------------------------------------------------+-------------+------------
| Money |
| wages |
JOURNEYMEN. | for nine |
| months. |
_Without board and lodging._ | £ _s._ _d._|
Journeymen per | |
30 employed by 3 masters, at 18_s._ week |1053 0 0 |
14 „ 5 „ 16_s._ „ | 436 16 0 |
6 „ 3 „ 15_s._ „ | 175 10 0 |
27 „ 8 „ 14_s._ „ | 737 2 0 |
63 „ 23 „ 12_s._ „ | 474 4 0 | Value of
7 „ 3 „ 10_s._ „ | 136 10 0 | board and
--- -- +-------------+ lodging
147 45 |4013 2 0 | for nine
| | months
| | estimated
| | at 7_s._
_With board and lodging._ | | a week.
Journeymen per | | £ _s._ _d._
3 employed by 1 master, at 8_s._ 0_d._ week| 46 16 0 | 40 19 0
17 „ 5 „ 6_s._ 0_d._ „ | 198 18 0 | 232 1 0
1 „ 1 „ 5_s._ 0_d._ „ | 9 15 0 | 13 13 0
41 „ 14 „ 4_s._ 0_d._ „ | 319 16 0 | 559 13 0
3 „ 1 „ 3_s._ 6_d._ „ | 20 9 6 | 40 19 0
80 „ 39 „ 3_s._ 0_d._ „ | 468 0 0 |1092 0 0
53 „ 26 „ 2_s._ 6_d._ „ | 258 7 6 | 723 9 0
44 „ 31 „ 2_s._ 0_d._ „ | 171 12 0 | 600 9 8
8 „ 4 „ 1_s._ 6_d._ „ | 234 0 0 | 09 4 0
2 „ 1 „ 1_s._ 0_d._ „ | 3 18 0 | 27 6 0
--- --- +-------------+-----------
252 123 |1731 12 0 |3439 13 8
| |
FOREMEN. | |
_Without board and lodging._ | |
Foremen per | |
2 employed by 1 master, at 20_s._ week | 78 0 0 |
6 „ 4 „ 18_s._ „ | 210 12 0 |
1 „ 1 „ 16_s._ „ | 31 4 0 |
2 „ 2 „ 14_s._ „ | 54 12 0 |
-- -- +-------------+
11 8 | 374 8 0 |
| |
_With board and lodging._ | |
1 „ 1 „ 2_s._ 6_d._ „ | 4 17 6 | 13 13 0
| |
BOYS. | |
_Without board and lodging._ | |Board and
Boys per | | lodging
2 employed by 1 master, at 10_s._ week | 39 0 0 |estimated
| | at 6_s._
_With board and lodging._ | | a week.
1 „ 1 „ 3_s._ 0_d._ „ | 5 17 0 | 11 14 0
1 „ 1 „ 2_s._ 6_d._ „ | 4 17 6 | 11 14 0
9 „ 8 „ 2_s._ 0_d._ „ | 35 2 0 | 105 6 0
14 „ 14 „ 1_s._ 6_d._ „ | 40 19 0 | 163 16 0
30 „ 28 „ 1_s._ 0_d._ „ | 58 10 0 | 351 0 0
1 „ 1 „ 0_s._ 9_d._ „ | 1 9 3 | 11 14 0
4 „ 2 „ 0_s._ 0_d._ „ | | 46 16 0
-- -- +-------------+-----------
62 54 | 146 14 9 | 702 0 0
+-------------+-----------
Total earnings 6309 14 3
Total for board, lodging, &c. 4155 6 8
------------
Grand Total 10,465 0 11
Thus we find that the _constant_ or _average casual_ wages of the
several classes of operative chimney-sweepers may be taken as follows:--
Journeymen without board and lodging, _s._ _d._
and with perquisites averaging 2_s._
a week 12 6
Journeymen with board and lodging
and 2_s._ a week perquisites 9 10-1/2
Foreman, without board and lodging,
at 2_s._ 6_d._ a week perquisites 15 7
Boys, with board and lodging 5 3
The _general_ wages of the trade, including foreman, journeymen, and
boys, and calculating the perquisites to average 2_s._ weekly, will be
10_s._ 6_d._ a week, the same as the cotton factory operatives.
But if 10,500_l._ be the income of the operatives, what do the
employers receive who have to pay this sum?
The charge for sweeping one of the lofty chimneys in the public and
official edifices, and in the great houses in the aristocratic streets
and squares, is 2_s._ 6_d._ and 3_s._ 6_d._
The chimneys of moderate-sized houses are swept at 1_s._ to 1_s._ 6_d._
each, and those of the poorer classes are charged generally 6_d._;
some, however, are swept at 3_d._ and 4_d._; and when soot realized
a higher price (some of the present master sweepers _have_ sold it
at 1_s._ a bushel), the chimneys of poor persons were swept by the
poorer class of sweeps merely for the perquisite of the soot. This is
sometimes done even now, but to a very small extent, by a sweeper, “on
his own hook,” and in want of a job, but generally with an injunction
to the person whose chimney has been cleansed on such easy terms, not
to mention it, as it “couldn’t be made a practice on.”
Estimating the number of houses belonging to the wealthy classes of
society to be 54,000, and these to be swept eight times a year, and
the charge for sweeping to be 2_s._ 6_d._ each time; and the number of
houses belonging to the middle classes to be 90,000, and each to be
swept four times a year, at 1_s._ 6_d._ each time; and the dwellings of
the poor and labouring classes to be swept once a year at 6_d._ each
time, and the number of such dwellings to be 165,000, we find that the
total sum paid to the master chimney-sweepers of London is, in round
numbers, 85,000_l._
The sum obtained for 800,000 bushels of soot collected by the
master-sweepers from the houses of London, at 5_d._ per bushel, is
16,500_l._
Thus the total annual income of the master-sweepers of London is
100,000_l._
Out of this 100,000_l._ per annum, the expenses of the masters would
appear to be as follows:--
_Yearly Expenditure of the Master-Sweepers._
Sum paid in wages to 473 journeymen £10,500
Rent, &c., of 350 houses or lodgings,
at 12_l._ yearly each 4,200
Wear and tear of 1000 machines,
1_l._ each yearly 1,000
Ditto 2000 sacks, at 1_s._ each yearly 100
Keep of 25 horses, 7_s._ weekly each 455
Wear and tear of 25 carts and harness,
1_l._ each 25
Interest on capital at 10 per cent. 450
------
Total yearly expenditure of
master-sweepers employing journeymen £16,736
The rent here given may seem low at 12_l._ a year, but many of
the chimney-sweepers live in parlours, with cellars below, in old
out-of-the-way places, at a low rental, in Stepney, Shadwell, Wapping,
Bethnal-green, Hoxton, Lock’s-fields, Walworth, Newington, Islington,
Somers-town, Paddington, &c. The better sort of master-sweepers at the
West-end often live in a mews.