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#37: London’s Gin Craze // Mother’s Ruin

English Learning for Curious Minds

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Gin and Its Impurities

Gin made men impotent and women sterile, so it made both sexes unable to have children. It's thought that this was a major reason why the birth rate in London at this time was exceeded by the death rate. The gin shops sold vast amounts of the stuff, vast amounts of gin, huge amounts - selling almost 50 million litres of gin per year. One particularly sad story was of a woman named Judith DeFor and her two year old daughter, Mary. She had such a terrible gin addiction that she was literally driven mad. They removed the daughter's clothes and they strangled the daughter, they killed the daughter and left her there dead.

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