London during the 18th century

During the 18^th century London experienced growth, expanding beyond its historical boundaries and spreading to the south.

The rich population had already moved from the old downtown to the upcoming West End at the end of the 17th century. Urban centres for the poor, which surrounded the city like a belt, were developing.

New bridges were built, in addition to London Bridge, to cross the Thames, for example Westminster Bridge.

The rich people left their old houses and the narrow alleys and moved to the west of the city, where a new district arose.

The poor population was squeezed into the East End, where slums were widespread. In those poor quarters families lived together in a few rooms, and very often one room was rented to different families at the same time. The houses were old and did not offer protection from the weather. In winter it was very cold and in summer it was tremendously hot. The child mortality rate was quite high and the living conditions at close quarters in the houses caused severe deseases.  Typhoid and cholera often spread as epidemics. The plague raged repeatedly in London and it caused a great number of casualties. Only at the end of the 18^th century was this disease brought under control.

With the development of slums, the crime rate increased very fast. As a consequence the judge John Fielding established the first police force called the “Bow Street Runners” in 1750. The death penalty could be imposed even for minor crimes, and public executions had a folk festival character. Until 1783 the executions took place at Tyburn, a small village a few miles west of the city; until 1868 this happened in the yard of Newgate Prison.

In the June of 1780, the “Gordon Riots” shook the city. Radical Protestants, led by Lord Gordon, wanted to prevent the enforcement of a law that was aimed at Catholic emancipation. An incensed group walked through the city and destroyed Catholic churches. They set homes of Catholics on fire. It took the army two weeks to get control of the unrest. 285 people were killed and more than 100 houses were destroyed.