Ragged and filthy, their feet bare, they wear grave, careworn expressions. For these children, life was nothing but hard work, empty bellies and the constant struggle for survival.
In 19012, Horace Warner took photos of East End street kids, who he called 'Spitalfields nippers'. A self-taught photographer in his personal life – and a wallpaper printer for William Morris in his professional – Warner took 240 photographs of the local children, of which only 30 survive. Here they are, caps, cabbages and all...
Destitute East End, England Children From 100 Years Ago
Destitute East End, England Children From 100 Years Ago
Destitute East End, England Children From 100 Years Ago
Destitute East End, England Children From 100 Years Ago
Destitute East End, England Children From 100 Years Ago
Destitute East End, England Children From 100 Years Ago
Destitute East End, England Children From 100 Years Ago
Destitute East End, England Children From 100 Years Ago
Destitute East End, England Children From 100 Years Ago
Destitute East End, England Children From 100 Years Ago
Destitute East End, England Children From 100 Years Ago
Destitute East End, England Children From 100 Years Ago
Destitute East End, England Children From 100 Years Ago
Destitute East End, England Children From 100 Years Ago
Destitute East End, England Children From 100 Years Ago
Destitute East End, England Children From 100 Years Ago
(Photos: Horace Warner/The Religious Society of Friends in Britain, via Spitalfields Life)