The London Mob: Violence and Disorder in Eighteenth-century EnglandBy 1700, London was the largest city in the world with over 500,000 inhabitants. Weakly policed, its streets saw regular outbreaks of rioting by a mob easily stirred by economic grievances, politics or religion. In this world, fisticuffs, duels, footpads, pickpockets and tricksters abounded. Detection and prosecution of crime was the business of the citizen, and punishment, whether by the pillory, whipping or hanging, was public and endorsed by the crowd. The London Mob draws a fascinating portrait of the public life of the modern world's first great city, its struggles and, throughout the century, its growth and development in values and policing leading to a less volatile society. |
Contents
Street Life | 1 |
Stop Thief | 27 |
Public Insults | 51 |
Shaming Punishments | 79 |
Crowds and Riots | 111 |
Violence | 153 |
High Life at Midnight 1769 | 167 |
Duels and Boxing Matches | 177 |
Print | 241 |
Libel against Mainwearing Davis 1695 | 243 |
Henry Walton A Girl Buying a Ballad 1778 | 247 |
John June Lusus Naturae or Carracaturas of the Present Age 1752 | 250 |
A Night Scene at Ranelagh 1752 | 255 |
or Molly Exalted 1762 | 259 |
Renwick Williams Commonly Called the Monster 1790 | 274 |
The Monster | 275 |
Duel between the Duke of Hamilton and Lord Mohun 1712 | 183 |
James Gillray The Explanation 1798 | 189 |
Thomas Rowlandson Miseries of London 1807 | 199 |
James Figg Master of the Noble Science of Defence | 203 |
or The Knowing Ones Takenin 1750 | 207 |
Going to Law | 215 |
A Pearly Shell for Him and Thee the Oyster is the Lawyers Fee 1770 | 227 |
View of the Public Office Bow Street with Sir John Fielding Presiding and a Prisoner under Examination 1779 | 239 |
or The Coward Turnd Bill Sticker 1790 | 287 |
Sources and Methods | 301 |
Consistory Court Defamation Cases 65 | 305 |
Notes | 306 |
307 | 334 |
Select Bibliography | 365 |
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Common terms and phrases
accused Advertiser alehouse arrest assault attacks became behaviour Bondeson Bow Street boxing matches British British Gazetteer Chapter CLRO complained conduct constables convicted Corporation of London court Crime criminal crowd Culture Daily Universal Register Daniel Defoe December defamation defend disputes Donna Andrew duel Duelling duellists Early Modern eighteenth century Eighteenth-Century England Eighteenth-Century London English Society evidence February Fielding fight fought Gender gentlemen Gordon Riots Henry Fielding History honour Ibid increasingly indictments John Fielding July justice libel litigation London Evening Post London Journal London Monster Middlesex Mohocks murder newspapers Old Bailey Oxford pamphlet participants pillory pistols Policing political popular printed prosecutions protest public insult published Punishment quarrel recognizances reported reputations Richard rioters Robert role Saussure Sessions Papers sexual Shoemaker slander social spectators stop thief sword thief-takers Thomas trading justices trial of John Tyburn victims violence vols London weavers Weekly Journal whipping William women
References to this book
The Spirit of Despotism:Invasions of Privacy in the 1790s: Invasions of ... John Barrell No preview available - 2006 |