Journey 6
Daniel Defoe
Tilbury
Was owning land always prosperous in Defoe’s era?
One way to make money in the early 18th century, according to Defoe and others, was to own land. It was also a sign that you were somebody.
Defoe himself owned a farmstead near Tilbury Fort, that Nick manages to track down. Defoe borrowed
heavily against this spot, and built a factory on it. He must have been proud of his little corner
of Essex as he never let it go, despite two bankruptcies and countless crises such as his factory
going bust, and the tenants to whom he subletted fields suing him as a bad landlord.
Arguably the original Essex wide-boy, Defoe often disproved the very theories he wrote about with such conviction.