Brutal Lives of Victorian 'Shoe Shine' Boys (Battles on London's Streets)

Victorian boys would fight for control of London's street corners and pitches for cleaning shoes. Competition was fierce, and independent boys who hadn't paid, or couldn't afford the fee to join a brigade, faced persecution - not least, from the police. They were hounded away from the best and busiest street corners allocated for boys with licences. Find out, in this genuine account of 19th Century 'boot blacks,' how there was war for trade between independent boys who enjoyed the freedom of the streets and boys in brigades who enjoyed the paid protection of the police.
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Credits: Narration - markmanningmedia.com
CC BY - St Nicholas' and St Martin's Orthopaedic Hospital, Pyrford by Wellcome Collection; The wicked flee when no man pursueth. [front] Date issued 1870 - 1900 by Boston Public Library
#VictorianDocumentary #VictorianEraDocumentary #VictorianLife #Victorian #19thCentury #VictorianEra #HistoryDocumentary #ShoeShineBoy #BootBlack #BootBlackBrigade #WorstVictorianJobs #FactFeast

[@FactFeast]

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[@commonsense571]

I have an old NYC shoe shine box and it says five cents shine carved in. It looks like it’s been thru hell and back. Wonder what date it’s from..

[@Whitehorse_crimefighter]

Couldn't imagine what it was like to clean boots in an era where plumbing wasnt good and horses and people pooped all over the street

[@FactFeast]

Mucky work! Never a lack of demand.

[@Ann65.]

@@FactFeast. Did women have their shoes or boots cleaned also?

[@FactFeast]

I imagine so, given anyone that used the streets to walk on faced the same issues with dirt. Most contemporary illustrations and photos however show men having their boots cleaned, so I understand the question. Women’s Chelsea type lace-up boots were black.

[@kayb9979]

@@FactFeast I daresay that women who had maids would have got the maids to do it. There may have been social taboos about boys touching women's feet.

[@angr3819]

Mind, there were people who would go around with a shovel and bucket and take the horse manure. Once rotted it was useful for the earth to grow food and flowers, and it was saleable.

[@brianoneil9662]

What a bit of misery. A young boy on those busy streets hunched over, right at a level to receive kicks and abuse. Fascinating and well done as always!

[@FactFeast]

A tough life on the streets. Thank you Brian!

[@erin19030]

I shined shoes when I was 10, in the barber shops, in the bars and on the street. I used my hands to apply the shoe polish.old gents would tip me big for that. It was a theory the warmth of your fingers rubbed the wax right into the leather for the best shoe shine. A shoe shine was 25 cents. I know old timers who put their sons thru medical school.

[@janerkenbrack3373]

When I was a boy in Chicago there were still a few "shoe shine boys" around making money in that trade. Newspaper deliver was also still a job for youth. Both of these jobs are now done exclusively by adults, the former typically has a stand at a transportation hub, such as a train station or airport, while the latter is done by adults in cars.

[@vincentkosik403]

I delivered the Hackensack Record in Jersey as a kid by bike...not a bad way to make money

[@patrickbush9526]

I was a shoeshine boy. And made good money at it.

[@Khatoon170]

How are you doing sir thank you for your wonderful cultural documentary channel. As always iam gathering main information about topics you mentioned briefly here it’s show shiners or boot polishers is occupation in which person cleans and buffs shoes and then applies waxy paste to give shiny appearance and protective coating. They are often known as shoe shine boys because job traditionally done by male child , other synonyms a boot black , shoe black . Shoe shining has been linked back to 19 th century. Although shoe polish never hit to masses commercially until 20 th century. Western civilization considered shining shoe as important source income for many children and families through out world . Shoe shining was invented in Melbourne by Scottish ex patriot William Ramsey and Hamilton mckellan called kiwi boot polish ingredients that increased suppleness and added water water resistance.

[@FactFeast]

Thank you Khatoon. I’m glad you like the channel!

[@vmtz2001]

Growing up in Mexico back in the 60’s, there were poor kids were all over the city with their shoe shine boxes knocking on doors waiting at bus stops to make a living. They were called boleritos. It was considered a disparaging term parents used on their kids when they misbehaved. Sad. Millions of those hard working boleritos now make up Mexico’s middle class.

[@angr3819]

Thank you

[@FactFeast]

A pleasure!

[@caroliner2029]

@2:37 mins The photo of the little boy on crutches with his new handsome haircut, and his beautiful face.... he's melted my heart. What a courageous little sweetheart!❤

[@CornPop2]

Crazy cool video. Always been an awesome channel.Keep it up and I'll keep telling people about ya

[@GlazzedDonut]

" Ooh Fact Feast! " - me 2023

[@FactFeast]

Cheers! I hope you’re well.

[@GlazzedDonut]

@@FactFeast i am indeed (:

[@Crabby303]

Fun-fact - they often made a lucrative side-line income giving out tips to inept police detectives on criminal goings-on and the stock market.

[@FactFeast]

Johnny the Shoeshine!

[@Crabby303]

😁@@FactFeast

[@Itried20takennames]

There was a story (who knows if true) from the 1920s that some major NYC investor stopped for a shoe shine on his way to Wall Street. The shoe shine boy was full of hot stock tips he and his friends invested in, which made the investor realize the stock bubble had gone about as far as it could and was due to pop, and he sold many of his position shortly before the 1929 crash.

[@Vicus_of_Utrecht]

Take this; think probably, believe skeptically.

[@Cutter-jx3xj]

Just found u and subbed. Awesome channel

[@FactFeast]

Welcome to the channel! Glad you like it.

[@Whitehorse_crimefighter]

Go get your friggin shinebox

[@johnhenderson131]

I always enjoy this show. I find it very therapeutic, any time I’m having a bad day or selfishly feeling sorry for myself… I just watch any episode and within 60 seconds I am back to normal and realize how selfish an idiot I’m am when compared to what true misery and suffering is…it keeps me realistically grounded! It’s simpler to watch this than read a Dickens novel!

[@brianoneil9662]

Thanks!

[@FactFeast]

Thank you so much Brian! I really appreciate your support 😊

[@bumblebee6156]

Another video.Enjoyed and thanking you.

[@FactFeast]

It’s great to know you enjoyed watching! Thank you.

[@lanacampbell-moore6686]

Thanks FF❤

[@FactFeast]

You’re welcome Lana 😊

[@KOOLBadger]

My son has CP. He wore a brace only till 18. He calls himself crippeled. He said that he does not take the word personally..

[@goldensloth7]

those poor kids...

[@rachelbachel2]

Cripple is not an offensive word. How else are we to describe people with a disability? Eventually even using the word "disabled/disability " will be offensive at this rate. I nannied for a family with an autistic kids in the late 90s early 2000s. He wore a medical alert bracelet listing his health conditions. Allergic to nuts, Diabetic and Mental RETARDATION. It's not a bad word. It's a medical condition. My mother was recently "crippled " after breaking her leg. She's a cripple now because it has never healed and she will never be able to walk again without a cane or a walker. I absolutely can not think of a better word than "crippled " when I mention my mother's health condition. I say "my mom was crippled a few years ago" when discussing her condition with other people for example. It is a perfectly fine word, and you feeling the need to defend a word that describes a person's health condition is absolutely ridiculous. I get that we called other kids "retards ' in elementary school and that word now has a negative connotation because of that. But it came from the name of a medical condition. Fireman still use that word in their line of business. Fire retardation. Sorry, but it's complete nonsense to apologize for a word such as that. Crippled, cripple, whatever. Nothing to apologize for.

[@chchedda]

Shine your shoes guvnor

[@moondancer4660]

A little shoe shine boy he never gets low down and he's got the dirtiest job in town bending low at the people's feet on the windy corner of a dirty Street. Johnny Cash😅 Get Rhythm when you get the Blues😅

[@wagsthedogwhistle5939]

I call cripples cripples. Fight me

[@peggedyourdad9560]

Careful now, you just might cut yourself on that edge there.

[@tat1790]

I’m crippled and I call myself a cripple 😆 It is what it is. Dunno if it’s my age but I don’t take offence by it.

[@Ann65.]

@@tat1790. Physically Challenged now!

[@Flaming-Hedgehog]

😀

[@FactFeast]

Cheers! Thank you.

[@thehillbillygamer2183]

Growing up in Kentucky in the eighties and nineties I still heard people being called gimps and cripples it was considered rude however

[@vincentkosik403]

I shinec shoes at an airport once and it wasnt a bad job at all...

[@moondancer4660]

I'm a cripple now but I'm a female so I guess I wouldn't get work😅 when I saw the shoe shine boy it made me think of that song

[@lynnemurphy114]

💚

[@FactFeast]

Thanks for watching Lynne!

[@lynnemurphy114]

@@FactFeast Im a fan i alwalys watch ..but thanks as i dident give a thumbs up..glad you called me to do that 💚

[@mijiyoon5575]

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@FactFeast]

Thank you Miji.

[@mauriceclark4870]

Im. Covinced. If. These. Writers. Had. Treated. People. To. A nice. Meal. Mayew. And. London then. Listen. To. There. Story. Of. Life. As. It is. !

[@mauriceclark4870]

The. Hansom. Cabs. Were. Regulated. By. Oliver. Cromwell. When. He. Was. Lord. Protecter they used to fight. For. Fares. Before. That.

[@CheapSquierBassPlayer]

Narrated by Mad Eye Moody.

[@cht2162]

Today it's Kripple