What did people do for fun in the 18th century?

Q: What did adults do for fun in the 1700s?

Colonial life was filled with work, but it wasnt always hard or boring. Early Americans knew how to turn work into fun by singing or telling stories, having contests, or working together in spinning or quilting bees. Some liked to dance to fiddle and fife music.

By Tim Lambert

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What did people do in their free time in the 18th century?
What did people do for fun in the 1800s?
What did adults do for fun in the 1700s?
What did people do for fun in 1750?

Traditional games remained popular in the 18th Century. These included games such as chess, draughts, and backgammon. So was tennis and a rough version of football. Then in 1759, a man named John Jeffries invented an entirely new board game called A Journey Through Europe or The Play of Geography in which players race across a map of Europe.

It is believed that dominoes was invented in China in the Middle Ages. It reached Europe in the 18th century.

Dominos

Horse racing was carried on for centuries before the 18th century but at this time it became a professional sport. The Jockey Club was formed in 1727. The Derby began in 1780.

For the well-off card games and gambling were popular. The theater was also popular in the 18th century. In the early 18th century most towns did not have a purpose-built theater and plays were staged in buildings like inns. However, in the late 18th century theaters were built in most towns. Assembly rooms were also built in most towns. In them, people played cards and attended balls. In London, pleasure gardens were created.

Moreover, a kind of cricket was played long before the 18th century but at that time it took on its modern form. The first cricket club was formed at Hambledon in Hampshire about 1750.

Also in the 18th century, rich people visited spas. They believed that bathing in and/or drinking spa water could cure illness. Towns like Buxton, Bath, and Tunbridge prospered. At the end of the 18th century, wealthy people began to spend time at the seaside. (Again they believed that bathing in seawater was good for your health). British seaside resorts like Brighton, Bognor, Southport, and Blackpool boomed.

Reading was also a popular pastime and the first novels were published at this time. Books were still expensive but in many towns, you could pay to join a circulating library. The first daily newspaper in England was printed in 1702. The Times began in 1785.

John Spilsbury made the first jigsaw puzzle in 1767. He intended to teach geography by cutting maps into pieces but soon people began making jigsaws for entertainment. n In the 18th century many people still watched cruel ‘sports’ like cockfighting and bull baiting. Rich people liked fox hunting.

Public executions were also popular and they drew large crowds. Boxing without gloves was also popular (although some boxers began to wear leather gloves in the 18th century). Puppet shows like Punch and Judy also drew the crowds. Furthermore, in the late 18th century the circus became a popular form of entertainment.

Smoking clay pipes was popular in the 18th century. So was taking snuff.

In the 18th century, wealthy young men would go on a ‘grand tour’ of Europe lasting one or two years.

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A lot of entertainment in the 18th century, when compared to modern entertainment, was either rather mundane or very macabre. In the household, entertainment typically consisted of board games like chess and backgammon while tennis and a crude version of football were played outside of the home. In terms of public entertainment, however, London especially offered a wide variety to its public that suited almost every taste.

The more chaste entertainment available for the 18th-century public consisted of outings to the theater or the ballet in a lavish London auditorium, which was becoming ever more successful during this period. The public might take a calming stroll through rich foliage and take tea in pleasure gardens, and at night listen to performing bands and watch the lanterns being lit. The exceptionally wealthy would visit spas and it was often believed that spa water if drunk could cure illnesses. If you were interested in curious animals you might explore the Strand where creatures of all kinds from all manners of exotic places would be on display and paraded around taverns. Sometimes entertainers would show tamed animals that could perform tricks, dance, and juggle, and there even existed a pig that supposedly was able to write its name and solve basic math problems.

Then again, as much as the Georgian public loved their curious animals, they also enjoyed ‘sports’ like cockfighting, fox hunting, and bullbaiting. Although rodeo bull hire in London is something of a common and enjoyable form of entertainment in modern times, entertainment that involved bulls in the 18th century often ended in gore and death (although whether it was the bull that died or the bull baiter, the public enjoyed watching regardless). Yes, torture was a common form of entertainment in the 18th century, and it wasn’t exclusive to animals.

The Bethlem Royal Hospital in London, also known as Bedlam, was a psychiatric hospital for the mentally ill. Most days the hospital would open its doors to those that could spare a few coins and allowed them to gawk at the patients at their leisure. It was something of a human zoo where people could marvel at the mentally ill and the shackled maniacs. There were even some cases of visiting guests abusing the patients: physically and verbally abusing them.

It seemed like the 18th-century public had a particular taste for violence. Criminals were an especially popular source of entertainment. Petty criminals would be paraded around the town in chains where the public was encouraged to verbally abuse them as punishment for their crime. The public was also present to witness floggings and whippings. Compared to these events, however, executions were treated like a public holiday. Generous employers gave their employees a day off when an execution took place and crowds would turn up in their thousands to watch; the largest recorded audience to a London execution was around 80,000. There was an average of 35 executions per year in London and those of particularly notorious criminals were announced to the upper class through personal invitation.

What did people do in their free time in the 18th century?

Traditional games remained popular in the 18th Century. These included games such as chess, draughts, and backgammon. So was tennis and a rough version of football.

What did people do for fun in the 1800s?

Theatre Halls were numerous and performances were regularly given by theatre troupes, ventriloquists, hypnotists, poets, comedians, choirs and orchestras. Circuses came to town and set up in parks and public places. There were fêtes, carnivals, art exhibitions and lessons in singing, dancing and cooking to attend.

What did adults do for fun in the 1700s?

Colonial life was filled with work, but it wasn't always hard or boring. Early Americans knew how to turn work into fun by singing or telling stories, having contests, or working together in spinning or quilting bees. Some liked to dance to fiddle and fife music.

What did people do for fun in 1750?

Fireworks, music, plays, animal fights, eating competitions, and gambling could all be found at various fairs. Assemblies and balls offered young people an opportunity for courtship. The price of admission sorted out the very poor and distinguished the rest by their respective social class.