A Rebellious Breed

From rural Essex in the 1820s to London’s docklands in the 1890s, the poor, forced off the land, have choices to make. Do they risk London, with its diseases and crime, in order to find work? Is there any way they can fight back against their masters?

The Walton family are an awkward bunch who won’t conform to other people’s rules. James Walton becomes an outlaw. His son, Will, wants a revolution. Trouble and the hand of the law threaten both their lives. At the same time, two women face the challenge of trying to break out of the straitjacket imposed on their gender. Mary wants to train as a nurse, knowing that by doing so, she has to deny her relationship with Will. Emma’s struggle for independence leads to a prison record and an addiction to opium.

Across London, from the poshest parts to the roughest, a rich mixture of characters – devout Christians, the Irish community, a family of police officers and a mysterious Indian prince – have a part to play in helping Will as he undertakes a search for a missing person and his own salvation.

“Using material from West Ham and other London boroughs and the Essex record office, this book aims to give a voice to the dispossessed from the land, as well as the thousands who drifted to the Docklands from around the world. The background to their lives and the temptations of alcohol, prostitution and drugs meant that survival was a constant challenge. Industrial upheaval, revolutionary political movements and the narrow choices offered to women – all these factors present a major challenge to present a lively, authentic story of life without too much historical material in the way, but I hope I have achieved this in A Rebellious Breed,” says author Hamilton Hay.