Semyon Rapoport, Summary of ‘English Workmen at Leisure: A Sketch of Working-Class Amusements in London’

Abstract

In this article, Rapoport gives a detailed account of the uses to which London workers put their increased leisure time, juxtaposing the mid-Victorian attitude to ‘popular recreation’ with the variety of entertainments that characterised late nineteenth-century Sundays and bank holidays. He begins with extensive descriptions of the fundraising street processions of the temperance and friendly societies; the political rallies in Hyde Park and Trafalgar Square, which he regards as serving primarily a recreational rather than a political function; and outdoor religious gatherings – all of which provide musical entertainment for onlookers. He proceeds to the massive Nonconformist choir competitions at the Crystal Palace and other festivals and concerts involving members of cooperative societies, sports societies, etc. He discusses the LCC's support for public parks and orchestras; working-class ‘club’ sports such as football and cricket; the popularity of cycling, including designated cycling lanes and bicycle rental schemes in the London parks. Working-class women (unlike their middle-class counterparts), he notes, almost never take part in sports, though they do occasionally play lawn tennis in the park or enjoy themselves on Hampstead Heath on a bank holiday. Military drill for volunteer detachments is described in detail, and a long section is dedicated to excursions. These include ‘cooperative’ trips abroad arranged by Toynbee Hall, the Regent Street Polytechnic and other institutions; local employer-organised ‘bean feasts’ (Rapoport describes the famous excursions organised annually by the Bass Brewery in Burton-upon-Trent, which in 1898 laid on fifteen special trains, as well as steamships and sailing boats, to take nine thousand workers for a day's worth of entertainment at Scarborough); week-long family trips; caravan excursions to the countryside or seaside organised by clubs, choirs or friendly societies, with Rye House and Southend being particularly popular destinations for London workers; and railway or steamship excursions further afield organised by, for instance, the Pleasant Sunday Afternoon Society or offered as promotions by commercial enterprises such as the tea firm Tee-To-Tum. Of course, no account of popular amusements would be complete without a long description of the stage, and Rapoport provides a detailed overview of the audience, furnishings and variety entertainments at a Mile End music hall (complete with an assessment of the differences and similarities between East and West End theatres).