The Victorian Underworld Trivia Quiz

Answer: Rookeries

St Giles rookery was possibly the most famous due to its location between Great Russell Street at its north side, Long Acre to the south and Charing Cross Road/Drury Lane on the east and west respectively. This meant that respectable people visiting the shopping streets or entertainments of the west-end feared they would be the victims of crime, only to have the miscreant melt back into the impenetrable darkness of St Giles.

Answer: Costers/Costermongers

Costers were tough, sharp people who loathed all forms of authority and took the principle that you look after your own seriously. Costers who found trouble with the law, or financially, would benefit from a whip-round. Visible for wearing a large silk handkerchief at their neck (a 'kingsman') when times were good, clothing got very flash - velveteen coats, embroidered boots and pearl buttons! Some think that modern-day pearly kings and queens originated from the costers' sartorial preferences.

Answer: A brothel

The link between prostitution and the theatre is long standing, and until at least late Victorian times 'actress' was a very disreputable description for a woman. There was even an old rumour that a secret underground tunnel linked London's Lyceum theatre with a nearby brothel.

Answer: Navvies

Working up to a seven day and a seventy hour week was considered normal to navvies (the name derives from 'navigator'). Navvies dug the ground and they laid thousands of miles of railway lines without the use of machinery. Unwinding at the end of a job consisted of getting very drunk and sometimes fighting - to the terror of the local population.

Answer: Pickpocketing

The 'swell mob' were in the upper, highly skilled echelons of pickpocketing. They were fashionably dressed and frequented gatherings of the wealthy. The career was usually short however, as any thief caught and sent to jail would find their skilful hands lose their touch after being subjected to the rough work forced on prisoners.

Answer: True

In previous eras (for example in Regency England), bare-knuckle fighting attracted respectable crowds and even royalty. The Victorian era however saw the crowds attending fights change, and they became dominated by violent drunken mobs.

Answer: Burglar

Servants were often unknowingly targeted by burglars who appeared to be friendly. This allowed the villain to simply sneak upstairs or, more subtly, work out the plan of the house and the comings and goings of its inhabitants so a more elaborate job could be planned. Any servant suspecting they may have been responsible for such a theft must have been tempted to make up a cover story. One theory suggested Spring Heeled Jack could be one such story, but others remain unconvinced.

Answer: True

Houses of assignation often had more respectable businesses as fronts for what went on in the upstairs bedrooms (including Mrs Leverson's Beautiful Forever cosmetics shop). Unfortunately however,
they provided prime opportunities for blackmail and many customers of these houses must have regretted their patronage of the facilities.

Answer: (1) Forge coins, (2) Pass the forged coins ready for distribution, (3) Get the coins into general circulation

Forged coins would usually find their way into general currency at at big events of public entertainment or the rougher public houses. A pothouse in Bethnal Green, London run by 'Cokey Hogan' was one such place as was Seven Dials in the St Giles rookery.

Answer: Soap

Many articles concentrate on how many fake beggars there were in the Victorian era. It could be argued however that in a time when employment rights were non-existent and there was no welfare system to tide people over difficult times, many normal people would resort to begging - why should they spoil their chances of putting food on the family table by not learning the tricks of the trade?