'Spitalfields' by William Henry Wills

Smoke left soot and filth wherever it went, discolouring streets and objects. This article by Dickens’s subeditor William Henry Wills focuses on the fabric weaving district of Spitalfields in east London. A merchant called Mr Broadelle recounts that a December fog ‘got into the white satins’, ruining one ‘hundred pounds’ worth of stock and causing them to be stained blackin an ‘ugly, foxy, unsaleable half-mourning’. Fogs often had serious consequences, halting the city and causing accidents.

‘Spitalfields’ by William Henry Wills with likely additions by Dickens, Household Words, Volume III, Magazine No. 54, 5 April 1851. [lib]1459.3.