Do not forget the many great diaries left by Londoners, most of them in print in fine scholarly editions.  These are useful not just for the lives of their authors, but precisely because their authors tell us so much about daily life in London.

The granddaddy of them all is The Diary of Samuel Pepys ed. R. Latham and W. Matthews, 11 vols. (University of California Press, 1970-83.)  Pepys was a 17^th century Londoner who recorded every aspect of his life between 1660 and 1669:  what he ate and how he dressed; where he went and whom he met; his most personal thoughts and activities – including his sex life (though early editions cut out much of the most explicit detail, it’s all in the Latham and Mathews edition).  Moreover, Pepys was a high government official and a connoisseur of the arts with an instinct for being in the right place at the right time.  So, in his Diary we meet: King Charles II, his courtiers and mistresses; and the great musicians, actors and actresses of the day, such as John Dryden and Nell Gwynn. We experience the Restoration in 1660; the Plague in 1665; the Fire in 1666, all of which Pepys relates with a vividness that is a godsend to anyone interested in London’s past.  In the Diary, 17^th century London lives again in all of its quirky glory, from the splendid corridors of Whitehall to the seediest alehouse in Deptford. 

There are several online versions, of which the most complete is that on Wikisource:  http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Diary_of_Samuel_Pepys. 

Be warned:  this is based on an earlier, somewhat censored edition that leaves out the naughty bits.  For those, you have to go to Latham and Matthews.