Part 96
Of the competition of capitalists in this trade there are, I am told, no instances. “We have our own stations,” one master sweeper said, “and if I contract to sweep a genelman’s house, here in Pancras, for 25_s._ a year, or 10_s._, or anythink, my nearest neighbour, as has men and machines fit, is in Marrybun; and it wouldn’t pay to send his men a mile and a half, or on to two mile, and work at what I can--let alone less. No, sir, I’ve known bisness nigh 20 year, and there’s nothink in the way of that underworking. The poor creeturs as keeps theirselves with a machine, and nothing to give them a lift beyond it, _they’d_ undertake work at any figure, but nobody employs or can trust to them, but on chance.” The contracts, I am told, for a year’s chimney-sweeping in any mansion are on the same terms with one master as with another.
As regards the _Journeymen Chimney-Sweepers_ there are also three kinds:--
The “foreman” or “first journeyman” sweeper, who accompanies the men to their work, superintends their labours, and receives the money, when paid immediately after sweeping.
The “journeyman” sweeper, whose duty it is to work the machine, and (where no under-journeyman, or boy, is kept) to carry the machine and take home the soot.
The “under-journeyman” or “boy,” who has to carry the machine, take home the soot, and work the machine up the lower-class flues.
There are, besides these, some 20 climbing men, who ascend such flues as the machines cannot cleanse effectually, and, it must, I regret to say, be added, some 20 to 30 climbing boys, mostly under eleven years of age, who are still used for the same purpose “on the sly.” Many of the masters, indeed, lament the change to machine-sweeping, saying that their children, who are now useless, would, in “the good old times,” have been worth a pound a week to them. It is in the suburbs that these climbing children are mostly employed.
The _hours of labour_ are from the earliest morning till about midday, and sometimes later.
There are _no Houses of Call_, trade societies, or regulations among these operatives, but there are low public-houses to which they resort, and where they can always be heard of.
When a chimney-sweeper is out of work he merely inquires of others in the same line of business, who, if they know of any one that wants a journeyman, direct their brother sweeper to call and see the master; but though the chimney-sweepers have no trade societies, some of the better class belong to sick, and others to burial, funds. The lower class of sweepers, however, seem to have no resource in sickness, or in their utmost need, but the parish. There are sweepers, I am told, in every workhouse in London.
There are three _modes of payment common_ among the sweepers:--
1, in money; 2, partly in money and partly in kind; and 3, by perquisites.
The great majority of the masters pay the men they employ from 2_s._ to 3_s._, and a few 4_s._ and 6_s._ per week, together with their board and lodging. It may seem that 3_s._ per week is a small sum, but it was remarked to me that there are few working men who, after supporting themselves, are able to save that sum weekly, while the sweepers have many perquisites of one sort or other, which sometimes bring them in 1_s._, 2_s._, 3_s._, 4_s._, and occasionally 5_s._ or 6_s._, a week additional--a sufficient sum to pay for clothes and washing. The journeymen, when lodged in the house of the master, are single men, and if constantly employed might, perhaps, do well, but they are often unemployed, especially in the summer, when there are not so many fires kept burning. As soon as one of them gets married, or what among them is synonymous, “takes up with a woman,” which they commonly do when they are able to purchase some sort of a machine, they set up for themselves, and thus a great number of the men get to be masters on their own account, without being able to employ any extra hands. These are generally reckoned among the “knullers;” they do but little business at first, for the masters long established in a neighbourhood, who are known to the people, and have some standing, are almost always preferred to those who are strangers or mere beginners.
It was very common, but perhaps more common in country towns than in London, for the journeymen, as well as apprentices, in this and many other trades to live at the master’s table. But the board and lodging supplied, in lieu of money-wages, to the journeymen sweepers, seems to be one of the few existing instances of such a practice in London. Among slop-working tailors and shoemakers, some unfortunate workmen are boarded and lodged by their employers, but these employers are merely middlemen, who gain their living by serving such masters as “do not like to drive their negroes themselves.” But among the sweepers there are no middlemen.
It is not all the journeymen sweepers, however, who are remunerated after this manner, for many receive 12_s._, and some 14_s._, and not a few 18_s._ weekly, besides perquisites, but reside at their own homes.
_Apprenticeship_ is now not at all common among the sweepers, as no training to the business is needed. Lord Shaftesbury, however, in July last, gave notice of his intention to bring in a bill to prevent persons who had not been duly apprenticed to the business establishing themselves as sweepers.
_The Perquisites_ of the journeymen sweepers are for measuring, arranging, and putting the soot sold into the purchasers’ sacks, or carts; for this is considered extra work. The payment of this perquisite seems to be on no fixed scale, some having 1_s._ for 50, and some for 100 bushels. When a chimney is on fire and a journeyman sweeper is employed to extinguish it, he receives from 1_s._ 6_d._ to 5_s._ according to the extent of time consumed and the risk of being injured. “Chance sweeping,” or the sweeping of a chimney not belonging to a customer, when a journeyman has completed his regular round, ensures him 3_d._ in some employments, but in fewer than was once the case. The beer-money given by any customer to a journeyman is also his perquisite. Where a foreman is kept, the “brieze,” or cinders collected from the grate, belong to him, and the ashes belong to the journeyman; but where there is no foreman, the brieze and ashes belong to the journeyman solely. These they sell to the poor at the rate of 6_d._ a bushel. I am told by experienced men that, all these matters considered, it may be stated that one-half of the journeymen in London have perquisites of 1_s._ 6_d._, the other half of 2_s._ 6_d._ a week.
_The Nominal Wages_ to the journeymen, then, are from 12_s._ to 18_s._ weekly, without board and lodging, or from 2_s._ to 6_s._ in money, with board and lodging, represented as equal to 7_s._
_The Actual Wages_ are 2_s._ 6_d._ a week more in the form of perquisites, and perhaps 4_d._ daily in beer or gin.
The wages to the boys are mostly 1_s._ a week, but many masters pay 1_s._ 6_d._ to 2_s._, with board and lodging. These boys have no perquisites, except such bits of broken victuals as are given to them at houses where they go to sweep.
The wages of the foreman are generally 18_s._ per week, but some receive 14_s._ and some 20_s._ without board and lodging. In one case, where the foreman is kept by the master, only 2_s._ 6_d._ in money is given to him weekly. The perquisites of these men average from 4_s._ to 5_s._ a week.
_The work in the chimney-sweeping trade is more regular than might at first be supposed._ The sweepers whose circumstances enable them to employ journeymen send them on regular rounds, and do not engage “chance” hands. If business is brisk, the men and the master, when a working man himself, work later than ordinary, and sometimes another hand is put on and paid the customary amount, by the week, until the briskness ceases; but this is a rare occurrence. There are, however, strong lads, or journeymen out of work, who are _occasionally_ employed in “_jobbing_,” helping to carry the soot and such like.
The labour of the journeymen, as regards the payment by their masters, is _continuous_, but the men are often discharged for drunkenness, or for endeavouring to “form a connection of their own” among their employers’ customers, and new hands are then put on. “Chimneys won’t wait, you know, sir,” was said to me, “and if I quit a hand this week, there’s another in his place next. If I discharge a hand for three months in a slack time, I have two on when it’s a busy time.” Perhaps the average employment of the whole body of operatives may be taken at nine months’ work in the year. When out of employment the chief resource of these men is in night-work; some turn street-sellers and bricklayers’ labourers.
I am told that a considerable sum of money was left for the purpose of supplying every climbing-boy who called on the first of May at a certain place, with a shilling and some refreshment, but I have not been able to ascertain by whom it was left, or where it was distributed; none of the sweepers with whom I conversed knew anything about it. I also heard, that since the passing of the Act, the money has been invested in some securities or other, and is now accumulating, but to what purpose it is intended to be applied I have no means of learning.
Let us now endeavour to estimate the gross yearly income of the operative sweepers.
There are, then, 399 men employed as journeymen, and of them 147 receive a money wage weekly from their masters, and reside with their parents or at their own places. The remaining 252 are boarded and lodged. This board and lodging are generally computed, as under the old system, to represent 8_s._, being 1_s._ a day for board and 1_s._ a week for lodging. But, on the average, the board does not cost the masters 7_s._ a week, but, as I shall afterwards show, barely 6_s._
The men and boys may be said to be all fully employed for nine months in the year; some, of course, are at work all the year through, but others get only six months’ employment in the twelve months; so that taking nine months as the average, we have the following table of
WAGES PAID TO THE OPERATIVE SWEEPERS OF LONDON.
------------------------------------------------+-------------+------------ | 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.
The gains, then, of the master sweepers are as under:--
Annual income for cleansing chimneys and soot £100,000 Expenditure for wages, rent, wear, and tear, keep of horses, &c., say 20,000 ------- Annual profit of master chimney-sweepers of London £80,000
This amount of profit, divided among 350 masters, gives about 230_l._ per annum to each individual; it is only by a few, however, that such a sum is realized, as in the 100,000_l._ paid by the London public to the sweepers’ trade, is included the sum received by the men who work single-handed, “on their own hook,” as they say, employing no journeymen. Of these men’s earnings, the accounts I heard from themselves and the other master sweepers were all accordant, that they barely made journeymen’s wages. They have the very worst-paid portion of the trade, receiving neither for their sweeping nor their soot the prices obtained by the better masters; indeed they very frequently sell their soot to their more prosperous brethren. Their general statement is, that they make “eighteen pence a day, and all told.” Their receipts then, and they have no perquisites as have the journeymen, are, in a slack time, about 1_s._ a day (and some days they do not get a job); but in the winter they are busier, as it is then that sweepers are employed by the poor; and at that period the “master-men” may make from 15_s._ to 20_s._ a week each; so that, I am assured, the average of their weekly takings may be estimated at 12_s._ 6_d._
Now, deducting the expenditure from the receipts of 100,000_l._ (for sweeping and soot), the balance, as we have seen, is 80,000_l._, an amount of profit which, if equally divided among the three classes of the trade, will give the following sums:--
Yearly, each. Yearly, total.
Profits of 150 single-handed £ _s._ £ master-men 32 10 4,940 Do. 92 small masters 200 0 18,400 Do. 106 large masters 500 0 53,000 ------ £76,340
Nor is this estimate of the masters’ profits, I am assured, extravagant. One of the smaller sweepers, but a prosperous man in his way, told me that he knew a master sweeper who was “as rich as Crœser, had bought houses, and could not write his own name.”
We have now but to estimate the amount of capital invested in the chimney-sweepers’ trade, and then to proceed to the characteristics of the men.
1200 machines, 2_l._ 10_s._ each (present £ average value) 3000 3000 sacks, 2_s._ 6_d._ each 385 25 horses, 20_l._ each 500 25 sets of harness, 2_l._ each 50 25 carts, 12_l._ each 300 ----- £4235
It may be thought that the sweepers will require the services of more than 25 horses, but I am assured that such is not the case as regards the soot business, for the soot is carted away from the sweepers’ premises by the farmer or other purchaser.
It would appear, then, that the facts of the chimney-sweepers’ trade are briefly as under:--
The gross quantity of soot collected yearly throughout London is 800,000 bushels. The value of this, sold as manure, at 5_d._ per bushel, is 16,500_l._
There are 800 to 900 people employed in the trade, 200 of whom are masters employing journeymen, 150 single-handed master-men, and 470 journeymen and under journeymen.
The annual income of the entire number of journeymen is 10,500_l._ without perquisites, or 13,000_l._ with, which gives an average weekly wage to the operatives of 10_s._ 6_d._
The annual income of the masters and leeks is, for sweeping and soot, 100,000_l._
The annual expenditure of the masters for rent, keep of horses, wear and tear, and wages, is 20,000_l._
The gross annual profit of the 350 masters is 80,000_l._, which is at the rate of about 35_l._ per annum to each of the single-handed men, 200_l._ to each of the smaller masters employing journeymen, and 500_l._ to each of the larger masters.
The capital of the trade is about 5000_l._
_The price charged_ by the “high master sweepers” for cleaning the flues of a house rented at 150_l._ a year and upwards, is from 1_s._ to 3_s._ 6_d._ (the higher price being paid for sweeping those chimneys which have a hot plate affixed). A small master, on the other hand, will charge from 1_s._ to 3_s._ for the same kind of work, while a single-handed man seldom gets above “a 2_s._ job,” and that not very often. The charge for sweeping the flues of a house rented at from 50_l._ to 150_l._ a year, is from 9_d._ to 2_s._ 6_d._ by a large master, and from 8_d._ to 2_s._ by a small master, while a single-handed man will take the job at from 6_d._ to 1_s._ 6_d._ The price charged per flue for a house rented at from 20_l._ a year up to 50_l._ a year, will average 6_d._ a flue, charged by large masters, 4_d._ by small masters, and from 2_d._ to 3_d._ by the single-handed sweepers in some cases; indeed, the poorest class will sweep a flue for the soot only. But the prices charged for sweeping chimneys differ in the different parts of the metropolis. I subjoin a list of the maximum and minimum charge for the several districts.