'A Child of the Jago' Summary

The novel opens after midnight on a hot summer night, when many of the residents of the Jago, likened to “great rats”, prefer to sleep in the street to avoid the oppressive heat and stench of the closely packed houses. A man lured into a dwelling by a woman is brutally coshed, robbed and dragged unconscious into the street where others remove his boots. Dicky Perrott, 8 or 9 years old (the uncertainty is telling) makes his way home to the single room in which his family dwells, where he finds his mother, Hannah Perrott and flea-bitten baby sister, Looey, but only a crust of bread to eat. As dawn breaks his father, Josh Perrott, returns home with a club sticky with blood and hair, suggesting another robbery. 

Looking for cake and tea Dicky visits the East End Elevation Mission where well-intentioned middle-class ‘missionaries’ seek to educate and civilise. He dodges the young man on the door and takes the opportunity to steal a gold watch from a bishop. Returning home he proudly hands it to his father, who beats him for stealing but keeps the watch to sell for himself. 

Two families, the Ranns and the Learys, dominate the Jago, and one of their periodic violent confrontations breaks out. Sally Green, of the Leary clan, whose method of fighting is to hold down her opponent and chew viciously on the back of the neck, triumphs over the Rann's female champion, Nora Walsh, and proudly displays a bunch of her clotted hair as a trophy. Hannah Perrott, taking Looey out with her to buy food, is attacked by Sally Green and only rescued when Nora Walsh breaks a bottle and repeatedly stabs Sally in the face. Elsewhere there is a murder in the street when Fag Dawson is stabbed and the police descend in force on the Jago. Josh Perrott vows to fight Sally Green's brother, Billy Leary. 

Dicky encounters Aaron Weech, proprietor of a local coffee shop and a ‘fence’, a handler of stolen goods. Weech has heard about Dicky stealing the watch, and the punishment he received, and offers him coffee and cake. Weech suggests that in future Dicky should bring what he steals straight to him, and points out that Dicky is now in debt to him for the refreshments. Returning home, Dicky passes a clergyman, who, he imagines, has only ventured into the Jago because the police are present. Looey is ill but disregarded by her mother. Dicky sees that the door to the Roper family's room opposite is open, and ventures inside. He steals their clock, but as he descends the stairs he is confronted by the Roper's son, Bobby, and the two struggles before Dicky breaks free and takes the clock to Mr Weech. Other residents of the house also enter the Ropers’ room and steal their belongings. The Ropers, already despised and resented due to their perceived relative gentility, return and are attacked by the Jagos, until they are saved by the intervention of the clergyman, Father Sturt, who cows the crowd and retrieves the stolen property. 

Dicky feels sorry for the Ropers and resolves to replace their clock with something. He steals a music box and is chased back to the Jago, narrowly avoiding capture. Father Sturt arranges for the Ropers to take up lodging in nearby Dove Lane and Dicky secretes the music box in the cart carrying away their belongings. 

Josh Perrott defeats Billy Leary in their fight, winning £5 in prize money and bets, and celebrates with Hannah in a pub. Looey dies whilst left behind in their room, and as Dicky sobs over his sister's corpse, Josh and Hannah return to the pub. 

Four years pass. Father Sturt plans to build a church on Jago Court. Although by now a hardened thief who has received a birching, Dicky occasionally attends school. He returns home one day to see the Ropers’ clock on the family mantlepiece. Weech has given this to Josh in return for stolen tobacco. Another child has been born, and Looey is “forgotten”. Dicky and Bobby Roper's mutual antagonism continues, with Roper delighting in informing on Dicky's transgressions at school and Dicky retaliating violently. 

Father Sturt, after finding Dicky weaving rush bags, sees hope that the boy can make an honest life and secures a job for him at Mr Grinder's hardware shop. Dicky takes to the work with pride and daydreams of one day having his own shop. Weech, fearful that Dicky will inform, or averse to losing a source of income, tells Mr Grinder that Dicky has offered to sell him stock from the shop and Dicky is dismissed, vowing to turn his back on the idea of honest employment, and returning to Grinder's to steal the very items Weech had lied about, and, ironically, taking those items to Weech. Dicky hears his mother and father speculating that someone has lied about him to Mr. Grinder. Dicky assumes it was Bobby Roper. 

Following a violent outbreak of the intermittent rivalry with the neighborhood of Dove Lane the residents of the Jago invite their enemies to a social evening in Mother Gapp's pub. The rotten floor of the club-room gives way and, in the confusion, both Dove Lane and Jago factions think they are under attack and retaliate. In the melee Dicky assaults Bobby Roper who falls into the cellar. 

Josh Perrott breaks into a house, assaults the occupier and steals a valuable watch. The victim is a gangster, one of the ‘High Mob’, and a warning not to receive the stolen watch goes out to all the fences of London. Josh's attempts to dispose of the watch are frustrated and he finally offers it to Weech, who betrays him, leading to a sentence of five years imprisonment. As Hannah Perrott struggles to survive, Kiddo Cook, encouraged by Father Sturt, begins to make a respectable living selling fruit and vegetables, some of which he kindly donates to the Perrotts. Hannah delivers another baby boy, 'Little Josh’. 

Four years pass and Josh is released. He confides in Bill Rann that it was Weech who betrayed him and the two men conspire to burgle Weech's shop. Josh deliberately wakes Weech who screams for help. As Rann escapes and a crowd gathers outside, Josh menaces Weech with a knife, telling him that as well as betraying him he has worked out that it was Weech that caused Dicky's dismissal from the shop. Josh kills Weech but is seen by the crowd, and despite getting away from the scene, he is hunted down, tried, convicted and hanged. 

A week after his father's execution, an enraged Dicky speaks to Jerry Gullen, suggesting that his donkey may soon die. Gullen retorts that the donkey will probably outlive Dicky. A few minutes later, desperate to engage in violence, Dicky joins a fight between Jagos and Dove Laners. From behind he is fatally stabbed by Bobby Roper.