Editing Woolwich (section)

==== Population ====
[[File:Printed Map Descriptive of London Poverty. Sheet 13(?) covering Woolwich (22643234567) (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Poverty map]] of Woolwich, 1889. The areas in black designate the "lowest class, vicious, semi-criminals". Bright red is "middle class, well-to-do".]]
Around 1500, at the beginning of the military and naval expansion, Woolwich had only a few hundred inhabitants. In 1665, when [[Samuel Pepys]] stayed here to escape the [[Great Plague of London|Great Plague]], the population was estimated at 1,200 or more, of which about 300 worked in the dockyard. Around 1720, the town's population had risen to 6,500, reaching almost 10,000 in 1801. During the booming wartime decade that followed, population reached a peak of 17,000. After a period of stagnation, building activity picked up in the 1830s. Woolwich' built-up area expanded southward with workers' houses mostly close to the river and officers' houses around [[Woolwich Common]] and further up the hill. In 1841 Woolwich had a population of 27,785; in 1861 this had risen to 41,695. At this point there were 4,596 houses in the parish, with little space left for building; further development took place in [[Plumstead]], [[Charlton, London|Charlton]] and [[North Woolwich]], later also in [[Eltham]]. After a dip in the late 19th century, in 1901 the population of the parish of Woolwich stood at the same level as 40 years earlier: 41,625. Victorian Woolwich was a rich social mix with skilled engineers along with unskilled labourers (including women and children) working at the Arsenal and other factories, large numbers of soldiers (making up 10–15% of the population) and a small bourgeoisie consisting of military officers and the commercial and professional elite. Some areas of the town were notoriously overcrowded; the so-called [[Old Woolwich#19th century: Victorian slum|Dusthole]] near the river was considered one of London's worst [[slum]]s.<ref name=SG9-17>Saint & Guillery (2012), pp. 9–17.</ref>