[Ads-l] "great unwashed"

[Peter Reitan]

Examples of simply “unwashed,” without “great,” appear as early as 1826.

Every example I found in a brief search related to discussions of religious liberty, or not, in England – lots of references to popery, protestants and the Church of England.  Seems to be used in some cases to refer to unsophisticated people who advocate on one side of the issue or other, without being gentlemen or scholars, others to the rabble or mob, generally (on the other side of the issue).

One example, from the same month (January 1829) as the early example of “great unwashed,” says that people are referred to as “unwashed” in the Standard if liberal, or as “unwashed” in the Times if illiberal.

The Examiner, London, January 25, 1829, page 1.
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-examiner/125379447/

The earliest I saw was from 1926.
“But, besides these dignified persons, there were in the church a numerous collection of the lower orders, some brought thither by curiosity, but many of them unwashed artificers, bewildered in the theological discussions of the time, and of as many various sects as there are colours in the rainbow.”
The Hull Packet and East Riding Times, Hull, England, May 16, 1826, page 4.
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-hull-packet-and-east-riding-times/125379707/


There is at least one more example from 1826, one in 1828, and another in 1829.

Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows

From: ADSGarson O'Toole<mailto:adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Friday, May 26, 2023 3:19 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: "great unwashed"

---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: "great unwashed"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bill Mullins <amcombill at hotmail.com> wrote:
> The wikipedia article on Edward Bulwer-Lytton (whose birthday
> was yesterday) credits him with coining the phrase "the great unwashed"
> in his 1830 novel Paul Clifford.
>
> 1829 London Standard 22 Jan 3/2
>
> We have just returned from a walk through part of Dame-street,
> and such a congregation of foul and fetid smells -- such a compositioni
> of the "great unwashed" has not been exhibited in this metropolis within
> our recollection.
>
> https://www.newspapers.com/image/409659558/?terms=3D%22great%20unwashed%2=<https://www.newspapers.com/image/409659558/?terms=3D%22great%20unwashed%252=>
2&match=3D1

Excellent citation, Bill. There is a pertinent entry in the OED, and
the book by Edward Bulwer-Lytton is the first citation. So you have
also helped the OED.

[Begin excerpt]
unwashed, adj. and n.     B. n.
People who are not usually in a clean state, regarded collectively;
the =E2=80=98lower classes=E2=80=99. Frequently in the great unwashed.

1830   E. Bulwer-Lytton Paul Clifford I. p. xix   He is certainly a
man who bathes and =E2=80=98lives cleanly=E2=80=99, (two especial charges p=
referred
against him by Messrs. the Great Unwashed).
[End excerpt]

Garson

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org