Hard Streets by Jacqueline Riding review by Lynda Waterhouse

 

 A few days ago, I went to The Cinema Museum for the book launch of ‘Hard Streets, Working-Class lives in Charlie Chaplin’s London,’ by Dr Jacqueline Riding.

The Cinema Museum is housed in what once was the Lambeth Workhouse where Chaplin had been placed as a child. It is an atmospheric place that’s well worth a visit. https://cinemamuseum.org.uk/

The event began with a screening of some archive footage of Charlie Chaplin in the 1950s as he revisited some of his childhood haunts and where he strolled mostly unrecognised in a bleak post-war landscape.

On the film I spotted Charlie in West Square, where he had lived as a child in relative comfort before his circumstances changed for the worse.  As part of my community project, ‘Capturing memories before the Elephant Forgets’, I’d heard accounts of life in West Square at this time so it was fascinating to glimpse some footage. It’s also close to where I live so this book has a particular resonance for me. I walk these streets every day.

Chaplin’s childhood experiences of poverty were central to his work for the rest of his life and this can be seen in his creation of the iconic figure of the ‘Little Tramp’ and in the evocation of place seen in films such as ‘The Kid.’  

The book also tells the story of another local lad, George Tinworth, whose unpublished handwritten autobiography Riding discovered in Southwark Archives.  George Tinworth, a neighbour of Chaplin’s grandparents and mother, started life a poor wheelwright and became a renowned sculptor, ceramic artist and modeller at the royal Doulton Factory at Lambeth. His talent was nurtured by the Lambeth School of Art which had been established in 1854.

Riding also provides a fascinating account of the Settlement Movement, particularly the Browning Settlement founded in Walworth in 1895 with its Christian socialist principles, and links to the newly formed Labour Party.

Alongside the many instances of poverty and suffering the book also illustrates the resilience and sheer hard work put in by both Tinworth and Chaplin in order to take advantage of the opportunities that were to be found in the area. With hard work and a sprinkle of luck you could survive and succeed. A career in the performing arts or attending an art college, could provide a good life.

This book highlights both the impact of poverty and the importance of the arts in shaping meaningful lives, something I hope the current Labour movement is paying attention to.

ISBN 9781800818644

Profile Books