ABSTRACT
In 1846 Caroline Alice White described London street markets in an article for Ainsworth’s Magazine. Working-class men and women developed a distinct culture around leisure patterns and associations. Observers both within the working class and outside it found much to criticize in this working-class culture, but attempts to reform it faced significant obstacles. Early nineteenth-century popular leisure was often raucous, violent and disorderly. Fairs and wakes drew crowds with games, music, entertainment, and booths selling all sorts of goods. In the early decades of the nineteenth century, opposition to established popular amusements spread. Businesses also appealed to workers by offering opportunities for excursions to leisure sites. Railway companies offered cheap tickets to wakes and fairs, prize fights, horse races and the seaside.
