Spitalfields nippers: rare photographs of London street kids in 1901

In 1901-2, Horace Warner took photos of East End street kids, who he called 'Spitalfields nippers'. A self-taught photographer and a wallpaper printer for William Morris, he took 240 photographs of the local children, only 30 survive.

With both parents working long hours, the older children looked after their siblings and did the chores.

An alleyway in Spitalfields

Two children, their toes poking out of their boots, tend a fire in a battered tin brazier to heat buckets and bowls of water in which to scrub clothes. The clean garments would be hung on lines strung across the street

Jeremiah Donovan, six, was nicknamed Dick Whittington because of his pet cat

Annie, seven, and one-year-old Nellie, sit sad and hungry on sacking outside their house in Spitalfields.They were among ten children born to single mother Annie Daniels. Five of their siblings died in childhood.

Adelaide Springett was so ashamed of her tattered boots, she took them off for this 1901 photograph

Nine-year-old Charlie Long lived in a workers' eating-house run by his parents

Celia Compton was born in Mile End in April 1886 to Charles, a wood chopper, and Mary Compton. Celia was one of nine children; only six survived into adulthood.

Thomas Neale was born on 1 September 1891 to William and Eliza Neale. The family originated from Aspenden, Hertfordshire, and his father was a horse groom. Tommy and his two brothers were conscripted and fought in the first world war – Tommy was killed on the battlefield on 9 October 1917