ABSTRACT
In the spring of 1881, the rooms of St. Jude’s parish school, Whitechapel, in the very heart of “outcast London,” underwent a remarkable transformation. The usually bare walls were covered with paintings by the “best” modern British artists and a smattering of old masters. A battalion of men and women from the fashionable West End of London agreed to serve as guards in morning, afternoon, and evening shifts. At the public opening of the picture exhibition, the prominent Liberal politician Lord Rosebery declared that yet another good thing had befallen the East End thanks to the vicar of St. Jude’s and his wife, Samuel and Henrietta Barnett.
