author
Henry Mayhew
1812–1887
Best known for his vivid portrait of Victorian street life, this pioneering journalist brought the voices of working Londoners onto the page with unusual curiosity and compassion. He also helped found Punch, linking sharp social observation with wit and reform-minded energy.
9 Audiobooks
London Labour and the London Poor, Vol. 3
by Henry Mayhew
London Labour and the London Poor, Vol. 2
by Henry Mayhew
The Comic Almanack, Volume 1 An Ephemeris in Jest and Earnest, Containing Merry Tales, Humerous Poetry, Quips, and Oddities
by William Makepeace Thackeray, Gilbert Abbott À Beckett, Henry Mayhew, Horace Mayhew, Albert Smith
London Labour and the London Poor, Vol. 1
by Henry Mayhew
The Comic Almanack, Volume 2 An Ephemeris in Jest and Earnest, Containing Merry Tales, Humerous Poetry, Quips, and Oddities
by William Makepeace Thackeray, Gilbert Abbott À Beckett, Henry Mayhew, Horace Mayhew, Albert Smith
London Labour and the London Poor, Vol. 4
by Henry Mayhew
The Greatest Plague of Life: or, the Adventures of a Lady in Search of a Good Servant.
by Augustus Mayhew, Henry Mayhew
About the author
Born in London on 25 November 1812, Henry Mayhew became an English journalist, playwright, and social investigator whose work captured the texture of everyday life in Victorian Britain. He was one of the co-founders of Punch in 1841 and helped shape the magazine in its early years.
Mayhew is most remembered for London Labour and the London Poor, developed from reporting he first published in the Morning Chronicle. In that work, he documented the lives of costermongers, street sellers, laborers, and many other Londoners who were often ignored by polite society, combining interviews, observation, and a strong interest in social reform.
His writing remains striking because it is both detailed and humane: he paid close attention to speech, work, habits, and hardship, creating a rich record of urban life in the 19th century. Mayhew died in London on 25 July 1887, but his books still matter to readers interested in the city, poverty, and the human stories behind social history.