LONDON IN 19th CENTURY

Using certain texts as sources, write a brief overview of life in early eighteenth century London Eighteenth century London was a stinking cess-pit of disease, hardship and death. Eighteenth century London was also the greatest city in Europe. It depended greatly on whose life you were living at that time. Common facts of life affected all, such as the high mortality rate, contaminated drinking water, poor medical treatment and lack of proper hygiene. However, to an upper class Londoner there was nowhere else on Earth they would rather live. After the Great Fire of 1666 London was rebuilt. This new London rose like a phoenix from the ashes with the new St. Paul’s Cathedral as its main focus. St. Paul’s dominated the skyline and was the jewel in the crown of the new city. Politically, London was much more settled than it had been in the previous century. The seventeenth century had seen the beheading of a king and eleven years as a republic. Now, more than ever before, the upper class Londoner was a free man. Although still ruled by the monarchs, William III and Mary II, these were the first constitutional monarchs and the governing of the country was performed by a democratically elected parliament. Of course, all of this meant little to the poorer eighteenth century Londoner. The government was still hugely corrupt and not everyone had the vote to begin with. Life was all about hard work with little reward, about survival through epidemics of tuberculosis, smallpox, typhus, dysentery, measles and influenza. The streets were full of human and animal waste which eventually made its way into the Thames. The Thames was littered with the city’s household waste and sewerage yet it was also the main source of all the city’s water. The working class began their working life as soon as they could walk. From then on life consisted mainly of back-breaking labour with a diet of stale bread and rotting meat and vegetables.