Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.

[Nathan Ross]

Why didn't the residents of London and/or St Albans simply leave without military support if the area was pro Roman and safe?

I'm sure a lot of them probably did! But many of the Roman inhabitants were merchants who had stock in warehouses, besides other property in the town, and would not have wanted to risk abandoning it, especially if they thought a Roman relief column was on its way. Such people were probably mightily pissed off when Suetonius decided to 'save the province at the cost of a single town'!

There may have been problems with the Catavellauni - possibly a pro-Trinovantes faction, bearing in mind their recent history. But there could have been similar problems with any other British tribe, so one direction out of London was not inherently safer than another (aside from northeast, or down the Thames to Gaul, obviously...)

But the fact that there were large numbers of people in London who had not already fled by the time Suetonius turned up does support the idea that the rebels were not exactly beating down the doors at this point, and that the Romans probably arrived there considerably ahead of Boudica's advance.