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The 18th century was a period of rapid growth for London, reflecting an increasing national population, the early stirrings of the Industrial Revolution, and London's role at the centre of the evolving British Empire.

Demography[edit]

By the end of the century nearly one million people lived in London, about one-tenth of the population of Great Britain.^[1] By 1715, London's population reached an estimated 630,000 people, roughly equaling that of Europe's largest city until that time, Paris.^[2] Within a few years London itself was the largest city in Europe, reaching 750,000 people by 1760^[3] and 1 million by the end of the century.^[4]

The average height of a male Londoner was 5' 7¼" (171 cm) and the average height of a female Londoner was 5' 1¾" (157 cm).^[5]

In 1701, Bevis Marks synagogue opened to cater to London's Jewish population. It is still a working synagogue to this day.^[6]

Extent[edit]

London's growth in the 18th century was marked above all by the westward shift of the population away from the City of London. Westminster was intensively developed, with new districts like Mayfair housing Britain's wealthiest aristocratic families.^[7] Cavendish Square and Hanover Square were both laid out in the 1710s,^[8] while the Portman Estate, which occupies the western half of Marylebone, began its own building program in the 1750s with the granting of commercial leases, followed by the commencement of building on Portman Square in 1764.^[9]

The most exclusive area, Mayfair, was intensively built up with luxury townhouses on an area occupied by seven different estates: the Grosvenor, Burlington, Berkeley, Curzon, Milfield, Conduit Mead, and Albemarle Ground estates. The Grosvenor estate, in the northwest corner between Oxford Street and Park Lane, was the most substantial private plot of land, featuring an orderly grid network of streets constructed around Grosvenor Square in the early 1720s.^[10] By 1738 "nearly the whole space between Piccadilly and Oxford Street was covered with buildings as far as Tyburn Lane [Park Lane], except in the south-western corner about Berkeley Square and Mayfair".^[11]

Rural villages surrounding Westminster and the City also grew in population and were gradually incorporated into the metropolis: areas like Bethnal Green and Shadwell to the east, or Paddington and St Pancras to the northwest.^[12] In 1750 the London topographer John Noorthouck reckoned that London proper consisted of 46 former villages, two cities (Westminster and the City of London proper), and one borough (Southwark). Westminster had a population of 162,077, the City 116,755, and Southwark 61,169.^[13]

Urban fabric[edit]

To accommodate the rapid growth of population, Parliament enacted building legislation and initiated important infrastructure projects. Putney Bridge was built in 1729.^[14] The Fleet River, which was so filled with rubbish and sewage that it had been a health hazard for many years, was finally covered over in 1733.^[15] The New Road running between Paddington and Islington was constructed beginning in 1756. Intended as a drover's road upon which livestock could be driven to Smithfield Market without encountering the congested road network of the city further south, the 60 ft (18 m) wide New Road was London's first bypass and served as the informal northern boundary for London for years to come.^[16] With the completion of Westminster Bridge in 1750, London gained a much needed second overland crossing into the South Bank. In 1761 the seven ancient gates enclosing the City of London were removed to improve the circulation of traffic, as was the dense warren of housing on London Bridge which was a perennial fire hazard.^[12]

From 1707, buildings in London were no longer permitted with upper storeys overhanging the lower ones, so facades on future buildings were strictly vertical. After the Building Regulation Act of 1709, wooden window frames were required to be recessed at least 4 inches into the wall to prevent the spread of fire up a building's facade.^[17] The Building Act of 1777 set building requirements for new housing and sought to eliminate rampant jerry-building and shoddy construction work. Housing was divided into four "rates" based on ground rents, with each of the rates accorded their own strict building codes. The Building Act accounts for the remarkable uniformity of Georgian terraced housing and squares in London built in subsequent decades, which critics like John Summerson criticized for their "inexpressible monotony".^[18]

Landmark legislation included the Westminster Paving Act of 1765, which required streets be equipped with pavements, drainage, and lighting. The success of the legislation inspired the London Paving and Lighting Act of 1766, which extended the same provisions across the whole city and required that houses be numbered and streets and pavements be cleansed and swept regularly.^[19] Street lighting was more extensive than in any other city in Europe, something which amazed foreign visitors to the capital in the late 18th century.^[20][21]

New buildings[edit]

New mansions built in this period include Burgh House in Hampstead (1703),^[22] Buckingham House (1705),^[23] Marlborough House (begun 1709),^[17] Marble Hill and Chiswick House (1729).^[14]

In 1710, the final stone was added to St. Paul's Cathedral, designed by Christopher Wren.^[24] This cathedral replaced Old St. Paul's, which had been completely destroyed in the Great Fire of London. A flurry of church-building between 1711 and 1730 also saw the construction of Christ Church Spitalfields, St. Anne's Limehouse, St. George in the East, St. George Bloomsbury, St. Mary Woolnoth, St. Mary-le-Strand, St. Paul's Deptford, St. Giles-in-the-Fields, St. George's Hanover Square,^[24], St. Anne's Kew, St. Mary Rotherhithe,^[25] St. Peter's Vere Street,^[26] St. Martin-in-the-Fields,^[27], St. John's Smith Square,^[28] and Grosvenor Chapel.^[15]

Crime and law enforcement[edit]

The Bow Street Runners were established in 1749 as a professional police force, whilst from 1798 a Marine Police Force tackled crime in the docks and Pool of London.

London's prisons were often filthy and its officers corrupt. In 1726, an investigation into conditions in the Fleet Prison revealed that families had to bribe the warden to hand over the bodies of their family members who had died inside; and that one man called Jacob Solas had been chained up next to a sewer and a rubbish heap for two months.^[27]

Punishments[edit]

Hanging was a common punishment for several crimes. Hangings were public, and could attract large crowds depending on the fame of the victims. When the thief Jack Sheppard, who had escaped from prison multiple times, was finally hanged at Tyburn in 1724, 200,000 people reportedly came to see it.^[29] Pirates were generally hanged at Execution Dock on the foreshore of the Thames near Brewhouse Lane and Wapping High Street, and the bodies would be left there until they had been covered by three tides of the river. This was done to Captain William Kidd in 1701.^[30] Burning at the stake was used as a punishment for women who committed treason, as in the case of Katherine Hayes, who was burned in 1726 at Tyburn for murdering her husband.^[27]

War and rebellions[edit]

In 1715, claimant to the throne James Stuart landed in Scotland in what is known as the Jacobite Rebellion. In London, his supporters rioted, burning a portrait of William III, drinking toasts to James II, and attacking those who refused to join them. Soldiers were mobilised in Hyde Park in the event that Stuart should reach the capital.^[25]

In 1780, London was rocked by the Gordon Riots, an uprising by Protestants against Roman Catholic emancipation led by Lord George Gordon. Severe damage was caused to Catholic churches and homes, and 285 rioters were killed.

Culture[edit]

One of the most popular places to go for entertainment in London was Vauxhall Gardens, which reopened with new management in 1732 as the "New Spring Gardens".^[15]

Literature[edit]

Britain's first daily newspaper, the Daily Courant, was sold 1702-1735 from Ludgate Hill.^[22] The Tatler, a society paper, first appeared 1709-1711.^[17] Gentleman's Magazine began publication in 1731 and continued until 1907.^[31]

Theatre[edit]

What is now the Theatre Royal Haymarket opened in 1705 as the Queen's Theatre.^[32] The Royal Opera House first opened in 1732 as the Covent Garden Theatre.^[15]

1728 saw the opening of The Beggar's Opera at Lincoln's Inn Fields. Unlike the Italian-style operas that London audiences were used to, this used well-known folk songs and hymns from the time with the lyrics changed, so that audiences could sing along. It ran for 60 performances, considered a very long run at the time.^[28]

Pantomime has its origins in 18th-century London theatre, with The Tavern Bilkers at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in 1702 being a possible candidate for the world's first pantomime.^[22]

Health and medicine[edit]

1725 saw the opening of Guy's Hospital, which was originally intended for up to 400 poor patients with incurable conditions, which other hospitals such as St. Thomas' would not treat at the time.^[26]

Trade and industry[edit]

The tea merchant Thomas Twining set up a tea shop on the Strand in 1717, which is still one of the longest-running shops in London.^[23]

The 18th century saw the rise and fall of London's silk trade, run in chief by Protestant Huguenot families fleeing persecution in Catholic France and setting up silk looms in Spitalfields. In the 1710s, calico fabric imported from India began to undercut London silk, and in 1719, 4,000 Spitalfields silkweavers rioted in an anti-calico demonstration, throwing ink and acid at women wearing calico fabric.^[33]

Transport[edit]

The 18th century in Britain is often referred to as being subject to "turnpike mania", wherein many roads were placed in the custody of private trusts, who set up tollbooths along the road to pay for its upkeep. London's first turnpikes were set up in 1711: along Edgware Road from Kilburn to Hertfordshire, and the road from Highgate to Barnet.^[34] By 1720, there were five more: between Shoreditch and Enfield; Tyburn and Uxbridge; Kensington and Staines and Colnbrook; Southwark to Greenwich and Lewisham; and Westminster to New Cross.^[33]

See also[edit]

• Timeline of 18th century London

References[edit]

Sources[edit]

• Ackroyd, Peter (2000), London: The Biography, New York: Penguin Books
• Weinreb, Ben; Hibbert, Christopher; Keay, John; Keay, Julia (2008). The London Encyclopaedia (2nd ed.). Pan Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-405-04924-5.