Friedrich Engels and Angel Meadow: the origin and development of Victorian Manchester’s ‘Hell upon Earth’ slum

Kirby, Dean (2022) Friedrich Engels and Angel Meadow: the origin and development of Victorian Manchester’s ‘Hell upon Earth’ slum. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

When Friedrich Engels visited Victorian Manchester while writing The Condition of the Working-Class in England, first published in 1845, he described the district of Angel Meadow as being ‘Hell upon Earth’ and the houses as ‘cattle sheds for human beings’. Using a multi-disciplinary approach with a focus on urban history, archaeology and historical geography, this thesis will retrace Engels’s steps through this corner of the world’s first industrial city to see whether his portrayal of the housing conditions was correct. It will argue that Engels was highly selective in the streets and courts he chose as case studies for The Condition to emphasise the lowest-quality housing and that he missed or misinterpreted the more nuanced reality of living conditions in the district. Using a range of evidence including Manchester’s rate books, census records and trade directories, and unique sources such as early-twentieth century planning applications, archaeology reports and maps, this thesis will show that Angel Meadow in fact had a significant number of larger, relatively higher-status Georgian houses built for merchants and artisans, which continued to dominate the district even after the Industrial Revolution caused it to decline. While Engels wrote that ‘everything which here arouses horror and indignation’ was of ‘recent origin’ and belonged ‘to the industrial epoch’, this thesis will show that these larger houses left over from an earlier phase of development became a hugely significant factor in Angel Meadow’s problems and determined its long-term function as a lodging house district. In reassessing and nuancing the work of Engels in the 180th anniversary year of his first visit to Manchester, this thesis makes a significant and new contribution to the understanding not only of The Condition, but also of the history of the world’s first industrial city and the study of the global processes of urbanisation.