Contagion in the Capital: Exploring the Impact of Urbanisation and Infectious Disease Risk on Child Health in Nineteenth-Century London, England

Nineteenth-century London was notorious for overcrowding, poor housing, and heavy air pollution. With a large proportion of its population living in conditions poverty, diseases flourished as people were increasingly drawn to the industrialising centres England search employment opportunities. Utilising historical documentary skeletal evidence, this paper explores impact increasing urbanisation on non-adult (those aged 0–17 years) health, particularly relation exposure multitude infectious circulation during time. Focusing community St Bride’s Church, London, it highlights greater susceptibility infants children risk severe morbidity mortality from diseases, amongst lower classes. When considered against socio-political, cultural economic milieu nineteenth-century reveals how multi-faceted process exacerbated ill-health, increased deadly pathogens, ultimately further marginalised poorest inhabitants.