Death in a time of Ice: Mortality in London during the Frost Fair of 1715/16.
Death in an Age of Ice
On the 24th November 1715 a severe frost marked the beginning of almost 11 weeks of sub zero temperatures until around 9th February, when the thaw set in. During that time the Bills of Mortality kept a steady record of those who died in this time of ice.
This article is a brief look at the second half of the big freeze that engulfed London in the winter of 1715/16 during which a frost fair took place. It is not intended to draw big conclusions but show a brief glimpse into life in the capital. [1]
It has been estimated that London's population was around 630,000, had grown rapidly and was still waxing mightily. [2] The Thames froze solidly in the grip of the winter. By 2nd January 1715/16 the Newcastle Courant noted ‘The River Thames is now quite frozen over, and if the frost continues, the watermen will build booths to sell brandy and other liquors therein. It also carried the alarming news that two men who attempted to cross the river had the ice crack under them and were carried away and were feared lost.
By the 19th January 1715/16 the Stamford Mercury was reporting
‘The Thames is now become one solid Rock of Ice; coaches, carriers with their horses and their waggons have pass’d it like a publick road; booths for the sale of Brandy; wine, ale and other liquors, have been fix’d there for some time: But now it is made in a manner like a town; thousands and thousands of people cross and with wonder view the mountainous heaps of water that now have congeal’d into ice, notwithstanding the resistance given to the cold by the motion of the tide.
On Thursday a pretty large cook shop was erected there, and people went as regularly to the Ordinary as they do in the City.
Over against Westminster Whitehall and White Fryers, printing presses are kept upon Ice, where thousands of people have their names printed off, to transmit the wonders of the season to their children.
It has not much longer to continue to equal or even out do the great Frost, which is now made as if it were an Era of Time.’
A Frost Fair on the Thames at Temple Stairs by Abraham Hondius 1684
The Newcastle Courant [14th January] agreed with this report, albeit it suggested having your name printed was to impress friends, not children, and named the fairs of the regin of Charles II was the thing to be outdone.
A week later the Mercury noted ‘The booths on the Thames increase daily, where all manner of goods are sold; and this day 3 whole oxen were roasted upon it, viz one near Lambeth and the 2d near St, Paul’s wharf, and the 3d near Rotherhith, below London Bridge, where people walk on the ice, as ‘tis said, beyond Gravesend.
Even high tides could not stop the fun. On 18th January the Newcastle Courant noted ‘yesterday there was an extraordinary Tide, in so much, that part of the Palace Yard, and Westminster Hall were overflow’d, and the Ice in the Thames raised 6 foot higher than usual, yet the booths and other advertisements were continu’d, and we hear of no damage.’
The quality were now attracted to the Frost Fair and 21st January the Courant reported the Prince of Wales, Duke of Montague, Earl of Dorset ‘and several other persons of quality visited the stretch between Westminster and Lamebth, went into four booths and gave them four guineas.
By 21st January the Courant was reporting the Prince and Princess of Wales were contributing to the hardship caused by the frost to the watermen. Four days later it was confirmed the gift had taken place, but the fifty pounds had to be shared between 700. The Bishop of London had given half a crown each to the 47 watermen who plied the Somerset House Stairs.
Frost Fair on the River Thames 1683-4 by Thomas Wyke
The Bills of Mortality were established during the Plague of 1592-1595. They became a continuous administrative task from 1603 and have produced a record of death in the capital. The eight weeks [week ending 27th December to week ending 15th February] which encompass the period of the Frost Fair and its demise saw 4403 registered deaths.
‘Convulsions’ were the greatest cause of death - 27%. It has been suggested that this may have referred to tetanus, infections of the brain or epilepsy, although the alternative, being used to describe any death of infants, seems more convincing. [3] Convulsions remained the largest cause of death in a year long study in 1721 [4]
Consumption accounted for 15% of the deaths, fever 12.5%, aged 12%, teeth 5.5% [probably a fever caught at the same time as teething] [5] and tissick 5% [death following a cough, probably by a lung disease] are the most notable causes.
All figures rounded to nearest 0.5%
What is notable is how similar the main causes of death are. The exception to this is tissick and smallpox. One wonders if it was the case that smallpox was getting people otherwise likely to fall to tissick.
Deaths rose steadily between 27th December 1715 [473] and 17th January 1716 [596]. They climbed a little in the week of 31st January, fell remarkably in the following thaw week, then rose again. How significant this is, from a single year and a small run, is difficult to tell. Beyond this data set the numbers of deaths fell in 21st and 28th February but rose on 6th and 13th March - back to mid January levels. London’s ever increasing population may have something to do with this.
Amid the main causes are the notable singularities. Two people were executed during the period. Two people were drowned, one in the Great Dock, St Mary’s, Rotherhithe and another in a horse pond in All Hallows, Barking. Seven people were found dead, one of those, at St Mary’s Abchurch, had been put in a coffin. St Dunstan in the West witnessed someone killed accidentally when a gun went off. The fall of a house slew somebody in St Brides but nobody was reported murdered - unlike 1721, when 11 people were.
A temporary warmer spell of weather saw fog between 24th - 28th January. Many secondary sources suggest the Frost Fair was over by the 9th February, although a thaw up stream was already causing problems on 1st February when the Bewcast Curant was already reporting shoals of ice smashing three arches and the water mill at Kingston Bridge. In the city ice had smashed several stairs and men were employed to break the ice around London Bridge. The cold weather was quiet banished but the Summer of 1716 was to be hot and dry and in July the thick ice had been reduced to a rivulet some 10 to 12 feet wide.
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