Lost things and the making of material cultures in eighteenth-century London

This article focuses on everyday occurrences of loss and losing in urban spaces to examine the role that absence played in shaping material cultures in the past. It returns to a site that has remained central to material histories, eighteenth-century London, and shows how possessions regularly went missing due to theft and forgetfulness. Examining daily newspapers, alongside court cases, diary entries, and handbills, demonstrates how experiences of loss prompted urban denizens to devise systems of reclamation. “Lost” notices placed in London’s new daily newspapers became crucial to ensuring the return of lost possessions. While these systems were largely managed by thief-takers such as Jonathan Wild in the early decades of the eighteenth-century, after Wild’s death in 1725, it fell to Londoners themselves to remember the salient features of their possessions and write the notices. These writings and the material practices that underpinned them shaped how people understood the material world around them and how they operated in urban spaces. As such, the article demonstrates the significance of absence in shaping urban material cultures.