London Labour and the London Poor
What were the largest group of London street people and what did they do for a living?
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Costermongers or costers were the largest group of working poor people in London. These unlicensed vendors sold merchandise in the streets. Most of them lived day-to-day, buying merchandise as cheaply as possible at the open-air wholesale markets before dawn, hoping to sell enough by dark to buy food to feed themselves or their children.