Population
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth in the late 16th Century London flourished as a centre of trade and commerce. A steady increase in the resident population reflected the ‘Golden Age’ being enjoyed at this time. The remarkable ‘doubling’ of the population during the Elizabethan period, was in stark contrast to the mass exodus that occurred over 250 years later.
The City had already lost some of it’s lustre for some traders during the Georgian period, as Westminster became an increasingly attractive place to relocate. The rapid expansion of Greater London during this period, into the leafy suburbs, caused others to consider their future existence within the old city. The introduction of the first railway into the city, and the new lifestyle opportunities it presented, tempted many thousands to buy a one-way ticket to greener pastures. Fenchurch Street Station was the first to open within the Square Mile in 1841. Within 30 years the population had reduced by nearly 50,000, and by the outbreak of the 1st World War in 1914 over 90% of the resident population had abandoned the city. As premises emptied they were increasingly taken over for commercial use.
Population Year
50, 000 1558 Start of Elizabethan era
100, 000 1603 End of Elizabethan era.
128, 000 1801
125, 000 1850
107, 000 1861
75, 000 1871
51, 000 1881
27, 000 1901
11, 000 1914
14, 000 1921
9, 000 1939
4, 000 1971
7, 000 2001
11, 000 2010
The Future: The recent small expansion of the City boundaries to the North of the Barbican, which has incorporated some residential properties into the area, together with recently built apartment blocks, will inevitably begin to increase the resident population once more. However, it is hard to imagine the city population ever returning to the numbers reached before the industrial revolution.
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