Height 5 feet 8 }
inches, 30 years }
of age, dark }
hair, sallow complexion. }
}
2nd & 3rd Vic. }
cap. 47, sec. 25. }
I hereby certify that of , in the parish of in the
county of Middlesex, is this day registered in a book of the Company
of the Master, Wardens, and Commonalty of Watermen and Lightermen of
the river Thames, kept for that purpose, to use, work, or navigate
a boat called a skiff, named , number , for the purpose of
selling, disposing of, or exposing for sale to and amongst the seamen,
or other persons employed in and about any of the ships or vessels
upon the said river, any liquors, slops, or other articles whatsoever,
between London Bridge and Limehouse Hole; but the said boat is not to
be used on the said river for any other purpose than the aforesaid.
Waterman’s Hall,
JAS. BANYON, _Clerk_.
Beside the regular purl-men, or, as they may be called, bumboat-men,
there are two or three others who, perhaps unable to purchase a boat,
and take out the licence, have nevertheless for a number of years
contrived to carry on a traffic in spirits among the ships in the
Thames. Their practice is to carry a flat tin bottle concealed about
their person, with which they go on board the first ship in a tier,
where they are well known by those who may be there employed. If the
seamen wish for any spirit the river-vendor immediately supplies it,
entering the name of the customers served, as none of the vendors ever
receive, at the time of sale, any money for what they dispose of; they
keep an account till their customers receive their wages, when they
always contrive to be present, and in general succeed in getting what
is owing to them. What their profits are it is impossible to tell,
perhaps they may equal those of the regular purl-man, for they go on
board of almost every ship in the course of the day. When their tin
bottle is empty they go on shore to replenish it, doing so time after
time if necessary.
It is remarkable that although these people are perfectly well known to
every purl-man on the river, who have seen them day by day, for many
years going on board the various ships, and are thoroughly cognizant
of the purpose of their visits, there has never been any information
laid against them, nor have they been in any way interrupted in their
business.
There is one of these river spirit-sellers who has pursued the
avocation for the greater part of his life; he is a native of the
south of Ireland, now very old, and a little shrivelled-up man. He may
still be seen every day, going from ship to ship by scrambling over
the quarters where they are lashed together in tiers--a feat sometimes
attended with danger to the young and strong; yet he works his way
with the agility of a man of 20, gets on board the ship he wants, and
when there, were he not so well known, he might be thought to be some
official sent to take an inventory of the contents of the ship, for he
has at all times an ink-bottle hanging from one of his coat buttons, a
pen stuck over his ear, spectacles on his nose, a book in his hand, and
really has all the appearance of a man determined on doing business of
some sort or other. He possesses a sort of ubiquity, for go where you
will through any part of the pool you are sure to meet him. He seems to
be expected everywhere; no one appears to be surprised at his presence.
Captains and mates pass him by unnoticed and unquestioned. As suddenly
as he comes does he disappear, to start up in some other place. His
visits are so regular, that it would scarcely look like being on board
ship if “old D----, the whiskey man,” as he is called, did not make his
appearance some time during the day, for he seems to be in some strange
way identified with the river, and with every ship that frequents it.
OF THE NUMBERS, CAPITAL, AND INCOME OF THE STREET-SELLERS OF
SECOND-HAND ARTICLES, LIVE ANIMALS, MINERAL PRODUCTIONS, ETC.
The hawkers of second-hand articles, live animals, mineral productions,
and natural curiosities, form, as we have seen, large important
classes of the street-sellers. According to the facts already given,
there appear to be at present in the streets, 90 sellers of metal
wares, including the sellers of second-hand trays and Italian-irons;
30 sellers of old linen, as wrappers and towelling; 80 vendors of
second-hand (burnt) linen and calico; 30 sellers of curtains; 30
sellers of carpeting, &c.; 30 sellers of bed-ticking, &c.; 6 sellers
of old crockery and glass; 25 sellers of old musical instruments;
6 vendors of second-hand weapons; 6 sellers of old curiosities; 6
vendors of telescopes and pocket glasses; 30 to 40 sellers of other
miscellaneous second-hand articles; 100 sellers of men’s second-hand
clothes; 30 sellers of old boots and shoes; 15 vendors of old hats;
50 sellers of women’s second-hand apparel; 30 vendors of second-hand
bonnets, and 10 sellers of old furs; 116 sellers of second-hand
articles at Smithfield-market;--making altogether 725 street-sellers of
second-hand commodities.
But some of the above trades are of a temporary character only, as in
the case of the vendors of old linen towelling or wrappers, carpets,
bed-ticking, &c.--the same persons who sell the one often selling the
others; the towels and wrappers, moreover, are offered for sale only on
the Monday and Saturday nights. Assuming, then, that upwards of 100 or
one-sixth of the above number sell two different second-hand articles,
or are not continually employed at that department of street-traffic,
we find the total number of street-sellers belonging to this class to
be about 500.
Concerning the number selling live animals in the streets, there are
50 men vending fancy and sporting dogs; 200 sellers and “duffers”
of English birds; 10 sellers of parrots and other foreign birds; 3
sellers of birds’-nests, &c.; 20 vendors of squirrels; 6 sellers of
leverets and wild rabbits; 35 vendors of gold and silver fish; 20
vendors of tortoises; and 14 sellers of snails, frogs, worms, &c.; or,
allowing for the temporary and mixed character of many of these trades,
we may say that there are 200 constantly engaged in this branch of
street-commerce.
Then of the street-sellers of mineral productions and natural
curiosities, there are 216 vendors of coals; 1500 sellers of coke;
14 sellers of tan-turf; 150 vendors of salt; 70 sellers of sand; 26
sellers of shells; or 1969 in all. From this number the sellers of
shells must be deducted, as the shell-trade is not a special branch of
street-traffic. We may, therefore, assert that the number of people
engaged in this latter class of street-business amounts to about 1900.
Now, adding all these sums together, we have the following table as to
the numbers of individuals comprised in the _first_ division of the
London street-folk, viz. the street-sellers:--
1. Costermongers (including men,
women, and children engaged in the
sale of fish, fruit, vegetables, game,
poultry, flowers, &c.) 30,000
2. Street-sellers of “green stuff,”
including water-cresses, chickweed
and gru’n’sel, turf, &c. 2,000
3. Street-sellers of eatables and
drinkables 4,000
4. Street-sellers of stationery, literature,
and fine arts 1,000
5. Street-sellers of manufactured
articles of metal, crockery, glass, textile,
chemical, and miscellaneous substances 4,000
6. Street-sellers of second-hand
articles, including the sellers of old
metal articles, old glass, old linen, old
clothes, old shoes, &c. 500
7. Street-sellers of live animals, as
dogs, birds, gold and silver fish, squirrels,
leverets, tortoises, snails, &c. 200
8. Street-sellers of mineral productions
and natural curiosities, as coals,
coke, tan-turf, salt, sand, shells, &c. 1,900
______
TOTAL NUMBER OF STREET-SELLERS 43,640
These numbers, it should be remembered, are given rather as an
approximation to the truth than as the absolute fact. It would
therefore be safer to say, making all due allowance for the temporary
and mixed character of many branches of street-commerce, that there
are about 40,000 people engaged in selling articles in the streets
of London. I am induced to believe that this is very near the real
number of street-sellers, from the _wholesale_ returns of the places
where the street-sellers purchase their goods, and which I have always
made a point of collecting from the best authorities connected with
the various branches of street-traffic. The statistics of the fish
and green markets, the swag-shops, the old clothes exchange, the
bird-dealers, which I have caused to be collected for the first time in
this country, all tend to corroborate this estimate.
The next fact to be evolved is the amount of capital invested in the
street-sale of Second-hand Articles, of Live Animals, and of Mineral
Productions. And, first, as to the money employed in the Second-hand
Street-Trade.
The following tables will show the amount of capital invested in this
branch of street-business.
_Street-Sellers of Second-hand Metal Wares._
30 stalls, 5_s._ each; 20 barrows, 1_l._ £ _s._ _d._
each; stock-money for 50 vendors, at
10_s._ per head 52 10 0
_Street-Sellers of Second-hand Metal Trays._