Nether World : Crime and the Police Courts in Victorian London

Author(s): Gray, Drew D,
Binding: Hardback,
Date of Publication: 01/04/2024,
Pagination: 352 pages, Illustrations, unspecified,
Series: N/A,
Imprint: Reaktion Books,
Published By: REAKTION BOOKS ,
Book Classification: History
Dimensions: 224 x 149 x 36mm
Weight: 544g
ISBN13\EAN\SKU: 9781789148541

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A new account of urban Victorian life told through the dubious day-to-day of London's police courts.

Nether World presents a rich, often humorous glimpse into everyday life in Victorian London through a revealing account of nineteenth-century police courts. People of all classes brought complaints to this court about those who had hurt, abused, or stolen from them - drunks, pickpockets, wife-beaters, and fraudsters - who were each in their turn judged by magistrates wielding broad summary powers. Delving into underexamined court records and the pages of a fast-developing newspaper industry, Drew D. Gray offers a fresh description of a vibrant, ever-changing metropolis and considers ongoing issues such as poverty, homelessness, violence, substance abuse, prostitution and - of course - crime.