Beer Street: Gin Lane. Some Views of 18th-Century Drinking

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Abstract
In response to measures taken by the British government to encourage the production of spirits distilled from home-grown cereals, the consumption of gin in England rose from 527,000 gallons in 1685 to over 11,000,000 gallons in 1750. Much the greater part of this consumption was confined to the urban poor, particularly of London. During the early 18th century the middle and working classes prospered but the poor were underemployed, underfed and miserably housed. The London mob provided a terrifying display of drunkenness and lawlessness. Much of the poverty and criminality of the day was blamed on the enormous amounts of gin drunk by the poor. Despite the steady stream of immigrants into the city, between 1700 and 1750 the population of London (675,000 in 1750) declined; in the rest of the country the population increased steadily. Contemporary writers blamed the decline on the excesses of gin drinking. Gin given to infants was blamed for the appalling rates of infant mortality: between 1730 and 1749, 75% of all children christened were buried under the age of 5. In 1720 and 1736 the government attempted to regulate the retailing of gin but the measures were unpopular and largely ignored. In 1743 the government, needing more revenues, repealed the regulations and the consumption immediately increased. In 1750 a commission reported that in parts of London 1 house in 5 was a gin shop. In response to a stream of petitions, perhaps the most effective being a report by Henry Fielding and Hogarth's prints Beer Street: Gin Lane, the government in 1751 passed effective legislation that led to a decrease in gin consumption to under 2,000,000 gallons by 1758. The decline of gin drinking was accompanied by a general spirit of reform that changed the character of London. Drinking habits were also changing and tea and coffee were taking the place of alcoholic beverages. The beer consumption was enormous: in 1722 the per capita consumption was about 36 imperial gallons; by 1830 it had decreased to about 18 gallons. The upper classes in the 18th century rarely drank anything but wine and brandy, frequently combined with fruit into a punch. Many notable peers, statesmen, politicians and literary men were famous for their excessive drinking. Five Hogarth prints of drinking scenes are included.

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