Been researching theories of ‘urban degeneration’ and found these pics. Children at the Lant St School, Southwark, photographed in 1875. Described in 1904/5 as the ‘lowest type' by a govt committee set up to explore alleged inherited physical and mental decline, ie #eugenics
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The girls at Holland St School, Blackfriars, South London, 1875, also described as the ‘lowest’ in the report of the InterDepartmental Committee on Physical Deterioration, 1904/5.

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3 yrs later & the Lant St kids showed ‘improvement’, that is to say, environmental, not eugenic, factors are in play. In fact, the 1904/5 Committee wd come out against the eugenicists, believing better housing, feeding and nurse inspections were needed, not selective breeding
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The final Lant St pic in the report. School dinners & medical interventions to detect childhood conditions were showing results in London schools. At last, the wretched child mortality rates began to fall. Sadly, the report's findings did not win the nature vs nurture debate.
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