Sweep Them Off the Streets
John Marriott looks at attitudes to the London poor since the 17th century.
Recent publicity over the numbers of those sleeping rough on the streets of London has served to remind us that the poor are not only still with us but continue to be perceived as an urgent problem. According to The Observer of November 14th, 1999, for example, Louise Casey, head of the government’s Rough Sleepers’ Unit, claimed that the policies of charitable organisations just perpetuated the problem of the homeless, and called for radical new strategies to ‘sweep them off the streets’.
There is something familiar about such pronouncements. As early as 1700, ‘M.D.’ worried that:
The number of Beggars increases daily, our Streets swarm with this kind of People, and their boldness and impudence is such that they often beat at our Doors, stop Persons in the ways, and are ready to load us with Curses and Imprecations if their Desires be not speedily answered.
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