The population rose from over 1 million in 1801 to 5.567 million in 1891. In 1897, the population of Greater London was estimated at 6.292 million people. By the 1860s it was larger by one quarter than the world's second most populous city, Beijing, two-thirds larger than Paris, and five times larger than New York City.
In 1801, when the first reliable modern census was taken, greater London recorded 1,096,784 souls; rising to a little over 1.4 million inhabitants by 1815. No single decade in this period witnessed less than robust population growth.
The last half of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth saw continued strong growth, in some ways replicating and reinforcing the pattern set in preceding decades. The over three million people living in Greater London in 1861 more than doubled to become over seven million by the 1910s.
By 1900 it was home to more than 5 million people – 9 million if you include the greater metropolitan area - and had extended its reach to almost 200 square miles. This page gives a brief introduction to London in this period of dramatic change.
In 1780, London held some 750,000 men, women and children in a compass of just a few square miles. By 1900 it was home to more than 5 million people – 9 million if you include the greater metropolitan area - and had extended its reach to almost 200 square miles. This page gives a brief introduction to London in this period of dramatic change.
The Built Environment. By 1780 the character of London's growth was set, with aristocratic squares in the West End and poorer port-side communities in the East End. But, through the nineteenth century this east-west division was overlain by substantive growth to the north and south.
At mid-century, almost forty percent of Londoners were migrants from elsewhere – from provincial Britain and Ireland, Europe and increasingly from the wider world. This ensured that London’s population was remarkably young and single – influenced by the large number of people drawn to the capital seeking employment.
In 1801, 54 per cent of Londoners were female, and this figure remained significantly higher than fifty per cent through the rest of the nineteenth century.
In 1881, the census found that 1,173,000, or 25 per cent of all Londoners had been born in non-metropolitan Britain; and most of these in the South East, south Midlands and East Anglia. Many came in search of employment as domestic servants, which in turn resulted in London being distinctly female.
As the nineteenth century gave way to the twentieth, political agitation in the metropolis found a new voice and new forms of action with the Suffragettes. Fenian radicals, anarchists, Marxists, all flavours of anti-imperialism and nationalism could also be found in nineteenth-century London.
In response to cholera and the growth of the slums, new sewers and water works powered by steam helped to make London a healthier place to live. Even the dead were removed from their medieval churchyards to make-way for healthier urban sprawls. Candles gave way to gas lighting, before electric lights replaced gas.
London's great expansion in the 19th Century was driven by housing growth to accommodate the rapidly expanding population of the city. The growth of Transport in London in this period fueled the outward expansion of suburbs, as did a cultural impetus to escape the inner city, allowing the worlds of 'work' and 'life' to be separate. Suburbs varied enormously in character and in the relative wealth of their inhabitants, with some being for the very wealthy, and others being for the lower-middle classes. They frequently imitated the success of earlier periods of speculative housing development from the Georgian era, although the Victorian Era saw a much wider array of suburban housing built in London. Terraced, semi-detached and detached housing all developed in a multitude of styles and typologies, with an almost endless variation in the layout of streets, gardens, homes, and decorative elements.
t. e. During the 19th century, London grew enormously to become a global city of immense importance. It was the largest city in the world from about 1825, the world's largest port, and the heart of international finance and trade.
One of the most famous events of 19th century London was the Great Exhibition of 1851. Held at The Crystal Palace, the fair attracted visitors from across the world and displayed Britain at the height of its Imperial dominance.
Out of the 11,500 Italians living in London in 1900, Soho accounted for 6,000, and Clerkenwell 4,000. Most of these were young men, engaged in occupations like organ grinding or selling street food (2,000 Italians were classed as "ice cream, salt, and walnut vendors" in 1900).
Overview. Railway Map of London , 1899, from The Pocket Atlas and Guide to London. During the 19th century, London was transformed into the world's largest city and capital of the British Empire. The population rose from over 1 million in 1801 to 5.567 million in 1891.
With the population growing at an exponential rate, so too did the territory of London expand significantly: the city encompassed 122 square miles in 1851 and had grown to 693 square miles by 1896. During this period, London became a global political, financial, and trading capital.
In 1897, the population of Greater London was estimated at 6.292 million people. By the 1860s it was larger by one quarter than the world's second most populous city, Beijing, two-thirds larger than Paris, and five times larger than New York City. View of Whitehall from Trafalgar Square which is blurred with pedestrian and carriage traffic, 1839. ...
In the mid-1670s, when the Proceedings began to be published, the population of the capital was approximately 500,000 . Fourteen years later, Gregory King, Britain’s first great demographer, estimated it at 527,000. This was a period of low overall population growth, even stagnation in England and was characterised by a very late age at marriage, low illegitimacy rates, and relatively low levels of birth within marriage. These factors impacted just as much on the population of London as on that of the country as a whole, and were exacerbated by particularly high levels of urban infant mortality. As a result, the last three to four decades of the seventeenth century and the first two decades of the eighteenth are a period characterised by slow incremental growth. It is also a period during which a high proportion of London's inhabitants were migrants. Most women came as domestic servants seeking employment, while young men sought apprenticeships or more casual labour. One estimate suggests that a sixth of all people born in England around 1700 lived some part of their lives in London. It was only by maintaining this constant influx that the capital could possibly maintain its population and grow.
The over three million people living in Greater London in 1861 more than doubled to become over seven million by the 1910s. During the same period, the flow of European immigrants rose from a steady stream to a regular river of humanity, while migration from the wider world also grew in importance.
During the seventeenth century migration tended to be long distance and international. As a result, besides its youth, London's population in this period was also characterised by its diversity. All the regions and countries that made up the British Isles were well represented by self-conscious communities of migrants.
Because a high number of London's inhabitants were relatively young recent migrants over the age of 14, the effect would be even more powerfully felt in the capital. In other words, London in the late seventeenth century was not a city of children or the elderly.
Poor hygiene, living conditions and the "gin craze" are frequently cited as explanations for the high mortality rate, and demographers have in particular pointed to the extremely high rate among infants (20.2 deaths per 100 live births by the age of 2 years in the period 1730-9).
As a result, the last three to four decades of the seventeenth century and the first two decades of the eighteenth are a period characterised by slow incremental growth . It is also a period during which a high proportion of London's inhabitants were migrants.
In 1815 London was already the largest city in the world, but by 1860 it had grown three-fold to reach 3,188,485 souls. And many of the souls it contained were from elsewhere. In 1851, over 38 per cent of Londoners were born somewhere else.
1. The Populations in 1841 of the Parishes (or Places) marked thus § were markedly increased by the presence of temporary residents, such as haymakers.
1. The Populations in 1841 of the Parishes (or Places) marked thus § were markedly increased by the presence of temporary residents, such as haymakers.