Name James Greenwood | Role Journalist | |
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Books In Strange Company: Being the, Odd People in Odd Plac, Low‑life Deeps: An Account o, A Concise Handbook of the La, Unsentimental Journeys - Or - Bywa | ||
Jesse james greenwood filthy
James Greenwood (1832–1929) was a British social explorer, journalist and writer who published a series of articles which drew attention to the plight of London's working poor.
Contents
Career
James Greenwood was born in 1832 in London and became notable Victorian journalist and social commentator. He began his career as a printer, but soon took up an interest in writing. From 1861 he began writing adventure stories which were published in Boy's Own. He subsequently turned to journalism, joining the ranks of the reporters at the Pall Mall Gazette in 1865. He first became interested in the plight of the poor after spending a night spent in a Lambeth workhouse. His brother, Frederick, the then editor of the Gazette, prompted Greenwood to dress as a tramp and check into the workhouse incognito; a practice that was unknown amongst journalists in Victorian England. Greenwood's account, "A Night in the Workshouse" dispensed with Victorian practice of sanitising stories for publication, and instead presented a brutal picture of workhouse conditions. It was serialized in the Pall Mall Gazette between 12 and 15 January 1866. The article caused a public outcry and firmly established his credentials as an investigative journalist and social commentator.
In the 1870s, William James Orsman (1838–1923), the Methodist minister, invited Greenwood on a tour of the Costermonger's Mission which heightened his interest in London's labouring classes and labouring poor. He published an article, ‘A Mission Among City Savages’, in the Daily Telegraph and subsequently in a collection entitled, In Strange Company in 1873. His commentary relates especially to the street vendors working around Whitecross Street, London. He also wrote, Toilers in London in 1883 In 1869, Greenwood's The Seven Curses of London was published. In it, he identified the curses as neglected children; professional beggars and thieves; prostitution, drunkenness; betting and misguided charity.
He was a prolific writer, turning out numerous novels, children's books and articles from the 1860s through to the 1880s. The Daily Telegraph, on 6 July 1874, published an article written by James Greenwood, in which he reported on 24 June 1874 to have witnessed a human-baiting. In 1876, Greenwood republished the article in his book Low-Life Deeps in the chapter called In the Potteries. The book was illustrated by artist Alfred Concanen. He wrote The True History of a Little Ragamuffin in 1866.
Greenwood's use of disguise for the purpose of social reporting was very influential and was copied by later generations of journalists. As a journalist, he wrote under the pseudonym, The Amateur Casual. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of investigative journalism.