Abstract
Maps provide a valuable resource to historians and genealogists, but the neat rows of compact houses in the courtyard of the Queen Catherine pub in Ratcliff, home to four of my Irish great-great-grandparents, only hint at the living conditions of its occupants. This article draws together evidence from newspapers, archival sources, censuses, and other genealogical records to provide a conjectural reconstruction of Queen Catherine Court. The overdevelopment and overcrowding of the site resulted in it being declared unfit for human habitation in 1888, but owing to decades of laissez-faire ideology and fragmented local government, slum clearance and the provision of social housing in London had been beset by intractable problems. A flagship project of the London County Council, the Queen Catherine Court scheme was finally brought to completion in 1903 by Stepney Borough Council, marking a first in the capital's history of social housing.
Published Version
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