Tommy Denby

Pre-History of London: Social Issues

From the beginning of the industrial revolution up to the 20^th century, London’s problems, including over-population, disease, and extreme class divisions, have given it one of the most interesting social histories of any city in the world. British government has been seated in London for nearly nine-hundred years, and that situation has made London the most important British city in every way.

After the British government moved to London, the aristocratic and upper class families of Britain moved there as well. This move proved to have large significance much later on, because when poor working-class people started to move into London in flocks at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, there was an enormous amount tension between the lower and upper classes. Londoners became both the richest and poorest people in Britain; the members of the upper classes, few in number, held all the power, the vast lower classes held none, a disparity which enhanced the tensions. All the problems that most booming cities had at the time, like over-population, lack of sanitation, disease, crime, and tremendous class-divisions, helped to set up the many clashes that took place between the classes, but during these clashes the lower classes gradually became more and more victorious, and started to gain, over time, more and more power.

One factor causing the clashes was the sheer size of London’s population, which, even before the Industrial Revolution, was in the process of expanding enormously and consistently, and would continue to do so for hundreds of years. In just fifty years, from 1550 to 1600, the population jumped from 100,000 to 200,000. Most of these new residents were poor, unskilled laborers living in buildings that were previously used as Catholic facilities that had been confiscated by the government. Because of the cessation of church charities to help the poor, the city had to organize poor relief in 1547, and encouraged the re-opening of Catholic hospitals that had been shut down. Although the city government tried everything it could to keep the population down, by the beginning of the seventeenth century the population had reached 220,000 members. A practice which added to the unsanitary and unhealthy conditions of the poor was called “pestering”; old, large houses were broken up into small houses into which dozens of people were packed.

As the population continued to grow, sanitation became worse and health risks grew. In 1603 and 1644-45 the plague hit London and killed as many as 100,000 people. Also, in 1666 London burned for 3 days in the Great Fire of London, in which thousands of houses were destroyed, and nearly five sixths of the city was burnt to the ground. Although London faced these catastrophes in the 17^th century, it still was able to drastically increase in population, and by 1700 the population had reached 500,000 and had overtaken the population of Paris and the rest of European cities.

At this point most Londoners had a pretty miserable life. They had just gone through a hundred years of misfortune, they lived in mostly terrible and unsanitary conditions, and they worked unhealthy hours for very little pay. One of the few things which could help the poor through their misery, however, was gin, which they could actually afford because it was made so cheaply. George Slim, in his book Horrible London (1889), wrote, “More than one-fourth of the daily earnings of the citizens of the slums goes over the bars of the public-houses and gin-places… Enter the public-houses, and you will see them crammed. Here are artisans and labourers drinking away the wages that ought to clothe their little ones.” Gin was incredibly popular with the working classes at the time because it was so cheap, but the upper-classes and religious leaders looked down on it and those who used it because they thought it encouraged laziness and crime. In order to deprive the poor of their drink a high tax was passed on Gin in 1729. The working class hated this tax, and riots broke out in London in 1743. Ultimately, this caused the government to drop the tax.

The Gin Riots were just one way in which London’s classes would battle. Another way was through Parliament, which was divided into two sections: the House of Lords (upper class) and the House of Commons (mixed classes). Before 1700, the House of Lords held most of the power, whereas the House of Commons held very little. This institution was one battleground for the classes—on many issues pertaining to class the two houses would fight against each other. Prior to 1700, the House of Lords usually won. After 1700, however, the House of Commons started to gain more and more power, and when the House of Lords wanted to reject one of the bills proposed by the House of Commons, it usually failed. This was the case with treaty of Utrecht with France in 1712, which showed the rising power of the lower and middle classes.

London’s enormous population made it one of the most unsanitary, unhealthy and unsafe cities in the entire world. It also created very distinct class lines and intense social battles, many of which took place in the form of rioting on the side of the poor and restrictive laws imposed by the rich. But these battles were a necessary factor for reform and change in London. They showed the upper classes that the city needed re-planning and reform in terms of laws regarding the poor and working class. These battles also showed the upper-classes of London that the lower classes were not content, and that something needed to be done.

Sources

Encyclopedia Britannica

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Britain.html

Horrible London (1889), by George Slim

Doing the Business: Entrepreneurship, the Working Class, and Detectives in the

East End of London (1988), by Dick Hobbs

Questia.com