Description: A new account of urban Victorian life told through the dubious day-to-day of London's police courts.
Nether World presents a rich, often humorous glimpse into everyday life in Victorian London through a revealing account of nineteenth-century police courts. People of all classes brought complaints to this court about those who had hurt, abused, or stolen from them--drunks, pickpockets, wife-beaters, and fraudsters--who were each in their turn judged by magistrates wielding broad summary powers. Delving into underexamined court records and the pages of a fast-developing newspaper industry, Drew D. Gray offers a fresh description of a vibrant, ever-changing metropolis and considers ongoing issues such as poverty, homelessness, violence, substance abuse, prostitution, and--of course--crime.Brief description: Drew D. Gray is head of culture at the University of Northampton. His publications include London's Shadows: The Dark Side of the Victorian City.
Review Quotes:
"With Nether World, Drew D. Gray offers a lively and insightful picture of a quintessential Victorian institution, the London Police courts. Focusing on the courts' ubiquitous portrayals in newspapers and their employment as rich fodder for journalists seeking to portray the dramatic and the melodramatic, Gray brings these courts and their colorful denizens into vivid focus. Readers interested in law, crime, sensation, popular journalism, and the history of working-class trials and tribulations in Victorian London will all find much to engage with in this well-written and insightful work."
--Sascha Auerbach, Associate Professor of History, University of Nottingham, and author of "Armed with Sword and Scales: Law, Culture, and Local Courtrooms in London, 1860-1913"