are neither infirm nor suffering from any severe bodily affliction
or privation. I am well aware that the aged--the blind--the lame and
the halt often _pretend_ to sell small articles in the street--such
as boot-laces, tracts, cabbage-nets, lucifer-matches, kettle-holders,
and the like; and that such matters are carried by them partly to keep
clear of the law, and partly to evince a disposition to the public that
they are willing to do something for their livelihood. But these being
really objects of charity, they belong more properly to the second main
division of this book, in which the poor, or those that can’t work, and
their several means of living, will be treated of.
Such, though beggars, are not “lurkers”--a lurker being strictly one
who loiters about for some dishonest purpose. Many modes of thieving
as well as begging are termed “lurking”--the “dead lurk,” for instance,
is the expressive slang phrase for the art of entering dwelling-houses
during divine service. The term “lurk,” however, is mostly applied to
the several modes of plundering by representations of sham distress.
It is of these alone that I purpose here treating--or rather of that
portion of them which pretends to deal in manufactured articles.
In a few instances the street-sellers of small articles of utility are
also the manufacturers. Many, however, _say_ they are the producers of
the things they offer for sale, thinking thus to evade the necessity
of having a hawker’s licence. The majority of these petty dealers know
little of the manufacture of the goods they vend, being mere tradesmen.
Some few profess to be the makers of their commodities, solely with the
view of enlisting sympathy, and thus either selling the trifles they
carry at an enormous profit, or else of obtaining alms.
An inmate of one of the low lodging-houses has supplied me with the
following statement:--“Within my recollection,” says my informant,
“the great branch of trade among these worthies, was the sale of
sewing cotton, either in skeins or on reels. In the former case, the
article cost the ‘lurkers’ about 8_d._ per pound; one pound would
produce thirty skeins, which, sold at one penny each, or two for three
halfpence, produced a heavy profit. The lurkers could mostly dispose of
three pounds per day; the article was, of course, damaged, rotten, and
worthless.
“The mode of sale consisted in the ‘lurkers’ calling at the several
houses in a particular district, and representing themselves as
Manchester cotton spinners out of employ. Long tales, of course,
were told of the distresses of the operatives, and of the oppression
of their employers; these tales had for the most part been taught
them at the padding-ken, by some old and experienced dodger of ‘the
school;’ and if the spokesman could patter well, a much larger sum was
frequently obtained in direct alms than was reaped by the sale.”
Cotton on reels was--except to the purchaser--a still better
speculation; the reels were large, handsomely mounted, and displayed in
bold relief such inscriptions as the following:--
PIKE’S
PATENT COTTON.
120 YARDS.
The reader, however, must divide the “120 yards,” here mentioned, by
12, and then he will arrive at something like the true secret as to the
quantity; for the surface only was covered by the thread.
“The ‘cotton Lurk’ is now ‘cooper’d’ (worn out); a more common
dodge--and, of course, only an excuse for begging--is to envelope a
packet of ‘warranted’ needles, or a few inches of ‘real Honiton lace’
in an envelope, with a few lines to the ‘Lady of the House,’ or a
printed bill, setting forth the misery of the manufacturers, and the
intention of the parties leaving the ‘fakement’ to presume to call for
an answer in a few hours. I subjoin a copy of one of these documents.
‘_THE LACE-MAKERS’ APPEAL._
‘It is with extreme regret we thus presume to trespass on your time
and attention, we are Lace Makers by trade, and owing to the extensive
improvements in Machinery, it has made hand labour completely useless.
‘So that it has thrown hundreds of honest and industrious men out of
employment, your petitioners are among the number. Fifteen men with
their families have left their homes with the intention of emigrating
to South Australia, and the only means we have of supporting
ourselves till we can get away, is by the sale of some Frame Thread
and Traced Lace Collars of our own manufacture, at the following low
prices--Fashionable Frame Lace Collars 3d. each, warranted to wash
and wear well; Frame Thread Collars 6d. each, Traced Lace Collars
1s. each, the best that can be made, and we trust we shall meet with
that encouragement from the Friends of Industry which our necessities
require.
‘The enclosed two 6d.
‘The party calling for this, will have an assortment of the Newest
Patterns of Frame Thread Lace and Edgings for your inspection, and
the smallest purchase will be thankfully received and gratefully
remembered by G. DAVIS, Lace Makers.
‘We beg to state that a number of the families being destitute of
clothing, the bearer is authorised to receive any articles of such in
exchange for Lace, Edgings or Collars.
‘ALLEN, Printer, Long-row, Nottingham.’
“These are left by one of ‘the school’ at the houses of the gentry, a
mark being placed on the door post of such as are ‘bone’ or ‘gammy,’ in
order to inform the rest of ‘the school’ where to call, and what houses
to avoid. As the needles cost but a few pence per thousand, and the
lace less than one halfpenny per yard--a few purchasers of the former
at 1_s._ per packet (25 needles), or of the latter at 2_s._ 6_d._ per
yard, is what these ‘lurkers’ term a ‘fair day’s work for a fair day’s
wages.’
“Another and very extensive branch of the pseudo-‘manufacturing’
fraternity is to be found among the sham street-sellers of cutlery.
“At some of the least respectable of the swag-shops may be bought all
the paraphernalia requisite in order to set up as the real manufacturer
of Sheffield and ‘Brummagem’ goods--including, beside the cutlery,
chamois-leather aprons, paper caps (ready crushed, to give them the
appearance of age and usage), and last, but not least, a compound of
black lead and tallow, to ‘take the granny’ off them as has white
’ands, so as the flat’s shan’t ‘tumble’ to the ‘unworkmanlike’
appearance of the palms of the ‘lurker.’
“Thus ‘got up’ for the part,” continues my informant, “and provided
with a case of razors, which perhaps has cost him two groats, and
(if he can raise as much) a noggin o’ rum to ‘give him cheek’ and
make him ‘speak up’ to his victims--‘Jack Beaver,’ the ‘king of the
street-cutlers,’ will sally forth, and meet, intercept, and follow
any gentleman who seems a ‘likely spec,’ till worried perhaps by
importunity, the ‘swell’ buys what he does not want, and, I need
scarcely add, what he cannot use. Next, in importance, to ‘Jack
Beaver,’ is the notorious ‘Pat Connor.’ Pat ‘does nothing on the blob,’
that is to say (he does not follow people and speak to them on the
streets). His ‘dodge’--and it has been for years a successful one--is
to go round to the public offices, dressed as before described, with
the exception of being in his shirt sleeves (he has every day a _clean_
shirt), and teaze the clerks till they purchase a pen-knife. He has
been known to sell from fifteen to twenty knives in one day, at two
shillings each, the first cost being about threepence-halfpenny. Of
course he is often interrupted by porters and other officials, but he
always carries in one hand a roll of wire, and a small hammer in the
other, and having got the name of some gentleman up stairs, he pretends
that he is going to mend Mr. So-and-so’s bell. This worthy, a short
time ago, made free--in the Custom House--with a timepiece, belonging
to one of the clerks, for which the ‘Sheffield manufacturer’ got twelve
months in Newgate. I have not seen him since,” adds my informant, “and
therefore imagine that he is now taking a provincial tour.”
OF THE “HOUSE OF LORDS,” A STREET-SELLER’S DEFUNCT CLUB.
I have given an account of a defunct club, of which the “paper workers”
were the chief members; and I have now to do the same of a society
not very dissimilar in its objects, of which the street-sellers of
manufactured articles constituted the great majority. It was called
the “house of lords,” and was established about eight years ago, at
the Roebuck-tavern, Holborn, and existed three years. Its object was
to relieve its members in sickness. The subscription was 2_d._ a week,
and the relief to a sick member was as many pennies a week as the club
contained members, with, in any pressing case, an additional halfpenny,
which the members paid into the fund, over and above their weekly
subscription. For the greater part of its existence the club contained
ninety members (a few of them honorary), and there were very few cases
of “declaring on the fund” by sick members. At one period for many
weeks there were no such declarations, and the “house of lords” had
30_l._ in hand. One of the leading members, a very intelligent man, who
had “a good connection in hardware,” had taken great pains to prepare a
code of rules, which, having been approved by the other members, it was
considered time that the “house of lords” should be enrolled. Delays,
however, intervened. “To tell you the truth, sir,” one of them said,
“we were afraid to employ an attorney, and thought of waiting upon Mr.
Tidd Pratt ourselves, but it wasn’t to be.”
The club was, moreover, looked upon as somewhat select. “No costers
were admitted, sir,” I was told by a hardware seller in the streets;
“not but what there’s many very industrious and honest men among them,
but they’re in a different line, and are a different sort of people
to us.” The members met once a week, and, though they were merry and
talkative enough, drunkenness was strongly discouraged. It was common
for the subscribers who were regarded as the “geniuses” of the trade,
to take counsel together, and “invent any new move.” They were reputed
to be knowing among the most knowing, in all street arts and dodges,
and the way in which the club came to an end, considering the strong
claims to knowingness of its members, was curious enough.
One Saturday evening a member who was considered a respectable man,
and was sufficiently regular in his payments, appeared at the weekly
meeting, introducing his landlord, who, as a non-member, had to pay
1_d._ for admission. The man told how his family had suffered from
illness, and how he had been ill, and got into arrears of rent, for
he did not like to distress the fund; and how his landlord was then
in possession of his “sticks,” which must be sold in the morning if
he could not pay 15_s._; and, moreover, how his landlord--a very
kind-hearted, indulgent man--was forced to do this, for he himself was
in difficulties. The members voted that the 15_s._ should be advanced;
but before the next meeting night it was discovered that the statement
of the poor member in arrears was an imposition. The landlord was
merely a confederate; the worthy couple had been drinking together,
and, to prolong their tippling, had hit upon the roguish scheme I have
mentioned.
This, among other things, lowered the confidence of the members. The
numbers fell off until it was thought best to “wind up the concern.”
The small funds in hand were fairly apportioned among the remaining
members, and the club ceased to exist.
Another Street-sellers’ Club has recently been formed by the men
themselves, of which the following is the prospectus, and it is to be
hoped that this attempt on the part of the street-folk to better their
condition will meet with a better fate than its predecessor:--
Our motto is “To live honestly by daily perseverance and industry.”
_Street Mechanics, Labourers, Hawkers, &c._
PROTECTION ASSOCIATION,
HELD AT THE LAMB TAVERN,
NEW TURNSTILE, HOLBORN,
Proprietor, Mr. White.
The above-named classes are kindly invited to attend a Meeting
convened for
SUNDAY EVENING NEXT,
And every succeeding Sunday Evening, at the above house, to carry
out the object unanimously agreed to by the Enrolled Members and the
General Committee. Furthermore, to take into consideration the most
appropriate means whereby we may be enabled to assist each other in
the time of adversity.
COMMITTEE:
Mr. Taylor, Chairman, Mr. Thoresby,
-- Travers, -- Dowse,
-- Cowan, -- Manly,
-- Moody, -- Morris,
-- Moore, -- Lawson,
-- Hand, -- Lamb,
-- Martin.
Mr. J. White, Treasurer.
Mr. F. A. Thoresby, Secretary.
The chair will be taken at Seven o’clock, and the Committee are
requested to be in attendance one hour previous.
OF THE STREET-SELLERS OF CROCKERY AND GLASS-WARES.
We now come to a new class of the street-sellers of manufactured
articles--viz., the “crocks,” as they are termed. I have before alluded
to one characteristic of these traders--that they all strive to be
barterers in preference to salesmen. They also present other varying
qualities when compared with other classes of street-sellers. Of these
“crocks,” there are, from the best data I could obtain from men in
the trade, and from the swag-shop people who supply them, 250 men and
150 women; of these, 120 couples (man and woman) “work” together;
of the remainder, sometimes two men work in unison, and some women
work singly. On my inquiring of one of these street folk if ever
three worked together, I was told that such was never the case, as
the “crocks” would quote a saying: “Two’s good company, three’s none
at all.” Of the men and women carrying on this traffic conjointly
more than half are married; showing a difference of habits to the
costermongers. The reason assigned to me by one of the class (himself
once a costermonger) was that the interest of the man and woman in the
business was closer than in costermongering, while the serviceableness
of a woman helpmate in “swopping,” or bartering, was much greater. This
prompts the women, I am told, even if they are unmarried at the outset,
to insist upon wedlock; and the man--sometimes, perhaps, to secure a
valuable “help,” at others, it may be, from better motives--consents
to what in this rank of life, and under the circumstances of such
street-traders, is more frequently the woman’s offer than the man’s.
The trade, in its present form, has not been known more than twelve
years.
The goods, which are all bought at the crock swag-shops, of which
an account is given below, are carried in baskets on the head, the
men having pads on the cloth caps which they wear--or sometimes a
padding of hay or wool inside the cap--while the women’s pads are worn
outside their bonnets or caps, the bonnet being occasionally placed on
the basket. The goods, though carried in baskets on the head to the
locality of the traffic, are, whilst the traffic is going on, usually
borne from house to house, or street to street, on the arm, or when in
large baskets carried before them by the two hands. These baskets are
strongly made; the principal mart is close to Spitalfields-market.
The men engaged in this trade are usually strong, robust, and
red-faced. Most of them are above the middle stature; very few are
beyond middle age, and the majority of them are under or little more
than 30. The women, more than the men, have contracted a stoop or
bend to one side, not so much by carrying weights on the head, as by
carrying them on the arm. The weights they carry are from three to five
stone. The dress of the men is the same as the costermongers, with
the exception of shooting-cut jackets being more frequent among the
“crocks” than the costers, and red plush waistcoats are very popular
with them. When not at work, or on Sundays--for they never work on
the Sabbath, though they do not go to church or chapel--these men
are hardly ever seen to wear a hat. Both men and women wear strong
boots and, unless when “hard-up,” silk handkerchiefs. Their places of
residence are, as regards the majority, in Spitalfields, Bethnal-green,
and Shoreditch. Of the others the greater portion reside in the
neighbourhood of Kent-street, in the Borough. Their abode usually
consists of one room, which is in most cases more comfortable, and
better furnished than those of the costers. “We pick up a tidy ornament
now and then,” one crock said, “such as a picture, in the way of swop,
and our good women likes to keep them at home for a bit of show.” They
live well, in general, dining out almost every day; and I am told that,
as a body, they have fewer children than any other class of street-folk.
The trade is almost entirely itinerant. Crock-sellers are to be seen at
street-markets on Saturday nights, but they are not the regular crocks,
who, as I have said, do not care to _sell_. The crocks go on “rounds,”
the great trade being in the suburbs. Sometimes a round lasts a week,
the couple resting at a fresh place every night. Others have a round
for each day of the week.
The long rounds are to Greenwich, Woolwich, Northfleet, Gravesend,
Stroud, Rochester, Chatham, and then to Maidstone. Some will then make
Maidstone the head-quarters, and work the neighbouring villages--such
as East Farleigh, Town Malling, Yalding, Aylesford, and others. The
return to town may be direct by railway, or by some other route, if
any stock remains unsold. On these long rounds the higher priced
goods are generally carried, and stock is forwarded from London to
the “crock” whilst on the round, if the demand require it. Another
long round is Vauxhall, Wandsworth, Kingston-on-Thames, and Guildford,
with divergings to the villages. The return from Guildford is often by
Richmond, Kew, &c. A third long round is Hampstead, Kilburn, Barnet,
Watford, and so on to St. Alban’s. The other long rounds are less
frequented; but some go to Uxbridge; others to Windsor and Eton, and
as far as Reading; others to Cambridge, by Tottenham, Edmonton, Ware,
&c. When no trade is to be done close to London, the “crocks” often
have themselves and their wares conveyed to any town by rail. The
short, or town rounds, are the Dover-road, New Kent-road, Walworth,
Camberwell, and back by Newington; Kennington, Brixton, Clapham, and
back by Vauxhall; Bayswater, Notting-hill, and back by Paddington;
Camden Town, St. John’s Wood, and Hampstead; Stoke Newington, Dalston,
Clapton, Shacklewell, and Stamford-hill; Mile-end, Stratford, and Bow;
Limehouse, Poplar, and back by the Commercial-road. It would be easy
to cite other routes, but these show the character of the trade. Some
occupy two days. A few crocks “work” the poor neighbourhoods, such
as Hoxton, Kingsland-road, parts of Hackney, &c., and cry, “Here we
are--now, ladies, bring out your old hats, old clothes, old umbrellers,
old anythink; old shoes, metal, old anythink; _here_ we are!”
The trade, from the best information I could acquire, is almost equally
divided into what may be called “fancy” and “useful” articles. A
lodging-letter, for instance, will “swop” her old gowns and boots,
and drive keen bargains for plates, dishes, or wash-hand basins and
jugs. A housekeeper, who may be in easier circumstances, will exchange
for vases and glass wares. Servant-maids swop clothes and money for
a set of china, “’gainst they get married.” Perhaps there are no
more frequent collisions between buyer and seller than in the crock
swag-shops. A man who had once been an assistant in one of these
places, told me that some of the “crocks” were tiresome beyond measure,
and every now and then a minute or two was wasted by the “crock” and
the swag-shopman in swearing one at another. Some of these street
traffickers insist upon testing the soundness of _every_ article, by
striking the middle finger nail against it. This they do to satisfy
their customers also, in the course of trade, especially in poor
neighbourhoods.
From the best data at my command, one quarter of the goods sold at the
swag-shops are sold to the crock dealers I have described, and in about
equal proportions as to amount in fancy or useful articles. There are,
in addition to the crock barterers, perhaps 100 traders who work the
poor streets, chiefly carrying their goods in barrows, but they _sell_,
and though they will barter, do not clamour for it. They cry: “Free
trade for ever! Here’s cup and saucer for a halfpenny! Pick ’em out at
your own price! Tea-pot for three half-pence! Pick ’em out! Oho! oho!
Giving away here!” They rattle dishes and basins as they make this
noise. These men are all supplied at the swag-shops, buying what is
called “common lots,” and selling at 30 per cent. profit. Such traders
have only been known in the streets for five years, and for three or
four months of the year half of these “go to costering.” The barrows
are about seventy in number, and there are thirty stalls. Seven-eighths
of the “barrow-crocks” are men. The swag-barrowmen also sell small
articles of crockery wares, and altogether one half of the trade of the
crock swag-shops (which I have described) is a trade for the streets.
[Illustration: THE STREET-SELLER OF CROCKERY-WARE
BARTERING FOR OLD CLOTHES.
[_From a Daguerreotype by_ BEARD.]]
Of the way in which the “crock barterers” dispose of their wares, &c.,
I have given an account below. They are rapidly supplanting the “old
clo’” trade of the Jews.