The sound of Bow-Bells...

It is a well-known saying that if one was born "within the sound of Bow-Bells", one is a Cockney (or rather a "true Londoner").

The bells referred to are from the Church of St. Mary-le-Bow on Cheapside, in the City of London. Studies made in the 1990's (concluded that at today's sound levels, anyone born within 1.8 miles of St. Mary-le-Bow could be called a "Londoner", and in the 19th Century, the range extended to 3 miles.

Both Morris & Flora Lazarus and most of their children (except for Sophia/"Lily") were indeed born "within the sound of Bow-Bells" at various locations around London. (The distance as the crow flies from St. Mary-le-Bow to Drury Lane is 1,327 miles/1,823km - see the GoogleMap at the end of this post.

I include a quote below, and a map showing the range of the bells...

"Another tradition has it that to be born within the sound of the Bow Bells makes you a Cockney. There has been much discussion on various genealogical newsgroups concerning whether an ancestor was a Cockney. The first major problem occurs in determining in which church the bells are housed. Many think, wrongly, that the church is St Mary's in Bow which is just over three miles further to the east than the true home of the Bow Bells, St Mary-le-Bow in Cheapside. The next problem is just how far away from the church can the bells be heard. If the legend of Dick Whitington is to be believed then the bells could be heard on Highgate Hill fully six miles distant from the source. In 1991, Dr Malcolm Hough carried out research taking into account such things as weather, wind and landscape to map where the Bow Bells could be heard. The map shown below illustrates the limits when the background sound levels are taken into consideration. Dr Hough estimated that before motorised traffic the sound levels would be in the region of 50 decibels during the day, reducing to 30 decibels at night. The equivalent reading today would be 60 reducing to 45 thus greatly reducing the Cockney area."
[Source: The East End, then and now; Winston G Ramsey]

To see the GoogleMap showing the distance from St. Mary-le-Bow (on the right) to 46 Drury Lane (left), see this LINK