Figure 1.--This portrait shows street children in Liverpool sometime around the turn of the 20th century. |
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There were lots of destitute children then who were either orphaned or abandoned and had no place to live. Jim Jarvis discussed below was one of those boys who lived in 19th Century London. There were similar boys in other
major cities like Liverpool and Manchester. Jim was an orphan and lived on the street.Jim was like all the other ragged children. Their's was a rough life. During the day they wandered through the London East End alleyways begging from strangers. They were always in danger of exploitation by professional criminals. If begging did not work then stealing food from market stallholders was their only alternative to finding food. None went to school or had an adult to care for them. These were the forgotten boys and girls of 19th Century
England. One questin that is unclear to us at this time is just who these children were and why they were not taken into care in work houses and orphanages. Apparently institutinalization was not mandatory, but this must hsave changed during the 19th century.
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