank, caught omnibuses and advertised on the streets, particularly if they were poor. This resource uses photographs by photographer John Thomson and descriptions and interviews by radical journalist Adolphe Smith’s 1877 Street Life in London.

Where did the working class live in Victorian London?

The historian Lisa Picard has written that the working class ‘lived life on the streets’ in Victorian London. Women and men worked on the streets selling wares. These flower girls are standing in front of St Paul’s Church – known as the actor’s church – in their ‘beat’ or place they sold.

What makes street life in London so special?

While Street Life in London is hardly as comprehensive a work as Mayhew’s, it has the virtue that its photographic reproductions not only show the subjects as they actually appeared but, by capturing the contemporary streetscape of London, also reveals them in their milieu.

What was Thomson’s Street Life in London?

Returning to London, Thomson turned his attention to the city, his Street Life in London (1877), frequently credited as the first instance in which photographs were used as social documentation.

author

Back to Top