Barge-Builders

Joseph Pennell (1857-1926)

1899

Illustration for Walter Besant's East London (London: Chatto & Windus, 1901), p. 36.

Scanned image and text by Jacqueline Banerjee

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The barge-builders in Pennell's illustration for Chapter II of Besant's book (a chapter entitled "The City of Many Crafts") seem to be perfectly idle, either chatting or reading newspapers. In fact, with increased mechanisation, there was less work for sawyers and other such workers. Considering the success of the Great Dock Strike in 1886, we might assume that the two men sitting down were reading something like The Labour Leader. But Pennell could simply be illustrating a point made earlier by Besant, to the effect that East Enders "all read newspapers" despite lacking a decent local press (8).

Bibliography

Besant, Walter. East London. London: Chatto & Windus, 1901.

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Last modified 21 April 2008