If you like history, or just reading about peoples’ lives, the new London Lives site is amazing! It’s an insight into daily life of ordinary people in 18th century London.

The site has taken data from a range of sources – court transcripts, hospital records, gov’t, charity – and gives you a taste of what it would be like to live back then.

I searched for my old London address & came up empty. It would have been great to hear about shop keepers & the people who lived the building I lived in. I did find court records from several thefts on the same street (makes sense, my street was very commercial) – hankerchiefs gone missing & some cheese. In both those cases, the accused were found guilty & the sentance was death! As was Margaret Larney who was executed in 1758. An amazing story of a poor woman struggling with childcare while she worked, doing something illegal to supplement the household income, being betrayed by her friends, her husband abandoning the family after she’s convicted & her execution for ‘high treason’.

For a slightly happier story, you can read about Sarah Parker who went from accepting charity from the church to working at a church.

congrats to the Economic and Social Research Council & the 2 unis who put this site together/funded it – the Universities of Hertfordshire and Sheffield. Excellent idea!

via Futurity