Whitechapel
Encyclopedia
Whitechapel is a built-up inner city
district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
, London
, England. It is located 3.4 miles (5.5 km) east of Charing Cross
and roughly bounded by the Bishopsgate
thoroughfare on the west, Fashion Street on the north, Brady Street and Cavell Street on the east and The Highway on the south. The resident population are of varied ethnic origin, primarily Bengali
. It is notably best known for being the location of the infamous Jack the Ripper
murders in the late 1880s. The murderer was never identified, although rumours suggest over 100 names.
Whitechapel's heart is Whitechapel High Street
, extending further east as Whitechapel Road
, named after a small chapel of ease
dedicated to St Mary. The church's earliest known rector was Hugh de Fulbourne in 1329 and around 1338 it became the parish church of Whitechapel, called, for unknown reasons, St Mary Matfelon
. The church was destroyed through enemy action in World War II
and its location and graveyard is now a public garden
on the south side of the road.
Whitechapel High Street and Whitechapel Road are now part of the A11 road, anciently the initial part of the Roman road
between the City of London
and Colchester
, exiting the city at Aldgate
. In later times travellers to and from London on this route were accommodated at the many coaching inns which lined Whitechapel High Street.
By the late 16th century the suburb of Whitechapel and the surrounding area had started becoming 'the other half' of London. Located east of Aldgate
, outside the City Walls
and beyond official controls, it attracted the less fragrant activities of the city, particularly tanneries, breweries, foundries (including the Whitechapel Bell Foundry
which later cast Philadelphia's Liberty Bell
and London's Big Ben
) and slaughterhouse
s.
In 1680, the Rector of Whitechapel, the Rev. Ralph Davenant
, of the parish of St. Mary Matfellon, bequeathed a legacy for the education of forty boys and thirty girls of the parish - the Davenant Centre
is still in existence although the Davenant Foundation School
moved from Whitechapel to Loughton
in 1966.
Population shifts from rural areas to London from the 17th century to the mid-19th century resulted in great numbers of more or less destitute people taking up residence amidst the industries and mercantile interests that had attracted them.
In 1797 the body of the sailor Richard Parker, hanged for his leading role in the Nore mutiny
, was given a Christian burial at Whitechapel after his wife exhumed it from the unconsecrated burial ground to which it was originally consigned. Crowds gathered to see the body before it was buried.
By the 1840s Whitechapel, along with the enclaves of Wapping
, Aldgate
, Bethnal Green
, Mile End
, Limehouse
, Bow
, Bromley-by-Bow
, Poplar
, Shadwell
and Stepney
(collectively known today as "the East End
"), had evolved, or devolved, into classic "Dickensian" London, with problems of poverty and overcrowding. Whitechapel Road itself was not particularly squalid through most of this period—it was the warrens of small dark streets branching from it that contained the greatest suffering, filth and danger, such as Dorset Street
(now a private alley but once described as "the worst street in London"), Thrawl Street, Berners Street (renamed Henriques Street
), Wentworth Street and others.
William Booth
began his Christian Revival Society, preaching the gospel in a tent, erected in the Friends Burial Ground, Thomas Street, Whitechapel, in 1865. Others joined his Christian Mission, and on August 7, 1878 the Salvation Army
was formed at a meeting held at 272 Whitechapel Road. A statue commemorates both his mission and his work in helping the poor.
In the Victorian era
the basal population of poor English country stock was swelled by immigrants from all over, particularly Irish
and Jewish. Writing of the period 1883–1884, Yiddish theatre
actor Jacob Adler
wrote, "The further we penetrated into this Whitechapel, the more our hearts sank. Was this London? Never in Russia
, never later in the worst slums of New York
, were we to see such poverty as in the London of the 1880s." This endemic poverty drove many women to prostitution
. In October 1888 the Metropolitan Police
estimated that there were 1,200 prostitutes "of very low class" resident in Whitechapel and about 62 brothels. Reference is specifically made to them in Charles Booth
's Life and Labour of the People of London
, specially to dwellings called Blackwall Buildings
belonging to Blackwall Railway. Such prostitutes were numbered amongst the eleven Whitechapel Murders (1888-91)
, some of which were committed by the legendary serial killer known as 'Jack the Ripper
'. These attacks caused widespread terror in the district and throughout the country and drew the attention of social reformers to the squalor and vice of the area, even though these crimes remain unsolved today.
In 1902, American author Jack London
, looking to write a counterpart to Jacob Riis
's seminal book How the Other Half Lives
, donned ragged clothes and boarded in Whitechapel, detailing his experiences in The People of the Abyss
. Riis had recently documented the astoundingly bad conditions in large swaths of the leading city of the United States. London, a socialist, thought it worthwhile to explore conditions in the leading city of the nation that had invented modern capitalism
. He concluded that English poverty was far rougher than the American variety. The juxtaposition of the poverty, homelessness, exploitive work conditions, prostitution, and infant mortality of Whitechapel and other East End locales with some of the greatest personal wealth the world has ever seen made it a focal point for leftist reformers and revolutionaries of all kinds, from George Bernard Shaw
, whose Fabian Society
met regularly in Whitechapel, to Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, who boarded and led rallies in Whitechapel during his exile from Russia. The area is still home to Freedom Press
, the anarchist publishing house founded by Charlotte Wilson
.
The "Elephant Man", Joseph Carey Merrick (1862–1890) became well known in Whitechapel - he was exhibited in a shop on the Whitechapel Road before being helped by Dr Frederick Treves
(1853–1923) at the Royal London Hospital
, opposite the actual shop. There is a museum in the hospital about his life.
Whitechapel remained poor (and colourful) through the first half of the 20th century, though somewhat less desperately so. It suffered great damage in the Blitz
and from the German
V-weapon attacks of World War II
. Since then, Whitechapel has lost most of its notoriety.
Whitechapel Road was the location of two 19th century theatres: 'The Effingham' (1834–1897) and 'The Pavilion' (1828–1935; building demolished in 1962). Charles Dickens, Jr
(eldest child of Charles Dickens
), in his 1879 book Dickens's Dictionary of London, described the Pavilion this way: "A large East-end theatre capable of holding considerably over 3,000 persons. Melodrama of a rough type, farce, pantomime, &c.
" In the early 20th century it became the home of Yiddish theatre, catering to the large Jewish population of the area, and gave birth to the Anglo-Jewish 'Whitechapel Boys' avant-garde literary and artistic movement.
Since at least the 1970s, Whitechapel and other nearby parts of East London have figured prominently in London's art scene. Probably the area's most prominent art venue is the Whitechapel Art Gallery, founded in 1901 and long an outpost of high culture in a poor neighbourhood. As the neighbourhood has gentrified, it has gained citywide, and even international, visibility and support. From 2005 the gallery underwent a major expansion, with the support of £3.26 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The expanded facility opened in 2009.
Whitechapel in the early 21st century has figured prominently in London's punk rock/skuzz rock scene, with the main focal point for this scene being Whitechapel Factory and Rhythm Factory bar/restaurant/nightclub. This scene includes the likes of The Libertines, Zap!, Nova, The Others, Razorlight, and The Rakes, all of whom have had some commercial success in the music charts.
Home to centres such as London Action Resource Centre and rampART, Whitechapel is seen by many as a cultural hub for community based political activism particularly of an anti-authoritarian, anti-wartrend. The anarchist publishing house Freedom Press is nearby in Aldgate and one of the London chapters of Food Not Bombs serves regular meals in Altab Ali Park
on Whitechapel High Street. Whitechapel Anarchist Group has also recently been formed and circulates a local freesheet called W.A.G.
In the past Whitechapel has been home to such individuals as Rudolf Rocker
(1873–1958), anarcho-syndicalist writer, historian and prominent activist who active in the area from 1895 to 1918. Charles Lahr
(1885–1971), anarchist bookseller/publisher and secretary of Whitechapel branch of the Industrial Union of Direct Actionists (IUDA), was also a prominent figure resident in the area. Such individuals in history have helped form the culture of enthusiasm in political alternatives that is enjoyed in the community today.
The Bangladeshis
are the most visible migrant group today, who make up 52% of the Whitechapel ward total population. The East London Mosque
at the end of Whitechapel Road is a major symbol of the resident Islamic community. The mosque group was established as early as 1910, and the demand for a mosque grew as the Sylhet
i community grew rapidly over the years. In 1985 this large, purpose built mosque with a dome and minaret was built in the heart of Whitechapel, attracting thousands of worshippers every week, and it was further expanded with the London Muslim Centre in 2004. The Altab Ali Park
near Adler Street was formerly a church site but was destroyed during the Blitz. It was renamed to 'Altab Ali Park' in memory of a Bangladeshi clothing worker who was the victim of a racially motivated murder on 4 May 1978, and of other victims of racist attacks during the 1970s.
's Pickwick Papers (chapter 22) as the location of the Bull Inn, where the Pickwickians take a coach to Ipswich
. En route, driving along Whitechapel Road, Sam Weller opines that it is "not a wery nice neighbourhood" and notes the correlation between poverty and the abundance of oyster stalls here. One of Fagin
's dens in Dickens's Oliver Twist
was located in Whitechapel and Fagin, himself, was possibly based on a notorious local 'fence'
named Ikey Solomon
(1785–1850). Whitechapel is also the scene of Israel Zangwill
's Children of the Ghetto and the novels of Simon Blumenfield. Several chapters of Sholem Aleichem's classic Yiddish novel "Adventures of Mottel the Cantor's Son
" take place in early 20th Century Whitechapel, depicted from the point of view of an impoverished East European Jewish family fleeing the pogroms.
Brick Lane, the 2003 novel by Monica Ali
is based in Whitechapel and documents the life of a young Bangladesh
i woman's experience of living in Tower Hamlets in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Whitechapel is used as a location in most Jack the Ripper fiction
. One such example is the bizarre White Chappel Scarlet Tracings (1987) by Iain Sinclair
. It also features as the setting for the science fiction
Webcomic
FreakAngels
, written by popular comics
writer Warren Ellis
.
In 2002, Whitechapel was used as the setting for a Sherlock Holmes
film, The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire
, based on the Arthur Conan Doyle
story The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire
.
Born in Whitechapel
Resident in or otherwise associated with Whitechapel
northwards to Highbury & Islington and southwards to West Croydon
was completed in 2010. A further extension is planned in phase 2, to provide a complete rail ring route around south London to Clapham Junction, which is unlikely to be completed before 2015. Whitechapel is also scheduled to be a stop on the Crossrail
project, for which preparatory works began in September 2010 at a large site excavating 'Cambridge Heath Shaft' (located at the eastern end of the Crossrail platform tunnels and adjacent to the junction of Whitechapel Road and Cambridge Heath Road, with Sainsbury’s superstore and car park to the north-west of the site and The Blind Beggar public house immediately to the west). This is now likely to be completed in 2017.
Districts
The nearest London Underground stations are Whitechapel
and Aldgate East
— on the Hammersmith & City
and District Line
s. Whitechapel station is also an interchange with the East London Line
(re-opened as London Overground June 2010) and is a proposed stop on Crossrail 1.
Inner city
The inner city is the central area of a major city or metropolis. In the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland, the term is often applied to the lower-income residential districts in the city centre and nearby areas...
district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
London Borough of Tower Hamlets
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough to the east of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It is in the eastern part of London and covers much of the traditional East End. It also includes much of the redeveloped Docklands region of London, including West India Docks...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England. It is located 3.4 miles (5.5 km) east of Charing Cross
Charing Cross
Charing Cross denotes the junction of Strand, Whitehall and Cockspur Street, just south of Trafalgar Square in central London, England. It is named after the now demolished Eleanor cross that stood there, in what was once the hamlet of Charing. The site of the cross is now occupied by an equestrian...
and roughly bounded by the Bishopsgate
Bishopsgate
Bishopsgate is a road and ward in the northeast part of the City of London, extending north from Gracechurch Street to Norton Folgate. It is named after one of the original seven gates in London Wall...
thoroughfare on the west, Fashion Street on the north, Brady Street and Cavell Street on the east and The Highway on the south. The resident population are of varied ethnic origin, primarily Bengali
British Bangladeshi
A British Bangladeshi is a person of Bangladeshi origin who resides in the United Kingdom having emigrated to the UK and attained citizenship through naturalisation or whose parents did so; they are also known as British Bengalis...
. It is notably best known for being the location of the infamous Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper
"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...
murders in the late 1880s. The murderer was never identified, although rumours suggest over 100 names.
History
Whitechapel High Street
Whitechapel High Street is a road in Whitechapel in the East End of London, connecting Aldgate High Street with Whitechapel Road. Now part of the A11 it was anciently part of the Roman road from London to Colchester...
, extending further east as Whitechapel Road
Whitechapel Road
Whitechapel Road is a major arterial road in the East End of London, England. It connects Whitechapel High Street to the west with Mile End Road to the east and forms part of the A11 road. It is a main shopping street in the Whitechapel area of Tower Hamlets and has a street market...
, named after a small chapel of ease
Chapel of ease
A chapel of ease is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently....
dedicated to St Mary. The church's earliest known rector was Hugh de Fulbourne in 1329 and around 1338 it became the parish church of Whitechapel, called, for unknown reasons, St Mary Matfelon
St Mary Matfelon
The St Mary Matfelon church, popularly known as St Mary's, Whitechapel, was an Anglican church in Whitechapel, London. It was situated on Whitechapel Road.-History:...
. The church was destroyed through enemy action in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and its location and graveyard is now a public garden
Altab Ali Park
Altab Ali Park is a small park on Adler Street, White Church Lane and Whitechapel High Street, London E1; formerly known as St. Mary's Park it is the site of the old 14th Century white chapel, St. Mary Matfelon, from which the area of Whitechapel gets its name. Having been destroyed in The Blitz...
on the south side of the road.
Whitechapel High Street and Whitechapel Road are now part of the A11 road, anciently the initial part of the Roman road
Roman road
The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...
between the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
and Colchester
Colchester
Colchester is an historic town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001, it had a population of 104,390. However, the population is rapidly increasing, and has been named as one of Britain's fastest growing towns. As the...
, exiting the city at Aldgate
Aldgate
Aldgate was the eastern most gateway through London Wall leading from the City of London to Whitechapel and the east end of London. Aldgate gives its name to a ward of the City...
. In later times travellers to and from London on this route were accommodated at the many coaching inns which lined Whitechapel High Street.
By the late 16th century the suburb of Whitechapel and the surrounding area had started becoming 'the other half' of London. Located east of Aldgate
Aldgate
Aldgate was the eastern most gateway through London Wall leading from the City of London to Whitechapel and the east end of London. Aldgate gives its name to a ward of the City...
, outside the City Walls
London Wall
London Wall was the defensive wall first built by the Romans around Londinium, their strategically important port town on the River Thames in what is now the United Kingdom, and subsequently maintained until the 18th century. It is now the name of a road in the City of London running along part of...
and beyond official controls, it attracted the less fragrant activities of the city, particularly tanneries, breweries, foundries (including the Whitechapel Bell Foundry
Whitechapel Bell Foundry
The Whitechapel Bell Foundry is a bell foundry in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London. The foundry is listed by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain...
which later cast Philadelphia's Liberty Bell
Liberty Bell
The Liberty Bell is an iconic symbol of American Independence, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Formerly placed in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House , the bell was commissioned from the London firm of Lester and Pack in 1752, and was cast with the lettering "Proclaim LIBERTY...
and London's Big Ben
Clock Tower, Palace of Westminster
Big Ben is the nickname for the great bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, and is generally extended to refer to the clock or the clock tower as well. It is the largest four-faced chiming clock and the third-tallest free-standing clock tower in the world...
) and slaughterhouse
Slaughterhouse
A slaughterhouse or abattoir is a facility where animals are killed for consumption as food products.Approximately 45-50% of the animal can be turned into edible products...
s.
In 1680, the Rector of Whitechapel, the Rev. Ralph Davenant
Ralph Davenant
Reverend Ralph Davenant founded Davenant Foundation School in 1680, when he left £100 in his will to start up a school for the poor boys of Whitechapel, London.Ralph Davenant was Rector of St Mary's in Whitechapel in the East End of London.-External links:*...
, of the parish of St. Mary Matfellon, bequeathed a legacy for the education of forty boys and thirty girls of the parish - the Davenant Centre
Davenant Centre
The Davenant Centre, situated in Whitechapel in the East End of London is known as a 'centre of excellence' for youth services in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The Davenant Centre was built to remember the community work of the Reverend Ralph Davenant, Rector of Whitechapel, who left a...
is still in existence although the Davenant Foundation School
Davenant Foundation School
Davenant Foundation School is a coeducational, Christian Ecumenical School, founded in 1680, currently located in Loughton, Essex, England. The school is a specialist Sports College.-Foundation in Whitechapel:...
moved from Whitechapel to Loughton
Loughton
Loughton is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex. It is located between 11 and 13 miles north east of Charing Cross in London, south of the M25 and west of the M11 motorway and has boundaries with Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill...
in 1966.
Population shifts from rural areas to London from the 17th century to the mid-19th century resulted in great numbers of more or less destitute people taking up residence amidst the industries and mercantile interests that had attracted them.
In 1797 the body of the sailor Richard Parker, hanged for his leading role in the Nore mutiny
Spithead and Nore mutinies
The Spithead and Nore mutinies were two major mutinies by sailors of the Royal Navy in 1797. There were also discontent and minor incidents on ships in other locations in the same year. They were not violent insurrections, being more in the nature of strikes, demanding better pay and conditions...
, was given a Christian burial at Whitechapel after his wife exhumed it from the unconsecrated burial ground to which it was originally consigned. Crowds gathered to see the body before it was buried.
By the 1840s Whitechapel, along with the enclaves of Wapping
Wapping
Wapping is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets which forms part of the Docklands to the east of the City of London. It is situated between the north bank of the River Thames and the ancient thoroughfare simply called The Highway...
, Aldgate
Aldgate
Aldgate was the eastern most gateway through London Wall leading from the City of London to Whitechapel and the east end of London. Aldgate gives its name to a ward of the City...
, Bethnal Green
Bethnal Green
Bethnal Green is a district of the East End of London, England and part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, with the far northern parts falling within the London Borough of Hackney. Located northeast of Charing Cross, it was historically an agrarian hamlet in the ancient parish of Stepney,...
, Mile End
Mile End
Mile End is an area within the East End of London, England, and part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is located east-northeast of Charing Cross...
, Limehouse
Limehouse
Limehouse is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is on the northern bank of the River Thames opposite Rotherhithe and between Ratcliff to the west and Millwall to the east....
, Bow
Bow, London
Bow is an area of London, England, United Kingdom in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a built-up, mostly residential district located east of Charing Cross, and is a part of the East End.-Bridges at Bowe:...
, Bromley-by-Bow
Bromley-by-Bow
Bromley-by-Bow, historically and officially Bromley, is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is an inner-city district situated east north-east of Charing Cross.-Toponymy:...
, Poplar
Poplar, London
Poplar is a historic, mainly residential area of the East End of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is about east of Charing Cross. Historically a hamlet in the parish of Stepney, Middlesex, in 1817 Poplar became a civil parish. In 1855 the Poplar District of the Metropolis was...
, Shadwell
Shadwell
Shadwell is an inner-city district situated within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets located on the north bank of the Thames between Wapping to the south and Ratcliff to the east...
and Stepney
Stepney
Stepney is a district of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in London's East End that grew out of a medieval village around St Dunstan's church and the 15th century ribbon development of Mile End Road...
(collectively known today as "the East End
East End of London
The East End of London, also known simply as the East End, is the area of London, England, United Kingdom, east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames. Although not defined by universally accepted formal boundaries, the River Lea can be considered another boundary...
"), had evolved, or devolved, into classic "Dickensian" London, with problems of poverty and overcrowding. Whitechapel Road itself was not particularly squalid through most of this period—it was the warrens of small dark streets branching from it that contained the greatest suffering, filth and danger, such as Dorset Street
Dorset Street, London
For the Dublin street of the same name, see Dorset Street Dorset Street was situated at the heart of the Spitalfields rookery in the East End of London, England. It should not be confused with the road of the same name in Marylebone, in London's West End...
(now a private alley but once described as "the worst street in London"), Thrawl Street, Berners Street (renamed Henriques Street
Henriques Street
Henriques Street, formerly known as Berner Street, is a narrow East End street off Commercial Road in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.-Landmarks:...
), Wentworth Street and others.
William Booth
William Booth
William Booth was a British Methodist preacher who founded The Salvation Army and became its first General...
began his Christian Revival Society, preaching the gospel in a tent, erected in the Friends Burial Ground, Thomas Street, Whitechapel, in 1865. Others joined his Christian Mission, and on August 7, 1878 the Salvation Army
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
was formed at a meeting held at 272 Whitechapel Road. A statue commemorates both his mission and his work in helping the poor.
In the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
the basal population of poor English country stock was swelled by immigrants from all over, particularly Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and Jewish. Writing of the period 1883–1884, Yiddish theatre
Yiddish theatre
Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Central European Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revues; melodrama; naturalist drama; expressionist and...
actor Jacob Adler
Jacob Pavlovich Adler
Jacob Pavlovich Adler , born Yankev P. Adler, was a Jewish actor and star of Yiddish theater, first in Odessa, and later in London and New York City....
wrote, "The further we penetrated into this Whitechapel, the more our hearts sank. Was this London? Never in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, never later in the worst slums of New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, were we to see such poverty as in the London of the 1880s." This endemic poverty drove many women to prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
. In October 1888 the Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan police
Metropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...
estimated that there were 1,200 prostitutes "of very low class" resident in Whitechapel and about 62 brothels. Reference is specifically made to them in Charles Booth
Charles Booth (philanthropist)
Charles Booth was an English philanthropist and social researcher. He is most famed for his innovative work on documenting working class life in London at the end of the 19th century, work that along with that of Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree influenced government intervention against poverty in the...
's Life and Labour of the People of London
Life and Labour of the People of London
Life and Labour of the People in London was a multi-volume book by Charles Booth which provided a survey of the lives and occupations of the working classes of late nineteenth century London. The first edition was published in two volumes as Life and Labour of the People, Vol. I and Labour and...
, specially to dwellings called Blackwall Buildings
Blackwall Buildings
Blackwall Buildings were built in 1890 in Thomas Street, Whitechapel. Thomas Street was later renamed Fulboune Street. They were demolished in 1969.- History :...
belonging to Blackwall Railway. Such prostitutes were numbered amongst the eleven Whitechapel Murders (1888-91)
The Whitechapel Murders (1888-91)
The Whitechapel murders were committed in or near the impoverished Whitechapel District in the East End of London between 3 April 1888 and 13 February 1891. Eleven women were killed; the crimes remain unsolved...
, some of which were committed by the legendary serial killer known as 'Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper
"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...
'. These attacks caused widespread terror in the district and throughout the country and drew the attention of social reformers to the squalor and vice of the area, even though these crimes remain unsolved today.
In 1902, American author Jack London
Jack London
John Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone...
, looking to write a counterpart to Jacob Riis
Jacob Riis
Jacob August Riis was a Danish American social reformer, "muckraking" journalist and social documentary photographer. He is known for using his photographic and journalistic talents to help the impoverished in New York City; those impoverished New Yorkers were the subject of most of his prolific...
's seminal book How the Other Half Lives
How the Other Half Lives
How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York was an early publication of photojournalism by Jacob Riis, documenting squalid living conditions in New York City slums in the 1880s...
, donned ragged clothes and boarded in Whitechapel, detailing his experiences in The People of the Abyss
The People of the Abyss
The People of the Abyss is a book by Jack London about life in the East End of London in 1902. He wrote this first-hand account by living in the East End for several months, sometimes staying in workhouses or sleeping on the streets...
. Riis had recently documented the astoundingly bad conditions in large swaths of the leading city of the United States. London, a socialist, thought it worthwhile to explore conditions in the leading city of the nation that had invented modern capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
. He concluded that English poverty was far rougher than the American variety. The juxtaposition of the poverty, homelessness, exploitive work conditions, prostitution, and infant mortality of Whitechapel and other East End locales with some of the greatest personal wealth the world has ever seen made it a focal point for leftist reformers and revolutionaries of all kinds, from George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
, whose Fabian Society
Fabian Society
The Fabian Society is a British socialist movement, whose purpose is to advance the principles of democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary, means. It is best known for its initial ground-breaking work beginning late in the 19th century and continuing up to World...
met regularly in Whitechapel, to Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, who boarded and led rallies in Whitechapel during his exile from Russia. The area is still home to Freedom Press
Freedom Press
The Freedom Press is an anarchist publishing house in Whitechapel, London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1886, it is the largest anarchist publishing house in the nation and the oldest of its kind in the English speaking world. It is based at 84b Whitechapel High Street in the East End of London...
, the anarchist publishing house founded by Charlotte Wilson
Charlotte Wilson
Charlotte M. Wilson was an English anarchist who co-founded Freedom newspaper in 1886 with Peter Kropotkin, and edited, published, and largely financed it during its first decade...
.
The "Elephant Man", Joseph Carey Merrick (1862–1890) became well known in Whitechapel - he was exhibited in a shop on the Whitechapel Road before being helped by Dr Frederick Treves
Sir Frederick Treves, 1st Baronet
Sir Frederick Treves, 1st Baronet, GCVO, CH, CB was a prominent British surgeon of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, now most famous for his friendship with Joseph Merrick, "the Elephant Man".-Eminent surgeon:...
(1853–1923) at the Royal London Hospital
Royal London Hospital
The Royal London Hospital was founded in September 1740 and was originally named The London Infirmary. The name changed to The London Hospital in 1748 and then to The Royal London Hospital on its 250th anniversary in 1990. The first patients were treated at a house in Featherstone Street,...
, opposite the actual shop. There is a museum in the hospital about his life.
Whitechapel remained poor (and colourful) through the first half of the 20th century, though somewhat less desperately so. It suffered great damage in the Blitz
The Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
and from the German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
V-weapon attacks of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Since then, Whitechapel has lost most of its notoriety.
Culture
Charles Dickens, Jr
Charles Dickens, Jr, born Charles Culliford Boz Dickens , was the first child of the novelist Charles Dickens and his wife Catherine. A failed businessman, he became the editor of his father's magazine All the Year Round, and a successful writer of dictionaries...
(eldest child of Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
), in his 1879 book Dickens's Dictionary of London, described the Pavilion this way: "A large East-end theatre capable of holding considerably over 3,000 persons. Melodrama of a rough type, farce, pantomime, &c.
Et cetera
Et cetera is a Latin expression that means "and other things", or "and so forth". It is taken directly from the Latin expression which literally means "and the rest " and is a loan-translation of the Greek "καὶ τὰ ἕτερα"...
" In the early 20th century it became the home of Yiddish theatre, catering to the large Jewish population of the area, and gave birth to the Anglo-Jewish 'Whitechapel Boys' avant-garde literary and artistic movement.
Since at least the 1970s, Whitechapel and other nearby parts of East London have figured prominently in London's art scene. Probably the area's most prominent art venue is the Whitechapel Art Gallery, founded in 1901 and long an outpost of high culture in a poor neighbourhood. As the neighbourhood has gentrified, it has gained citywide, and even international, visibility and support. From 2005 the gallery underwent a major expansion, with the support of £3.26 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The expanded facility opened in 2009.
Whitechapel in the early 21st century has figured prominently in London's punk rock/skuzz rock scene, with the main focal point for this scene being Whitechapel Factory and Rhythm Factory bar/restaurant/nightclub. This scene includes the likes of The Libertines, Zap!, Nova, The Others, Razorlight, and The Rakes, all of whom have had some commercial success in the music charts.
Home to centres such as London Action Resource Centre and rampART, Whitechapel is seen by many as a cultural hub for community based political activism particularly of an anti-authoritarian, anti-wartrend. The anarchist publishing house Freedom Press is nearby in Aldgate and one of the London chapters of Food Not Bombs serves regular meals in Altab Ali Park
Altab Ali Park
Altab Ali Park is a small park on Adler Street, White Church Lane and Whitechapel High Street, London E1; formerly known as St. Mary's Park it is the site of the old 14th Century white chapel, St. Mary Matfelon, from which the area of Whitechapel gets its name. Having been destroyed in The Blitz...
on Whitechapel High Street. Whitechapel Anarchist Group has also recently been formed and circulates a local freesheet called W.A.G.
In the past Whitechapel has been home to such individuals as Rudolf Rocker
Rudolf Rocker
Johann Rudolf Rocker was an anarcho-syndicalist writer and activist. A self-professed anarchist without adjectives, Rocker believed that anarchist schools of thought represented "only different methods of economy" and that the first objective for anarchists was "to secure the personal and social...
(1873–1958), anarcho-syndicalist writer, historian and prominent activist who active in the area from 1895 to 1918. Charles Lahr
Charles Lahr
Charles Lahr was a German-born anarchist, London bookseller and publisher.-Life:He was born Carl Lahr at Bad Nauheim in the Rhineland, the eldest of 15 children in a farming family. He left Germany in 1905 to avoid military service and went to England.In London he encountered the anarchist Guy...
(1885–1971), anarchist bookseller/publisher and secretary of Whitechapel branch of the Industrial Union of Direct Actionists (IUDA), was also a prominent figure resident in the area. Such individuals in history have helped form the culture of enthusiasm in political alternatives that is enjoyed in the community today.
British Bangladeshi
A British Bangladeshi is a person of Bangladeshi origin who resides in the United Kingdom having emigrated to the UK and attained citizenship through naturalisation or whose parents did so; they are also known as British Bengalis...
are the most visible migrant group today, who make up 52% of the Whitechapel ward total population. The East London Mosque
East London Mosque
The East London Mosque, situated in the inner London Borough of Tower Hamlets between Whitechapel and Aldgate, serves one of the UK's largest Muslim communities. It lies near the edge of the City of London, the capital's busy business area, and just a couple of miles from the fast-expanding London...
at the end of Whitechapel Road is a major symbol of the resident Islamic community. The mosque group was established as early as 1910, and the demand for a mosque grew as the Sylhet
Sylhet
Sylhet , is a major city in north-eastern Bangladesh. It is the main city of Sylhet Division and Sylhet District, and was granted metropolitan city status in March 2009. Sylhet is located on the banks of the Surma Valley and is surrounded by the Jaintia, Khasi and Tripura hills...
i community grew rapidly over the years. In 1985 this large, purpose built mosque with a dome and minaret was built in the heart of Whitechapel, attracting thousands of worshippers every week, and it was further expanded with the London Muslim Centre in 2004. The Altab Ali Park
Altab Ali Park
Altab Ali Park is a small park on Adler Street, White Church Lane and Whitechapel High Street, London E1; formerly known as St. Mary's Park it is the site of the old 14th Century white chapel, St. Mary Matfelon, from which the area of Whitechapel gets its name. Having been destroyed in The Blitz...
near Adler Street was formerly a church site but was destroyed during the Blitz. It was renamed to 'Altab Ali Park' in memory of a Bangladeshi clothing worker who was the victim of a racially motivated murder on 4 May 1978, and of other victims of racist attacks during the 1970s.
In literature
Whitechapel features in Charles DickensCharles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
's Pickwick Papers (chapter 22) as the location of the Bull Inn, where the Pickwickians take a coach to Ipswich
Ipswich
Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...
. En route, driving along Whitechapel Road, Sam Weller opines that it is "not a wery nice neighbourhood" and notes the correlation between poverty and the abundance of oyster stalls here. One of Fagin
Fagin
Fagin is a fictional character who appears as an antagonist of the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist, referred to in the preface of the novel as a "receiver of stolen goods", but referred to more frequently within the actual story as the "merry old gentleman" or simply the "Jew".-Character:Born...
's dens in Dickens's Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens, published by Richard Bentley in 1838. The story is about an orphan Oliver Twist, who endures a miserable existence in a workhouse and then is placed with an undertaker. He escapes and travels to...
was located in Whitechapel and Fagin, himself, was possibly based on a notorious local 'fence'
Fence (criminal)
A fence is an individual who knowingly buys stolen property for later resale, sometimes in a legitimate market. The fence thus acts as a middleman between thieves and the eventual buyers of stolen goods who may or may not be aware that the goods are stolen. As a verb, the word describes the...
named Ikey Solomon
Ikey Solomon
Isaac "Ikey" Solomon was an English criminal who became an extremely successful receiver of stolen property. He gained fame for his crimes, escape from arrest, and his high-profile recapture and trial...
(1785–1850). Whitechapel is also the scene of Israel Zangwill
Israel Zangwill
Israel Zangwill was a British humorist and writer.-Biography:Zangwill was born in London on January 21, 1864 in a family of Jewish immigrants from Czarist Russia, to Moses Zangwill from what is now Latvia and Ellen Hannah Marks Zangwill from what is now Poland. He dedicated his life to championing...
's Children of the Ghetto and the novels of Simon Blumenfield. Several chapters of Sholem Aleichem's classic Yiddish novel "Adventures of Mottel the Cantor's Son
Adventures of Mottel the Cantor's Son
Motl, Peysi the Cantor's Son subtitled The Writings of an Orphan Boy was the last novel by the Yiddish author Sholem Aleichem, and unfinished at the time of his death. It was published in two separate volumes...
" take place in early 20th Century Whitechapel, depicted from the point of view of an impoverished East European Jewish family fleeing the pogroms.
Brick Lane, the 2003 novel by Monica Ali
Monica Ali
Monica Ali is a British writer of Bangladeshi origin. She is the author of Brick Lane, her debut novel, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 2003...
is based in Whitechapel and documents the life of a young Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
i woman's experience of living in Tower Hamlets in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Whitechapel is used as a location in most Jack the Ripper fiction
Jack the Ripper fiction
Jack the Ripper, the notorious serial killer who terrorised Whitechapel in 1888, features in works of fiction ranging from gothic novels published at the time of the murders to recent motion pictures, televised dramas and computer games....
. One such example is the bizarre White Chappel Scarlet Tracings (1987) by Iain Sinclair
Iain Sinclair
Iain Sinclair FRSL is a British writer and filmmaker. Much of his work is rooted in London, most recently within the influences of psychogeography.-Life and work:...
. It also features as the setting for the science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
Webcomic
Webcomic
Webcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are comics published on a website. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers or often in self-published books....
FreakAngels
FreakAngels
FreakAngels is a free weekly webcomic created by Eagle Award-winning writer Warren Ellis and artist Paul Duffield. In collected form, it is published in book format by Avatar Press...
, written by popular comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
writer Warren Ellis
Warren Ellis
Warren Girard Ellis is an English author of comics, novels, and television, who is well-known for sociocultural commentary, both through his online presence and through his writing, which covers transhumanist themes...
.
In 2002, Whitechapel was used as the setting for a Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
film, The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire
The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire
The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire is a non-canonical Sherlock Holmes film utilizing an original story. The film was produced in 2002 for The Hallmark Channel as the last installment in a series of Hallmark Sherlock Holmes films.-Plot:...
, based on the Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
story The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire
The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire
"The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short-stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes.- Plot summary :...
.
Other noteworthy natives or residents
In addition to the prominent figures detailed in the article:Born in Whitechapel
- Damon AlbarnDamon AlbarnDamon Albarn is an English singer-songwriter and record producer who has been involved in many high profile projects, coming to prominence as the frontman and primary songwriter of Britpop band Blur...
- pop musician, lead singer of BlurBlur (band)Blur is an English alternative rock band. Formed in London in 1989 as Seymour, the group consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. Blur's debut album Leisure incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegazing...
and co-creator of virtual cartoon rock band GorillazGorillazGorillaz is an English musical project created in 1998 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. This project consists of Gorillaz music itself and an extensive fictional universe depicting a "virtual band" of cartoon characters...
, born 1968 - Abraham BeameAbraham BeameAbraham David "Abe" Beame was mayor of New York City from 1974 to 1977. As such, he presided over the city during the fiscal crisis of the mid-1970s, during which the city was almost forced to declare bankruptcy....
, first Jewish mayor of New York City, 1906–2001 - Jack Kid BergJack Kid BergJudah Bergman, known as Jack Kid Berg or Jackie Kid Berg , was an English boxer born in the East End of London.-Biography:Judah Bergman was born in Romford Street near Cable Street, St George in the East, Stepney...
, boxer, "The Whitechapel Windmill", British Lightweight Champion 1934 - Stanley BlackStanley BlackStanley Black OBE was an English Bandleader, Composer, conductor, arranger and pianist. He wrote and arranged many film scores and recorded prolifically for the Decca label...
, bandleader, 1913-2002. - Simon BlumenfeldSimon BlumenfeldSimon Blumenfeld was a Jewish columnist, author, playwright, theatre critic, editor and communist.Although he described himself as Jewish, he was born to a family of Sicilian refugees, who eventually settled in Whitechapel, in the East End of London...
, novelist, playwright and columnist, 1907-2005. - Georgia BrownGeorgia Brown (English singer)Georgia Brown was a British singer and actress.Born Lillian Claire Laizer Getel Klot in the East End of London to Mark and Annie Kirschenbaum Klot, Jewish immigrants to the United Kingdom, she was dispatched to Wales during the Blitz to escape the bombings in London...
(born Lillian Klot), actress and singer, 1933-1992. - Tina Charles, 1970s disco artist, born 1954
- Peter CheyneyPeter CheyneyReginald Evelyn Peter Southouse Cheyney, known as Peter Cheyney, was a British crime fiction writer who flourished between 1936 and 1951...
, mystery writer and journalist, 1896–1951 - Jack CohenJack Cohen (Tesco)Sir John Edward Cohen , born Jacob Edward Kohen and commonly known as Jack Cohen, was a British businessman who founded the Tesco supermarket chain.-Career:...
, Anglo-Jewish businessman who founded the Tesco supermarket chain, 1898–1979 - Ashley ColeAshley ColeAshley Cole is an Barbadian-English professional footballer who plays for Chelsea and the England national team. He plays as a left-back and has been named one of the best in the world....
, ChelseaChelsea F.C.Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...
and EnglandEngland national football teamThe England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
footballer 1980 - Jack "Spot" Comer, Jewish gangster and anti-Fascist, 1912–1996
- Roger DelgadoRoger DelgadoRoger Caesar Marius Bernard de Delgado Torres Castillo Roberto was an English actor, best known for his role as the first Master in Doctor Who....
, actor (known for playing "The Master" in Doctor Who), 1918–1973 - Lloyd DoyleyLloyd DoyleyLloyd Colin Doyley is an English footballer who plays for Watford as a defender. He is primarily a right-back, but can also play as a centre-back and left-back. He is the longest-serving current player for the Hornets, and is contracted until 2012.- Watford : Doyley was born in Whitechapel, London...
, footballer - Bud FlanaganBud FlanaganBud Flanagan was a popular English music hall and vaudeville entertainer from the 1930s until the 1960s. Flanagan was famous as a wartime entertainer and his achievements were recognised when he was awarded the O.B.E. in 1960.- Family background :Flaganan was born Chaim Reuben Weintrop in...
, (born Chaim Reuven Weintrop), music hall comedian on stage, radio, film and television, 1896–1968 - Kemal IzzetKemal IzzetKemal Izzet is an English professional footballer. He currently plays for Colchester United. His father is a Turkish Cypriot, and his older brother, Mustafa Izzet, was a Turkish international footballer.-Career:...
, footballer - Muzzy Izzet, footballer
- Charlie LeeCharlie LeeCharlie Lee is an English footballer for Gillingham, who can play either as a defender or as a holding midfield player.-Early career:...
, Peterborough UnitedPeterborough United F.C.Peterborough United Football Club are a professional English football club based in Peterborough. Peterborough United formed in 1934 and played in the old Midland League, which they won six times; eventually being admitted to the Football League in 1960, replacing Gateshead. Their home ground is...
footballer - Emanuel LitvinoffEmanuel LitvinoffEmanuel Litvinoff was a British writer and human rights campaigner, and a well known figure in Anglo-Jewish literature.-Background:...
, Anglo-Jewish author of Journey Through a Small Planet - Margaret Pepys (née Kite), mother of diarist Samuel PepysSamuel PepysSamuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
, d. 1667 - Abe SapersteinAbe SapersteinAbraham M. Saperstein was an owner and coach of the Savoy Big Five, which later became the Harlem Globetrotters...
, founder of the Harlem GlobetrottersHarlem GlobetrottersThe Harlem Globetrotters are an exhibition basketball team that combines athleticism, theater and comedy. The executive offices for the team are currently in downtown Phoenix, Arizona; the team is owned by Shamrock Holdings, which oversees the various investments of the Roy E. Disney family.Over...
basketball team - Sarah TaylorSarah Taylor (cricketer)Sarah Jane Taylor is an English cricketer. She is a wicketkeeper-batsman known for her free flowing stroke play, opening the batting in one day matches and batting in the middle order in Tests. She was a member of the England team which retained the Ashes in Australia in 2008. She plays county...
, Cricketer - Alan TilvernAlan TilvernAlan Tilvern was a British film and television actor. He is best known for his role as R.K. Maroon in the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit.-Television appearances:* Doctor Who serial, Planet of Giants...
, film and television actor, 1918–2003 - Anwar Uddin, captain of Dagenham and Redbridge
- Dan Ellis, 5x UK Windsurfing Champion, IFCA World Champion 2007. born 1978 on Parfett St
- Ezekiel Baker, Inventor of the Baker Rifle, used during the Napoleonic Wars. Born in Whitechapel
Resident in or otherwise associated with Whitechapel
- Richard BrandonRichard BrandonRichard Brandon was a 17th century English hangman who inherited his role from his father Gregory Brandon and was sometimes known as "Young Gregory"...
(? - June 20, 1649), the reputed executioner of King Charles ICharles I of EnglandCharles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
was buried at the Whitechapel parish church of St Mary Matfelon. The church register records that he lived in Rosemary Lane (modern Royal Mint Street). - Jack the RipperJack the Ripper"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...
, serial killerSerial killerA serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
. - Charles LahrCharles LahrCharles Lahr was a German-born anarchist, London bookseller and publisher.-Life:He was born Carl Lahr at Bad Nauheim in the Rhineland, the eldest of 15 children in a farming family. He left Germany in 1905 to avoid military service and went to England.In London he encountered the anarchist Guy...
, anarchist bookseller/publisher, secretary of Whitechapel branch of the Industrial Union of Direct Actionists (IUDA), 1885-1971. - Rudolf RockerRudolf RockerJohann Rudolf Rocker was an anarcho-syndicalist writer and activist. A self-professed anarchist without adjectives, Rocker believed that anarchist schools of thought represented "only different methods of economy" and that the first objective for anarchists was "to secure the personal and social...
, anarcho-syndicalist writer, historian and prominent activist, active in Whitechapel 1895-1918, 1873–1958 - Obadiah ShuttleworthObadiah ShuttleworthObadiah Shuttleworth , English composer, violinist and organist, was the son of Thomas Shuttleworth of Spitalfields in London. Thomas was a professional music copyist and harpsichord player.The exact date of Obadiah's birth is uncertain....
, composer, violinist and organist of the parish church, d. 1734. - Avrom StenclAbraham Nahum Stencl-Life:Stencl was born in Czeladź in south-western Poland, and studied at the yeshiva in Sosnowice, where his brother was rabbi.He left home in 1917; he joined a Zionist community, the HeHalutz Group. His views were not in fact Zionist, but the agricultural work appealed...
, Yiddish poet, early companion of Franz KafkaFranz KafkaFranz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
, published Loshn and Lebn in Whitechapel, 1897-1983.
Education
- For details of education in Whitechapel see the List of schools in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Transport
The East London line extensionEast London line extension
The East London line extension project is a British railway engineering project in London, managed by Transport for London. The project involves extending the East London Line and making it part of the mainline London Overground network...
northwards to Highbury & Islington and southwards to West Croydon
West Croydon station
West Croydon station is a transport interchange for National Rail and Tramlink services, as well as London Buses. It is in the London Borough of Croydon and Travelcard Zone 5...
was completed in 2010. A further extension is planned in phase 2, to provide a complete rail ring route around south London to Clapham Junction, which is unlikely to be completed before 2015. Whitechapel is also scheduled to be a stop on the Crossrail
Crossrail
Crossrail is a project to build a major new railway link under central London. The name refers to the first of two routes which are the responsibility of Crossrail Ltd. It is based on an entirely new east-west tunnel with a central section from to Liverpool Street station...
project, for which preparatory works began in September 2010 at a large site excavating 'Cambridge Heath Shaft' (located at the eastern end of the Crossrail platform tunnels and adjacent to the junction of Whitechapel Road and Cambridge Heath Road, with Sainsbury’s superstore and car park to the north-west of the site and The Blind Beggar public house immediately to the west). This is now likely to be completed in 2017.
Nearest places
- AldgateAldgateAldgate was the eastern most gateway through London Wall leading from the City of London to Whitechapel and the east end of London. Aldgate gives its name to a ward of the City...
- Bethnal GreenBethnal GreenBethnal Green is a district of the East End of London, England and part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, with the far northern parts falling within the London Borough of Hackney. Located northeast of Charing Cross, it was historically an agrarian hamlet in the ancient parish of Stepney,...
- LimehouseLimehouseLimehouse is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is on the northern bank of the River Thames opposite Rotherhithe and between Ratcliff to the west and Millwall to the east....
- ShadwellShadwellShadwell is an inner-city district situated within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets located on the north bank of the Thames between Wapping to the south and Ratcliff to the east...
- StepneyStepneyStepney is a district of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in London's East End that grew out of a medieval village around St Dunstan's church and the 15th century ribbon development of Mile End Road...
- ShoreditchShoreditchShoreditch is an area of London within the London Borough of Hackney in England. It is a built-up part of the inner city immediately to the north of the City of London, located east-northeast of Charing Cross.-Etymology:...
- SpitalfieldsSpitalfieldsSpitalfields is a former parish in the borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London, near to Liverpool Street station and Brick Lane. The area straddles Commercial Street and is home to many markets, including the historic Old Spitalfields Market, founded in the 17th century, Sunday...
- WappingWappingWapping is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets which forms part of the Docklands to the east of the City of London. It is situated between the north bank of the River Thames and the ancient thoroughfare simply called The Highway...
The nearest London Underground stations are Whitechapel
Whitechapel tube station
Whitechapel is a London Underground and London Overground station on Whitechapel Road in the Whitechapel neighbourhood of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in east London, England. The station is located on the east–west tracks shared by the District line and Hammersmith and City line and is on...
and Aldgate East
Aldgate East tube station
Aldgate East is a London Underground station located between Aldgate and Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.The station is in Travelcard Zone 1...
— on the Hammersmith & City
Hammersmith & City Line
The Hammersmith & City line is a subsurface London Underground line. It connects Hammersmith in the west with Barking in the east, running through the northern part of central London. It is coloured salmon pink on the Tube map...
and District Line
District Line
The District line is a line of the London Underground, coloured green on the Tube map. It is a "sub-surface" line, running through the central area in shallow cut-and-cover tunnels. It is the busiest of the sub-surface lines. Out of the 60 stations served, 25 are underground...
s. Whitechapel station is also an interchange with the East London Line
East London Line
The East London Line is a London Overground line which runs north to south through the East End, Docklands and South areas of London.Built in 1869 by the East London Railway Company, which reused the Thames Tunnel, originally intended for horse-drawn carriages, the line became part of the London...
(re-opened as London Overground June 2010) and is a proposed stop on Crossrail 1.
Future Developments
Whitechapel Market and the A11 corridor is currently the subject of a £20 million investment to improve the public spaces along the route. The London Boroughs of Tower Hamlets & Newham are working with English Heritage and Transport for London to refurbish the historic buildings at this location and improve the market. High Street 2012See also
- The Whitechapel Murders (1888-91)The Whitechapel Murders (1888-91)The Whitechapel murders were committed in or near the impoverished Whitechapel District in the East End of London between 3 April 1888 and 13 February 1891. Eleven women were killed; the crimes remain unsolved...
- Jack the RipperJack the Ripper"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...
- British BangladeshiBritish BangladeshiA British Bangladeshi is a person of Bangladeshi origin who resides in the United Kingdom having emigrated to the UK and attained citizenship through naturalisation or whose parents did so; they are also known as British Bengalis...
- Stepney Historical Trust
External links
- Official web site for the ward of Whitechapel
- Primary source articles
- Tower Hamlets History Online
- Jack LondonJack LondonJohn Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone...
- The People of the AbyssThe People of the AbyssThe People of the Abyss is a book by Jack London about life in the East End of London in 1902. He wrote this first-hand account by living in the East End for several months, sometimes staying in workhouses or sleeping on the streets...
- account of his 1902 stay amongst the East End poor (Text) - Nighttime photos of Whitechapel and environs. Commentary is in German, but it is mostly photos.