Harrowing images of a 10-year-old prostitute holding her baby bump, orphans living in appalling squalor and child beggars pleading with old men for money capture the devastating life of a Victorian youngster.
More than 100 years ago street children were found in abundance living in alleyways or side streets. Many were orphans but others were from neglectful, alcoholic families where abuse was the norm.
Faced with the choice of living in these conditions or the danger of the street, some children chose the latter. Many of these children fell prey to prostitution – at a time when the age of consent was just 12 – and begging to support themselves.
The belief that young people had rights that states should protect was almost non-existent at the dawn of the nineteenth century.
However in 1885 the government raises the age of consent to 16 in a bid to tackle child prostitution following a mass campaign by the press.
This image taken in circa 1890 shows street children in Victorian Britain living amid deprivation and squalor. Many would have been forced to stay in alleys and beg for money
Pictured left, a child known as Alice P. Lidell, photographed by the author Lewis Carroll. She is said to have inspired the story Alice in Wonderland. Pictured right, a beggar girl with an old man, England, taken in 1876
A village street in England, captured circa 1890. The belief that children had rights that the states should protect was almost non-existent at the dawn of the nineteenth century
This girl was photographed sleeping among a mound of blankets outdoors in 1890. The conditions on the dirt-ridden streets are unimagineable by modern standards
Pictured left, a rag-picker’s daughter in June 1849. Pictured right, a beggar girl photographed in 1876
A lone child with her hands clasped together walks the streets in 1876. Many children fell prey to prostitution and begging to support themselves
Two beggar girls are pictured in 1876. Many of the street children were orphans but others were from neglectful, alcoholic families where abuse was the norm
Pictured left, a child prostitute in 1871. On the back of the photograph it reads: ‘Mary Simpson, a common prostitute aged 10 or 11 years. She has been known as Mrs Berry for at least two years. She is four months with child.’ Pictured right, a beggar girl with an older man in 1877
A miserable-looking child beggar is pictured in squalid conditions while wearing no shoes, circa 1900. The image is captioned ‘Cinderella’
Children are pictured in 1851, left, and 1876, right. At the beginning of the last century, thousands existed in abject poverty on streets that are now among the most fashionable and expensive in the capital
One way for children to earn a few coins was to sell firewood. They would go to factories and shops, begging for packing-cases, pallets and tea-chests
An unknown child poses for a portrait in 1876. Young people lived in devastating poverty surrounded by violence in the Victorian era
Pictured left, a slum child in June 1851. Pictured right, a flower girl sells her wares in 1877