18th Century London

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. It saw immigrants and visitors from all over the world, particularly Huguenot migrants from France. The built-up area of London increased dramatically in this period, particularly westward as areas such as Mayfair and Marylebone were constructed. Grand aristocratic mansions such as Spencer House were built, as well as churches such as St. Martin-in-the-Fields and Christ Church Spitalfields.

Crime such as armed robbery and sex work were particularly prevalent, leading to the development of early police forces such as the Bow Street Runners and the Thames River Police. Capital and corporal punishment such as hanging, penal transportation and the pillory were used, but the period also saw the development of penitentiary prisons such as that at Coldbath Fields. Londoners saw widespread violence during upheavals such as the Gordon Riots.

Many modern-day cultural institutions come from 18th century London, such as the Royal Society of Arts, the Royal Academy, the British Museum, the Royal Thames Yacht Club, Lord's Cricket Ground, ''The Times'', ''The Observer,'' Theatre Royal Haymarket, and the Royal Opera House. London-based artists and writers included Thomas Gainsborough, William Hogarth, Jonathan Swift, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Samuel Johnson.

London's economy was massively boosted by its shipping industry, but other important industries included silkweaving. Many modern-day businesses trace their origins back to 18th-century London, including Sotheby's, WHSmith, and Schweppes. In order to transport goods and people, many new turnpikes and canals were constructed, and educational movements aimed at working-class children, such as Sunday schools, were pioneered in this period.

Demography

At the beginning of the period, about 500,000 people lived in London. By 1713, this number had risen to 630,000; by 1760, it was 740,000, and by the end of the century, it was just over 1 million.

The average height of a male Londoner was and the average height of a female Londoner was .

Immigrant and disapora communities

African and Afro-Caribbean Londoners

In 1768, the abolitionist Granville Sharp estimated that there were 20,000 black people in domestic service in London. This included some who were enslaved, as evidenced by "for sale" or "runaway" notices in London newspapers. In the aftermath of the American Revolutionary War in the 1780s, there was a small influx of black Americans who had fought for the British and were therefore no longer welcome in the United States, many of whom become homeless. Some black Londoners became well known through their writings, such as Ignatius Sancho, Olaudah Equiano, Ottobah Cugoano, Robert Wedderburn, Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, Ayuba Suleiman Diallo, and Phillis Wheatley. Other famous black figures of the day include the violinist George Bridgetower, the fencing master Julius Soubise, and the aristocrats Dido Belle and William Ansah Sessarakoo.

Asian Londoners

Around the docks in the East End was a population of sailors from India and east Asia known as "lascars" employed on ships belonging to the East India Company. The company ran a boarding house for them called Orchard House in Blackwall. In the wealthier West End of London, Indians were more likely to be employed as domestic servants by officers and former officers of the East India Company. In 1765, the ''munshi'' Mirza Sheikh I'tesamuddin became the first-known educated Indian to visit London. He wrote a book in Persian on his experiences in Europe which was later translated into English by James Edward Alexander.

European Londoners

London had populations of immigrants from various European countries. After the rights of French Protestants called Huguenots were repealed in 1688, thousands fled to London. At the beginning of the period, there were an estimated 25,000 Huguenots in London, particularly in Soho and Spitalfields. At their height, there were 23 French churches in London. Successful Huguenots included the sculptor Louis François Roubiliac and the optician John Dollond. There was also a community of French Catholic immigrants, who ran French-language newspapers such as the ''Courier Politique et Littéraire'' and the ''Courier de Londres''. Well-known Londoners from other European countries include the painters Godfrey Kneller, and Johan Zoffany; and the sculptors Peter Scheemakers, Michael Rysbrack and Giuseppe Ceracchi. In 1750, a population of the Bohemian Protestant sect called Moravians settled on Cheyne Walk in Chelsea. They established a Moravian church and burial ground.

An estimated 30,000 Irish immigrants lived in London by the end of the period. Some were particularly successful, including Robert Barker, Hans Sloane, James Barry, Charles Macklin, Jonathan Swift, Laurence Sterne, Oliver Goldsmith, and Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

Theoretically, Romani people and travellers had been expelled from England since the 1560s, but there was nonetheless a community in London in the 18th century, particularly in Norwood. They were particularly associated with horse dealing and fortune-telling at London's fairs. Well-known travellers of the period included Jacob Rewbrey of Westminster, Margaret Finch of Norwood, and Diana Boswell from Dulwich.

Historian Jerry White estimates that there were about 750 Jewish people living in London at the beginning of the period. By the end of the century, that number had risen to about 15,000. In 1701, Bevis Marks synagogue opened to cater to Sephardic Jews descended from Spanish and Portuguese immigrants. It is still a working synagogue to this day. Ashkenazi Jews, descended from Dutch, German and central European immigrants, used the Great Synagogue in Duke's Place, the Hambro' Synagogue off Fenchurch Street, and the New Synagogue on Leadenhall Street. Practising Jews could not join the city's trade guilds, and so many Jewish business owners lived outside the city, in places like Aldgate and Whitechapel. Michael Leoni was a famous Jewish singer, and Daniel Mendoza a famous Jewish boxer.

There were smaller numbers of people who came from further afield, such as Mehemet von Königstreu and Ernst August Mustapha, Turkish valets to George I.

Other visitors

London also drew in people from all over the globe, even if they only visited for a short time. Examples include the Native American chief Tomochichi and his retinue, who met George II in 1734; the Raiatean man Mai, who visited in 1774 and had his portrait painted by the artist Joshua Reynolds; and the Aboriginal Australians Bennelong and Yemmerrawanne, who visited in 1793.

Topography

Extent

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. Cavendish Square and Hanover Square were both laid out in the 1710s, 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. Manchester Square was begun in 1776. Comparison of London maps made in the mid-17th century with ones made in the mid-18th century also reveal that the new developments were much more likely to be built along grid structures.

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. By 1738 "nearly the whole space between Piccadilly and Oxford Street was covered with buildings as far as Tyburn Lane ark Lane except in the south-western corner about Berkeley Square and Mayfair". Further west, the Cadogan Estate began working on the area between Knightsbridge and Sloane Square in 1777.

To the south, the area now known as Elephant & Castle was also laid out in this period, with a road from Westminster Bridge connecting up to Borough High Street, and the New Kent Road also constructed. To the north, new developments sprang up around between Paddington and Islington such as Pentonville, named after its landlord, Henry Penton; and Somers Town, named after its landlord, Charles Cocks, 1st Baron Somers. Construction began on Bedford Square in 1775, which has been called "the most perfect of the London squares of the period", and Finsbury Square was begun in 1777. Building started on Camden Town in 1791, named after the 1st Earl Camden.

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. 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.

New buildings

New mansions built in this period include Burgh House in Hampstead (1703), Buckingham House (1705), Marlborough House (begun 1709), Marble Hill and Chiswick House (1729), Strawberry Hill (begun 1747), Spencer House (competed 1766), Albany (1770), Home House (completed 1776), Apsley House (completed 1778), and Dover House (completed 1787). Buckingham House, later known as Buckingham Palace, was bought by George III in 1762. In 1783, work began on expanding and renovating Carlton House for the then Prince of Wales, which took years to be completed as well as huge amounts of taxpayer money, only for the Prince to live there for a very short amount of time.

In 1732, part of no. 10 Downing Street was acquired by the Crown and offered to the Prime Minister Robert Walpole. As he already had many houses and didn't want to pay to upkeep another, he accepted it as a perk of his position, beginning the tradition of passing the house down to each successive Prime Minister. It was substantially remodelled by the architect William Kent. The residence of the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Mansion House, was completed in 1753 after having been designed by architect George Dance the Elder. The current Treasury building was completed in 1736.

Bevis Marks Synagogue was one of the first new religious buildings of the period, opening in 1701. In 1710, the final stone was added to St. Paul's Cathedral, designed by Christopher Wren. 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's Bloomsbury, St. Mary Woolnoth, St. Mary-le-Strand, St. Paul's Deptford, St. Giles-in-the-Fields, St. George's Hanover Square, St. Anne's Kew, St. Botolph-without-Bishopsgate, St. Mary's Rotherhithe, St. Peter's Vere Street, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, St. John's Smith Square, and Grosvenor Chapel. After this, further churches built in the period include St. George the Martyr, Southwark (1736), St. Mary's Ealing (1740), St. John-at-Hampstead (1747), Wesley's Chapel (1756), and the Portland Chapel (1766). Another burst of church-building occurred towards the end of the period, with new churches such as St. Mary's Paddington, St. James's Clerkenwell, and St. Patrick's Soho Square (1792), St. John-at-Hackney and St. Martin Outwich (1798).

The period also saw the construction of several bridges across the Thames alongside London Bridge. With the completion of Westminster Bridge in 1750, London gained a much needed second crossing onto the south bank, and Blackfriars Bridge opened in 1769. To the west, Putney Bridge was built in 1729, Kew built its first bridge in 1759, and Richmond Bridge opened in 1777.

The first Freemasons' Hall was built on Great Queen Street in 1776. Severndroog Castle was built in 1784 to commemorate the seagoing victories of Sir William James, who had died the previous year. Trinity House was built for the body that governs English and Welsh lighthouses in 1795. Shop fronts also began to be built with large windows for passers-by to see the goods inside, examples of which can still be seen at 88 Dean Street and James Lock & Co on St. James's Street. New government offices included Somerset House, the Admiralty, and Horse Guards.

Urban fabric

To accommodate the rapid growth of population, Parliament enacted building legislation and initiated important infrastructure projects. 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. 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 wide New Road was London's first bypass and served as the informal northern boundary for London for years to come. The City Road was added in 1761, connecting the Angel to Finsbury Square. To improve traffic, the houses on London Bridge were removed in 1757, the Holbein Gate in Whitehall was removed in 1759, and the gates of the city were removed 1760–1777.

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 1709 (7 Ann. c. 17), 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. In 1762, shop signs that hung down were banned in the City and Westminster, and had to be fixed flat to the building instead to prevent them blocking out sunlight and falling on people walking underneath. The Building Act 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".

Landmark legislation included the Westminster Paving Act 1765 (5 Geo. 3. c. 50), which required streets be equipped with pavements, drainage, and lighting. The success of the legislation inspired the London Paving and Lighting Act 1766 ( 6 Geo. 3. c. 26), which extended the same provisions across the whole city and required that houses be numbered and streets and pavements be cleansed and swept regularly. 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. The practice of numbering houses also dates from this period, with some sources claiming it started in New Burlington Street. The practice of putting street names on signs at each corner was taken up by the city from 1765 onwards.

Crime and law enforcement

Armed robbery was particularly common in London, either by highwaymen (on horseback) or footpads (on foot). One gang, run by a man called Obadiah Lemon, used fishing hoods to steal hats and wigs through open coach windows, or leapt on top and cut through the roof. George III himself was robbed of his shoe buckles and spare change while walking in Kensington Gardens. During the 1750s, several outyling towns in London's suburbs organised their own guard patrols to combat robbers on their roads. For example, Blackheath residents offered rewards for information on highwaymen in 1753, and Kentish Town inhabitants paid to hire guards in 1756.

Pickpocketing was also particularly common in London, where large crowds often gathered at executions and theatre performances. There was also large amounts of theft on the river, as ships laden with valuable goods waited with skeleton crews for a berth in the Pool of London. £70,000 worth of sugar alone was stolen per year from boats on the river. Sex work was another common crime, particularly associated with Covent Garden. In 1758, it was estimated that 3,000 sex workers lived in London. On one routine sweep, constables arrested 22 sex workers in Covent Garden, two of whom were men dressed as women. In 1757, a catalogue of London's sex workers was published called ''Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies'', which detailed the names, locations, and descriptions of hundreds of workers in the capital.

Although the crime of buggery was punishable by death, London had several establishments known as "molly houses", where queer men could meet. According to one homophobic pamphlet of the time, men in molly houses took on female personas and performed mock weddings and birth ceremonies. The 18th century saw a huge backlash against molly houses, with the publication of pamphlets such as ''The Sodomites' Shame and Doom'', and groups such as the Society for the Reformation of Manners

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