London Streets, Crime, and Poverty
London’s Growth
Para1 In 2024, London had estimated population of 9.75 million people, but while it had
long been Englands capitol city, it did not become one of Europe’s largest cities
until about 1600. Its population began increasingly rapidly in the 1500s, rising from
about 100,000 in 1550 to about 200,000 in 1600. During the 1600s, London’s narrow
streets were crowded with pedestrians, merchants, horses, and carts, and carriages.
Traveling on foot or horseback through the streets was difficult, with shops on the
ground floor of merchants’ or artisans’ homes, itinerant sellers of goods, puppet
shows, beggars, and curiosities brought from across the seas lining the way.
Hygiene
Para2London lacked a reliable sewer system, so human waste and food waste flowed down gutters
in the center of the cobbled streets. Rats were attracted to this waste and carried
fleas which brought forth outbreaks of the bubonic plague, including significant ones
in 1518 and a larger one in 1592–1593. In the latter outbreak, almost 15,000 people
died, and all trading was put to a stop. Smallpox and sweating sickness (likely malaria,
but possibly also influenza or even hantavirus) also regularly appeared, as the lack
of hygiene and crowds helped spread disease.
Para3One of London’s most famous streets was called Fleet Street, a very busy street often
referred to as a “double street” because of its width and congestion. Close to Fleet
Street flowed the Fleet River, a once-navigable river that flowed into the Thames.
The river became heavily polluted starting in the Middle Ages and went from river,
to sewer, to empty canal. As historian Pat Rogers notes,
periodic attempts were made to clean the waterway, but these were quickly undone by the presence along the banks of wharves, mills and commercial premises, notably those of butchers who threw offal into its stream, not to mention the waste left by pig-keepers and oyster sellers plying their trade there. From time to time, the authorities found it necessary to remove houses of office (communal toilets) from the neighbourhood of the river.
Street Crime in London
Para4Starting in the 1400’s, London became one of the more important trading centers in
Europe, attracting all types of people from aristocrats to artists to merchants to
criminals who preyed on its growing population and prosperity. Like any big city,
London’s large population allowed for anonymity and easy targets. According to Paul
Griffiths, thieves, pick pockets, and extortionists were common around London, along
with more occasional instances of other serious crimes such as murder, rape, and kidnappings.
Para5The prisons in London, known at the time as houses of correction, were spread all over the city, among them major institutions such as Bridewell,
Newgate, The Clink, The Cage, The Cripplegate, and The Compter or Counter (referenced
in Shakespeare’s A Comedy of Errors). These prisons were full of the poor, as many were arrested not only for crimes
like theft but also for unpaid debts. A prisoner’s food and accommodation had to be
paid for by the prisoner or their family, so the poorest criminals lived in appalling
conditions and often died of starvation. London residents and civic organizations
often assisted prisoners by giving food or clothing.
Poverty
Para6When Henry VIII left the Church of Rome in 1533 and began to purge or close the monasteries
that once provided charity, London’s streets experienced more extensive poverty. Some
former religious buildings were turned into lodging for the poor and sick, but these
buildings were soon destroyed or taken by Henry VIII’s government. Overpopulation
and immigrants contributed to financial strain in the burgeoning city.
Para7Queen Elizabeth I did little to help alleviate overpopulation and the poverty that
came along with it. On her accession to the throne, Elizabeth I issued a proclamation
prohibiting any unlicensed building within three miles of London. The lack of space
meant that the poor had nowhere to go, a problem which would continue under James
I. Numerous poor laws were passed between 1562 and 1601. Documentary historian Alexandra
Brisoe notes that it was decided that the
poor were now the communities’ responsibility.Able-bodied beggars were regularly arrested and whipped.
Para8When it came to work, wages were depressed and many people lacked work, particularly
in the country as agricultural practices changed; land once used in common was enclosed
for use only by the landowners. These displaced farm laborers migrated to the city
in hopes of finding work. In addition, an influx of Protestant French Huguenot and
Flemish refugees eroded the power of the guilds by establishing new industries in
cloth trades outside the city’s jurisdiction. Dismissed soldiers and sailors also
added to the already substantial number of unemployed.
Para9On top of the many unemployed, hunger was exacerbated by increases in food prices
during the Elizabethan period due to several poor harvests in the 1590s. Due to the
crowded living conditions and the lack of resources for the poor, living in London
was challenging for English people newly arrived from the country, laborers without
much skill, or immigrants without wealth.
Key Print Sources
Griffiths, Paul. Lost Londons: Change, Crime and Control in the Capital City, 1550–1660. Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Salgado, Gamini. The Elizabethan Underworld. Rowman & Littlefield, 1977.
Smith, Roger. The History of Incarceration. Mason Crest, 2006.
Key Online Sources
Best, Michael.
London: Streets and Bridges.Shakespeare’s Life and Times. Internet Shakespeare Editions. 4 Jan. 2011. https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/society/city%20life/citylondonstreets.html.
Briscoe, Alexandra.
Poverty in Elizabethan England.BBC. 17 Feb. 2011. https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/tudors/poverty_01.shtml.
Drouillard, Tara.
The Prison System.The Map of Early Modern London. 7.0. ed. Ed. Janelle Jenstad. University of Victoria, 5 May 2022. https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/7.0/PRIS1.htm.
Rogers, Pat.
Fleet Ditch.The Grub Street Project. Ed. Allison Muri. University of Saskatchewan, Nov. 2022. https://www.grubstreetproject.net/.
Thornbury, Walter.
Fleet Street—General Introduction.Old and New London. Vol. 1. Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1878. Project Gutenburg. 26 Feb. 2010. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/31412/31412-h/31412-h.htm#CHAPTER_III.
Prosopography
Cassidy Stoker
Cassidy Stoker was a student at Washington College.
Kate McPherson
Kate McPherson is Professor of English and Honors Program Director at Utah Valley
University (Orem, UT, USA). In 2015, she began working to redevelop Shakespeare’s Life and Times, created by Michael Best, into the Early Modern England Encyclopedia. Her other publications include commentary on Pericles and The Comedy of Errors for the New Oxford Shakespeare (2016); the co-edited volumes Stages of Engagement: Drama and Religion in Post-Reformation England with James Mardock (Duquesne University Press, 2014) and Shakespeare Expressed: Page, Stage, and Classroom in Shakespeare and His Contemporaries, with Kathryn M. Moncrief and Sarah Enloe (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press,
2013). With Kathryn M. Moncrief, Kate has also two edited collections, Performing Pedagogy in Early Modern England: Gender, Instruction, and Performance (Ashgate, 2011) and Performing Maternity in Early Modern England (Ashgate 2008). She has also published numerous articles on early modern maternity
in scholarly journals. Kate participated in the 2008 National Endowment for the Humanities
Institute,
Shakespeare’s Blackfriars: The Study, the Stage, the Classroom,at the American Shakespeare Center. She also served as Play Seminar Director, a public humanities position, for the Utah Shakespeare Festival in 2017 and 2018.
Leah Hamby
Leah Hamby is the primary encoder for the Early Modern England Encyclopedia. Aside from encoding, she also works as an editor for the project and contributed
several articles of her own. She has been working on the EMEE since February 2023. As of February 2026, she is soon to graduate with honours from
Utah Valley University with a major in history and a minor in creative writing. Her
other work with the LEMDO program includes remediating William Kemp’s Kemp’s Nine Day’s Wonder for the Digital Renaissance Editions.
Michael Best
Michael Best is Professor Emeritus at the University of Victoria, BC. He founded the
Internet Shakespeare Editions in 1996, and was Coordinating Editor until 2017, contributing two editions to the
ISE: King John and King Lear (the latter also available in print from Broadview Press). In print, he has published editions of works of Elizabethan magic and huswifery,
a collection of letters from the Australian goldfields, and Shakespeare on the Art of Love (2008). He contributed regular columns for the Shakespeare Newsletter on
Electronic Shakespeares,and has written many articles and chapters for both print and online books and journals, principally on questions raised by the new medium in the editing and publication of texts. He has delivered papers and plenary lectures on electronic media and the Internet Shakespeare Editions at conferences in Canada, the USA, the UK, Spain, Australia, and Japan.
Navarra Houldin
Training and Documentation Lead 2025–present. LEMDO project manager 2022–2025. Textual
remediator 2021–present. Navarra Houldin (they/them) completed their BA with a major
in history and minor in Spanish at the University of Victoria in 2022. Their primary
research was on gender and sexuality in early modern Europe and Latin America. They
are continuing their education through an MA program in Gender and Social Justice
Studies at the University of Alberta where they will specialize in Digital Humanities.
Orgography
LEMDO Team (LEMD1)
The LEMDO Team is based at the University of Victoria and normally comprises the project
director, the lead developer, project manager, junior developers(s), remediators,
encoders, and remediating editors.
University of Victoria (UVIC1)
https://www.uvic.ca/Metadata
| Authority title | London Streets, Crime, and Poverty |
| Type of text | Critical |
| Publisher | University of Victoria on the Linked Early Modern Drama Online Platform |
| Series | Early Modern England Encyclopedia |
| Source |
By Cassidy Stoker, inspired by Michael Best’s Shakespeare’s Life and Times, Internet Shakespeare Editions
|
| Editorial declaration | This document uses Canadian English spelling |
| Edition | Released with Early Modern England Encyclopedia 1.0a |
| Sponsor(s) |
Early Modern England EncyclopediaAnthology Leads: Kate McPherson and Kate Moncrief.
|
| Encoding description | Encoded in TEI P5 according to the LEMDO Customization and Encoding Guidelines |
| Document status | published, peer-reviewed |
| Funder(s) |
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Mitacs Globalink Research Internship Utah Valley University |
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