Very small business

The British Parliament’s Act for the Relief of the Poor of 1601 lasted (with amendments) for well over 200 years – until 1834. Under the so-called ‘Old Poor Law’, able-bodied people who were found begging on the streets could be arrested, whipped, placed in the stocks or confined in a House of Correction, and forcibly relocated to their home parish, their ‘place of settlement’. In order to avoid such stigma and punishment, the poorest of the poor often pretended to commerce, offering the most marginal of goods and services.

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Billy the match man, Liverpool, 1844 by John Dempsey

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Many of them sold the cheapest and most commonplace of household articles – the old ‘brimstone’ (sulphur) matches that retailed at five bunches for a ha’penny.

Match woman, Woolwich,1824 by John Dempsey

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Crossing-sweeper, London by John Dempsey

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Charles McGee, crossing sweeper, London, c. 1824 by John Dempsey

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In populous urban areas, where mud, horse manure and other muck dirtied the roadways, other beggars would sweep clear a path or crossing for middle-class pedestrians in the hope they would be given a small gratuity.

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Blind beggar, Woolwich, 1824 by John Dempsey

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Mark Custings, known as Blind Peter, and his boy, Norwich, 1823 by John Dempsey

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Exhibitions

Copeman, gardener, Great Yarmouth by John Dempsey

Dempsey’s people

A folio of British street portraits 1824–1844

from Thursday 29 June
until Sunday 22 October 2017

Dempsey’s people: a folio of British street portraits 1824–1844 is the first exhibition to showcase the compelling watercolour images of English street people made by the itinerant English painter John Dempsey throughout the first half of the nineteenth century.

More information

Bathing woman, Bridlington, c.1825 by John Dempsey

Allow me to introduce...

These full-length figures in watercolour, gouache and pencil date mostly from the 1820s, and almost all come from the collection of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart.

Beadle, Winchester, 1823 by John Dempsey

Beadles, bellmen and bumbles

For Dempsey’s people their occasional encounters with state power would have been largely through the local parish, which administered the ‘Old Poor Law’.

Thomas Archbold, Durham, 1826 by John Dempsey

Street fare

The late Georgian and early Victorian working classes often bought their food in ale-houses, chop-houses and ‘penny pie shops’, or purchased their meals day after day in the streets.

James Guidney, ‘Jemmy the Rock Man’, Birmingham, c.1830 by John Dempsey

Old soldiers

Following the final defeat of Napoleon, the majority of Britain’s army and navy were gradually disbanded, with little work and few prospects, especially for the permanently incapacitated.

Very small business

Under the ‘Old Poor Law’, people begging on the streets could be arrested, so to avoid punishment, they often pretended to commerce, offering the most marginal of goods and services.

Exhibition catalogue

Dempsey’s people is accompanied by a full-colour, scholarly publication by Dr David Hansen, Associate Professor with the Centre for Art History and Art Theory at the ANU. Available at The Curatoreum for $64.95.

Do you know more?

The National Portrait Gallery is calling on family history enthusiasts and amateur historians to help reveal more about the people in Dempsey’s People: A folio of British street portraits from 1824-1844.

Porter, Charing Cross, 1824 by John Dempsey

John Dempsey folio

View the full collection of portraits in the exhibition.