'Rogues and Vagabonds'
Vagrant Underworld in Britain 1815-1985
Routledge Revivals Series

In this lively social history, first published in 1988, Lionel Rose explores in detail the plight of the street poor between 1815 and 1985. He describes the Victorian ?Rogues and Vagabonds? who made elicit peddling, begging frauds and other petty crime their profession. He considers the relevant legislation and systems for coping with the street poor, from the 1824 Vagrancy Act and accompanying improvements in policing, through the casual ward systems of the workhouses and the role of common lodging houses, to the development of Social Services in the 1940s and local authority provision of accommodation. This title will be of interest to students of history, criminology and sociology.

Illustrations; Acknowledgements; 1. Migrants, Itinerants and the Vagrancy Law 1815-20 2. Pass Abuses and the Vagrancy Act of 1824 3. Mendicity Societies, and Poor Casual Relief to the 1840s 4. A Gallery of Beggars (I) Sick Lurkers, Praters and Screevers 5. A Gallery of Beggars (II) Children 6. Crypto-Beggars: Pedlars, Crossing-Sweepers and Buskers 7. ‘Dens of Infamy’: Thieves’ Kitchens and Tramps’ Lodging Houses 8. Model Lodging Houses, the Sally Ann and Rowton’s 9. Lodging House Society 10. An Outline of the Casual Ward System, 1842-1914 11. ‘The Vicious Shilling’: Indiscriminate Charity and its Enemies, from 1860 12. The Freedom to Itch, and the Itch to be Free 13. A Statistical Capsule: Tramp Levels, Trade and Seasonal Cycles 14. Men’s Tramp and Ward Underlife to 1939 15. The ‘Perambulatory Dustbin’: Homeless Women and Their Shelter to 1939 16. Child Vagrancy to 1939 17. Vagrancy Act Enforcement to 1914 18. The First World War and Inter-War Depression 19. Casual Ward Developments 1918-45 20. Some Vagrant Types and Conditions between the Wars 21. Begging and Charity between the Wars 22. Vagrants, Crime and the Vagrancy Act 1935 23. Britain 1945-70: the Roofless, the Rootless and the Welfare State 24.Homelessness and the Official Response 1970-85 25. From Lodging House to Bed and Breakfast Hotel: the Story to Date 26. ‘Horizontal Meffers’ and Other Contemporary Vagrant Types 27. ‘Lazy Lewd Loiterers’: the Vagrancy Act to Date and the Inglorious History of ‘Sus’; ‘Trampoloquia’: a Select Glossary of Tramp Cant; Select Bibliography and Abbreviations; Notes and References; Index