A Child of the Jago

A Child Of The Jago is the title and subject of Arthur Morrison's book first published in 1896 to much uproar in Victorian Britain for exposing the desperation and depravity existing in the Jago slum of Shoreditch. The Jago existed on Old Nichol Street (Old Nick being an affectionate term for the Devil himself) and what is now Arnold Circus, a stone's throw from our Landmark store on the corner of Great Eastern Street and Holywell Lane. Morrison's story centres on the life of a boy, Dickie Perrott, and his desire and attempts to escape the hand he had been dealt. This was a time when you knew who people were by how they dressed. Where people were not so consumed by fitting in but rather by standing out and quality was widely understood.