London Lives: Poverty, Crime and the Making of a Modern City, 1690–1800

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With a perfectly clear and well-formed original text, an accuracy rate well over 99% was achieved. However, difficulties in deciphering 17th- and 18th-century handwriting, fading, tears and blots in the original, and distortions introduced by the processes of microfilming and image digitisation reduced the level of accuracy in some places. Where a perfectly accurate reading of the text is required, users are strongly advised to consult the original document images also provided in London Lives, or St Botolph Aldgate, Pauper Examination Book, 1773-75, London Metropolitan Archives, Ms. 2676/8, LL ref: GLBAEP10314, Tagging Level: A

The metaphone matching on forenames has been implemented in a different way. Tables of forename equivalents have been developed, grouping names such as Liz, Betty, and Eliza, with a full version of the relevant name. In this case Elizabeth. Searching for Elizabeth or any of its many variants should return all relevant results. In addition a metaphone search of forenames also implements a search for names that sound like the search term. As with metaphone surname searches, the initial letter and final s have been excluded.St Clement Danes, Examinations Book, 1769-1772, Westminster Archives Centre, Ms. B1182, LL ref: WCCDEP35822, Tagging Level: B St Thomas's Hospital, Admissions Register, 1796, London Metropolitan Archives, Ms. HO1/ST/B/003/011, LL ref: LMTHRH554110005. While the bulk of the sources included concern criminal justice and poor relief, there are also records of a guild O'Donoghue, E. G. Bridewell Hospital, Palace, Prison, Schools, Vol. 1 : From the Earliest Times to the End of the Reign of Elizabeth; Vol. 2: From the Death of Elizabeth to Modern Times. 1923-9.

During the same period case law came to modify significantly the workings of the settlement system. Of particular importance was the development of the idea of derivative settlements, established by lawyers at the Court of King’s Bench during the eighteenth century, which ensured that if a person did not acquire a new settlement for themselves they would derive their settlement from that of their parents, or even their grandparents.Most names which include both a surname and forename in London Lives have been tagged, and can be searched for using this form. Depending on how much information you possess you can widen or narrow your searches using this search facility.

See About this Project for a description of the rationale for the choice of sources, and the methodology used in developing London Lives. The passage of the Act for the better Regulation of the Parish Poor Children (1767), sponsored by Jonas Hanway, which required that all parish children under the age of four should be nursed in the countryside at least three miles from London and Westminster, also encouraged the development of a sub-set of contract workhouses, known as baby farms. 17 It was at a farm of this sort that the infant Oliver Twist was confined and starved. if necessary the original document in the relevant archive. The images provided can be enlarged by scrolling a mouse over the image. To compensate for the possibility of transcription errors when searching, users are advised to

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Poor rate, St Anne King Square ward east (1789), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/394; Poor rate, St Anne King Square ward west (1789), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/395; Poor rate, St Anne Leicester Fields ward east (1789), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/396; Poor rate, St Anne Leicester Fields ward west (1789), City of Westminster Archives Centre, A/397; Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St Margaret Grand ward (1789), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/527; Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St Margaret Absey ward (1789), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/328; Poor, highway and scavenger rate, St John (1789), City of Westminster Archives Centre, E/329. Many of the externally created datasets included in London Lives also include data on occupations. Those which include a significant number of occupations include: