Comments on: John Thomas Smith’s Remarkable Beggars https://spitalfieldslife.com/2015/04/17/john-thomas-smiths-remarkable-beggars/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Wed, 25 Sep 2024 07:58:13 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: Hetty Startup https://spitalfieldslife.com/2015/04/17/john-thomas-smiths-remarkable-beggars/#comment-1626385 Wed, 25 Sep 2024 07:58:13 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=132878#comment-1626385 Stunning images. Thank you. One wishes they were somehow not a part of our world – in all their suffering – and yet I am glad that someone has represented them so tenderly and vividly on these pages.

]]> By: Moyra McGhie https://spitalfieldslife.com/2015/04/17/john-thomas-smiths-remarkable-beggars/#comment-1531145 Sat, 09 Dec 2023 11:10:50 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=132878#comment-1531145 I have just come across John Thomas Smith’s truly evocative and heart rending illustrations,
and wish to extend my sincerest thanks to the ‘gentle author’ for making them available to me.
THANK YOU!
Moyra McGhie – December 9, 2023

]]> By: Onyeka https://spitalfieldslife.com/2015/04/17/john-thomas-smiths-remarkable-beggars/#comment-1519889 Mon, 28 Aug 2023 14:04:33 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=132878#comment-1519889 Great work

]]> By: Miriam Margolyes https://spitalfieldslife.com/2015/04/17/john-thomas-smiths-remarkable-beggars/#comment-939992 Mon, 20 Apr 2015 08:20:50 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=132878#comment-939992 Thank you for this outstanding selection. We are in your debt. Now I am consumed with interest about this artist & want to see more. Sadly, things are much the same; clothes may have changed, but the poverty & hopelessness remain. Have you seen the ‘mug’ shots of the criminals in the Guildhall Library? I know of them because my great-grandfather was there, sentenced to 7 years hard labour for fraud in 1877.

]]> By: anne gray https://spitalfieldslife.com/2015/04/17/john-thomas-smiths-remarkable-beggars/#comment-938113 Fri, 17 Apr 2015 17:14:00 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=132878#comment-938113 You have introduced me to so many people and places. Thank you. Have been bowled over by John Thomas Smith’s drawings…. both the buildings and the vagrants.

]]> By: Clive Jennings / Fitzrovia Flaneur https://spitalfieldslife.com/2015/04/17/john-thomas-smiths-remarkable-beggars/#comment-937965 Fri, 17 Apr 2015 14:28:18 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=132878#comment-937965 Some of the most interesting drawings that you have ever posted. Such a sensitive line.

Your blog brightens my every day and provides cheering relief from the relentless tyranny of email.

Well done, Sir / Fitzrovia Flaneur

]]> By: Ros https://spitalfieldslife.com/2015/04/17/john-thomas-smiths-remarkable-beggars/#comment-937741 Fri, 17 Apr 2015 09:49:25 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=132878#comment-937741 You are right – these are marvellous and powerfully convey both the need and the spirit of each individual. Interesting portrayals of black beggars, the one with with the ship and the fez-type hat on his head, and the one with the judge’s(?) wig. The circumstances in which black people arrived in England at that time meant that they had a high chance of becoming outcasts. In every portrait the details are exquisite, clothes,hats, hair, footwear, dogs and much more.

]]> By: Achim https://spitalfieldslife.com/2015/04/17/john-thomas-smiths-remarkable-beggars/#comment-937677 Fri, 17 Apr 2015 08:51:34 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=132878#comment-937677 Remarkable drawings!

Love & Peace
ACHIM

]]> By: Suzanne Keyte https://spitalfieldslife.com/2015/04/17/john-thomas-smiths-remarkable-beggars/#comment-937649 Fri, 17 Apr 2015 08:26:42 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=132878#comment-937649 Fascinating pictures. I really admire the way that you find such interesting stories every day – seven days a week. Truly amazing. Thank you.

]]> By: Ian harper https://spitalfieldslife.com/2015/04/17/john-thomas-smiths-remarkable-beggars/#comment-937606 Fri, 17 Apr 2015 07:49:28 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=132878#comment-937606 A touch of Goya about these , not just the melancholy and fantastical but the simple techniques used to such effect .

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