In 1700 England and Wales had a population of about 5.5 million. This
had increased very little by 1750, but then grew quickly to about 8.8 million
by the end of the century. Including Ireland and Scotland, the total population
was about 13 million.
In 1700 England was still a land of small villages. In the northern
areas of England, in Lancashire and West Yorkshire, and in the West Midlands,
the large cities of the future were only just beginning to grow. By the middle
of the century Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield and Leeds were
already large. But such new towns were still treated as villages and so had no
representation in Parliament.
All the towns smelled bad. There were no drains. Streets were used as
lavatories and the dirt was seldom removed. In fact people added to it, leaving
in the streets the rubbish from the marketplace and from houses. The streets
were muddy and narrow, some only two metres wide. Around London and other
larger towns a few vegetable growers took the dirt from the streets to put on
their fields.
The towns were centres of disease. As a result only one child in four in
London lived to become an adult. It was the poor who died youngest. They were
buried together in large holes dug in the ground. These were not covered with
earth until they were full. It was hardly surprising that poor people found
comfort in drinking alcohol and in trying to win money from card games.
Quakers, shocked by the terrible effects of gin drinking, developed the beer
industry in order to replace gin with a less damaging drink. Читать весь материал.
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