The Classic Slum: Salford Life in the First Quarter of the Century [Paperback]

A vivid, unforgettable picture of the quality—or lack of it—of life in England among 'ordinary' people. —Peter Stansky

Shaw said that poverty is the greatest crime. The Classic Slum provides a grim affirmation of the truth of his remark. In a study which combines personal reminiscences with careful historical research, the myth of the good old days is summarily dispensed with; Robert Roberts describes the period of his childhood, when a man could lose his job for belonging to a Union and when a family's best clothes were likely to spend most weekdays at the pawnshop.

The main effect of poverty in Edwardian Salford was degradation, and despite great reserves of human courage, few could escape such a prison. The environment of slum housing and the atmosphere of hunger and insecurity created a culture blighted by ignorance, tedium, repression and a rigorous social stratification.1 Class Structure
2 Possessions
3 Manners and Morals
4 Governors, Pastors and Masters
5 The Common Scene
6 Food, Drink and Physic
7 Alma Mater
8 Culture
9 The Great Release
10 High Days and After

Appendices
1 Conducted Tour
2 Snuffy
3 Bronze Mushrooms

Select Bibliography
Index

Illustrations
The photographs, which have not been published before, were taken around the early 1900s by a Worsley man, Samuel Coulthurst, who went about Salford dressed as a rag and bone merchant with his camera concealed on a handcart.

1. Corner shop
2. A muffler–white, if possible, for the Lord's day
3. Some were too poor to buy at the old clothes shops
4. General dealer
5. The clothiers
6. WolÃn