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.
(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% |
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