Oldest House in London by Fiona Rule

Author:Fiona Rule
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780750986472
Publisher: Independent Publishers Group

Similar declarations were made across the capital and thus London became a divided city. On one side were successful merchants and property owners whose best interests were served by preserving the status quo. On the other were their poorly paid employees and impoverished residents, such as the family of the unfortunate Mrs Heathcock, who were compelled to live in dangerous, squalid conditions but, with no political voice, were powerless to do anything about it.

Perhaps concerned about the deteriorating conditions at Cloth Fair, George Redmile left No. 41 in 1794 and the property was briefly taken over by Margaret Nisbett before standing empty for around three years. It was then let to Edward Sexton, a piece broker, who sold cheap remnants of cloth. Sexton’s profession reflected the falling fortunes of Cloth Fair. By the end of the 1700s, the affluent merchants that once populated its shops had been replaced by struggling tailors and impecunious customers searching for bargains. This had already resulted in a dramatic decrease in profits, but even greater problems lay ahead when hostilities broke out between Britain and France.

In August 1792, the French revolutionaries stripped King Louis XVI of all his political power, put him on trial for high treason and established the French First Republic. The monarch’s subsequent execution on 21 January 1793 effectively united the rest of Europe against the Revolution and the First Coalition was formed to oppose the Republic. By the end of the year, France was at war with Britain, Prussia, the Netherlands, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, Portugal, Naples and Tuscany.

Despite mass opposition, the French revolutionary armies were formidably effective, mainly because mass conscription meant that they had far more men at their disposal than their adversaries. After they successfully invaded Belgium, the Rhineland and the Spanish coastal district of San Sebastian in 1794, the allied coalition disintegrated, leaving Britain as the French Republic’s primary antagonist. Hoping to end hostilities by destabilising the French government, British agents attempted to stage a coup at Paris but their plans were scuppered by the military garrison led by Napoleon Bonaparte.

The war with France had two major effects on the parishioners of St Bartholomew the Great. Firstly, their burgeoning campaign for social reform was viciously suppressed. Using national security as an excuse, the government bribed the press to portray the likes of Mary Wollstonecraft as dangerous revolutionaries and threw Thomas Hardy in gaol. Secondly, with their detractors silenced, they embarked on a rapid expansion of the military to meet the might of the French forces. As recruitment officers prowled the inns of Cloth Fair, William Blake (an old friend of the Witham family) wrote of their attempts to scare young men into signing up: ‘Little blasts of fear, that the hireling blows into my ear.’

Nevertheless, the call to arms failed. At the time, the genesis of the Industrial Revolution was providing year-round (albeit badly paid) work across London and thus young men were loath to leave steady and relatively safe employment at a manufactory or dockyard for an uncertain fate as a soldier.

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