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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Whitechapel
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(London E1) The heart of the *East End, originally lying just to the northeast of the old walled *City. As one of the poorest areas close to the centre, it was here that successive waves of immigrants settled – most notably *Jews from central Europe in the decades before World War I. Attempts to improve the life of the people of Whitechapel in the late 19C included two notable initiatives – the founding in 1884 of Toynbee Hall (a free educational venture at university level) and the building in 1897–9 of the Whitechapel Art Gallery. The gallery has been in recent years one of London's foremost exhibition areas for modern art. Whitechapel also received some less welcome publicity in the late 19C, for this was the area in which *Jack the Ripper operated.
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