Topographies of Crime

The social topography of early modern London meant that the wealthy commonly lived in close proximity to poorer and more transient residents, in alleys behind their houses or lodging chambers under their own rooves.  Opportunities and temptations to engage in petty theft must, therefore, have been common.  Most London crime involved casual opportunistic thefts by individuals who seized a chance to supplement modest earnings by appropriating a valuable item. But the size of the metropolis, the high geographic mobility of much of its population and the patchwork pattern of governing institions created opportunities for professional criminals and organized gangs.  Eighteenth century London was famous for its pickpockets, highwaymen and criminal organizations.  Long before then, however, contemporaries complained of murderers and thieves sheltering themselves in London and disposing of their goods to dishonest intermediaries.  The horsemarket at Smithfield, to the north of the City, suffered from a reputation as a place where professional horse thieves disposed of their animals, while a petition of 1634 alleged that dishonest butchers and cooks in London received stolen cattle and deer poached from royal game parks.  In a few pockets criminals were numerous enough to intimidate constables from trying to pursue them, as the authorities complained.

With its dense network of wards and precincts, the City was generally well policed.  But in many of the suburbs the institutional structure of local governance lagged behind population growth.  The authorities believed, probably justifiably that poor alleys hidden from the main streets were particularly likely to serve as breeding grounds for crime. They especially disliked pawn shops in back alleys, for obvious reasons, but also suspected alehouses and victualling establishments of providing gathering places for crminal gangs and lures to idle apprentices, who might be enticed into crime as an alternative to hard work.  The labyrinthine configuration of many back alleys helped criminals escape pursuing constables.   

The prevalence of cheap temporary lodgings in back alleys compounded the problem of controling the influx of poor migrants searching for work, who constantly resorted to London.  The authorities were forever issuing orders for the rounding up and incarceration of vagrants and beggars, including young children, wandering through London streets.  But the problem was essentially insoluable since the metroplolis, with its large and complex economy, acted as a magnet for people unable to find gainful employment in villages and smaller towns.  Inevitably some of these individuals turned to crime when they failed to find legitimate employment.   

 

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