Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE GIN CRAZE
It's di
cult to exaggerate the effects of the gin-drinking orgy which took place among the
poorer sections of London's population between 1720 and 1751. At its height,
gin
consumption
was averaging two pints a week for every man, woman and child, and the
burial rate exceeded the baptism rate by more than 2:1. The origins of this lay in the country's
enormous surplus of corn, which had to be sold in some form or another to keep the
landowners happy. Deregulation of the distilling trade was Parliament's answer, thereby
flooding the urban market with cheap, intoxicating liquor, which resulted in an enormous
increase in crime, prostitution,
child mortality
and general misery among the poor. Papers in
the Old Bailey archives relate a typical story of the period: a mother who “fetched her child
from the workhouse, where it had just been 'new-clothed, for the afternoon. She strangled it
and left it in a ditch in Bethnal Green in order to sell its clothes. The money was spent on gin.”
Eventually, in the face of huge vested interests, the government was forced to pass an Act in
1751 that restricted gin retailing and brought the epidemic to a halt.
became known, was
Robert Walpole
, the first politician to live at
10 Downing Street
,
and effective ruler of the country from 1721 to 1742.
Meanwhile, London's expansion continued unabated. The shops of the newly
developed
West End
stocked the most fashionable goods in the country, the volume of
trade more than tripled and London's growing population - it was by now the largest
city in the world, with a population rapidly approaching one million - created a huge
market for food and other produce, as well as fuelling a building boom. In the City, the
Bank of England
- founded in 1694 to raise funds to conduct war against France - was
providing a sound foundation for the economy. It could not, however, prevent the
mania for financial speculation that resulted in the fiasco of the
South Sea Company
,
which in 1720 sold shares in its monopoly of trade in the Pacific and along the east
coast of South America. The “bubble” burst when the shareholders took fright at the
extent of their own investments, and the value of the shares dropped to nothing,
reducing many to penury and almost wrecking the government, which was saved only
by the astute intervention of Walpole.
Wealthy though London was, it was also experiencing the worst mortality rates since
records began in the reign of Henry VIII. Disease was rife in the overcrowded
immigrant quarter of the East End and other slum districts, but the real killer during
this period was
gin
(see box above).
Policing the metropolis was an increasing preoccupation for the government.
It was proving a task far beyond the city's three thousand beadles, constables and
nightwatchmen, who were, in any case, “old men chosen from the dregs of the people
who have no other arms but a lantern and a pole”, according to one French visitor. As
a result,
crime
continued unabated throughout the eighteenth century, so that, in the
words of Horace Walpole, one was “forced to travel even at noon as if one was going
into battle”. The government imposed draconian measures, introducing
capital
punishment
for the most minor misdemeanours. The prison population swelled,
transportations began and 1200 Londoners were hanged at Tyburn's gallows.
Despite such measures, and the passing of the Riot Act in 1715, rioting remained a
popular pastime among the poorer classes in London. Anti-Irish riots had taken place
1665
1666
1694
1702
1710
The Great Plague
kills 100,000
people
The Great Fire
of London
Bank of England
established
The Daily Courant
,
the world's first daily
newspaper, published
on Fleet Street
Completion of St Paul's
Cathedral, designed by
Christopher Wren
