Museum of London - 16th through early 20th century

As I made my way through this museum, I started off in the 16th century with the London stone. The earliest written reference to this stone was in a survey of London from 1598. The stone is thought to be from 1100 AD. Its origin and purpose are unknown. It is surmised that it was from London's Roman days and could have been part of a larger building. 

London Delftware is a style of ceramics that came from the Netherlands. It has a white surface from tin oxide in the glaze and gets its other colors from metallic pastes. These items are hand painted.  The first Delftware shop in London was founded in 1571.  Note in this photo the cat jug from the mid 17th century. It held cream, milk or wine. 

A model of an early theater from 1587 called the Rose Theater was on display. It was a rival theater to the Globe Theater in the 16th century. 

It was interesting to find out that a bookkeeper copied out each actor's lines separately and gave it to him in that script form to learn his lines.  How does he then know when to say those lines? Also a list of stage entrances/exits and props were posted backstage (and not put in the actor's script).

There was a section on the civil wars from 1642-51 with King Charles I being a major player. His love of divine power got him in trouble and he was exiled.  Oliver Cromwell stepped in to lead in 1653 as "Lord Protector". He managed to unite England, Scotland and Ireland and work well with parliament. International trade flourished during this time. In 1660 parliament wanted a return of a king, so Charles II came to rule. During his tenure hatred was expressed towards Cromwell and effigies of Cromwell and the coat of arms of the Commonwealth were burned. In 1661 Cromwell's body was exhumed and hung for display at Tyburn. Here is a cast of his death mask.

Charles II's coronation was a grand affair with a procession on horseback from the Tower of London to Whitehall. A theater impresario was stage manager of his coronation. 

The next section covered the Great Plague of 1665.  The disease was spread by flea-infested rats. There were many suggested treatments for the plague. The Goa stone was a compound of bezoar (mineral ball from the stomach of deer and sheep), shells, amber, resin and precious gems. It was imported from India. One would mix scrapings of this stone with water to treat those with the plague.

Prepared "plague waters" (water with ground hart's horn) were given to people pre-emptively to fend off the plague. Tobacco smoke was supposed to protect you from the plague. It was a lobbying ploy from the American tobacco industry. 

Deaths from the plague were announced with the ringing of a "plague bell", signifying that dead bodies were being collected for burial. 

At first people were buried individually, until the number of deaths were so overwhelming that mass burials in churchyards were performed.  Mourners wore mourning rings made for the death of a loved one. The quality and value of the ring varied based on the recipient's relationship with the deceased.

The Great Fire of 1666 in London started in a bakery on Pudding Lane. The buildings back then were made of wood and placed very close together. The upper floors of buildings were larger than the lower floors, so that the upper floors needed extra structural support from wooden brackets.  Here is a photo of one of these brackets, plus a sign behind it for a pub (a leather bottle).

436 acres and 13,200 homes were destroyed in the fire. 

Foreigners and Catholics were blamed for starting the fire. The blame had to fall on someone. A plaque was put on the new building in Pudding Lane in 1681 where the fire had started. It blamed the Catholics and Robert Hubert (a French foreigner who worked at the bakery) for the fire. He was hung  for the "crime". It was not proven that he caused the fire. He did confess, but probably under duress.

The history of fire control and insurance back then in London is interesting.  There were no established fire departments. Each parish had its own fire equipment, but it was in poor shape. When the Great Fire started, fire hooks were used to pull down buildings to create fire breaks and hopefully prevent the spreading of the fire. It was a pre-emptive measure. It helped a bit. If they could not easily pull the houses down, they would blow them up with gunpowder to create a fire break.  There was also no fire insurance back then.  The insurance business only developed later after the fire. A house covered by a fire insurance policy would have a plaque on it with the logo of the insurance company plus the policy number. Here is an example from a residence from 1701.

In another area of the museum is the "Victorian Walk".  Various shops and business are represented here with examples of store fronts. Shops included toy stores, tobacconists, barber, pub, glassware, tea/coffee warehouse, engraver, watchmaker, baker, milliner, tailor, grocer, pharmacy, stationer, bank, public urinal and pawnbroker. It was fun to walk around and peek into the store fronts. 

The next section covered the 1850s-1940s.  I did not make it all the way through this part or the next area of the museum. An early London taxi from 1908 (running on gas) was prominent in the room.

A 1928 elevator from Selfridge's department store stood out too.

I just started to read about a series of exhibitions in London that were meant to promote trade with 

England's colonies. I did not get that far, as I had to leave.  I walked quickly through an area about the suffragette movement and the world wars.  Next time I will continue to explore from there.