Brighton in 1818 by Angelina 25 March 2010I’m doing research for a fiction book. What would have been a few areas of Brighton mainly populated by the working class in 1818?4 replies Re: Brighton in 1818 by Geoffrey Mead 25 March 2010The main poor areas, many of which ran on well into the 20th century were Kents Court and the area at the SW lower end of West St. The area now roughly centred on the Clock Tower known as ‘Durham & Petty France’. The area west of Gardner St ‘Pimlico’was particularly bad so much that it was demolished very early for Brighton in 1874. Carlton Hill east of the Valley Gardens across to Edward St, The setting for some scenes in Brighton Rock in the 1930s.The northern side of Edward St where White St and Blaker St are now, that was Egremont St, Chesterfield St, St Thomas St and Nottingham St. These were the main areas but early 19th century Brighton had large numbers of the very poor fleeing a severely depressed rural hinterland for the ‘mean streets’ of the resort. Re: Brighton in 1818 by Andy Grant 26 March 2010Hi Angelina, Although Geoff has given a perfectly adequate response to your query in terms of the poorest sectors of Brighton, the term ‘working class’ applies to such an amorphous mass of people that very large areas of Brighton could be deemed ‘working class’ at that time. The context of the character you seek to depict might better determine where they might have lived (eg: fishermen, off Russell Street area; artisans such as decorators, etc. in the newly developed artisan’s houses in the east of the town; shopkeepers collecting in particular streets where they could best offer their services, etc., etc.). Directories give good information on where many people ‘working class’ people lived and worked, but the very lowest sectors of society were somewhat ignored until the census returns and health surveys show us where and how they lived. Regards Andy Re: Brighton in 1818 by Roy Grant 26 March 2010As Andy writes, occupational clusters existed within the town, for example, there is a police report that 94% of the town’s prostitutes lived and worked off Edward Street. So if 1818 is your year, you’ve got some considerable reading to do to gain an understanding of Brighton’s Historical Geography. Few early works dwelled on those with little or no income, so you will have to look slightly beyond that time at health surveys published in the 1830s – 1850s, remembering that Brighton was then a garrison town with its parish workhouse about to move from Bartholemews to Dyke Road. Good reading is Dr William Kebbel’s, Diseases of Towns (1848) and Climate of Brighton (1852) Edward Cresy’s Sanitary report on Brighton (1848) and Dr Jenks report to Parliament (British Parliamentary Papers c1832) There were some interesting characters about then too. Jemmy Botting the hangman comes to mind, as does (a little later in time) Tom Sayers, the bare knuckle boxer. Re: Brighton in 1818 by Kathy L Wheeler 27 August 2020 11:02 AMI have some questions about this time period too in Brighton. Did any of the nobility visit regularly after the Royal Pavilion was built? Add your replyHiddenAdd your title Add your wordsWould you like to add some images (optional)? If so, how many images would you like to add? 1 2 3 4 5 6Your image files will be uploaded when you submit this form. They should be .jpg or .png files. The maximum filesize is 5Mb.First imageAccepted file types: jpg, jpeg, png, gif.FileTitleSecond imageAccepted file types: jpg, jpeg, png, gif.FileTitleThird imageAccepted file types: jpg, jpeg, png, gif.FileTitleFourth imageAccepted file types: jpg, jpeg, png, gif.FileTitleFifth imageAccepted file types: jpg, jpeg, png, gif.FileTitleSixth imageAccepted file types: jpg, jpeg, png, gif.FileTitleAbout youFinally, please tell us a few details about you, so we can contact you about your contribution if we need to. We won't use your contact details for any other purpose.Your name First Last Your e-mail address* SubmitThat's all. Thanks very much. You now just need to agree to our Terms of Use and press the Submit button. After that, please wait until your contribution is uploaded. You'll then see a 'Thankyou' page.Terms of Use* I accept this website's Terms of Use (opens in new window) and confirm that the material I am uploading does not infringe the copyright of any third party.Privacy* I consent to my name and e-mail address being stored along with this contribution, and to the website editors communicating with me by e-mail about the contribution if necessary. My name may be published alongside the contribution on the website, but my e-mail address will not be published. My information will not be shared with any third party (see our Privacy Statement - opens in a new window). *Δ Share thisFacebookPinterestTwitterLinkedin
