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This article considers the response to the problem of street violence in London in the late-nineteenth century and prior to 1914, not from the usual viewpoint of law enforcers or the police, but from that of the middle-class male pedestrian. It will be argued that while street weapons were carried by civilians, their use was neither universal nor unchallenged, especially as displays of violent masculinity were increasingly condemned. An examination of cultural sources indicates that minimally aggressive responses to interpersonal violence were actively promoted. The measured responses taken by a growing number of enterprising individuals in the middling classes towards violent crime on the streets also show how the theme of physical threat offered a site for the expression of urban, middle-class heroism at the turn of the ­century. Furthermore, the flourishing martial arts scene not only bolstered traditional ‘British’ masculinity but opened the way for the articulation and acceptance of alternative identities.

Urban Heroes versus Folk Devils: Civilian Self-Defence in London (1880-1914)