Lodgers, Landlords, and Landladies in Georgian London

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A large proportion of Londons population lived in lodgings during the long 18th century, many of whom recorded their experiences. In this fascinating study, Gillian Williamson examines these experiences, recorded in correspondences and autobiographies, to offer unseen insights into the social lives of Londoners in this period, and the practice of lodging in Georgian London. Williamson draws from an impressive array of sources, archives, newspapers, OBSP trials and literary representations to offer a thorough examination of lodging in London, to show how lodging and lodging houses sustained the economy of London during this time. Williamson offers a fascinating insight into the role lodging houses played as the facilitators of encounters and interactions, which offers an illuminating depiction of social relations beyond the family. The result is an important contribution to current historiography, of interest to historians of Britain in the long 18th century.

Reviews

This book is quite probably unique in its investigation, which makes it utterly fascinating and extremely thought-provoking. * Women's Studies Group *
The relationship between lodgers and landlords made up much of the warp and weft of daily life in eighteenth-century London. Gilliam Williamson is the first historian to unpick this crucial nexus in all its complexity, from murderous tension to bawdy joy. * Jerry White, Emeritus Professor of Modern London History, Birkbeck, UK *
This book opens the Georgian front door to reveal a multitude of lodgers. Williamson reconstructs the practicalities of renting space to other people; the door-bells and chamber pots, trunks and bedsteads. Through analysing the complex social relationships that lodging entailed, she vividly enriches histories of 18th-century London, domestic life, commerce, gender and class. * Sarah Lloyd, Emeritus Professor of History, University of Hertfordshire, UK *

Author Bio

Gillian Williamson has published on the eighteenth-century Gentlemans Magazine and popular politics in mid-eighteenth century Westminster and has contributed to a Victoria County History short volume on Newport, Essex.