Part 70
“Your memorialists,” they state, “have observed that those public thoroughfares within the city of London which are now cleansed by street-orderlies, _are so remarkably clean_ as to be _almost free from mud in wet, and dust in dry weather_--that _such extreme cleanliness is of great comfort to the public_, and tends to improve the sanitary condition of the ward.”
But it is not only in the metropolis that the street-orderlies seem likely to become the established scavagers. The streets of Windsor, I am informed, are now in the course of being cleansed upon the orderly plan. In Amsterdam, there are at present 16 orderlies regularly employed upon scavaging a portion of the city, and in Paris and Belgium, I am assured, arrangements are being made for the introduction of the system into both those cities. Were the street-orderly mode of scavaging to become general throughout this country, it is estimated that employment would be given to 100,000 labourers, so that, with the families of these men, not less than half a million of people would be supported in a state of independence by it. The total number of adult able-bodied paupers relieved--in-door and out-door--throughout England and Wales, on January 1, 1850, was 154,525.
The following table shows the route of the street-orderly operations in the metropolis. A further column, in the Report from which the table has been extracted, contained the names of thirteen clergymen who have “weekly read prayers and delivered discourses to the street-orderlies at their respective stations, and recorded flattering testimonials of their conduct and demeanour.”
EMPLOYMENT OF STREET-ORDERLIES.
---------------------------------------------------+------------+-----------+----------------- | No. of | Wives and | LOCALITIES CLEANSED. | Street- | Children | Money | Orderlies. | dependent.| expended. ---------------------------------------------------+------------+-----------+----------------- | | | £ _s._ _d._ 1843-4. Oxford and Regent Streets | 50 | 256 | 560 0 0 1845. Strand | 8 | -- | 38 0 0 1845-6. Cheapside, Cornhill, &c., City of London | 100 | 363 | 1540 2 0 1846-7. St. Margaret’s and St. John’s, Westminster | 15 | 65 | 306 0 0 1847. Piccadilly, St. James’s, &c. | 8 | 32 | 115 0 0 1848. Strand | 8 | 31 | 35 0 0 1848. St. Martin’s Lane, &c. | 38 | 138 | 153 0 0 1848. Piccadilly, St. James’s, &c. | 48 | 108 | 341 3 0 1848-9. St. Paul’s, Covent Garden | 13 | 38 | 38 10 0 1849. Regent Street, Whitehall, &c. | 18 | 68 | 98 0 0 1849. St. Giles’s and St. George’s, Bloomsbury | 14 | 71 | 58 1 0 1849. St. Pancras, New Road, &c. | 16 | 46 | 177 6 0 1849. St. Andrew’s and St. George’s, Holborn | 23 | 83 | 63 4 9 1849. Lambeth Parish | 16 | 41 | 84 16 0 1851. St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields | 68 | 179 | 119 3 4 1851. City of London, Central Districts (per | | | week, during 6 weeks last past) | 103 | 378 | 55 0 0 ---------------------------------------------------+------------+-----------+----------------- Total | 546 | 1897 | 3782 6 1 ---------------------------------------------------+------------+-----------+-----------------
The period of nine years comprised in the above statement (1843 and 1851 being both included) gives a yearly average, as to the number of the poor employed, exceeding 60, with a similar average of 210 wives and children, and a yearly average outlay of 420_l._ The number of orderlies now employed by the Association is from 80 to 90.
* * * * *
Such, then, is a brief account of the rise and progress of this new mode of street-sweeping, and we now come to a description of the work itself.
“The orderlies,” says the Report of the Association, “keep the streets free from mud in winter, and dust in summer; and that with the least possible personal drudgery:--adhering to the principle of operation laid down, viz., that of ‘_Cleansing and keeping Clean_,’ they have merely, after each morning’s sweeping and removal of dirt, to keep a vigilant look-out over the surface of street allotted to them; and to remove with the hand-brush and dust-pan, from any particular spot, whatever dirt or rubbish may fall upon it, _at the moment of its deposit_. Thus are the streets under their care kept constantly clean.
“But sweeping and removing dirt,” continues the Report, “is not the only occupation of the street-orderly, whilst keeping up a careful inspection of the ground allotted to him. He is also the watchman of house-property and shop-goods; the guardian of reticules, pocket-books, purses, and watch-pockets;--the experienced observer and detector of pickpockets; the ever ready, though unpaid, auxiliary to the police constable. Nay, more;--he is always at hand, to render assistance to both equestrian and pedestrian: if a horse slip, stumble, or fall,--if a carriage break down, or vehicles come into collision,--the street-orderly darts forward to raise and rectify them: if foot-passengers be run over, or knocked down, or incautiously loiter on a crossing, the street-orderly rescues them from peril or death; or warns them of the approaching danger of carriages driving in opposite directions: if other accidents befall pedestrians,--if they fall on the pavement, from sudden illness, faintness, or apoplexy, the street-orderly is at hand to render assistance, or convey them to the nearest surgery or hospital. If strangers are at fault as to the localities of London, or the place of their destination, the orderly, in a civil and respectful manner, directs them on their way. If habitual or professional mendicants are importunate or troublesome, the street-orderly warns them off; or hands them to the care of the policeman. And if a _really_ poor or starving fellow-creature wanders in search of food or alms, he leads him to a workhouse or soup-kitchen[28].
“_Should the system become general (of which there is now every good prospect), it will be the means of rescuing no less than_ TEN THOUSAND PERSONS _and their families from destitution and distress_ (in London alone);--from the forlorn and wretched condition which tempts to criminality and outrage, to that of comfort, independence, and happiness--produced by their own industry, aided by the kind consideration of those who are more the favourites of fortune than themselves.
“In conclusion it may be stated, that the street-orderly system will keep the streets and pavements of London and Westminster as clean as the court-yard and hall of any gentleman’s private dwelling: it will not only secure the general comfort and health of upwards of two millions of people, but save a vast annual amount to shopkeepers, housekeepers, and others, with regard to the spoiling of their goods by dust and dirt; in the wear and tear of clothes and furniture, by an eternal round of brushing, dusting, scouring, and scrubbing.”
The foregoing extract fully indicates the system pursued and results of street-orderlyism. I will now deal with what may be considered _the labour or trade part of the question_.
By the street-orderly plan a district is duly apportioned. To one man is assigned the care of a series of courts, a street, or 500, 1000, 1200, 1500, or 2000 yards of a public way, according to its traffic, after the whole surface has been swept “the first thing in the morning.” In Oxford-street, for instance, it has been estimated that 500 yards can be kept clear of the dirt continually being deposited by one man; in the squares, where there is no great traffic, 2000 yards; while in so busy a part as Cheapside, some nine men will be required to be hourly on the look-out. These street-orderlies are confined to their beats as strictly as are policeman, and as they soon become known to the inhabitants, it is a means of checking any disposition to loiter, or to shirk the work; to say nothing of the corps of inspectors and superintendents.
The _division of labour_ among the street-orderlies is as follows:--
1. The _foreman_, whose duty is to “look over the men” (one such over-looker being employed to about every 20 men), and who receives 15_s._ per week.
2. The _barrow-men_, or sweepers, consisting of men and boys; the former receiving 12_s._ and the latter generally 7_s._ per week.
The _tools and implements_ used, and their cost, are as follows:--wooden scoops, to throw up the slop, 1_s._ 2_d._ each (they used to be made of iron, weighing 8 lbs. each, but the men then complained that the weight “broke their arms”); shovel, 2_s._ 3_d._; hoe and scraper, 1_s._ 3_d._; hand-broom, 8_d._; scavager’s broom, 1_s._ 2_d._; barrow, 12_s._; covered barrow, 24_s._
In the amount of his receipts, the street-orderly appears to a disadvantage, as many of the “regular hands” of the contractors receive 16_s._ weekly, and he but 12_s._ The reason for this circumscribed payment I have already alluded to--the deficiency of funds to carry out the full purposes of the Association. Contrasted with the remuneration of the great majority of the pauper scavagers, the street-orderly is in a state of comparative comfort, for he receives nearly double as much as the Guardians of the Poor of Chelsea and the Liberty of the Rolls pay their labourers, and full 25 per cent. more than is paid by Bermondsey, Deptford, Marylebone, St. James’s, Westminster, St. George’s, Hanover-square, and St. Andrew’s, Holborn; and, I am assured, it is the intention of the Council to pay the full rate of wages given by the more respectable scavagers, viz., 16_s._ a week each man. _If traders can do this, philanthropists, who require no profit, at least should be equally liberal._ The labourer never can be benefited by depreciating the ordinary wages of his trade; and I must in justice confess, that there are scattered throughout the Report repeated regrets that the funds of the Association will not admit of a higher rate of wages being paid.
The street-orderly is not subjected to any fines or drawbacks, and is paid always in money, every Saturday evening at the office of the Association. In this respect, however, he does not differ from other bodies of scavagers.
The usual mode of obtaining employment among the street-orderlies is by personal application at the office of the Association in Leicester-square; but sometimes letters, well-penned and well-worded, are addressed to the president.
The daily number of applicants for employment is far from demonstrative of that unbroken prosperity of the country, of which we hear so much. On my inquiring into the number, I ascertained towards the end of August, that, for the previous fortnight, during fine summer weather, London being still full of the visitors to the Exhibition, on an average 30 men, of nearly all conditions of life, applied personally each day for work at street-sweeping, at 12_s._ a week. Certainly this labour is not connected with the feeling of pauper degradation, but it does not look well for the country that in twelve days 360 men should apply for such work. On the year’s average, I am assured, there are 30 applications daily, but only ten new applicants, as men call to solicit an engagement again and again. Thus in the year there are _nine thousand, three hundred, and ninety_ applications, and 3130 individual applicants. In the course of one month last winter, there were applications from 300 boys in Spitalfields alone, to be set to work; and I am told, that had they been successful, 3000 lads would have applied the next month.
When an application is made by any one recommended by subscribers, &c., to the Association, or where the case seems worthy of attention, the names and addresses are entered in a book, with a slight sketch of the circumstances of the person wishing to become a street-orderly, so that inquiries may be made. I give a few of the more recent of these entries and descriptions, which are really “histories in little”:--
“Thomas M’G----, aged 50, W-- L-- street, Chelsea Hospital, single man. Taught a French and English school in Lyons, France. Driven out of France at the Revolution of 1848. Penniless.
“Rich. M----, 13, C---- street, H---- garden, 42 years. Married. Can read and write. Has been a seaman in the royal service ten years. Chairmaker by trade. Has jobbed as a porter in Rochester, Kent.
“Phil. S----, 1, R-- L-- street, High Holborn. From Killarney, co. Kerry. Bred a gardener. Fifteen years in constabulary force, for which he has a character from Col. Macgregor, and received the compensation of 50_l._, which he bestowed on his father and mother to keep them at home. Nine months in England, viz., in Bristol, Bath, and London. Aged 35. Can read and write.
“Edw. C----, 79, M---- street, Hackney. Aged 27. Married. Army-pensioner, 6_d._ a day. Can read and write. Recommended by Rev. T. Gibson, rector of Hackney.
“Chas. J----, 11, D---- street, Chelsea. Aged 38. Gentleman’s servant.”
In my account of the “regular hands” employed by the contracting scavagers, I have stated that the street-orderlies were a more miscellaneous body, as they had not been reared in the same proportion to street work. They are also, I may add, a better-conducted and better-informed class than the general run of unskilled labourers, as they know, before applying for street-orderly work, that inquiries are made concerning them, and that men of reprobate character will not be employed.
Many of those employed as orderlies have since returned to their original employments; others have procured, and been recommended to, superior situations in life to that of street-orderlies, by the Council of the Association, but _no instance has occurred of any street-orderly having returned back to his parish workhouse or stoneyard_. This certainly looks well.
One street-orderly, I may add, is now a reputable school-master, and has been so for some time; another is a clerk under similar circumstances. Another is a good theoretical and practical musician, having officiated as organist in churches and at concerts; he is also a neat music copyist. Another tells of his correspondence with a bishop on theological topics. Another, with a long and well-cultured beard, has been a model for artists. One had 150_l._ left to him not long ago, which was soon spent; his wife spent it, he said, and then he quietly applied to be permitted to be again a street-orderly. Several have got engagements as seamen, their original calling--indeed, I am assured, that a few months of street-orderly labour is looked upon as an excellent ordeal of character, after which the Association affirms good behaviour on the part of the employed.
The subscribers to the funds not unfrequently recommend destitute persons to the good offices of the Association, apart from their employment as street-orderlies. Thus, it is only a few weeks ago, that twelve Spanish refugees, none of them speaking English, were recommended to the Association; one of them it was ultimately enabled to establish as a waiter in an hotel resorted to by foreigners, another as an interpreter, another as a gentleman’s servant, and another (with a little boy, his son) in shoe-blacking in Leicester-square.
Thus among street-orderlies are to be found a great diversity of career in life, and what may be called adventures.
One great advantage, however, which the orderly possesses over his better paid brethren is in the greater probability of his “rising out of the street.” This is very rarely the case with an ordinary scavager.
I now give the following account from one of the street-orderlies, a tall, soldierly-looking man:--
“I’m 42 now,” he said, “and when I was a boy and a young man I was employed in the _Times_ machine office, but got into a bit of a row--a bit of a street quarrel and frolic, and was called on to pay 3_l._, something about a street-lamp: that was out of the question; and as I was taking a walk in the park, not just knowing what I’d best do, I met a recruiting sergeant, and enlisted on a sudden--all on a sudden--in the 16th Lancers. When I came to the standard, though, I was found a little bit too short. Well, I was rather frolicsome in those days, I confess, and perhaps _had rather a turn for a roving life_, so when the sergeant said he’d take me to the East India Company’s recruiting sergeant, I consented, and was accepted at once. I was taken to Calcutta, and served under General Nott all through the Affghan war. I was in the East India Company’s artillery, 4th company and 2nd battalion. Why, yes, sir, I saw a little of what you may call ‘service.’ I was at the fighting at Candahar, Bowlinglen, Bowling-pass, Clatigillsy, Ghuznee, and Caboul. The first real warm work I was in was at Candahar. I’ve heard young soldiers say that they’ve gone into
## action the first time as merry as they would go to a play. Don’t
believe them, sir. Old soldiers will tell you quite different. You _must_ feel queer and serious the first time you’re in action: it’s not fear--it’s nervousness. The crack of the muskets at the first fire you hear in real hard earnest is uncommon startling; you see the flash of the fire from the enemy’s line, but very little else. Indeed, oft enough you see nothing but smoke, and hear nothing but balls whistling every side of you. And then you get excited, just as if you were at a hunt; but after a little service--I can speak for myself, at any rate--you go into action as you go to your dinner.
[Illustration: THE ABLE-BODIED PAUPER STREET-SWEEPER.
[_From a Daguerreotype by_ BEARD.]]
“I served during the time when there was the Affghanistan retreat; when the 44th was completely cut up, before any help could get up to them. We suffered a good deal from want of sufficient food; but it was nothing like so bad, at the very worst, as if you’re suffering in London. In India, in that war time, if you suffered, you were along with a number in just the same boat as yourself; and there’s always something to hope for when you’re an army. It’s different if you’re walking the streets of London by yourself--I felt it, sir, for a little bit after my return--and if you haven’t a penny, you feel as if there wasn’t a hope. If you have friends it may be different, but I had none. It’s no comfort if you know hundreds are suffering as you are, for you can’t help and cheer one another as soldiers can.
“Well, sir, as I’ve told you, I saw a good deal of service all through that war. Indeed I served thirteen years and four months, and was then discharged on account of ill health. If I’d served eight months longer that would have been fourteen years, and I should have been entitled to a pension. I believe my illness was caused by the hardships I went through in the campaigns, fighting and killing men that I never saw before, and until I was in India had never heard of, and that I had no ill-will to; certainly not, why should I? they never did me any wrong. But when it comes to war, if you can’t kill them they’ll kill you. When I got back to London I applied at the East India House for a pension, but was refused. I hadn’t served my time, though that wasn’t my fault.
“I then applied for work in the _Times_ machine office, and they were kind enough to put me on. But I wasn’t master of the work, for there was new machinery, wonderful machinery, and a many changes. So I couldn’t be kept on, and was some time out of work, and very badly off, as I’ve said before, and then I got work as a scavenger. O, I knew nothing about sweeping before that. I’d never swept anything except the snow in the north of India, which is quite a different sort of thing to London dirt. But I very soon got into the way of it. I found no difficulty about it, though some may pretend there is an art in it. I had 15_s._ a week, and when I was no longer wanted I got employment as a street-orderly. I never was married, and have only myself to provide for. I’m satisfied that the street-orderly is far the best plan for street-cleaning. Nothing else can touch it, in my opinion, and I thought so before I was one of them, and I believe most working scavengers think so now, though they mayn’t like to say so, for fear it might go again their interest.
“Oh, yes, I’m sometimes questioned by gentlemen that may be passing in the streets while I’m at work, all about our system. They generally say, ‘and a very good system, too.’ One said once, ‘It shows that scavengers can be decent men; they weren’t when I was first in London, above 40 years ago.’ Well, I sometimes get the price of a pint of beer given to me by gentlemen making inquiries, but very seldom.”
Until about eighteen months ago none but unmarried men were employed by the Association, and these all resided in one locality, and under one general superintendence or system. The boarding and lodging of the men has, however, been discontinued about fifteen months; for I am told it was found difficult to encourage industrial and self-reliant pursuits in connection with public eleemosynary aid. Married men are now employed, and all the street-orderlies reside at their own homes; the adults, married or single, receiving 12_s._ a week each; the boys, 6_s._; while to each man is gratuitously supplied a blouse of blue serge, costing 2_s._ 6_d._, and a glazed hat, costing the same amount.
The system formerly adopted was as follows:--
The men were formed into a distinct body, and established in houses taken for them in Ham-yard, Great Windmill-street, Haymarket.
“The wages of the men,” states the Report, “were fixed at 12_s._ each per week; that is, 9_s._ were charged for board and lodging, and 3_s._ were paid in money to each man on Saturday afternoon, out of which he was expected to pay for his clothing and washing. The men had provided for them clean wholesome beds and bedding, a common sitting-room, with every means of ablution and personal cleanliness, including a warm bath once a week. Their food was abundant and of the best quality, viz., coffee and bread and butter for breakfast, at eight o’clock; round of beef, bread, and vegetables, four times a week for dinner, at one o’clock; nutritious soup and bread, or bread and cheese, forming the afternoon repast of the other three days. At six in the evening, when they returned from their labours, they were refreshed with tea or coffee, and bread and butter; or for supper, at nine, each had a large basin of soup, with bread. Thus, three-fourths of their wages being laid out for them to advantage, the men were well lodged and fed; and they have always declared themselves satisfied, comfortable, and happy, under the arrangements that were made for them. Under the charge of their intelligent and active superintendent, the street-orderlies soon fell into a state of the most exact discipline and order; and when old orderlies were drafted off, either to enter the service of parish boards who adopted the system, or were recommended into service, or some other superior position in life, and when new recruits came to supply their places, the latter found no difficulty in conforming to the rules laid down for the performance of their duties, as well as for their general conduct. ‘Military time’ regulated their hours of labour, refreshment, and rest; due attention was required from all; and each man (though a scavenger) was expected to be cleanly in his person, and respectful in his demeanour; indeed, nothing could be more gratifying than the conduct of these men, both at home and abroad.”