Are of two kinds, public and private. The private carmen approximate so
closely to the character of servants, that I purpose dealing at present
more particularly with the public conveyers of goods from one part of
the metropolis to another. The metropolitan public master-carmen are
207 in number, of whom fifteen are licensed to ply on the stands in the
city. The carmen here enumerated must be considered more in the light
of the owners of vans and other vehicles for the removing of goods than
working men. It is true that some drive their own vehicles; but many
are large proprietors, and belong to the class of employers rather than
operatives.
I shall begin my account of the London carmen with those appertaining
to the unlicensed class, or those not resident in the city. The modern
spring van is, as it were, the landau, or travelling carriage of
the working classes. These carriages came into general use between
twenty and thirty years ago, but were then chiefly employed by the
great carriers for the more rapid delivery of the lighter bales of
goods, especially of drapery and glass goods and of parcels. They
came into more general use for the removal of furniture in 1830, or
thereabouts; and a year or two after were fitted up for the conveyance
of pleasure-parties. The van is usually painted yellow, but some are
a light brown or a dark blue picked out with red. They are fourteen
feet in length on the average, and four and a half feet in breadth, and
usually made so as, by the adjustment of the shafts, to be suitable for
the employment of one, two, three, or four horses,--the third horse,
when three are used, being yoked in advance of the pair in the shafts.
The seats are generally removable, and are ranged along the sides of
the vehicle, across the top, and at the two corners at the end, as the
extremity of the van from the horses is called, the entrance being at
the end, usually by means of iron steps, and through a kind of gate
which is secured by a strong latch. The driver sits on a box in front,
and on some vans seems perched fearfully high. A wooden framework
surmounts the body of the carriage, and over it is spread an awning,
sometimes of strong chintz patterned, sometimes of plain whity-brown
calico--the side portions being made to draw like curtains, so as to
admit the air and exclude the sun and rain at pleasure. If there be a
man in attendance besides the driver, he usually sits at the end of
the vehicle close to the gate, or rides on the step or on a projection
fixed behind. A new van costs from 50_l._ to 80_l._ The average price
of a good van-horse is from 16_l._ to 18_l._ The harness, new and good,
costs from 5_l._ to 5_l._ 10_s._ for two horses. The furniture-van of
the latter end of the week is the pleasure-van of the Sunday, Monday,
and Tuesday--those being the days devoted to excursions, unless in the
case of a club or society making their “annual excursion,” and then any
day of the week is selected except Sunday; but Sunday on the whole is
the principal day. The removal of the seats and of the apparatus for
the awning converts the pleasure into the furniture-van. The uses to
which the same vehicle is put are thus many a time sadly in contrast.
On the Saturday the van may have been used to convey to the brokers or
the auctioneers the furniture seized in some wretched man’s dwelling,
leaving behind bare walls and a wailing family; and on the Sunday it
rings with the merriment of pleasure-seekers, who loudly proclaim that
they have left their cares behind them.
The owners usually, perhaps, I might say always, unite some other
calling along with the business of van-proprietorship; they are
for the most part greengrocers, hay and corn-dealers, brokers,
beershop-keepers, chandlers, rag-and-bottle shopkeepers, or dairymen.
Five-sixths of them, however, are greengrocers, or connected with that
trade. It is not unusual for these persons to announce that, besides
their immediate calling of a greengrocer, they keep a furniture-van,
go pleasure-excursions, beat carpets (if in the suburbs), and attend
evening parties. Many of them have been gentlemen’s servants. They are
nearly all married men or widowers with families, and are as a body not
unprosperous. Their tastes are inexpensive, though some drink pretty
freely; and their early rising necessitates early going to bed, so
there is little evening expenditure. I am told their chief enjoyments
are a visit to Astley’s, and to the neighbouring horse-races. Their
enjoyment of the turf, however, is generally made conducive to their
profits, as they convey vans full to Hampton, Egham, and Epsom races.
A few van-men, however, go rather further in turf-business, and bet a
little; but these, I am assured, are the exceptions. The excursions
are more frequently to Hampton Court than to any other place. The
other favourite resorts are High Beach, Epping Forest, and Rye House,
Hertfordshire. Windsor is but occasionally visited; and the shorter
distances, such as Richmond, are hardly ever visited in pleasure-vans.
Indeed the superior cheapness of the railway or the steamboat has
confined the pleasure-excursions I am speaking of to the longer
distances, and to places not so easily accessible by other means.
The van will hold from twenty to thirty grown persons. “Twenty, you
see, sir,” I was told, “is a very comfortable number, not reckoning a
few little ’uns over; but thirty, oh, thirty’s quite the other way.”
The usual charge per head for “a comfortable conveyance to Hampton
Court and back,” including all charges connected with the conveyance,
is 2_s._ (children going for nothing, unless they are too big for
knees, and then sometimes half price). Instead of 2_s._ perhaps the
weekly-payment speculator receives 2_s._ 6_d._ or 2_s._ 3_d._; and if
he can engage a low-priced van he may clear 9_d._ or 1_s._ per head, or
about 1_l._ in all. On this subject and on that of under-selling, as it
was described to me, I give the statement of a very intelligent man,
a prosperous van-proprietor, who had the excellent characteristic of
being proud of the kindly treatment, good feeding, and continued care
of his horses, which are among the best employed in vans.
The behaviour of these excursionists is, from the concurrent testimony
of the many van-proprietors and drivers whom I saw, most exemplary,
and perhaps I shall best show this by at once giving the following
statement from a very trustworthy man:--
“I have been in the van-trade for twenty years, and have gone
excursions for sixteen years. Hampton Court has the call for excursions
in vans, because of free-trade in the palace: there’s nothing to pay
for admission. A party makes up an excursion, and one of them bargains
with me, say for 2_l._ It shouldn’t be a farthing less with such cattle
as mine, and everything in agreement with it. Since I’ve known the
trade, vans have increased greatly. I should say there’s five now where
there was one sixteen years ago, and more. There’s a recommendable
and a respectable behaviour amongst those that goes excursions. But
now on an excursion there’s hardly any drunkenness, or if there is,
it’s through the accident of a bad stomach, or something that way.
The excursionists generally carry a fiddler with them, sometimes a
trumpeter, or else some of them is master of an instrument as goes
down. They generally sings, too, such songs as, ‘There’s a Good Time
coming,’ and, ‘The Brave Old Oak.’ Sometimes a nigger-thing, but not so
often. They carry always, I think, their own eatables and drinkables;
and they take them on the grass very often. Last Whit-Monday I counted
fifty vans at Hampton, and didn’t see anybody drunk there. I reckoned
them earlyish, and perhaps ten came after, at least; and every van
would have twenty and more.” Sixty vans would, at this moderate
computation, convey 1200 persons. “They walk through the Palace at
Hampton, and sometimes dance on the grass after that, but not for long.
It soon tires, dancing on the grass. A school often goes, or a club, or
a society, or any party. I generally do Hampton Court in three hours
with two horses. I reckon it’s fourteen miles, or near that, from my
place. If I go to High Beach there’s the swings for the young ones,
and the other merry-makings. At Rye House it’s country enjoyment--mere
looking about the real country. The Derby day’s a great van-day. I’m
sure I couldn’t guess to one hundred--not, perhaps, to twice that--how
many pleasure-vans go to the Derby. It’s extra charge--3_l._ 10_s._
for the van to Epsom and back. It’s a long distance; but the Derby
has a wonderful draw. I’ve taken all sorts of excursions, but it’s
working-people that’s our great support. They often smoke as they come
back, though it’s against my rules. They often takes a barrel of beer
with them.”
It is not easy to ascertain the number of vans used for
pleasure-excursions, but the following is the best information to
be obtained on the subject. There is not more than one-sixth of the
greengrocers who have their own vans: some keep two vans and carts,
besides two or three trucks; others, three vans and carts and trucks.
These vans, carts, and trucks are principally used in the private
transactions of their business. Sometimes they are employed in the
removal of furniture. The number of vans employed in the metropolis is
as follows:--
Those kept by greengrocers, about 450
By others for excursions 1000
----
Total 1450
The season for the excursion trips commences on Whit-Monday, and
continues till the latter end of September.
Table showing the average number of pleasure-vans hired each week
throughout the season, and the decrease since railway excursions.
Before the Since the
Railway, Railway,
Excursion Excursion
trips. trips.
Hampton Court, Sunday 50 10
„ Monday 80 30
„ Tuesday 20 10
Rye House, weekly 35 12
High Beach „ 40 20
--- --
225 82
From this it appears that before the railway trips there were 225
pleasure-excursions by vans every week during five months of the year
(or 4500 such excursions in the course of the twelve months), and only
1640 since that time. This is exclusive of those to Epsom-races, at
which there were nearly 200 more.
When employed in the removal of furniture the average weight carried by
these vans is about two tons, and they usually obtain about two loads
on an average per week. The party engaged to take charge of the van is
generally a man employed by the owner, in the capacity of a servant.
The average weekly salary of these servants is about 18_s._ Some
van-proprietors will employ one man, and some as many as nine or ten.
These men look after the horses and stables of their employers. A van
proprietor takes out a post-horse license, which is 7_s._ 6_d._ a-year;
and for excursions he is also obliged to take out a stage-carriage
license for each van that goes out with pleasure-parties. Such license
costs 3_l._ 3_s._ per year; and besides this they have to pay to the
excise 1-1/2_d._ per mile for each excursion they take. The van-horses
number about three to each van, so that for the whole 1450 vans as many
as 4350 horses are kept.
Calculating the pleasure-excursions by van in the course of the year at
from 1500 to 2000--and that twenty persons is the complement carried
on each occasion--we have a pleasure-excursion party of between 30,000
and 40,000 persons annually: and supposing that each excursionist
spends 3_s._ 6_d._, the sum spent every year by the working-classes in
pleasure-excursions by spring-vans alone will amount to very nearly
7000_l._
The above account relates only to the conveyance of persons by means
of the London vans. Concerning the removal of goods by the same means,
I obtained the following information from the most trustworthy and
experienced members of the trade.
“The charge for the use of spring-vans for the conveyance of furniture
and other damageable commodities is 1_s._ 6_d._ an hour, when one man
is employed assisting in packing, unpacking, conveying the furniture
into its place of destination, and sometimes helping to fix it. If two
men are employed in this labour, 2_s._ an hour is the charge. If the
furniture is conveyed a considerable distance the carman’s employer may
at his option pay 6_d._ a mile instead of 1_s._ 6_d._ an hour, but the
engagement by the hour ensues in nine cases out of ten.”
The conveyance of people on pleasure excursions and the removal of
furniture constitute the principal business of the west-end and suburb
carmen. The city carmen, however, constitute a distinct class. They
are the licensed carmen, and none others are allowed by the city
authorities to take up in the precincts of the city of London, though
any one can put down therein; that is to say, the unlicensed carman may
convey a houseful of furniture from the Strand to Fleet-street, but he
may not legally carry an empty box from Fleet-street to the Strand. The
city carmen, as I have said, must be licensed, and the law sanctions
the following rates of payment for carriage:
“By order of Quarter Sessions, held at Guildhall, Midsummer, 49th
George III., all goods, wares, and merchandise whatsoever, weighing 14
cwt. or under, shall be deemed half a load; and from 14 cwt. to 26 cwt.
shall be deemed a load; from any part of the city of London the rates
for carrying thereof shall be as follow. For any place within and to
the extension of half a mile, for half a load and under, 2_s._ 7_d._;
above half a load and not exceeding a load, 4_s._ 2_d._; from half a
mile to a mile, for half a load or under, 3_s._ 4_d._; for above half a
load and not exceeding a load, 5_s._ 2_d._; a mile, to one mile and a
half, for half a load or under, 4_s._ 2_d._; for above half a load and
not exceeding a load, 5_s._ 11_d._; and so on, according to distance.”
The other distances and weights are in relative proportion. These
regulations, however, are altogether disregarded; as are those which
limit the cartage for hire within the city to the carmen licensed by
the city, who must be freemen of the Carmen’s Company, the only company
in London whose members are all of the trade incorporated. Instead of
the prices I have cited, the matter is now one of bargain. Average
charges are 1_s._ 6_d._ an hour for vans, and 1_s._ for carts, or
4_s._ and 4_s._ 6_d._ per ton from the West India Docks to any part of
the city; and in like proportion from the other docks and localities.
The infringers of the city carmen’s privileges are sometimes called
pirates; but within these three or four years no strenuous attempts
have been made to check them. One carman told me that he had complained
to the City Chamberlain, who told him to punish the offenders; but as
it was left to individual efforts nothing was done, and the privileges,
except as regards standings, are almost or altogether a dead letter.
Fourteen years ago it cost 100_l._ to become free of the Carmen’s
Company. Ten years ago it cost 32_l._ odd; and within these five years
the cost has been reduced to 11_l._ The carmen who resort to the stands
pay 5_s._ yearly for that privilege. The others are not required to do
so; but every year they have to register the names of their servants,
with a bond of security, who are employed on goods “under bond;” and it
is customary on these occasions to give the toll-keeper 5_s._, which
is equal to a renewal of the license. Until ten years ago there were
only 400 of these conveyances licensed in the city. The figures called
“carroons” ran from 1 to 400; and were sold by their possessors, on
a disposal of their property and privilege, as if freehold property,
being worth about 100_l._ a carroon. No compensation was accorded when
the restriction as to numbers was abolished. The principal standings
are in Coleman-street, Bread-street, Bishopsgate-street, Dowgate-hill,
Thames-street, and St. Mary Axe. The charges do not differ from those I
have given; but some of the employers of these carmen drive very hard
bargains. A car of the best build costs from 60_l._ to 70_l._ The best
horses cost 40_l._; the average price being 20_l._ at the least. The
wages of the carmen’s servants vary from 16_s._ to 21_s._ a-week, under
the best masters; and from 12_s._ to 14_s._ under the inferior. These
men are for the most part from the country.