Spitalfields Flashcards
(23 cards)
1
Q
How were migrants received in the 16th and 17th centuries
A
- 1517 anti-foreigner riots of ‘Evil May Day’
- After the Protestant reformation, it was not easy for Catholics
- In 1613 Dona Luisa (A Spanish Catholic activist and poet) had her home raided on the order of King James I and the Archbishop of Canterbury
- Life was easier for the small but growing number of African people : discrimination seemed to be religious rather than racial
2
Q
How were migrants received in the 17th and 18th centuries
A
- Huguenots were generally well received by the middle classes but they had mixed reactions from the working classes who saw them as rivals that undercut their wages
- Irish workers often accepted lower wages which made English workers resent them. They faced racist violence and prejudice
- in July 1736 serious fighting broke out between English and Irish workers since it was believed that Irish workers were undercutting English wages. 17 people ended up seriously wounded and an English boy was shot dead
- The Catholic Irish were not allowed to worship openly or build churches
3
Q
How were migrants treated in the 19th century
A
- After war ended with France in 1815, conditions in Spitalfields got even worse
- there was sever economic depression across the country
- 1824 import controls were ended - making it easier to get textile imports and master weavers were switching to mechanised looms. By the mid to late 19th century, Spitalfields was very different to the Huguenot boom town from before
- Irish migrants came, devastated by famine and migrants from depressed rural England came hoping for work
- the area was frequently described as dirty and dangerous by outsiders
- Many Jewish people arrived for a variety of reasons. Many Jews already settled were worried for their own position if the sudden influx was treated with anti-Semitic backlash
- Life was very difficult for new arrivals
4
Q
Why/when/where from did immigrants arrive in the 12th-15th centuries
A
- In the Middle Ages, this area was where women giving birth we cared for by ‘lay sisters’
- Spitalfields means ‘hospital in the fields’
- Outside the walls, you were no longer controlled by city authorities and so became a place where criminals, outcasts and poorer people gathered
- ## By the 16th century, Spitalfields was a place of refuge for people that did not fit social norms
5
Q
Huguenots in Spitalfields
A
- 16th and 17th centuries
- From the 1570s onwards, French Protestants started arriving as refugees from religious persecution
- The number of Huguenots increased immensely in the 1680s after King Louis XIV overturned a law protecting their rights
- Many arrived poor and destitute The building boom meant that there were empty properties
- There was already a local silk weaving industry
- There was a French Protestant Church nearby
- By 1700, there were about 500 master weavers and 15,000 looms around Spital square
- By 1700, Huguenots were about 5% of London’s population
- Many trades and crafts were involved in the complex process required to transform the raw silk: silk was brought on EIC ships at a time when England was expanding its trading empire. More and more people became attracted to Spitalfields and it became a boomtown
- Church records show that they came mainly from 2 towns and so they often knew each other. They had a strong tradition of business skills, self-reliance and community support
6
Q
Irish migrants in spitalifields
A
- 17th-19th centuries
- most were unskilled labourers
- many had been forced into poverty by penal laws and the linen industry’s decline
- Employers in Spitalfields preferred to hire them as they accepted low wages, however this caused resentment from English weavers
- They suffered lots of racist violence
- They were not allowed to worship openly or build Catholic churches
- Full freedom for Catholics only came in 1829 with the Roman Catholic Relief Act
7
Q
Jewish migrants from Eastern Europe in Spitalfields
A
- 17th-20th centuries
- There had been a settled and growing Jewish community since the 1650s after they were invited back for the first time since expulsion in 1290
- Jews experienced discrimination but by mid 19th century they had achieved civil and political rights equal to the wider population
- In Eastern Europe, there were violent pogroms that Jews were fleeing by coming to England, especially London
- They were mostly poor, with little knowledge of English
- Especially in poorer areas, they were blamed for undercutting wages and especially making it harder to find housing
- by 1899, 1/4 of Spitalfield’s population was Jewish
8
Q
Lascar sailors and Indian migrants in Spitalfields
A
- 19th and 20th centuries
- They had been working on British merchant ships and came from many parts of the empire e.g. China, the Caribbean and especially Bengal
- they were often only employed one way and were abandoned in London, unable to return due to an ended contract
- Many had to survive as beggars, pedlars and street performers
- As subjects of the Empire, they were British
- Some women also came as aayahs from India and they were often abandoned when they were no longer needed
9
Q
South Asian migrants in Spitalifields
A
- 1950s and 60s
- In 1947, India became partitioned and became the two nations of India and Pakistan. In Sylhet (East Pakistan), Calcutta - the port where previously men would get hired as Lascars - was now over the border and inaccessible
- Many in Sylhet faced extreme poverty and unemployment
- At the same time in Britain, there were serious labour shortages
- The 1948 British Nationality act reaffirmed that they, as commonwealth citizens, could enter the UK as British citizens to live and work
- The sweatshops of spitalfields suited the new migrants and they worked there
10
Q
Somali migrants in Spitalfields
A
- 1960s onwards
- In 1960 the newly independent Somalia had brought together 2 territories previously colonised by Britain and Italy
- In the early 1990s a terrible civil war forced many people to flee and arrive as refugees in many countries including the UK
- Whilst most Somali immigrants had been working class seafarers, many were middle class with professional backgrounds
- There were a significant number of women and children
11
Q
physical evidence of Jewish migration
A
- Soup kitchen set up for the Jewish poor: 1902
- Synagogues set up e.g. Sandys Row Synagogue
12
Q
physical evidence of huguenot weavers
A
large windows at the top of houses
13
Q
why did Huguenots migrate to Spitalfields in the late 16th century
A
- poor Huguenots found cheaper housing outside the city walls
- A local silk weaving industry allowed them to find employment
- They were fleeing religious persecution in France
- There was a small Huguenot and other Protestants community that supported new Huguenot migrants
- It was also an area that Protestant Dissenters - religious outsiders like Quakers and Methodists - were drawn to
14
Q
Why did Irish people migrate to Spitalfields in the 18th century
A
- some had been linen weavers and had transferrable skills: the linen industry was collapsing
- conditions in ireland were bad and people needed work
- Employers encouraged Irish migration as they accepted low wages
15
Q
what was Spitalfields like in the 19th century
A
- economic depression
- mechanised looms put many weavers out of work
- The 1824 repeals of the Spitalfields act led to cheaper textiles competing with Spitalfield’s silk
- new industries developed e.g. brewing and sugar refining
- German immigrants moved to the area to work in the Truman Brewery and sugar refinery on Whitechapel road
16
Q
Sandy’s Row Synagogueb
A
- From the mid 1700s, Eastern European Jews came, fleeing violent pogroms
- From the 1880s-1970s, Spitalfields had one of the largest Jewish communities in
17
Q
the building boom
A
- throughout the 17th century, the city became more built up and London’s population was growing so housing was needed outside of the city walls, especially after the fire of London 1666 made many people homeless
- relaxed building regulations led to a housing boom outside the walls and Spitalfields became part of an expanding city
18
Q
protests against master weavers
A
- 1760s
- protests were frequent including: marching, sabotage, damage to looms etc.
- ‘cutter’s riots’ of the 1760s: Louis Chauvet employed 450 people and used to mark coins to see how they spent their money. He trained and armed his own private guard and refused to let his workers join a combination.
- The authorities responded to the Cutters’ riots with executions in 1769
- people used to destroy mechanised looms since they thought their jobs were under threat
19
Q
The Spitalfields Acts
A
- 1773 and 1793
- regulated weavers’ pay and conditions
20
Q
Spitalfields after war ended with France in 1815
A
- there was a severe economic depression across the country
- many people were out of jobs due to the introduction of mechanised looms
- 1824 Spitalfields appeals act ended import controls
- 1851: Charles Dickens visited the area and was shocked to see the amount of unemployed weavers in despair
- The descendants of the French refugees that had done well now lived in wealthier parts of London or the rest of the country
- They were joined by Irish migrants devastated by famine
21
Q
Great Yiddish Parade
A
- during the 19th century, the buildings that had housed weavers’ looms fell into poverty, many becoming sweatshops with cheap labour
- many people did not speak English and so were unable to use the official channels to find work so may went to the unofficial Jewish labour exchange on Whitechapel road where they were picked up by employers
- 1889: unemployed workers and ‘sweater’s victims’ marched to the Great Synagogue in Aldgate, to demand that the Chief Rabbi speak against the employer’s treatment of workers.
- When they arrived, the Chief Rabbi was not there. He denied that he had ever agreed to speak on that day and refused to denounce the employers
22
Q
Jewish garment worker strikes
A
- 1889 (?)
- they demanded work hours be reduced to 12 wit breaks for tea and dinner
- government contractors pay wages at trade union rates
- government contractors and sweaters not to give work home at night after working hours
- about 4 weeks in, the strike fund began to run out so they asked for a donation from the docker’s union which gave them a generous donation of £100.
- The strike lasted 6 weeks and in return for reduced hours, they promised not to strike again
- there was another successful strike in 1912
23
Q
anti semitism in Spitalfields
A
- early 1900s: anti-immigrant feelings were growing in East London. an anti Jewish campaign wanted Sunday trading controls which would hit Jewish businesses that were open Sundays but closed Saturdays.
- This would also close down the Petticoat lane Sunday market
- ## people blamed jews for putting up rent and lowering wages
