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5. MONSTROUS CITY

London grew and grew in size like an octopus. Daniel Defoe in 1720 asked "And whither will this monstrous city extend".

The population soared to a million and London sucked up people from all over England and overseas.

6. IMMIGRATION

The mass migration from Ireland had started. Poor Irish crowded into the slums of St. Giles, Whitechapel and Holborn.

With their poor standards of living they were a disturbing influence. One authority has described them them as a police problem, a poor law problem, a sanitary problem and an industrial problem.

7. JEWS & BLACKS

Once more the Jews were being persecuted - in Germany and Poland. The poor Ashkenazin followed their richer sephardic bretheren to England.

By the end of the 18th century there were 20,000 Jews in London.

Georgian London also had its black population - mostly runaway slaves and refugees from American independence.

The surprising thing is that the 20,000 negroes in England disappeared in 50 years. They intermarried with the locals.


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8. A WELCOME

It is pleasant to note that one group of immigrants were actually welcomed to England. These were the Protestant refugees from France - the Huguenots They constituted the greatest influx of foreigners into the country that it had ever experienced.

They were hard working and skilful. Their thriving community in Spitalfields was an oasis of decent city life. People remarked on their neat, clean houses, window boxes of tulips and dovecotes.

 

9. ROOKERIES OF LONDON

The wealthy of London moved to the handsome Georgian terraces and squares - England's one contribution to city life.

But threequarters of London people were poor, living in overcrowded slums.

These were known as rookeries - labyrinths of courts and alleys swarming with people.

10. ROOMS TO LET

These tenements were inhabited by an uneasy, floating population. Most of the poor lived in furnished rooms paying 1/- a week to 2/6 a week in rent. (++ show shillings and pence)

Everyone who could, let rooms and sub-let them again. 15 to 20 people would be crammed into one room paying 2d a night. Some lodgers even let part of their bed on a weekly basis.

11. AN ESCAPE

To escape their dreadful conditions they spent their time in the streets and taverns.

They tried to forget their misery in drink. The first half of the 18th century was the age of Gin. It was said that 100,000 people lived on drink alone. The population of London drank 6 gallons a head per year.

 

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