Tag: #Holborn

Posted on Alex Gjaja

Journeying to Red Lion Street: An Errand-Boy’s Holborn Adventure

“More laudanum and some opium, quick!” were the last words you heard before you were hustled outside, handed your cap and tossed some coins. You barely register the click of the door closing behind you as you survey the bustling Gray’s Inn Road and hurry your way up the street toward Theobalds Road. Although you were initially glad to be rid of the stench and filth of the Royal Free Hospital’s dysentery quarters, your nose is soon overwhelmed by the foul smell of the horse dung and urine you slosh through on the streets. As you come across a gaggle of boys your age trying in vain to dodge the oncoming carriages and scoop up horse droppings, you feel a new wave of appreciation for your position with Dr. Marsden and pick up your pace.

A left on Theobalds Road and you suddenly have an unobstructed view of Gray’s Inn Fields, and your favorite gardens and walkways in the area. Briefly tempted to dally with the strolling masses enjoying the day, you trudge on and soon turn onto Red Lion Street. You immediately get caught up in the huddled mass of people outside your destination: L.W ROE, Chemist. Shouting, “Urgent order, Royal Free Hospital!” you shove your way through children in line for the new shipment of Ayer’s Cherry Pectoral as well as a few coughing old women, desperate for chlorodyne. Once you get to the counter, you are immediately serviced by the chemist’s apprentice, long-familiar with your face as the Hospital errand boy. He wraps your laudanum and opium (the cheap, varnish-coated kind) in brown parchment and you head back outside.

A view from the street of the chemist and the tailor (both far left) and the surrounding buildings on Red Lion Street.

Finished with your errand sooner than expected, you contemplate whether you have time to check out Furnival’s Inn on High Holborn (you heard Charles Dickens might be back in residence) but quickly think better of it. Instead, you opt to venture further down Red Lion Street. A few buildings down you marvel at the shining looking glasses in a shop window. Pressing your nose to the window and peering inside, you can see a beautiful young woman admiring a delicate handheld mirror and chatting with the shop owner while her maid waits patiently. You watch her until the shop owner spies you and lets out an angry exclamation as he storms towards the door. Time to go, you think, and walk briskly back the way you came.

A map of the route (in blue) taken by the errand boy from the Royal Free Hospital to Red Lion Street (drawings done on Edward Stanford’s map of central London). The pink “X” represents the location of the Royal Free Hospital while the orange “X” represents the block of stores (the chemist, the looking glass store and the tailor) on Red Lion Street.

Before you turn back onto Theobalds Road, you pause at the tailor’s storefront. Looking down at your coat, torn at the cuffs and stained with the soot that permeates the air, you long for one of the stylish coats with glossy buttons featured prominently in the window. A crack of a driver’s whip brings you out of your daydream — you stood mesmerized in front of the tailor’s for far too long! Tucking your package of medicine into your chest, you race back to the Hospital, praying you return fast enough to not get your ears boxed. 

Posted on Alex Gjaja

Sluggish Growth and Rapid Decline: The Population of Holborn from 1801-1890

Over the course of the 1800s, Holborn District experienced a period of steady population growth followed by a period of population decline, resulting in a net loss of a little over 5,000 people from 1801-1890. The district did not experience any real periods of rapid growth compared to other metropolitan districts. Although the population in the area grew steadily from 1801-1850, the decade of greatest growth only entailed a 9.13% increase in population from 1811-1820 (from 48,828 to 53,288 people). Other decades of growth varied between around 5% growth to as low as 1.69% growth from 1821-1830.

By 1850 the period of population growth was done and, unlike its steady growth intervals, the district began to experience a relatively steep decline in population. What started as a 4.96% decrease from 1851-1860 (59,567 to 56,612 people) became a 10.48% decrease in population from 1861-1871 and, even more dramatically, an 18.56% decrease in population from 1871-1881 (a loss of over 9,000 people). A relatively small district, Holborn started the century in the highest category for population density and, by 1890, slipped to the second-highest category for population density.

There are a couple factors to consider when looking at these fascinating population trends in Holborn. Compared to some of its neighboring districts, Holborn did not experience a period of incredibly rapid population growth. One possible reason for this might have been the Mendicity Society, an institution mentioned in my previous post and which entered the district early in the century. The Society would give out tickets to beggars, who could then travel to the Society building and use the tickets to apply for food, work or other aid. One important condition often attached to this charity was that the beggar then leave the Holborn district. While it seems unlikely that this kind of system could entirely account for why Holborn’s population growth was relatively sluggish, a steady flow of beggars out of the district due to the Mendicity Society’s efforts might have played a role in offsetting the population growth generated by migrants moving into the area.

A more important factor at play in the population change of Holborn District was the construction of Farringdon Street Station, the terminus of the world’s first underground railway (the Metropolitan Railway). This train line was crucial in facilitating the move of London’s metropolitan poor to the suburbs in search of better housing, and it appears that the residents of Holborn were among the most eager to make the suburban flight. The Railway opened in 1863, almost exactly coinciding with the beginning of Holborn’s rapid decline in population. Additionally, the creation of the Metropolitan Railway led to the destruction of thousands of homes along its route. The construction of Farringdon Street Station may have been similarly disruptive to the part of Holborn District that surrounded it as inhabitants either had to grow accustomed to a suddenly busy neighborhood with hordes of train passengers or relocate entirely.

Posted on Alex Gjaja

From the Workhouse to Bed Rest: The Rise of Free, Specialized Hospitals in Holborn District

Compared to the other metropolitan work districts of London, Holborn District had scant resources to support the urban poor early in the 1800s. From 1801-1810, the only institution in the district was the Grays Inn Road Workhouse which — alongside providing shelter and work to the poor — was an institution especially ripe for exploitation of the poor, who often were forced to live (and work) in underfunded, cramped conditions with limited food. From 1811-1820, the institutional support for the Holborn poor was barely improved with the addition of the Mendicity Society, which provided the general public with tickets to give to beggars, who could then bring the tickets to the Society building and apply for relief, food or work. Like a workhouse, this institution provided imperfect aid to beggars, who would have to travel to the Society headquarters and apply only for the chance to receive aid. Sometimes the beggars would only receive aid if they agreed to leave Holborn District.

A view of Furnival’s Inn, located on the busy Holborn thoroughfare and close to Holborn’s Field Lane Refuge prior to the unisex refuge’s move to Saffron Hill in 1866.

But, although it began the century as a district that largely lacked adequate institutions to serve the poor, Holborn soon featured some new institutions with better aid mechanisms. From 1821-1830, the Royal Free Hospital became a fixture in the district and provided free medical services to anyone. Soon a women’s refuge that housed destitute girls and assisted them with finding work emerged and, by 1850, Holborn also contained the London Homeopathic Hospital, a unisex refuge, and a religious mission to aid the deaf and dumb. The shift towards charitable organizations that were more clearly built to unconditionally serve the urban poor was noticeable. 

The most interesting change in the latter half of the century for the district was the increase in specialized hospitals in the area. By 1860 the National Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic as well as the London Infirmary for Diseases of the Legs were present in the district and, by 1890, these medical institutions were also joined by the Alexandra Institution for the Blind, St. Paul’s Hospital (which primarily treated venereal disease), the Italian Hospital and Alexandra Hospital for Children with Hip Disease. 

The rise of these specialty hospitals raises some interesting demographic questions. For example, although the Italian Hospital served all patients, it prioritized Italian patients, leading one to wonder whether it was located near an area that Italian migrants flocked to. These hospitals also give insight into the unique medical needs of the London population. While a whole hospital wouldn’t be dedicated to children with hip disease today, hip disease was common with the tuberculosis that ravaged Victorian London. Wealthy families could afford to bring a doctor to their houses, but poorer families needed a hospital for their children’s diseases. It is striking that a district which started the 1800s with only a workhouse to serve the poor would end the century with a multitude of hospitals that catered to poor, sick Holborn residents and — rather than force them to work — actually allowed them a sponsor-funded bed and some rest.