New Books in History Jacqueline Riding, "Hard Streets: Working-Class Lives in Charlie Chaplin’s London" (Profile Books, 2025)
Feb 5, 2026
Jacqueline Riding, historian, art historian and author of Hard Streets, traces working-class life in Chaplin’s South London. She explores street theatre, music halls and local arts as routes out of poverty. She maps urban change, reform, workhouses, women's labour and community institutions that shaped everyday survival and aspiration.
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Famous Figure As Historical Entry Point
- Jacqueline Riding used Charlie Chaplin as a narrative hook to reveal broader working-class Lambeth life.
- She discovered a parallel life in George Tinworth that lets the book span Victorian to Edwardian changes.
Walworth's Fast Urban Transformation
- Walworth transformed from horticultural village to dense urban area with massive population growth.
- That rapid change created slums, new industries and the social pressures Riding examines.
Policy Shifts Shaped Street-Level Lives
- National reforms shaped local lives: the 1834 Poor Law pushed people into workhouses and the 1870 Education Act changed childhoods.
- Both George Timworth's and Charlie Chaplin's families were directly affected by those reforms.
