Bacon's Atlas of London & suburbs, c.1912 : London Poor Law Unions : Eastern London
A page from the wonderfully detailed Bacon's Atlas of London & Suburbs, this being dated from c1912 by one of the 'special maps' bound in at the front of the atlas. The bulk of London is covered in a series of map sheets at 4" to the mile and is very detailed giving a clear indication of the pre-WW1 city, in its full Victorian and Edwardian splendour but before the massive inter-war expansion into 'Metroland' and similar suburbs.
Bacon's was formed by one George Washington Bacon (1830–1922), an American who set up business in London producing atlases and maps of the capital in about 1870 after a series of business failures. G W Bacon prospered and in c1900 were acquired by the Scottish publishers and cartographers W. & A.K. Johnston of whom they became a subsidiary.
This double page, scanned in two sections, shows the geographical extent of one of the most feared Victorian institutions; the Poor House and the Poor Law Unions that administered them. The Unions were set up in 1834 to adminster poor law relief, the most basic of social welfare schemes, and to set up more centralised workhouses so as to more effectively manage the issues of the 'poor and needy'. They developed, at times, a grim reputation although many 'workhouses' effectively morphed in later years into nascent local hospitals and old aged pensioner homes. The Poor Law legislation was finally amended in 1929 and in 1930 the Unions and their administrative boards were abolished, work being transferred to local authorities. The boundaries of many Poor Law Unions helped form the basis of many rural and urban district councils from 1894, they being formed of an amalgamations of various neighbouring parishes.
Bacon's Atlas of London & suburbs, c.1912 : London Poor Law Unions : Eastern London
A page from the wonderfully detailed Bacon's Atlas of London & Suburbs, this being dated from c1912 by one of the 'special maps' bound in at the front of the atlas. The bulk of London is covered in a series of map sheets at 4" to the mile and is very detailed giving a clear indication of the pre-WW1 city, in its full Victorian and Edwardian splendour but before the massive inter-war expansion into 'Metroland' and similar suburbs.
Bacon's was formed by one George Washington Bacon (1830–1922), an American who set up business in London producing atlases and maps of the capital in about 1870 after a series of business failures. G W Bacon prospered and in c1900 were acquired by the Scottish publishers and cartographers W. & A.K. Johnston of whom they became a subsidiary.
This double page, scanned in two sections, shows the geographical extent of one of the most feared Victorian institutions; the Poor House and the Poor Law Unions that administered them. The Unions were set up in 1834 to adminster poor law relief, the most basic of social welfare schemes, and to set up more centralised workhouses so as to more effectively manage the issues of the 'poor and needy'. They developed, at times, a grim reputation although many 'workhouses' effectively morphed in later years into nascent local hospitals and old aged pensioner homes. The Poor Law legislation was finally amended in 1929 and in 1930 the Unions and their administrative boards were abolished, work being transferred to local authorities. The boundaries of many Poor Law Unions helped form the basis of many rural and urban district councils from 1894, they being formed of an amalgamations of various neighbouring parishes.