Cheap Fish of St. Giles

This photograph was one of 37 taken by John Thomson for the social documentary publication 'Street Life in London'. The following extracts were written by Adolphe Smith to accompany the photograph: 'Joseph Carney, the costermonger, whose portrait is before the reader, has been most fortunate. He stands regularly in the street market that stretches between Seven Dials and what is called Five Dials....Like the majority of his class, he does not always sell fish, but only when the wind is propitious and it can be bought cheaply. On the day when the photograph was taken, he had succeeded in buying a barrel of five hundred fresh herrings for twenty-five shillings. Out of these he selected about two hundred of the largest fish, which he sold at a penny each, while he disposed of the smaller herrings at a halfpenny. Trade was brisk at that moment...on Carney's left hand may be noticed a German 'pal' who has volunteered to help him to clean and scrape the fish, though his real calling in life is that of rolling cigars...On the other side of the herring-barrel, and with his back to the lamp-post, is a poor orphan boy, generally known by the frank if uncomplimentary cognomen of 'Ugly'...He has no relations, no friends, but the whole market supports him...The best customers for the fish sold in the streets are, according to Joseph Carney's experience, the Jews, for they not only buy the greatest quantity of fish, but give the highest price'.