Thomas Holmes (1846–1918) was a police-court missionary, criminologist and radical philanthropist. In 1905 he became secretary to the Howard Association for the reform of prisons and criminal law. His efforts afforded great change in the prison system, seeking to reform prisoners by providing honest work and education. A dynamic individual, his sympathy with the margins of society are reflected in his publications, such as Pictures and Problems from London Police Courts (1900) and Psychology and Crime (1912). Iain Sinclair is a novelist, essayist, filmmaker and journalist. Among his many successful publications are London Orbital (2003) and Dining on Stones (2005).

Anthem’s Travel Classics presents Thomas Holmes’ masterpiece of early-twentieth-century social journalism: a quirky, engaging and witty look at London’s criminal and social underworld of 1912.

Holmes investigates the seedy intentions of the pickpockets, prostitutes, prisoners, drunks and murderers that comprise the capital’s criminal element, all of whom he rather tends to admire! A more reflective and progressive theme also runs through this work, as the author considers the serious social problems faced by women, the disabled and the unemployed.

Both a thrilling exposé and a considered anthropological review, London’s Underworld is driven by the author’s conflicting feelings of admiration for the rebellious spirit which frees these criminals from the laws of reserved Victorian Society and also pity for the restless, violent attitudes which leave them stranded there alone.

Introduced by a modern luminary, London’s Underworld is a revealing look at the crooked past of the great city.