When I set off on a nighttime Jack the Ripper tour exploring the East side of London, I was expecting a lighthearted excursion (as much as a serial murder mystery tour could be) and an interesting way to explore a new part of the city with a tour guide. What I didn’t expect was to be educated on London’s history involving major class distinctions and the separation between East and West London.
Walking around the East side, I noticed numerous new, clean, and polished buildings that were architecturally magnificent. These newly developed buildings did not have the classical look I had become used to in West London. For example, the Lancaster Gate Hotel near Hyde park, where we were residing for our stay, was surrounded by illustrious white mansions. Although far from run down, one could tell that these buildings were not modern designs, unlike in the East.
Our tour guide told us that before World War II, Eastern London was overpopulated and impoverished. It was expected that buildings did not have electricity, plumbing, or clean air. Massive amounts of smog created by coal pollution made living there difficult and unhealthy. Lacking options for food some people had to rely on butchered cat meat to survive.
Meanwhile in the late nineteenth-century West, people were living under Queen Victoria’s eye, and resided in lavish buildings, had luxurious open spaces, and had access to expendable income. According to the tour guide, Queen Victoria did not care how the East was run because most people in the East were immigrants from places like Ireland, not true Englishmen. These men and women left their respective countries in hopes of starting anew in a place they thought was ripe with opportunity. Unfortunately, for most that was not the reality of their situation. Women had to rely on casual prostitution to even afford a place to sit for the night. Regardless of the debatable explanation of London’s past, the massive division between the rich and poor was undeniable.
Before I arrived in London, I learned that World War II damage to the poverty-stricken areas in the East gave the perfect excuse for government officials to tear down the unsightly buildings and start anew. Thus, while walking around in 2019 it is hard to imagine the area as anything other than beautiful and clean. A couple buildings from that time period remain in the area and completely stand out. Without those buildings it would be possible to completely wipe away London’s past of poverty and desperation.