The Dark and Dingy Underworld of the Victorian Slums

Dirt. Depravity. Danger. Disease. From the slurry-filled sewers to the most overcrowded of tenement blocks, Victorian Britain thrummed with the heartbeats of those who had lived there. Infants and children, adults and elders had called these twisting labyrinthian warrens home; here they had laboured, they had loved, they had lost. These people had celebrated progress and had fought for reform; they had raised families, fallen in love, worked laborious jobs, and lamented the deaths of their loved ones. In her second book, Bethan Catherine Watts explores every crevice of the dark and dingy slums of Victorian Britain and illuminates the lives of those who lived there. From favourite pastimes, recipes and beauty practices to the treatment of children, animals and the dead, The Dark and Dingy Underworld of the Victorian Slums sheds light on those who were born, who had lived, and who had died in nineteenth-century British slums. AUTHOR: Bethan Catherine Watts is a social historian of medieval and early modern history, and specialises in the everyday lives of ordinary people. She is most interested in the lives of children and youths in history, as well as the health, hygiene, and households of past peoples.Bethan holds both a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Medieval History. 30 b/w illustrations