London in the nineteenth century / by Sir Walter Besant.

  • Walter Besant
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: London in the nineteenth century / by Sir Walter Besant. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    his place of constant residence ; the more substantial of the merchants withdrew altogether from the City and began to live in Bloomsbury. This was considered at the time as a step towards the world of fashion from which the City of the eighteenth century was wholly separated and cut off. Neither common interests, nor kinship, nor private friendships, nor intermarriages had thus far connected the City with the aristocratic quarter. 8. This process continued for several generations: the population of the City grew steadily less in number and of smaller importance. But in 1837 there was still a remnant who would not give up their City houses, though the place was practically abandoned to shopkeepers, clerks, and working men. Of these, as I have said, there were 125,000. At the present moment there are 30,000. The shopkeepers, the clerks, the working men, have all left the City. Only the care- takers remain, with a few residents in Banks and City Rectories. A very simple method may be used for estimating the progress of the exodus. Nonconformity was strong in the City during the eighteenth century; there were famous chapels and famous preachers; among the congregations were many substantial merchants and leading men of the City. The decay of the City chapels offers an indication of the decay in the City population. The introduction of the Omnibus created a second exodus. By this time the suburbs close to London, such as Clerkenwell, Holborn, or the quarter lying north of Fleet Street, were as densely crowded as any part of the City at any time. Streets and quarters such as the less respectable part of Bloomsbury, the streets round Red Lion Square, the Foundling Hospital, Gray’s Inn, and both sides of Holborn were filled with people who could not afford the expense of the short stage, but welcomed the omnibus, which enabled them to go farther afield and to get into town cheaply and expeditiously. The first omnibuses were big caravans, holding twenty-two persons inside and drawn by three horses. The fare was sixpence for any part of the journey. Outlying suburbs such as Paddington, Clapham, Brixton, Camden Town were connected with the City by means of these omnibuses. They started at nine in the morning, picking up the regular passengers, who seldom missed them on their way. In the afternoon they left the City at five ; office-boys took the seats for their masters; the passengers began to know each other ; an omnibus acquaintance was one which belonged neither to business nor to the domestic circle ; as in a tavern, one met a man day after day, spoke to him, talked with him, and never inquired after his name or his profession. The omnibus was for the seniors ; the boys, when they went into the City at fifteen, were supposed to walk. When the outside seats were added to the omnibus, the boys began to go into town that way. The distance, it may be observed, was not too much for a young man. I am speaking of suburbs such as Stockwell or Camberwell, about three miles or so from London Bridge.
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