Old and New London, A Narrative of its History, its People and its Places. Illustrated with Numerous Engravings from the Most Authentic Sources. vol 2
Thornbury, Walter
1872-78
Chapter V:Lower Thames Street.
Chapter V:Lower Thames Street.
In St. Mary-at-Hill Lane, , is the fair [extra_illustrations.2.41.1] because of the ascent from . says Stow,
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Stow has preserved the following epitaph from a tomb in the chancel of :--
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, though a rough and unromantic place at the present day, has an ancient legend of | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
p.42 | its own, that associates it with royal names and venerable folk. Geoffrey of Monmouth deposeth that about years before Christ's nativity, Belin, a king of the Britons, built this gate and gave it its name, and that when he was dead the royal body was burnt, and the ashes set over the gate in a vessel of brass, upon a high pinnacle of stone. Stow, more prosaic, on the other hand, is quite satisfied that Biling once owned the wharf, and troubles himself no further. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In Hogarth's memorable tour () he stopped at [extra_illustrations.2.42.1] for the purpose of sketching. His poetical chronicler says-
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The introduction of steamboats has much altered | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
the aspect of . Formerly, passengers embarked here for Gravesend and other places down the river, and a great many sailors mingled with the salesmen and fishermen. The boats sailed only when the tide served, and the necessity of being ready at the strangest hours rendered many taverns necessary for the accommodation of travellers. says Mr. Platt, writing in , The fish-fags of Ned Ward's time have disappeared, and the business is done smarter and quicker. As late as coaches would sometimes arrive at from Dover or Hastings, and so affect the market. The old circle from which dealers in their carts--attended the market, included Windsor, St. Albans, Hertford, Romford, and other places within miles. Railways have now enlarged the area of purchasers to an indefinite degree. In the Dutch auction system used at , the prices asked sink till they reach the level of the purchaser, The cheap fish- | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
p.43 [extra_illustrations.2.43.1] [extra_illustrations.2.43.2] |
sellers practise many tricks, blowing the cod-fish larger with pipes, and mixing dead eels with live ones. Railways have made fish a main article of food with the London poor, so that, according to Mr. Mayhew, the London costermongers sell onethird of the entire quantity of fish sent to . The salesmen divide all fish into classes, and The fish is salmon, all other descriptions are known as
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To see [extra_illustrations.2.43.3] , says Mr. Mayhew, the visitor should be there about o'clock on a Friday morning. The market opens at , but for the or hours it is attended solely by the regular fishmongers and who have the pick of the best there. As soon as these are gone the costers' sale | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
begins. Many of the costers that usually deal in vegetables buy a little fish on the Friday. It is the fast-day of the Irish, and the mechanics' wives run short of money at the end of the week, and so make up their dinners with fish: for this reason the attendance of costers' barrows at on a Friday morning is always very great. As soon as you reach the Monument you see a line of them, with or tall fishmongers' carts breaking the uniformity, and the din of the cries and commotion of the distant market begin to break on the ear like the buzzing of a hornet's nest. The whole neighbourhood is covered with hand-barrows, some laden with baskets, others with sacks. The air is filled with a kind of sea-weedy odour, reminding of the sea-shore; and on entering the | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
p.44 | market, the smell of whelks, red herrings, sprats, and a other sorts of fish, is almost overpowering. The wooden barn-looking square where the fish is sold is, soon after o'clock, crowded with shiny cord jackets and greasy caps. Everybody comes to in his worst clothes; and no knows the length of time a coat can be worn until they have been to a fish-sale. Through the bright opening at the end are seen the tangled rigging of the oyster-boats, and the red-worsted caps of the sailors. Over the hum of voices is heard the shouts of the salesmen, who, with their white aprons, peering above the heads of the mob, stand on their tables roaring out their prices. All are bawling together-salesmen and hucksters of provisions, capes, hardware, and newspapers-till the place is a perfect Babel of competition. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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-- -- -- shouts the news vendor.-
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Dock is mentioned as an important quay in Brompton's Chronicle (Edward III.), under the date , when King Ethelred, being then at Wantage, in Berkshire, made laws for regulating the customs on ships at Blynesgate, or , then the only wharf in London. i. Small vessels were to pay halfpenny; . Larger ones, with sails, penny; . Keeles, or hulks, still larger, fourpence. . Ships laden with wood, piece for toll. , according to size, a halfpenny and a penny; . Men of Rouen, who came with wine or peas, and men of Flanders and Liege, were to pay toll before they began to sell, but the Emperor's men (Germans of the Steel Yard) paid an annual toll. . Bread was tolled times a week, cattle were paid for in kind, and butter and cheese were paid more for before Christmas than after. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
By King Stephen's time, according to Becket's friend and biographer, Fitzstephen, the different foreign merchants had drafted off to their respective quays-Germans and Dutch to the Steel Yard, in ; the French wine merchants to the Vintry. In the reign of Edward I., a great regulator of the price of provisions, the price of fish was fixed at the following scale:s. d.
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Edward III. fixed the dues at for large ships, for smaller, and halfpenny for boats or battles. For corn farthing was paid for quarters; farthing for measured quarters of sea-coal. Every tun of ale exported was taxed at ; and every herrings, farthing. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In , an Act of Parliament constituted a free and open market for the sale of fish days in the week, and on Sundays (before Divine service) for mackerel; and any fishmonger who bought, except for his own sale, was to be sentenced to a fine of for every offence. Several fishery-laws were passed in , to restrain abuses, and the selfish greediness of fishermen. Eel-spears were forbidden, and it was made | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
p.45 | unlawful to use a flue, trammel, hooped net, or double-walled net, or to destroy the fry of fish. No draw-nets were to be shot before sunrise or after sunset. No fisherman was to try for flounders between and more than casts at low and at high water. No flounders were to be taken under the size of inches. No was to angle within the limits of with more than hooks upon his line; no was to drag for salmon in the Thames with nets under inches in the mesh; and all unlawful nets were to be destroyed. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
An Act of the year of George II. was passed, to regulate the sale of fish at , and prevent a monopoly of the market. It was found that the London fishmongers bought up the fishing-boats, and kept the fish down at Gravesend, supplying the market with only boatloads at a time, so as to keep up the price. An attempt had been made, in the year , to establish a fish-market at , and fishing-boats were bought by subscription; but the fishmongers prevented any supply of fish reaching the new depot. The Act of Parliament above referred to ( Geo. II) was intended to remedy these evils. The master of every fishing-vessel arriving at the Nore with fish had to report the time of his arrival, and the cargo he brought, to the clerk of the coastoffice, under penalty of ; and for any marketable fish he destroyed he was to be sentenced to not less than month's hard labour. No fish was to be placed in well-boats or store-boats, unless to go straight to , under a penalty of . No by the same Act was allowed to sell fishspawn, or unsizable fish, or any smelt less than inches long from nose to tail. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stow (Elizabeth) describes as a port or harborough for ships and boats bringing fish, fresh and salt, shell-fish, oranges, onions, fruit, roots, wheat, rye, and other grain. It had become more frequented after the decline of . Steam-vessels, of late years, have superseded the old hoys and sailing-boats that once visited . Steamers are not, of course, dependent on the state of the tide, and the old summons for their departure (under penalty) at the ringing of the bell, which announced high water at , is no longer an observance. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Addison, who glanced at nearly every kind of London life, with his quiet kindly philosophy, and large toleration for folly, did not forget to visit , and refers, in his delightful way, to the debates which frequently arose among Tom Brown gives a ribald sketch of the fish-fag; and coarse-tongued Ned Ward, that observant publican of Defoe's time, painted a gross Dutch picture of the shrill-voiced, bloated Moll Flagons of the Dark House, scolding and chattering among their heaps of fish, ready enough to knock down the auctioneer who did not knock down a lot to them. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In Bailey's English Dictionary () a is described as meaning and Munden, incomparable as Sir Abel Handy, in Morton's excellent comedy of , when asked about the temper and manners of his wife, replies, in the true Socratic mode, by the query,
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Mr. Henry Mayhew, writing in , calculates that every year in there are sold salmon, live cod, soles, whiting, haddocks, mackerel, lbs. of sprats, fresh herrings, in bulk, eels, bloaters, dried haddocks, oysters, lobsters, crabs, and shrimps. Of this vast salvage from the seas the London fish costermongers sell weight. Mr. Mayhew calculated that the sprat costermongers sell weight annually, and realise . | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The forestallers or middlemen at are called (probably a word of Dutch origin). They buy residues, and sell again in lots, at a considerable profit, to the fishmongers and costermongers. They are said to derive their name from the bumboat-men, who used to purchase of the wind-bound smacks at Gravesend or the Nore, and send the fish rapidly up to market in light carts. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The costermongers are important people at market. Sprat-selling in the streets generally commences about the (Lord Mayor's Day), which is accordingly by costermongers sometimes called Sprats continue in about weeks. They are sold at by the or which is about half a bushel, and weighs from to . The price varies from to A street sprat-seller can make from to a day, and often more. About of sprats are sold daily in London streets during the season. The real costermonger thinks sprat-selling A street shell-fish-seller will make his a week, chiefly by periwinkles and mussels. The London costermongers, in Mr. Mayhew's time, sold about pints of shrimps annually, which, at a pint, a low calculation, amounts to yearly. The costermongers sell about oysters a year, which, at a penny, the price some years | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
p.46 | ago, would realise . The periwinkles sold in London Mr. Mayhew calculated from good data to be pints, which, at a penny a pint, gives the large sum of . The sellers of make, on an average, a week clear profit in the summer season. Taking fresh, salt, and shell-fish together, Mr. Mayhew calculated that was spent annually on fish by purchasers. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In the days before railways, when the coaches were stopped by snow, or the river by ice, fish used sometimes to command great prices at . In , a cod-fish of was sold to a fishmonger for In , a salmon of went for a guinea a pound. In , lobsters sold for a guinea each; and Mr. Timbs mentions epicures dividing the only lobster in the market for sauce, and paying guineas each for the luxury. On the other hand, the prolific sea furnishes sometimes great gluts of fish. tons of periwinkles at a time have been sent from Glasgow; and in days from to a tons of plaice, soles, and sprats have been landed at . Perhaps we may live to see the time when the better sorts of fish will grow scarce as oysters, and cod-fish will have to be bred at the Dogger Bank, and encouraged in its reproduction. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All fish is sold at by tale, except salmon, which go by weight, and sprats, oysters, and shell-fish, which are sold by measure. In Knight's (), the number of boxes of salmon sent to is said to begin in February at about boxes a day, and to increase in July to boxes a day. In probably not less than tons of salmon reached . In salmon was sent to London in panniers on horseback; after that, it was packed in straw in light carts. After April it was impossible to send the fish to market. About the year , Mr. Alexander Dalrymple, a servant of the East India Company, told a Mr. George Dempster, at the , the Chinese fishermen's mode of conveying fresh fish great distances packed up in snow. Dempster instantly wrote off to a Scotch friend, who had already tried the plan of sending salmon, packed in ice, to London from Aberdeen and Inverness. In there were about fish-salesmen in London, and of these had stalls in . | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The old water-gate of Beling, the friend of Brennus the Gaul, was long ago a mere collection of dirty pent-houses, scaly sheds, and ill-savoured benches, with flaring oil-lamps in winter, daybreak disclosing a screaming, fighting, and rather tipsy crowd; but since the extension of the market in , and the disappearance of the fishermen, there is less drinking, and more sober and strenuous business. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mr. Henry Mayhew has painted a minute yet vivid picture of this great market. he says, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Mr. Mayhew has also sketched, with curious photographic realism, the Dutch eel-boats, with their bulging polished oak sides, half hidden in the river mist. They are surrounded by skiffs full of traders from the Surrey and Middlesex shores. You see wooden sabots and china pipes on the ledges of the boats, and the men wear tall fur caps, red shirts, and canvas kilts. The holds of the vessels are tanks, and floating at the stern are coffin-shaped barges pierced with holes, with eelbaskets hanging over the sides. In the centre of the boats stand the scales, tall and heavy, with, on side, the conical net-bag for the eels; on the other, the weights and pieces of stone to make up for the water that clings to the fish. The captain, when purchasers arrive, lays down his constant friend, his black pipe, and dives into the tank a long-handled landing-net, and scoops from the tank a writhing knot of eels. Some of the purchasers wear blue serge aprons; others are ragged women, with their straw pads on their crushed bonnets They are busy sorting their purchases, or sanding them till they are yellow. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In old times the Thames fish half supplied London. Old Stow says of the Thames in his day,
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Stow also tells us that, before , the city ditch, without the wall of the city, which then lay open, Sir John Hawkins, in his edition of Walton's (), mentions that, about years before, the city anglers were accustomed to enjoy their sport by the starlings of old . Mr. Goldham, the clerk or yeoman of Market, stated before a Parliamentary Committee that, in , fishermen, each of whom was the owner of a boat, and employed a boy, obtained a good livelihood by the exercise of their craft between Deptford and London, above and below bridge, taking roach, plaice, smelts, flounders, salmon, shad, eels, gudgeon, dace, dabs, &c. Mr. Goldham said that about he had known instances of as many as salmon and smelts being taken at haul up the river towards Wandsworth, and smelts were brought daily to , and not fewer than Thames salmon in the season. Some of the boats earned a week, and salmon was sold at and a pound. The fishery was nearly destroyed at the time when this evidence was given, in . The masters of the Dutch eel-ships stated before the | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
p.48 | same committee that, a few years before, they could bring their live eels in as far as Gallion's Reach, below Woolwich; but now () they were obliged to stop at Erith, and they had sustained serious losses from the deleterious quality of the water, which killed the fish. The increase of gas-works and of manufactories of various kinds, and of filth disgorged by the sewers, will sufficiently account for this circumstance. The number of Dutch eel-vessels which bring supplies to varied, in , from to annually. They brought about hundredweight of fish each, and paid a duty of . Mr. Butcher, an agent for Dutch fishermen, stated before the committee above mentioned that, in , Dutch vessels arrived with full cargoes of healthy eels, about each, and the average loss was . years before, when the Thames was purer, the loss was only of eels a night; and the witness deposed that an hour after high water he had had of eels die in an hour. (How singularly this accounts for the cheap eel-pie!) The river had been getting worse yearly. Fish were often seen trying to save themselves on floating pieces of wood, and flounders | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
would climb up bundles of weeds for a moment's fresh air. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bagford, the old antiquary, mentions a curious custom that once prevailed at . he says, speaking of an old custom referred to in
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Adjoining , on the east side, stood Smart's Quay or Wharf, which we find noticed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth as containing an ingenious seminary for the instruction of young thieves. The following extract of a letter, addressed to Lord Burleigh, in , by Fleetwood, the Recorder of London, evinces that the | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
p.49 | of picking pockets was brought to considerable perfection in the century :-- | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The faces the site of Smart's Quay, . English coal is mentioned in the reign of Henry III., who granted a charter to the people of Newcastle, empowering them to dig it. Soon afterwards, dyers, brewers, &c., began to use coal in their trade, and the nobles and gentry complaining of the smoke, a severe proclamation was passed against the use of sea-coal, though wood | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
p.50 | was yearly growing scarcer and dearer. Edward I. also issued a proclamation against the use of coal. Nevertheless, a charter of Edward II. shows Derbyshire coal to have been then used in London. In (Elizabeth) the owners of the Newcastle coal-pits, combining, raised the price of coals from to per chaldron; and the following year the Lord High Admiral claimed the coal metage in the port of London. The mayor and citizens disputed and overthrew this claim, and, by the influence of Lord Treasurer Burleigh, obtained the Queen's confirmation of the city's right to the office. At period in Elizabeth's reign it was prohibited to burn stone-coal during the session of Parliament for fear the health of the members (country gentlemen accustomed to their wood-fires) should be injured. Shakespeare speaks in a cozy way but others of the dramatists abuse coals; and the sea-coal smoke was supposed to have much injured the stone of old . In (Commonwealth) the price of coal in London was usually above a chaldron; and there were at Newcastle, each of which carried chaldrons, Newcastle measure; and of these made chaldrons, London measure. A duty of only a chaldron was paid on coals in London, yet the great Protector generously granted the Corporation a licence to import chaldrons every year for the poor citizens, duty free. The coal-carts numbered , and were placed under the regulation of the President and Governors of ; and all coal-sacks and measures were illegal unless sealed at . It was also at this same period generously provided that the city companies should lay up stores of coal in summer (from chaldrons to , according to their ability), to be retailed in the winter in small quantities. To prevent extortion, conspiracy, and monopoly, retail dealers, by the same Act, were prohibited under penalties from contracting for coals, or meeting the coal-vessels before they arrived in the port of London. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
By statute . and Charles II., all sea-coal brought into the river Thames was to be sold by the chaldron, containing bushels; and all other coals sold by weight were to be sold after the proportion of to the avoirdupois. By the Queen Anne, the coal measure was ordered to be made round, and to contain Winchester bushel and quart of water; the sack to hold such bushels; the bushel to be sealed or stamped at the Exchequer Office or the , under penalty of . | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In the master-meters of the Coal Office were only allowed to employ or dismiss the deputies sanctioned by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen. An Act of George II. required the ancient custom to be kept up of giving chaldron in addition to every score purchased on board ship, under penalty of . This bonus was called and constituted good Pool measure. By a later Act any lighterman receiving any gratuity from owners or fitters for preference in the quality in lading ships was fined . All bargains for coals at had to be entered on the factor's book, signed by buyer and seller, and witnessed by the factor, who gave a copy of the contract to each. Masters of ships were fined for delaying their cargoes at Gravesend. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
[extra_illustrations.2.50.1] , erected in , for the use of the black-diamond merchants, was a quaint and picturesque building, with a receding portico, supported by small Doric pillars, and with some stone steps, that led into a quadrangle. The narrow windows lit the upper storeys. The present [extra_illustrations.2.50.2] was opened by Prince Albert in , and Mr. J. B. Bunning was the architect. The design was thought original yet simple. The fronts in and St. Mary-at-Hill are feet wide and feet high. The entrance vestibule is in a circular tower feet high. The lowest storey is Roman-Doric; the storey Ionic. The inner rotunda is crowned by a dome feet high, which rests on piers. About tons of iron were used in the building. The Raphaelesque decorations were designed by Mr. Sang. Above emblematical figures of the collier rivers are figures of the Virtues, and over these are groups of shells, snakes, and lizards. In some of the arabesques the leading features are views of the Wallsend, Percy, Pitt Main, and other celebrated collieries, adorned with groups of flowers and fossil plants. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
While digging for the foundation of the new building, on the site of the old tavern, the workmen came on a Roman sweating-bath, with tiled floors and several rooms. This hypocaust is still shown. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The floor of the [extra_illustrations.2.51.1] is composed of inlaid woods, disposed, in form of a mariner's compass, within a border of Greek fret. The flooring consists of upwards of pieces of wood, of various kinds. The varieties of wood employed comprise black ebony, black oak; common and red English oak, wainscot, white holly, mahogany, American elm, red and white walnut, and mulberry. The appearance of this floor is beautiful in the extreme. The whole of these materials were prepared by Messrs. Davison and Symington's patent process of seasoning woods. The same desiccating process has been applied to the wood-work throughout the | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
p.51 | building. The black oak introduced is part of an old tree which was discovered in the river Tyne, where it had unquestionably lain between and centuries. The mulberry-wood, of which the blade of the dagger in the shield of the city Arms is composed, is a piece of a tree planted by Peter the Great, when he worked as a shipwright in Deptford Dockyard. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Hall of the Watermen's Company was originally situated at Coldharbour, near the in the Vintry, and is referred to in the statute of I James I., . It was burnt, with many of the Company's old records, in the Great Fire of , but was again rebuilt in the old place. It was rebuilt once more in , and in the Company removed to St. Mary-at-Hill, , where it now remains, Calvert's brewery occupying the old site. In an Act was passed, directing that the Court should consist of watermen, to be called overseers and rulers, to be annually appointed by the Court of Lord Mayor and Aldermen. In an order was made by the Court of Lord- Mayor, that persons at the different stairs should select of their number to choose the rulers to carry out the laws. These persons assumed the title of
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In the lightermen of the city were incorporated with the watermen (called Watermen and Lightermen's Company). lightermen were to be appointed as additional overseers and rulers, and a court of assistants. In an Act was passed which reduced the number of assistants to . In a new Act was passed, reincor- porating the Company, to consist of a master, wardens, and assistants. In case of vacancy in court, the court were to select qualified persons, for the Court of Lord Mayor, &c., to choose to fill the vacancy. In an Act was passed, by which the court were empowered to fill up vacancies, without reference to the Court of Lord Mayor, &c. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The various Acts passed from the time of Henry VIII. gave power to the Company to hold general courts, courts of binding, and courts for hearing and determining complaints, and to punish offenders by fine and imprisonment; power to license passenger-boats, register craft, and to appoint Sunday ferries, the rent of which has always been applied to the relief of the poor of the Company, and to make bye-laws for the regulation of boats, barges, and steam-boats on the river, and the men navigating the same. There are about apprentices bound annually, and about complaints. are investigated during the year. The introduction of steam greatly reduced the watermen, but the lightermen and barges have been annually increasing. There are now about freemen of the Company, andj apprentices. The court distribute about per annum, out of their ferry-rents, in pen ions to poor freemen and widows. almshouses have been established at Penge, supported by the voluntary contributions of the public. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The fares of the Thames watermen and wherrymen were regulate by Henry VIII. in . [extra_illustrations.2.51.2] , the water-poet, . Elizabeth, states the watermen between Windsor and Gravesend at . A statute regulates the dimensions of the boats and wherries, then dangerously the Lord Mayor and Aldermen to limit the watermen's fares, if confirmed by the Privy Council. Stripe was told by of the Company that there were watermen upon their rolls; that they could furnish men for the fleet, and that were then in the service. Taylor, the water-poet, with his fellow-watermen, violently opposed the introduction of coaches as trade-spoilers. The Company (says Mr. Timbs) condemned the building of and Blackfriars bridges, as an injury to the ferries between and the Temple, the profits of which were given to the poor, Aged, decayed, and maimed watermen and their widows; and in both cases the Company were compensated for their losses. The substitution of steam-boats for wherries has, however, been as fatal to the watermen as railways to stage-coachmen. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Lord High Admiral, or the Commissioners of the Admiralty, used to have power to demand a certain number of watermen to serve in the Royal Navy, by an Act of William and Mary; and in nearly watermen were thus enrolled. The ribald banter of the Thames watermen was for. merly proverbial, and is mentioned by Ned Ward, and nearly all the essayists. Dr. Johnson, Boswell says, was particularly proud of having silenced some watermen who tried to ridicule him. By an | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
p.52 | order of the Company in , this foul kind of extemporaneous satire was forbidden by the rulers and auditors of the Company; and any waterman or apprentice convicted of using indecent language was fined for each offence; the fines to go to the use of the
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All wherries were formerly required to be feet long and broad in the midships, under pain of forfeiture; and all wherries and boats were to be entered and numbered. Extortion and abuse was punishable by fine and imprisonment. A statute ( George III.) placed the watermen more immediately under the mayor's jurisdiction; and the highest penalty was fixed at . | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Before the time of steamboats, a bell used to ring at Gravesend at high water, as a warning to hurry off the London watermen. A report of the Dock Committee in shows that there were then watermen, freemen, non-freemen, and apprentices; the annual number of apprentices being from to . In there were above wherries on the Thames. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
When the opening of destroyed the landing ferry there, established for the benefit of the Waterman's Poor Fund, the bridge committee gave Consolidated per Cents to the rulers of the Company, as a recompense, and the interest is now appropriated to the same purpose as the ferry-fund used to be. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Close to Waterman's Hall is the Fellowship Porters' Hall. This brotherhood was incorporated as early as (Henry II.), and re-incorporated in (James I.). The business of the Fellowship Porters, which is now less strictly defined than in old times, is to carry or house corn, salt, coals, fish, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
and fruit of all descriptions. There were formerly about Fellowship Porters; there are now about . The Ticket Porters and Tackle Porters have no hall. The fraternity of Fellowship Porters had the power, by an Act of Council of , to choose rulers, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen reserving the right to appoint of the number. There are now rulers. The governor, deputy-governor, and deputy of the ward act as superintendents of the Company. The Company has no livery or arms, and ranks the in the order of precedence. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In accordance with a pretty old custom, every Sunday before Midsummer Day a sermon is preached to the Fellowship Porters in the church of St. Maryat-Hill. They overnight furnish the merchants and families above with nosegays, and in the morning proceed from the hall to the church, and , carrying nosegays. They walk up the middle aisle to the communion-table, and each places an offering in of the basins on the communion-rails, for the relief of the Company's poor; and after they have prayed, the deputy, the merchants, their wives, children, and servants walk in order from their seats, and perform the same solemnity. The annual cost of the nosegays amounts to nearly . | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
And now we come to that great Government toll-bar, the Customs House. The building of this kind in London was rebuilt by John Churchman, Sheriff of London, in (Richard II.), and it stood on the site of the present buildings. [extra_illustrations.2.52.1] , was destroyed by the Great Fire. A [extra_illustrations.2.52.2] , built by Wren, was destroyed by fire in , and its [extra_illustrations.2.52.3] , was burnt down . | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In Elizabeth's time, the farmers of the Customs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
p.53 | made immense fortunes. A chronicler of her reign says:
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The revenue has grown like the green bay-tree of the Psalmist. In the year of Elizabeth, the Customs realised ; in her year, ; in her , . The average of years, before the Restoration, was . In Elizabeth's time the establishment consisted of principal officers, each of whom had from to men under him; but the principal waiter had as many as subordinates. From to , says D'Avenant, the inspector-general of imports and exports, the revenue derived from the English Customs averaged a year. From to , the Customs averaged . At the close of the century they exceeded . They now exceed . | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The built after the Great Fire was said to have cost . The new . of had better-arranged apartments and accommodation for a greater number of clerks. The new building was feet long, and the centre feet deep. It was built of brick and stone, and the wings had a passage colonnade of the Tuscan order, towards the river, the upper storey being relieved by Ionic pilasters and pediments. The great feature of the building was the which, extending the whole length of the centre, was feet long, wide, and high. Here several commissioners superintended personally the numerous officers and clerks of various departments. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This building, already too small for the evergrowing commerce of London, was destroyed, as before mentioned, in , by a fire, which also destroyed houses on the north side of . cellars and warehouses full of valuable property, and stores of documents and records, were also lost. But, several years before this catastrophe, the enlargement of the had been planned. It had been at proposed to build an additional wing, but on a survey the old building was found too much decayed and dilapidated to warrant much expenditure on its renovation. The Lords of the Treasury selected Mr. Laing's design. Between the old and there had been quays, equal to feet; but the site now selected was immediately east of , with only a landingstair between. It had been suggested to place the on the north side of , so as to save the expense of embankment; but this would have necessitated the widening of many narrow and crooked streets, and the formation of docks, east and west of the quay. The estimate for [extra_illustrations.2.54.1] was , exclusive of the format in of the foundation-ground and some other contingencies. The owners of private property claimed , and were paid . The materials of the old building were sold for . The necessity was to test the substratum. The soil was bored with huge augers that screwed down eighteen to feet. A substratum of close gravel, at promising well, proved to be artificial. The whole ground, from the level of the river to the south side of , proved to have once been part of the bed of the, river. Rushes were found mixed with mussel-shells and the chrysalids of water insects. The workmen also came on distinct lines of wooden embankments at the distances of , , and feet within the range of the existing wharves; and about from the campshot, or under edge of the wharf wall, a wall built of chalk and rubble, and faced with Purbeck stone, was discovered, running east and west. This was, no doubt, the river rampart of London, mentioned by Fitzstephen. It was so strongly built that it could scarcely be broken even by iron wedges, Many | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
p.54 | coins and other Roman antiquities were found. rows of piles, and feet long, were then sunk, and on these were placed sleepers of beech fitted in with brickwork. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The stone of the new building was laid in , by Lord Liverpool, then Lord of the Treasury, and was opened for business, . [extra_illustrations.2.54.2] , was plain, but on the [extra_illustrations.2.54.3] towards the river, the central compartment projected, and the wings had a hexastyle detached Ionic colonnade. The central attic, comprising the exterior of the celebrated [extra_illustrations.2.54.4] , was decorated with alto and basso relievos, representing in allegorical groups the Arts, Sciences, Commerce, Industry, and types of the nations who are our principal commercial allies. The dial-plate, feet in diameter, was supported by colossal figures of Industry and Plenty, while the royal arms were sustained by figures of Ocean and Commerce. The Long Room was feet by . | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Unfortunately, however, the work was done too | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
cheaply or too quickly, and the foundation gave way. This was bitterly complained of in a Parliamentary Committee of , when it was stated that this failure had led to a charge of nearly , in addition to the original expenditure of . The Long Room eventually had to be taken down by Mr. Laing, the architect, the foundations relaid, and the allegorical figures removed. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The quay is too narrow to afford a good view, but there is a simple grandeur about the design, when seen from the bridge or river. The water front, says Mr. Platt, is feet, feet longer than the old , and feet longer than the . | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The number of officers and clerks in this great public office is over o, out and in. The out-door are about . The inspectors-general superintend the tide-surveyors, tide-waiters, and watermen, and appoint them their daily duty, each inspector attending in rotation at Gravesend. The tide-surveyors visit ships reported inwards or out- | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
p.55 p.56 | wards, to see that the tide-waiters put on board discharge their duty properly. The tide-waiters, if the vessel is coming in, remain on board, unless the vessel be in the docks, like men in possession, till the cargo is discharged. The landing-officers, under the superintendence of the surveyors, attend the quays and docks, and take a noteof goods as they are craned on shore, and on the receipt of warrants showing that the duties are paid, permit the delivery of goods for home consumption. The officers of the coast department attend to vessels arriving and departing between London and the outports, and give permits for landing their cargoes, and take bonds for the delivery at their destination of goods sent coastwise. They appoint the coastwaiters, who attend the shipping, and discharge all coastwise goods. The searchers see to all goods shipped for abroad, the entries of which, after passing the Long Room; are placed in their hands, and they examine the packages, to see that they duly correspond. As the amount of work fluctuates, and when a special wind blows, flocks of vessels arrive together, the number of supernumeraries employed at the is very large. There are sometimes, says a good authority, as many as persons a day working at business between Gravesend and . | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Long Room is the department where most of the documents required by the Customs' Laws are received by officials. The thing necessary upon the arrival of a vessel from a foreign country is the report of the ship, that is, the master must, within hours of entering the port, deliver at the Report Office in the Long Room an account of her cargo. Then, before any goods are delivered out of charge by the officers of the out-door department, who board and watch vessels on their arrival, entries of the goods passed also in the Long Room must have reached the officers. These entries are documents giving particulars of the goods in greater detail than is required in the master's report, and are delivered in the Long Room by the consignees of the cargo, or by their representatives. A single entry may suffice for an entire cargo, if it be all of kind of goods and be the property of person, or any number of entries may be necessary if the cargo be varied in nature. The report and the entries--that is, the account of the cargo rendered by the master and that supplied by the consignees--are compared, and delivery of goods not mentioned in the report, though correctly entered, is refused until the omission has been satisfactorily explained. In the case of goods liable to duty, the entries are not suffered to leave the Long Room until it is ascertained that the payment has been made. The entry for such goods, when signed by the Long Room officers, in testimony of its having been passed by them, vouches for the payment of the duty, and constitutes the warrant authorising the officers at the waterside to deliver the goods. Such is the general course of routine applicable to vessels arriving from foreign ports. The officers of the Long Room sit at their desks along the sides. The visitors are chiefly weather-beaten sea-captains, shipowners, and shipowners' clerks, who come and report arrivals or obtain clearances, and wholesale merchants, who have goods to import or export, or goods to place in bond. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A correct account is also required of the cargoes of vessels sailing from this country, and the documents by which this is obtained are presented in the Searcher's Office in the Long Room either by the shippers of the goods or by the master of the vessel. The operation performed in the Long Room by the master of an outward-bound ship, which corresponds to the reporting of an arriving vessel, is termed or
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The documents required from the masters of vessels engaged in trade from port of the United Kingdom to another, termed are less elaborate. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
From the particulars obtained by the various papers thus delivered in the Long Room, are prepared the monthly returns of trade and navigation, published by the Board of Trade, and the collection and arrangement of the information so obtained occupies a large staff of clerks in the Statistical Department of the . | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
At each outport the room where the business described above is transacted bears the name of the Long Room, although in most cases it is neither long nor in any other way extensive. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The establishment of docks surrounded by high walls, from which goods can be removed only through gateways easily guarded, has made it possible to provide for the security of the duties upon importations with a far less numerous staff of officers than would be necessary if every vessel discharged in the river or at open quays. And the gradual reduction which has taken place in the number of articles in the tariff liable to duty during the last years renders a less rigid examination of goods necessary than was previously requisite. These and other causes enable the present reduced staff to deal efficiently with an amount of business to which under former circumstances it would have been wholly inadequate. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The warehousing system, which consisted in per- | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
p.57 [extra_illustrations.2.57.1] | milting the payment of duties upon goods deposited under Crown locks in warehouses duly approved for the purpose by the Board of Customs, to be deferred until the goods are wanted for consumetion, offers great facilities to trade, and is largely availed of. This system involves the keeping of very elaborate accounts, which form the duty of the warehousing departments. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Of the or so distinct apartments in the , all classified and combined to unite order and contiguity, the king is the Long Room, feet long, wide, and between and feet high. The eye cannot take in at once its breadth and its length, but it is not so handsome as the room that fell in, to the dismay of Mr. Pet. The floor is plank. The cellars in the basement form a groined fireproof crypt. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The rooms are perfectly plain, all but the Board Room, which is slightly decorated, and contains portraits of George III. and George IV., the latter by Sir Thomas Lawrence. The Queen's Warehouse is on the ground floor. The entrance to the is on the north front. On the southern side there is an entrance from the quay and river. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nearly -half of the Customs of the United Kingdom, says a writer on the subject, are coolleeched in the port of London. In , while the London Customs were , the total of the United Kingdom were only . In the same year the only place approaching London was Liverpool, where the Customs amounted to . In the London Customs were . The same year the declared value of the exports from Liverpool amounted to no less than , or nearly times the value of the exports from London, for in foreign trade London is surpassed by Liverpool. Mr. M'Culloch estimates, including the home and foreign markets, the total value of produce conveyed into and from London annually at sterling. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The number of foreign vessels that entered the port of London in the year was estimated at , and the number of coasters at . The expense of collecting the Customs in Great alone is calculated at over a million sterling. The Board of Commissioners, that sits at the , has all the outports of the United Kingdom under its superintendence. It receives reports from them, and issues instructions from the central Board. The recording of the business of the great national firm, now performed by the Statistical Office in the , was attempted in the reign of Charles II., and urged on the Commissioners of Customs by the bewildered Privy Council for Trade; but it was declared, after many trials, to be impossible. It was really begun in the business-like reign of William III., when the broad arrow was used to check thefts of Government property, and when the office of Inspector-General of Imports and Exports was established, and the ledger, to record their value, started. The Act of required all goods exported and imported to be entered in the books, with the prices affixed. Cotton, therefore, was taxed at this the official value, till . In this year the Government imposed a convoy duty of per cent., , upon all exports; and to do this equitably, every shipper of goods was compelled to make a declaration of their then actual value. This was what is called A daily publication, called the is issued at the , to report the imports and exports and the arrival and clearance of vessels. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prior to the year , says a writer in Knight's the statutes relating to the Customs had accumulated, from the reign of Edward I., to , and were naturally as confusing and entangled as they were contradictory. Mr. Huskisson, Mr. J. D. Hume, and eventually the slow-moving Board of Trade, at last revised the statutes, and consolidated them into acts. They were still further simplified in , and again consolidated in . of the Acts passed in enumerates not fewer than different rates of duty chargeable on imported articles, while the main source of revenue is derived from a very small number of articles. says a writer on the subject, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A somewhat similar case, relating to an importation of ice from Norway, was mentioned in a-debate in the in . A doubt was started what duty it ought to pay, and the point was referred from the to the Treasury, and from the Treasury to the Board of Trade; and it was ultimately decided that the ice might be introduced on the payment of the duty on dry goods; but as of the speakers remarked,
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In the time of Charles I. the Customs were farmed, and we find Garrard writing to Lord Stafford, , mentioning that the farmers of the Customs (rejoicing over their good bargains, no doubt), had been unusually liberal in their new year's gifts to the king, having sent him, besides the usual pieces, in pieces, and an unset diamond that had cost them . Yet what a small affair the Customs must have been compared to now, when sugar, tea, tobacco, wine, and brandy produce each of them more than a million a year! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Defoe says,
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Mr. Platt's account of the working of the system of years ago shows a remarkable contrast with that of the present day. Writing in the year , he says,
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Tide-waiters are not now specially appointed to each ship on arrival. There are no export duties now and no duties. Cockets have been abolished. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The following statement from the is valuable as a comparison:
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It will be seen that the amount of Customs receipts collected in London in each of the years and was more than that of all the other ports of Great taken together, and times that of the whole of Ireland. Besides London and Liverpool, there is only port in England, Bristol, the Customs receipts of which average a million a year, and more, Hull, where they are above a quarter of a million. It is to be observed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
p.59 | that there has been a great reduction of Customs duties of late years. During the years from to the actual diminution of Customs has been no less than . | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The annual summary as to trade in the port of London for the year shows a steady increase in the number of vessels arriving, and a trifling decrease in the departures. A total of vessels arrived during the year, of which were sailing and steam-ships, thus indicating a total increase of as compared with the previous year. The vessels which cleared outwards were , both kinds, of which were with cargo, and in ballast, or a total decrease of as compared with the departures in . A considerable increase arose in London in the total number of seizures of tobacco, cigars, and spirits, as compared with the year , cases having occurred in . The total quantity of tobacco and cigars seized in London was lbs., being an increase of lbs. as compared with that seized in , while the total quantity of spirits seized was gallons only, being a decrease of gallons. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Quay fronts the Thames. Here Cowper, the poet, came, intending to make away with himself. he says,
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A modern essayist has drawn a living picture of the sales:-- | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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of Mr. Dickens's staff has bitterly described the delay in passing baggage through the . he says,
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All these inconveniences have now been removed, and much civility and promptitude is shown by the official. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
p.60 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Footnotes: [extra_illustrations.2.41.1] parish church of St. Mary, called on the Hill, [extra_illustrations.2.42.1] Billingsgate [extra_illustrations.2.43.1] Execution at Billingsgate [extra_illustrations.2.43.2] Market in 1812 [extra_illustrations.2.43.3] this market in its busiest costermonger time [extra_illustrations.2.50.1] The old Coal Exchange [extra_illustrations.2.50.2] Coal Exchange [extra_illustrations.2.51.1] rotunda [extra_illustrations.2.51.2] Taylor [extra_illustrations.2.52.1] Another and larger edifice, erected in the reign of Elizabeth [extra_illustrations.2.52.2] new Custom House [extra_illustrations.2.52.3] successor, the design by Ripley [extra_illustrations.2.54.1] the new building [extra_illustrations.2.54.2] The north side fronting Thames Street [extra_illustrations.2.54.3] south front [extra_illustrations.2.54.4] Long Room [extra_illustrations.2.57.1] Advertisement-Hays for Dover-1813 |