Blogs-And-Stories

Exhibitions
Exhibitions

Six things you didn’t know about executions in London

London’s courts condemned more people to die than the rest of England, and six facts you may not know

Crime & Legislation
Crime & Legislation

Jack Sheppard: An 18th-century working class hero

How one young criminal became a working class hero by escaping London prisons four times.

Collections
Collections

Can you identify 3 mystery archaeological objects?

You may think you know what it looks like, but its purpose might surprise you

Art & Design
Art & Design

Thomas Rowlandson’s satirical London drawings

Laughing at life in the 18th and 19th century

Exhibitions
Exhibitions

Executions and death-penalty reforms in Britain

How 18th-century British reformers questioned capital punishment and the fight continues today

Lifestyle & Leisure
Lifestyle & Leisure

David Garrick: A theatre sensation

This innovative 18th-century actor had an influence on all aspects of British theatre

Lifestyle & Leisure
Lifestyle & Leisure

What were London’s pleasure gardens?

For dancing, drinking, glamour and debauchery, there was nothing quite like the pleasure garden

Lifestyle & Leisure
Lifestyle & Leisure

A big night out at Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens

Discover the exciting new entertainment on offer to Londoners in the 1700s and 1800s

From our experts
From our experts

Pleasurable relief: Toilets in 18th-century London

Curator Danielle Thom reveals the dark underside of the Georgian and Victorian Pleasure Gardens

Food & Diet
Food & Diet

Pleasure gardens: London’s early restaurants?

London’s thriving restaurant scene has roots in these hedonistic spaces of music and entertainment

Lifestyle & Leisure
Lifestyle & Leisure

Joseph Grimaldi: King of the clowns

Grimaldi’s extraordinary physical comedy changed the pantomime forever – but it came at a price

From our experts
From our experts

From avoiding the gallows, to leading a mutiny

What happened to convicts who were transported to penal colonies instead of being executed?

War & Weapons
War & Weapons

Who was Admiral Nelson?

Nelson's naval victories gave him national hero status and a permanent place in Trafalgar Square

Lifestyle & Leisure
Lifestyle & Leisure

Pleasure gardens: London’s first music venues

Handel at Vauxhall? Mozart at Ranelagh? For 18th-century music fans, these were the places to be

Immigration & Identity
Immigration & Identity

Ignatius Sancho: Writer and early Black voter

After gaining his freedom, this 18th-century writer became one of the first Black voters in Britain

Lifestyle & Leisure
Lifestyle & Leisure

Masquerades in London’s pleasure gardens

Put on your finest costume and join revellers on London’s fashionable 18th-century dancefloors

Lifestyle & Leisure
Lifestyle & Leisure

Strange & delightful dolls in our collection

Featuring headless puppets, the ever-stylish Sindy and a 300-year-old doll with human hair

Rights & Activism
Rights & Activism

Olaudah Equiano: Writer & abolitionist

A freed enslaved man whose life story drove the abolition of the British trade in enslaved Africans