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Semester 1

London Life in the Eighteenth Century: Society and Culture (ECSH10091)

Subject

Economic and Social History

College

CAHSS

Credits

20

Normal Year Taken

3

Delivery Session Year

2023/2024

Pre-requisites

Visiting students must have completed 3 History courses at grade B or above, and please note that we will only consider courses with a specific focus on History (not including History of Art) towards these pre-requisites. We will only consider University/College level courses. **Please see Additional Restrictions below**

Course Summary

This course offers a survey of some of the major recent themes in the study of London life in the 18th century, taking a social and cultural history approach with a focus on the use and interpretation of a wide variety of sources including personal testimony, court records, contemporary fiction and material and visual resources. Each theme is also explored through a close reading of key texts that allow students to better understand the historiographical evolution of scholarly and popular understandings of London.

Course Description

Eighteenth-century London was a marvel of the age, in Britain and beyond, because of its size, innovation and spectacle. Contemporaries were preoccupied with London as a place and idea and it is estimated that as many as 1:6 Britons lived in London at some stage in their life. Modern historians have mirrored this interest, with many of the high profile and innovative digital engagements with the past, famously exemplified by the Old Bailey Online project, having a London focus. This course offers a survey of some of the major recent themes in the study of London life in the 18th century, taking a social and cultural history approach with a focus on the use and interpretation of a wide variety of sources including personal testimony, court records, contemporary fiction and material and visual resources. Each theme is also explored through a close reading of key texts that allow students to better understand the historiographical evolution of scholarly and popular understandings of London. The intellectual point of departure for this course is the pioneering work of Dorothy George (1878-1971) whose study, London Life in the Eighteenth Century (1925) and subsequent British Museum catalogue of political and social print satires, published between 1935 and 1954, provided the foundation for modern scholarly research on and understandings of London. The main themes are migration and emigration; court life; professional culture; the mob; print culture; sex and satire; luxury and spectacle; crime and violence; domestic life and houses; spaces of modernity.

Assessment Information

Written Exam 0%, Coursework 100%, Practical Exam 0%

Additional Restrictions

Unless you are nominated on a History or HCA exchange agreement, visiting students are only permitted to enrol in two 3rd year History courses each, per semester, before the start of the relevant semester’s welcome period – and spaces on each course are limited so cannot be guaranteed for any student. This includes courses in Economic History and Scottish History. Enrolment in a third course from this group will depend on whether there are still spaces available in the September Welcome Period, and cannot be guaranteed. It is NOT appropriate for students to contact staff within this subject area to ask for an exception to be made; all enquiries to enrol in these courses must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. This is due to the limited number of spaces available in this very popular subject area.

view the timetable and further details for this course