Leicester
Leicester was the capital of Coritani in Roman Britain. It became an important centre of hosiery manufacture during the 18th century. Trade was helped by good water links to the Mersey and the Humber.
The first railway, the Leicester & Swannington, arrived in 1832 and helped reduce the cost of coal in the town. In 1840 the Midland Counties Railway linked Leicester to London and Leeds. A branch line to Peterborough was added in 1848. Lines from Leicester to Birmingham (1862) and Manchester (1867) followed. The Great Northern Railway arrived in 1882 giving good links to and from West Yorkshire.
In the second-half of the 19th century Leicester became an important footwear manufacture. George Oliver moved his factory from Wolverhampton to Leicester in 1875. He was followed by Freeman, Hardy & Willis. During this period cycle manufacturers also established themselves in Leicester with Currys opening in 1884 and Halfords in 1901.
Primary Sources
(1) Daniel Defoe, A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain (1724)
Leicester is an ancient, large and populous town, containing about five parishes, and stands on the River Soar. They have considerable manufacture carried on here, and in several of the market towns round for weaving of stockings by frames, and one would scarce think it possible so small an article of trade could employ such multitudes of people as it does; for the whole county seems to be employed in it.
(2) Angus Reach, The Morning Chronicle (1849)
The town of Leicester lies in a gentle hollow, sheltered, except towards the east, by the undulations of the Dane and Spinney hills. The sluggish stream of the Soar winds through the town; and in wet weather the adjacent meadows are swampy and often overflowed. The consequence is, the frequent prevalence of fever in the lowest-lying portions of the town. The mean duration of life in England is 29.11 years. In Leicester it is 25 years.
The drainage is miserably defective. Out of 242 streets and 3,417 courts, alleys and yards, only 112 are entirely culverted, and about 130 partially so. There are nine outfalls of sewers, all situated in the town, and all pouring their contents into the most stagnant waters of the Soar. The surface drainage is equally defective. This is seldom sufficient fall to carry away the dirty water.
At the back of each block of the more ordinary class of houses is a common yard, with privies, cesspools, and ash-pits, for the use of the occupants. From these places there is seldom or never any sub-soil drainage. Slops and liquid refuse are left to evaporate, and send up their noisome effluvia.
Of the 13,991 houses in Leicester only 120 are supplied with water closets - the average cost of each being £31 10s, a sum equal to half the amount necessary for building a four-roomed house. Many of the cesspools are of great depth; some of them not less than 25 feet; and the consequence is that, in numerous instances, the water which is found still nearer the surface is poisoned by noxious percolations.
(3) Comparative mortality in the drained and undrained districts of Leicester (1840-1842)
Streets 1840
1840
1841
1841
1842
1842
Average Age
of Death
in Years
Proportion
from
Epidemics
Average Age
of Death
in Years
Proportion
from
Epidemics
Average Age
of Death
in Years
Proportion
from
Epidemics
East District Culverted 23
25%
24
8%
26
8%
Partly Culverted 17
33%
21
12%
21
12%
Not Culverted 13
50%
18
15%
17
13%
West District Culverted 20
15%
30
7%
29
8%
Partly Culverted 21
20%
22
12%
22
9%
Not Culverted 14
25%
21
13%
17
11%