4 - ‘Much Mischief Happeneth to Persons in the Street’: Everyday Urban Accidents

Summary

Now man with utmost Fortitude thy Soul,

To cross the Way where Carts and Coaches roll;

Yet do not in thy hardy Skill confide,

Nor rashly risque the Kennel's spacious Stride;

Stay till afar the distant Wheel you hear,

Like dying Thunder in the breaking Air;

Thy Foot will slide upon the miry Stone,

And passing Coaches crush thy tortur'd Bone,

John Gay, Trivia (1716)

Almost every printing of the Bills of Mortality reported a handful of sudden violent deaths. Each week, somewhere among the 114 parishes of the metropolis, one or two parish sextons would be confronted with the grim task of burying an accident victim. Such accidents most often had tragically familiar causes: drowning, falling off ladders, horses or down stairs, or being crushed under the wheels of coaches or carts. Early modern London appeared to be a city with a hazard on every street corner. Falling, being struck by goods and objects, attacked by animals or injured by vehicles were all perceived as everyday events, their occurrence recognised by writers, artists and the public at large, yet popular perceptions of London as a dramatically lethal environment were clearly exaggerated. Accidents happened and fatalities occurred, but generally not in excessive numbers; nonetheless, across the wider extents of the metropolis events of the type discussed in this chapter were routinely encountered. Such incidents were, in effect, everyday urban accidents.

The early modern city was a complex environment and there were hazards to be faced both indoors and out. The streets of the metropolis formed the most obvious example of an arena in which people, animals and vehicles came together on a daily basis, occasionally with fatal consequences. The bustling waterfronts, and the Thames itself, provided yet another venue for mortal or injurious incidents. And it is fair to say that human interaction with the bricks and mortar of the city itself was fundamentally dangerous. The built environment presented opportunities for sudden death or traumatic injury at all stages of its ‘life cycle’: from digging foundations, to building walls and constructing roofs, through fitting out and maintenance, and eventually disuse and demolition. Early modern sites of urban work and manufacture were most usually incorporated within domestic buildings, yet even those apparently benign environments presented a number of hazards.