Online archive an insight into life in 18th-century London

LONDON - Sarah Malcolm was a celebrity even before the hangman ensured her notoriety.

Learned gentlemen visited her in Newgate prison, London, hoping she would share her grisly story. The church tried to save her soul.

Hanged on March 7, 1733, for her part in the murder of three women, Malcolm, 23, claimed the blood found on her clothing was her menstrual blood and not that of her victims.

Her unprecedented defence, based on a taboo at the time, ensured the trial was a sensation.

After her execution, Malcolm's legend was assured when she was rechristened the "Irish Laundress", a reference to her humble life as a jobbing servant struggling to eke out a living in early 18th-century Britain.

But until now little has been known about her early life, or those of any other working-class Londoners living in the sprawling metropolis.

But this week that changed when London Lives, an online archive containing 240,000 manuscripts and printed pages, published between 1690 and 1800, went public, providing an invaluable insight into the lives of millions of ordinary people during a momentous century that saw revolution in France, the development of the steam engine and American independence from Britain.

The five-year project, which has involved the digitising of eight London archives, features a rich variety of documents previously all but inaccessible to the public.

Among them are workhouse records, criminal registers, coroners' reports, court orders and papers governing the dispensation of poor relief.

Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, and produced by the universities of Sheffield and Hertfordshire, the site allows both amateur and professional historians to search the archives for individuals.

There is a burgeoning industry in studying family trees. Programmes such as the BBC's Who Do You Think You Are?, in which celebrities trace their roots, have helped stimulate interest in genealogy.

The architects of London Lives claim it will make it possible for the first time to reconstruct how ordinary Londoners interacted with various government and charitable institutions.

"Until now it has been very hard to trace the individual lives of those at the bottom because typically they don't leave many records," said Tim Hitchcock, professor of 18th-century history at the University of Hertfordshire.

"But through things like their recorded encounters with the criminal justice system, this new technology now allows us to trace individual lives across a range of sources."

Users of the free site will be able to read scans of the original documents and typed text versions. The idea to map the lives of ordinary Londoners was conceived following the success of a project that digitised the records of the Old Bailey central criminal court in London.

There was a proliferation of documents in urban Britain in the 18th century as civil society flourished and the relationship between the individual and the state was transformed. It is this paper trail that historians will be able to trace.

Far from being a chronicle of downtrodden, oppressed individuals, what emerges from the online archive is the ability of many people at the bottom rungs of society to manipulate the system to their advantage.

"What impressed me was the extent to which people were able to avoid transportation or execution," said Robert Shoemaker, professor of 18th-century British history at Sheffield.

"Some people were frequently brought before the courts yet were able to ... avoid substantial punishment."

ON THE WEB
www.londonlives.org

SNAPSHOTS FROM THE PAST

RODERICK AWDRY: 1698-1714

One of three brothers executed at Tyburn while only a boy. He committed a series of thefts but avoided a death sentence until at least his fourth appearance at the Old Bailey.

MARY BELL: 1774

Her mother, Grace Gray, was unmarried and living in the St Botolph Aldgate parish when, on July 13, 1774, she had a voluntary bastardy examination. She testified that she was pregnant by Thomas Bell, also of the parish.

PETER DE LAFONTAINE: 1746-1762

Born into an ancient French family and was descended from the Marquis de la Fontaine. Joined the French Army and later became a captain in the Dutch Army. In 1746 he was accused of forgery and sentenced to death, commuted to transportation.

WILLIAM UDALL: 1716-1739

Born in Clerkenwell, he received a good education but despite his favourable start in life, became a highwayman and was executed at Tyburn on March 14, 1739.

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