Victorians

The Temperance Movement in Hackney

3 Edwardian portrait banners with temperance slogans: "Abstain for the children's' sake" "Pledged to resist our county's greatest foe" "Water is best"

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the terrible living and working conditions experienced by East London’s poor led many to find relief in alcohol. Supporters of the temperance movement aimed to limit drinking amongst the working-classes of Hackney, Shoreditch and Stoke Newington. Hackney and the ‘demon drink’ The oldest places of public entertainment in … Read more

Stone Age Hackney: Rediscovery

A black and white photograph of a deep excavation. In the trench pose 3 unknown workers, and apart from them Worthington George Smith pointing to a layer of stratigraphy in the soil with his cane.

This series explores how Hackney’s Old Stone Age (Palaeolithic) archaeology was discovered and preserved due to the rapid urban development of the late 1800s and the dedicated work of a handful of collectors. The Opportunity The borough witnessed rapid population increase in the 19th century, rising from just under 15,000 people in 1801 to nearly … Read more