London 1666-1851: Emporia and Empire (In-person)

In the two hundred years after the fire London emerged as the world’s greatest city, the metropolitan capital of the largest empire in history, consisting of grand houses and elegant squares, a river teaming with ships from all corners of the globe, and a galaxy of artists, writers, actors, musicians and master craftsmen drawn from all over Europe. Industry came with empire and from the early 1800s new docks, canals, warehouses and eventually railways girded London and sped up the ebb and flow of people and goods. Yet this achievement was marked by widespread social unrest. Events such as the Gordon Riots showed how the London mob could threaten the peace of the prosperous. In response new institutions such as the workhouse, the penitentiary and the police were created to still the grumbling hive, along the way creating a new infrastructure of metropolitan government.
 
 Guest Speakers include: Elizabeth McKellar, author of  Landscapes of London: the City, the Country, and the Suburbs 1660-1840; Rosemary Ashton, OBE, author of One Hot Summer: Dickens, Darwin, Disraeli, and the Great Stink of 1858 and other guest lecturers and V&A curators.