Gin Lane: Thieves and Thief-takers in the Night-Cellars of Seven Dials

Schedule

Sat Dec 07 2024 at 01:00 pm to 03:30 pm

UTC+00:00

Location

Pavement outside Exit 1, Leicester Square Station | London, EN

Thief and escape-artist Jack Sheppard sparred with thief-taker Jonathan Wild in streets thronged with gin-sellers, sex workers and beggars.
About this Event

Now it's trendy and pretty, but 18th-century Seven Dials was notorious for poverty and crime. With no organised police force, thieves, highwaymen and fences bribed those hired to catch them, meeting in low-down dives where they spoke a secret language called flash. The notoriously corrupt Jonathan Wild captured thief Jack Sheppard more than once, but Jack made dramatic escapes from Pr*son aided by his sexworker-partner Edgworth Bess.

With gin selling at a penny a glass, carousing was full-on in areas outsiders called rookeries, thieves’ kitchens, the Holy Land (because of the Irish presence) and, for Drury Lane’s red-light zone, Little Sodom. A range of middle-class spies, social investigators, reporters and slum-tourists came to look and sometimes participate in goings-on they found appalling and titillating. John Gay portrayed popular hero Jack Sheppard and Public Enemy Jonathan Wild in the characters of Captain MacHeath and Mr Peachum, in The Beggar's Opera, London's favourite theatre-piece throughout the 18th century. What fun!

Laura Agustín is an historian and writer interested to tell stories of ordinary folks, those not named in history books.



is Laura's longtime blog, focusing now on London history walks with Gender, Sex and Class.
Event Photos
Event Photos
Event Photos

Where is it happening?

Pavement outside Exit 1, Leicester Square Station, East side Charing Cross Road, London, United Kingdom
Tickets

GBP 15.00

Laura Agust\u00edn

Host or Publisher Laura Agustín

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