John Singleton Copely 1783-1815 The Death of Major Peirson and RPD's Ears 1800-2000

In 1834, the Poor Law was introduced, about which Disraeli announces to the world that "in England poverty is a crime," Other comments at the time condemed the poor as a "vast heap of social refuse--the mere human street-sweepings" who "serve as manure to the future crime-crop of the country." Sound familiar? The dominant view of the ascendant Middle Class was that the poor exist at the farthest reaches from civilized, art-loving society and are an indolent, ignorant, degraded, criminalised sub race. These views were structured into science by, amongst others, Beddoe, a future president of the Anthropological Institute.