Harrowing images of Victorian beggars including a pregnant prostitute aged TEN capture the poverty of children living on Britain's streets 100 years ago (18 Pics)

This image taken in circa 1890 shows street children in Victorian Britain living amid deprivation and squalor. Many would have been forced to stay in alleys and beg for money

A child known as Alice P. Liddell, photographed by the author Lewis Carroll. She is said to have inspired the story Alice in Wonderland. 

A beggar girl with an old man, England, taken in 1876

A village street in England, captured circa 1890. The belief that children had rights that the states should protect was almost non-existent at the dawn of the nineteenth century

This girl was photographed sleeping among a mound of blankets outdoors in 1890. The conditions on the dirt-ridden streets are unimagineable by modern standards 

A rag-picker's daughter in June 1849.

A beggar girl photographed in 1876

A lone child with her hands clasped together walks the streets in 1876. Many children fell prey to prostitution and begging to support themselves

Two beggar girls are pictured in 1876. Many of the street children were orphans but others were from neglectful, alcoholic families where abuse was the norm

A child prostitute in 1871. On the back of the photograph it reads: 'Mary Simpson, a common prostitute aged 10 or 11 years. She has been known as Mrs Berry for at least two years. She is four months with child.' 

Abeggar girl with an older man in 1877

A miserable-looking child beggar is pictured in squalid conditions while wearing no shoes, circa 1900. The image is captioned 'Cinderella'

Children are pictured in 1851 and 1876. At the beginning of the last century, thousands existed in abject poverty on streets that are now among the most fashionable and expensive in the capital

One way for children to earn a few coins was to sell firewood. They would go to factories and shops, begging for packing-cases, pallets and tea-chests

An unknown child poses for a portrait in 1876. Young people lived in devastating poverty surrounded by violence in the Victorian era

A slum child in June 1851. 

A flower girl sells her wares in 1877