Comments on: The Flowergirls of 1851 https://spitalfieldslife.com/2010/10/11/the-flowergirls-of-1851/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Sat, 16 Mar 2019 17:12:18 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Rosalie Breton https://spitalfieldslife.com/2010/10/11/the-flowergirls-of-1851/#comment-1271099 Sat, 16 Mar 2019 17:12:18 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=14213#comment-1271099 Hello

I had visited your store last week, and I saw a very nice shoes i wanne buy.
But I have a question, today I wanted to order it, but can not find the shoes anymore in your store.
it looks like the first picture on this site http://bit.ly/PictureShoesItem8354
Mail me if you are going to sell it again.
I hope soon so that I can place an order.
I’ll wait.

Yours sincerely

]]> By: Julia Friesen https://spitalfieldslife.com/2010/10/11/the-flowergirls-of-1851/#comment-1139859 Mon, 06 Mar 2017 15:10:06 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=14213#comment-1139859 Thank you very much for sharing this. This excerpt from Mayhew’s London Labour & London Poor is exactly what I need for a term paper I’m working on right know. Would you mind telling me where you found this, which volume/edition or what page. That would be very Kind of you

]]> By: Dedi https://spitalfieldslife.com/2010/10/11/the-flowergirls-of-1851/#comment-1118521 Mon, 28 Nov 2016 14:45:14 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=14213#comment-1118521 Doing a project on Victorian street life,
Thnx 4 the help

]]> By: Fiona Sigmund https://spitalfieldslife.com/2010/10/11/the-flowergirls-of-1851/#comment-1096365 Fri, 08 Jul 2016 21:12:26 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=14213#comment-1096365 I sold roses on the streets of Paris from 1987 – 1989. I bought 20 wrapped them in cellophane and sold them round restaurants and bars. They cost about 2 francs each and I sold them about 10 francs each. When I had sold about 15 or 16 I stopped work and went to the bar to meet friends but kept enough money aside to buy more roses the next day and pay my rent and food. I sometimes got stopped by the police but never arrested. The other rose sellers were at that time North African or Gypsies, they were always kind to me – warning me where the police were. Some of the other rose sellers were men and some were women with children.

]]> By: George Bliar https://spitalfieldslife.com/2010/10/11/the-flowergirls-of-1851/#comment-1090757 Sat, 28 May 2016 20:56:03 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=14213#comment-1090757 The idea of flower girls extends beyond English literature and London. Perhaps it constitutes something universal. Any visitor to Thailand or Asia will be accosted by flower girls. The British tourist who has read GB Shaw will be aware of the ambiguous nature of flower girls; in fact, their friends are other “workers in the night”, such as prostitutes. Those who have read Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist will also know that street workers are often criminal gangs. In Asia, and also Europe, it seems that many sweet, innocent flower girls are forced into their profession by a Dickensian villain. Why else would a nine year old girl sell flowers at 1 am when she should be going to school the next day. One may guess the ‘truth”. They can’t return home before they have sold all there flowers or they will be beaten.

]]> By: terri armstrong https://spitalfieldslife.com/2010/10/11/the-flowergirls-of-1851/#comment-13728 Fri, 29 Apr 2011 08:29:15 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=14213#comment-13728 enjoyed this article as i was a flower seller on the streets of jacksonville,florida back in the summer of 1976…i worked at the stoplights selling to people in their cars and made between 20 and 30 dollars a day….quite often people would pull over and try to talk religion to me or men would try to pick me up…but “I was a good girl I was!”

]]> By: jeannette https://spitalfieldslife.com/2010/10/11/the-flowergirls-of-1851/#comment-1529 Wed, 13 Oct 2010 00:39:53 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=14213#comment-1529 i saw the drawing and immediately thought henry mayhew. thanks for providing just what i was looking for.

]]> By: Gary https://spitalfieldslife.com/2010/10/11/the-flowergirls-of-1851/#comment-1506 Mon, 11 Oct 2010 20:49:08 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=14213#comment-1506 This story reminds me of a different type of flower girl that I saw in the 1930’s. When I was young my parents often took me for a day by the seaside at Walton-on-Naze.
On the return in the evening 4 carriages of the train left Walton and 6 left Clacton, the two halves of the train were joined at Thorpe-le Soken for the return to London.
While the train was being coupled young girls ran up to the carriages with bunches of Sweet Peas that they offered up to the passengers at 3d. a bunch, they did a brisk trade.
I do not think that todays nanny state would allow children to trespass on the railway but no child ever suffered.
Gary

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