Churches in London were to
be rebuilt with money paid by funeral rates, rates for tolling the
bells, and rates for the use of palls [altar cloths]. Queen Anne
also appropriated all her revenues from the first fruits and
tenths of ecclesiastical benefices, 16,500 pounds, to the clerical
poor in 1704.
There were fewer quarrels among passersby on the London streets;
men were less likely to wear their swords. But there were fist
fights by common men which gathered crowds and occasioned betting.
Most crime was petty theft, but mobs and riots were frequent, as
there were no police. Watchmen and constables were often old and
physically incapacitated. The watchmen were householders taking
their turn. This duty of householders watching the streets had
evolved from the ancient obligation of wards to provide men to
guard the walls at night. But few wanted these jobs by which they
could offend their neighbors. Many citizens paid a rate to be
excused from watch and ward duty. Constables were often tavern
keepers. Many riots were started when penal laws against the
Catholics were repealed. They began with the cries of "no popery",
but came to came to target rich men's houses. Mobs sacked and
pillaged at will, burned houses, and flung open the prisons to
increase their numbers. There were political riots between Tories
and Whigs. Working men still used violence to protect their
livelihoods, such as destroying the lodgings and public houses of
cheap immigrant labor such as the Irish.
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