Sunday, September 6, 2009

Salvation Army 'coffin' hostel c. 1900


These rows of 'coffins' were the men's sleeping quarters at London's Burne Street hostel. They look extremely harsh to us now but provided a basic level of shelter and food to the extreme poor in the City who would otherwise have to sleep on the streets.
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2 comments:

  1. HelsSeptember 7, 2009 at 1:58 AM

    Emergency residential care in coffins - what an amazing story! And what a great photo. Do you have a reference where I could read about this further?

    thanks
    Hels

    ReplyDelete
  2. HermesSeptember 7, 2009 at 8:17 AM

    I got it from the book '1900' by Rebecca West.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_penny_coffin

    ReplyDelete