Down by Tobacco Docks
It’s pre-Victorian times; the late 1800s. Sanitation is rudimentary, disease is rife, living conditions appalling, new factories are polluting the air in the cities. But children’s working hours have just been reduced to no more than 10 hours a day, and Parliament has decreed that all youngsters should attend school between the ages of 5 and 10 years.
Maria Bertram and her young siblings, Daisy and Willy, live with their widowed mother in Kelly’s Yard, an impoverished and overcrowded area of London, barely managing to obtain the essentials. Their’s is a close-knit community with their own codes of conduct. So, they are cautious and protective when strangers move in.
In a stable block overlooking the yard, Steffan Tremain and his drunken womanising father eek out their days living far below their former means and status before bankruptcy and prison reduced them. Steffan is a shy and unhappy lad, reluctant to integrate, but he warms to the gentle hand of friendship Maria extends.
And then a young woman, Rose Cranfield, is found murdered, her body tangled in foul-smelling ropes and heavy chains in the nearby docks alongside her penny farthing bicycle. Rumours abound:
she had been living a clandestine life in Kentish town, alleging she was a newspaper journalist on the verge of exposing a web of deceit in a local town planner’s office;
she was a courtesan to gentlemen of means;
she had come to the area looking for her unfaithful lover who had now strangled her.
… so which was she?
To Maria’s disbelief and horror, Steffan is arrested for the murder in the middle of the night, betrayed to the police by his drunken father. She’s determined to clear his name and shows her mettle by defying all who would prevent her getting involved.
She’s also set on discovering the truth behind the rumours that Kelly’s Yard is about to be demolished. Already employed in the company whose architects’ department is drawing up plans for the future in her area, she swallows her pride and puts up with petty rules, dictatorial management, a lecherous senior, and an inscrutable but loose-lipped colleague.
The strength of this book, Down by Tobacco Dock, lies in its depiction of life in the East End of London in the 19th century. Sally Warboyes brings to life the fierce loyaties, the gritty strength, the resourcefulness of a people eeking out a living with no handouts, no benefits, no security and no social services. The rat catcher, the rag and bone man, the mattress filler, the foul-mouthed Daisy … all contribute to the vivid picture of an age and place so far from our own, more than compensating for any weaknesses in the plotting and literary lapses. And a salutary reminder for us of the blessings we take so much for granted today.
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