1-150-281 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage-Images

'The Cottage'. The man warming his hands at the fire is a rural worker. This one room has to provide living and sleeping accommodation for his wife and large family. The scene is one of overcrowding and destitution. Mr Punch, wearing a large top hat and with his back to the viewer, says to the landlord, that his horses were better provided for than his workers. Both the landlord and his female companion appear to be shocked by what they can see. The accommodation provided by the average landlord for the poor of Britain, whether urban or rural, was a continuing scandal throughout the mid-Victorian period. From Punch, or the London Charivari.