Whitechapel is a rapidely changing area in East London. Famous for a poverty striken history and intrisically linked to Jack the Ripper and the Elephant Man. The “Elephant Man”, Joseph Carey Merrick (1862-1890) was exhibited in a shop on the Whitechapel Road before being helped by Dr Frederick Treves (1853-1923) at the Royal London Hospital, opposite the actual shop. There is a museum in the hospital about his life. The area still remains thoroughly working class and the Bangladeshis are the most visible migrant group there today. Whitechapel is home to many aspiring artists and shoestring entrepreneurs.
