A Corner in Petticoat Lane, by L. Raven-Hill

A Corner in Petticoat Lane

Leonard Raven-Hill

1900

Walter Besant's East London (1901), facing p. 196.

In his chapter on "The Alien," Walter Besant writes at some length on the Jewish element in the East End, explaining that "The place and time in which to see the poorer Jews of London collected together is on Sunday morning in Wentworth Street and Middlesex Street, Aldgate — the old Petticoat Lane. These streets and those to the right and left are inhabited entirely by Jews; Sunday is their market-day; all the shops are open; the streets are occupied by a triple line of stalls, on which are exposed for sale all kinds of things, but chiefly garments — coats and trousers. There is a mighty hubbub of those who chaffer and those who offer and those who endeavor to attract attention" .

Scanned image and text by Jacqueline Banerjee.

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