London Life in the XVIIIth Century By M. DOROTHY GEORGE Late Research Scholar of Girton LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO. LTD. NEW YORK: ALFRED A. KNOPF 91421 332714 Hist- Syll. Fak PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY THE EDINBURGH PRESS, 9 AND 11 YOUNG STREET, EDINBURGH PREFACE THIS book is an attempt to give a picture of the conditions of life and work of the poorer classes in London in the eighteenth century—a rash attempt in the face of the developments of a century of transition, of many contradictions and complexities, of the differences between localities and between trade and trade. Much use has been made of quotation in order to give some impression of contemporary points of view. It was a time of rigid class distinction, 'low life' was considered a fit subject for comedy, burlesque or satire only-and 'low life' had a very wide interpretation. Till Lillo's Barnwell was played in London in 1731, no writer, Tom Davies says, "had ventured to descend so low as to introduce the character of a merchant or his apprentice tragedy." Even in satire low life was sometimes thought unsuited to the writer of position. Lord Orrery was shocked that Swift should have written the Directions to Servants. "What intenseness of thought must have been bestowed on the lowest and most slavish scenes of life . . . a man of Swift's exalted genius ought constantly to have soared into higher regions. . . . Let him jest with dignity, and let him be comical upon useful subjects, leaving poor slaves to heat their porridge or drink their small beer in such vessels as they shall think proper." Lady Mary Wortley Montague complained that the levelling tendencies of the times were reflected in the novels she read so insatiably; "the heroes and heroines of the age," she said (with maniexaggeration), "are cobblers and kitchen wenches." into a fest Though fiction, satire and burlesque, ballads and broadsides, do throw light on the lives and manners of the humbler folk, the conditions under which they lived are hard to come by, and are chiefly to be gathered from the incidental information of trials, depositions of witnesses, petitions to Quarter Sessions, reports of coroner's inquests, settlement cases, the publications of charities and the pamphlets of reformers. This is a class of evidence which suffers from the fact that it is concerned largely with calamities and distresses. The same is to a great extent true of Parliamentary reports, where, however, present miseries are often contrasted with past prosperity. Indeed, in such papers, industrial prosperity is often in the past but almost never in the present. Normal conditions are the hardest to discover, and though incidentally, and by implication and allusion, much information is to be gathered from this material as to general conditions and standards, for direct description of the things which were too familiar to the Londoner for comment, the impressions of foreigners are of great value. The bibliography is a strictly limited one, but I hope that, taken together with the notes, it leaves no room for doubt as to the nature of the material used and the authorities for statements in the text. Whole classes of books which are dealt with in standard bibliographies (notably those of The Cambridge History of Literature and The Cambridge Modern History) have been omitted. My thanks are especially due to Miss Alice Clark, for whom the research on which the book is based was originally begun, and to the London School of Economics and Political Science for giving me a research scholarship. I am deeply indebted to Professor Knowles, Dr Eileen Power and Sir William Beveridge for reading the book in manuscript and for many invaluable criticisms and suggestions. I wish also to express my thanks to Mr Thomas for his help in explaining the intricacies of the Guildhall Records, and to the authorities at the Westminster Guildhall for giving me facilities to work from the Middlesex County Records. The editors of the Economic Journal have kindly given me permission to reprint an article from the Journal for September 1922 Some Causes of the Increase of Population in the Eighteenth Century as Illustrated by London. This has been almost completely re-written and incorporated in Chapter I. M. DOROTHY GEORGE. INTRODUCTION: LONDON circa 1700-1815 The social history of London shows a marked improvement in conditions after the middle of the century. The development of London has several points of contrast with that of the newer towns; the proportion of manual workers tends to decrease; the ancient City loses importance and prestige. Improvements shown in a decline in the death-rate, an improvement in manners and in the orderliness and safety of London. These improve- ments due to changes in administration, and the growth of a spirit of humanity and reform which (in England) is closely inter-related with administrative change as well as with im- provements in medicine and an increased knowledge of social conditions under the influence of a new spirit of scientific inquiry. Methodism. Education, Reasons for the failure to realise the improvement which took place. The supposed increase of crime and the changed attitude towards the penal code. The growth of discontent. Exceptional position of London in the bad years after 1815. Much evidence against a general deterioration in the conditions of life in spite of the distress which followed the The Bills of Mortality and the Waste of Life. The theory of CHAPTER II: HOUSING AND THE GROWTH OF LONDON The growth of London circa 1560-1815. Early cleavage between East and West London-the contrast marked by the beginning of the eighteenth century. The great parish of Stepney. The development of London influenced by the attempts of Elizabeth |