1812-1887
Journalist

Early Years. Henry Mayhew was born in London. His father was an attorney, but Mayhew had no desire to follow suit. Indeed, his rejection of a bourgeois lifestyle and values was in large part a rejection of his father, who punished him for running away from school when he was fifteen by sending him to sea for a year. When he was in his twenties and thirties he participated in a literate and intellectual bohemian culture— writing plays, biographies, novels, and travel books. He was one of the founding members and joint editor of the satirical magazine Punch and in 1849 joined the staff of the left-leaning Morning Chronicle. What drew Mayhew to the lower classes is unclear, but by 1849 he had developed a flair for social investigation and vivid writing and began work on the book that made him famous.

Tales of the...