Comments on: In Spitalfields, 1842

By: Jean Isaacs

Jean Isaacs — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 17:55:11 +0000

My great great grandfather lived in 12 Stepney Rents Hackney in1855-1861
Then 24 Hackney Road till 1871
Then 21 Pelham Street in 1871. He died in 1874. He was a baker. Johann Georg Geisel. Thank you for the interesting history and the illustrations.

By: Linda Boyd

Linda Boyd — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 19:21:52 +0000

For Avril Towell
Avril, in 1851 census, my 3rd great grandfather, Isaac Chamberlain, also a silk weaver, lived in 22 Pelham Street so I’m sure he must have know your ancestor

By: Peter Holford

Peter Holford — Sat, 29 Apr 2017 17:58:38 +0000

I’m yet another who has ancestors who lived in Pelham Street, but earlier in the 18th century. First hand accounts such as this are always fascinating in helping to conjure up the environment in which our ancestors lived. Thank you.

By: David milne

David milne — Sat, 29 Apr 2017 17:37:50 +0000

A wonderful glimpse into the lost world of Spitalfields before its future of great prosperity. The yet to be built vast merchant houses of red brick and beautiful proportions with their classical door cases that would come to symbolise the new 18th century surrounding the last of an earlier age that was to be swept away, lost to us forever. How very poinyant this article is as so much of what remained clinging onto its life has within these last decades been lost with Spitalfields its inhabitants and admirers fighting against the new and next wave of change, it being one of vast change with glass towers and corporate greed it’s sad future for all of us who have known and loved this historic quarter for much of our lives.
We must fight to save what remains, the fruit and wool Exchange lost for yet another corporate office and shopping district but the historic quarter of Norton Folgate still stands, its 18th and 19th century buildings of domestic and industrial use are still clinging to their life sadly neglected and shut up by their owners the city of London. If this ancient district the liberty of Norton Folgate is destroyed our future inhabitants will look back upon us with sadness and shame. It has the great possibility of a future, it one of restoration and rebuild with housing for the very people who need it most and with the warehouses put to good use for creative workers, the very people who made the neighbourhood one that the world now visits.

By: Helen Breen

Helen Breen — Sat, 29 Apr 2017 12:12:30 +0000

Greetings from Boston,

GA, what a wonderful glimpse into the Spitalfield’s past. Really enjoyed the drawings too. Thanks for uncovering these treasures…

By: Linda Wilkinson

Linda Wilkinson — Sat, 29 Apr 2017 11:24:58 +0000

My father’s Huguenot antecedents lived in both Pelham and Booth Street at times in their lives. This was back in the early 1700’s as far as I can gather. They then migrated northwards ending up in Bethnal Green and losing their profession as weavers along the way.

By: Avril Towell

Avril Towell — Sat, 29 Apr 2017 10:54:01 +0000

My great great grandfather a silk weaver lived here with his family, and according to the 1851 census shared the house with five other families. This meant that twenty five people were recorded living in 25 Pelham Street! His father was also a silk weaver in Spitalfields and it seems that most families stayed in this area and Shoreditch. Poverty didn’t seem to affect the happiness of my family through these hard times (according to my grandmother) so perhaps when people are put together through circumstances like this, the will to survive and work hard for the future keeps them going

By: Valerie-Jael

Valerie-Jael — Sat, 29 Apr 2017 10:42:07 +0000

A most interesting trip back through time to a Spitalfields which has mostly disappeared. Valerie

By: John Barrett

John Barrett — Sat, 29 Apr 2017 07:02:12 +0000

I do like the way illustrations are used here, one is taken to Spitalfields regardless of a big distance, back in time. There is a wealth of detail and know-how in the text. The Society then appears well organized things improved towards the Victorian period !look at us today, its called generational progress. Thank you GA for taking us/me there. Poet John PS one day I must visit Spitalfields to soak up the life.