How was it to live in London in 19th century? ~ Blog of an Art Admirer

Tuesday

How was it to live in London in 19th century?

Engravings mostly by anonymous artists.

Views of London-old prints and engraving,London in 18-19 centuries

London Bridge, 1878

In the first half of 19th c. the population of greater London raised from one million to 4,5 mil people, while the number of residents of the City diminished from 120,000 to fifty thousand.
London's fog was very thick, very real -- in November the worst -- the yellowish mantle covered all the city. During the day the inhabitants had to keep the light lit inside. As contemporaries noted the fog caused unpleasant sensations and pain in lungs. The coal stoves could be partly blamed though - the sky started getting black at 8 o'clock in the morning when thousands of households began preparing breakfast and warming up the quarters. Wearing white shawls at night was risky for ladies as they turned gray. Allegedly, black umbrellas appeared in order to hide these particular atmospherics.
Sometimes the fog was so thick, an observer reported that you could hold a man by the hand and wouldn't see his face. It often happened people lost their ways. The most unfortunate ones even drowned in the Thames. In 1873 during one week more than 700 people died in London and cattle smothered to death at a show.

London, Whitehall, 1874

London, British Museum, 1815

100 tons of horse dung had been dropped daily in the streets of the city that were not paved by mid-century at least. The wind raised trails of dust in good weather which turned into thick mud when it started raining. There were crossing sweepers on every major street who for penny would sweep the street in front of you to give you way.

No better was the Thames. Every day 280,000 tons of London sewage and waste from the factories along the riverside had been dumped was dumped into the water, spreading the cholera epidemics that wiped out London in the beginning of the century. In the summer of 1858 Parliament ended its session earlier due to the unbearably bad smell.

London, Buckingham Palace, 1838

London, Westminster Abbey, 1815

There was also a noise factor: the unceasing sound of the wheels and horses hooves clacking over the pavement, the bells and cries of the street merchants selling matches, knives, rat poison, books etc., the unceasing sound of the wheels and horses hooves crashing on the pavement, the musicians with street-organs and clarinet players.

The children also made their contribution to the din of the numerous costermongers -- until 1880 there was no mandatory school and children under 14 (30-40% of the population) were free all day, playing in the streets or fetching cabs for ladies, holding horses for gentlemen and doing cartwheelers and handstands in hope to make a penny.

London, Buckingham Palace, 1810