Describe the various marginal groups in London in the later-half of the nineteenth century. Which groups were responsible for crimes.

The various marginal groups in London were as given below:
(i) Criminals: There were about 20,000 criminals living in London in the 1870s. In fact they were poor people. They stole lead from roofs, food from shops, lumps of coal and clothes drying on hedges. There were cheats, pick pockets and petty thieves among them too. According to Henry Mayhew, many labourers used to make a living from crime.
(ii) Women: A large number of women worked in factories in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. With technological developments they, however, lost their jobs and shifted to work within households as domestic servants. Some started other works like tailoring, washing or match-box making. During First World war they were employed in wartime industries and offices.
(iii) Children: Large number of children worked in the factories. They were, however’ paid low wages. Under such circumstances, many children turned to criminal activities because they could earn more from thieving. Andrew Mearns, a clergy man in his book The Bitter cry of Outcast London in the 1880, wrote that crime was more profitable than labouring in small Underpaid factories.