Part 97

_d._ _s._ _d._ Kensington and Hammersmith 4 to 3 0 Westminster 3 „ 2 0 Chelsea 4 „ 2 6 St. George’s, Hanover-sq. 6 „ 3 6 St. Martin’s and St. Ann’s 4 „ 2 6 St. James’s, Westminster 3 „ 2 6 Marylebone 4 „ 2 6 Paddington 3 „ 2 0 Hampstead 3 „ 1 6 St. Pancras 4 „ 3 0 Islington 3 „ 1 6 Hackney and Homerton 3 „ 2 0 St. Giles’s and St. George’s, Bloomsbury 3 „ 3 0 Strand 4 „ 2 6 Holborn 4 „ 2 6 Clerkenwell 3 „ 1 6 St. Luke’s 3 „ 1 0 East London 3 „ 1 6 West London 4 „ 2 6 London City 6 „ 2 6 Shoreditch 3 „ 1 0 Bethnal Green 3 „ 1 0 Whitechapel 4 „ 1 6 St. George’s in the East and Limehouse 3 „ 1 0 Stepney 3 „ 1 6 Poplar 4 „ 2 0 St. George’s, St. Olave’s, and St. Saviour’s, Southwark 3 „ 1 6 Bermondsey 3 „ 0 9 Walworth and Newington 4 „ 1 6 Wandsworth 4 „ 1 6 Lambeth 3 „ 1 0 Camberwell 4 „ 2 0 Clapham, Brixton, and Tooting 4 „ 2 6 Rotherhithe 3 „ 1 6 Greenwich 3 „ 1 6 Woolwich 3 „ 2 6 Lewisham 6 „ 3 0

N.B.--The single-handed and the knullers generally charge a penny less than the prices above given.

_There are three different kinds of soot_:--the best is produced purely from coal; the next in value is that which proceeds from the combustion of vegetable refuse along with the coal, as in cases where potato peelings, cabbage leaves, and the like, are burnt in the fires of the poorer classes; while the soot produced from wood fires is, I am told, scarcely worth carriage. Wood-soot, however, is generally mixed with that from coal, and sold as the superior kind.

Not only is there a difference in value in the various kinds of soot, but there is also a vast difference in the weight. A bushel of pure coal soot will not weigh above four pounds; that produced from the combustion of coal and vegetable refuse will weigh nearly thrice as much; while that from wood fires is, I am assured, nearly ten times heavier than from coal.

I have not heard that the introduction of free trade has had any influence on the value of soot, or in reducing the wages of the operatives. The same wages are paid to the operatives whether soot sells at a high or low price.

OF THE GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WORKING CHIMNEY-SWEEPERS.

There are many reasons why the chimney-sweepers have ever been a distinct and peculiar class. They have long been looked down upon as the lowest order of workers, and treated with contumely by those who were but little better than themselves. The peculiar nature of their work giving them not only a filthy appearance, but an offensive smell, of itself, in a manner, prohibited them from associating with other working men; and the natural effect of such proscription has been to compel them to herd together apart from others, and to acquire habits and peculiarities of their own widely differing from the characteristics of the rest of the labouring classes.

A TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF MASTER CHIMNEY SWEEPERS RESIDING IN THE SEVERAL DISTRICTS OF THE METROPOLIS, THE NUMBER OF FOREMEN, OF JOURNEYMEN, AND UNDER JOURNEYMEN EMPLOYED IN EACH DISTRICT DURING THE YEAR, AS WELL AS THE WEEKLY WAGES OF EACH CLASS.

----------------+---------+---------+----------+----------+-------------+ | | | No. of | No. of | | | No. of | |Journeymen|Journeymen| | | Master | | employed | employed |No. of Under | DISTRICTS. |Sweepers | No. of | in the | in the | Journeymen, | | in each | Foremen | brisk | slack |men, or boys,| |District.|employed.| season. | season. | employed. | ----------------+---------+---------+----------+----------+-------------+ WEST DISTRICTS. | | | | | | _Kensington and | | | | | | Hammersmith_ | 11 | 2 | 25 | 16 | 2 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | _Westminster_ | 13 | 1 | 26 | 18 | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | _Chelsea_ | 22 | -- | 13 | 11 | 2 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | _St. George’s, | | | | | | Hanover-sq._ | 10 | 5 | 27 | 25 | -- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | _St. Martin’s | | | | | | and St. | | | | | | Ann’s_ | 9 | -- | 16 | 15 | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | | | _St. James’s, | | | | | | Westminster_ | 7 | 1 | 9 | 6 | -- | | | | | | | | | | | | | NORTH DISTRICTS.| | | | | | _Marylebone_ | 18 | -- | 21 | 16 | -- | _Paddington_ | 10 | 1 | 17 | 10 | 3 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | _Hampstead_ | 2 | -- | 2 | 2 | 2 | | | | | | | _Islington_ | 9 | -- | 13 | 12 | 3 | | | | | | | _St. Pancras_ | 18 | -- | 33 | 21 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | _Hackney and | | | | | | Homerton_ | 13 | -- | 3 | 3 | 4 |

+---------+-----------+----------------------+--------------- | | | | | No. of | | | | Bushels | Weekly | Weekly | Weekly | of Soot | Wages | Wages | Wages of |collected| of each | of each | each Under | Weekly. | Foreman. | Journeyman. | Journeyman. +---------+-----------+----------------------+--------------- | | | | | | | | | 695 | 18_s._ | 7 at 16_s._ | 10_s._ | | | 6 „ 15_s._ | | | |10 „ 14_s._ | | | | 1 „ 12_s._ | | 735 | 14_s._ | 5 at 18_s._ | 3_s._ _b_ | | |10 „ 12_s._ | | | | 3 „ 4_s._} | | | | 4 „ 3_s._}_b_ | | | | 4 „ 2_s._} | | 670 | -- | 1 „ 16_s._ |1 at 2_s._ _b_ | | | 3 „ 12_s._ |1 _e_ | | | 4 „ 10_s._ | | | | 3 „ 3_s._ } | | | | 1 „ 2_s._ 6_d._}_b_| | | | 1 „ 2_s._ } | | | | | | 890 |4 at 18_s._| 5 at 18_s._ | -- | |1 „ 16_s._| 3 „ 16_s._ | | | | 2 „ 15_s._ | | | | 9 „ 14_s._ | | | | 7 „ 12_s._ | | | | 1 „ 6_s._ _b_ | | | | | | | | | | 415 | -- | 7 at 6_s._} | 2_s._ _b_ | | | 6 „ 4_s._}_b_ | | | | 2 „ 3_s._} | | | | | | 355 | 14_s._ | 5 at 12_s._ | -- | | | 1 „ 10_s._ | | | | 1 at 3_s._ 6_d._ _b_| | | | | | 775 | -- | 18_s._ | -- | 495 | 18_s._ | 1 at 14_s._ |2 at 2_s._ } | | | 1 „ 10_s._ |1 „ 1_s._ 6_d._}_b_ | | | 2 „ 4_s._ } | | | | 8 „ 3_s._ 6_d._}_b_| | | | 1 „ 2_s._ 6_d._} | | | | 2 „ 1_s._} | | 60 | -- | 1 at 3_s._}_b_ |1 at 1_s._ 6_d._}_b_ | | | 1 „ 2_s._} |1 „ 1_s._ } | 425 | -- | 3 at 4_s._ }_b_ | 1_s._ 6_d._ _b_ | | | 2 „ 3_s._ } | | 920 | -- | 2 at 14_s._ |3 at 2_s._ } | | | 6 „ 12_s._ |2 „ 1_s._ 6_d._}_b_ | | | 4 „ 10_s._ |1 „ 1_s._ } | | | 6 „ 4_s._ } | | | | 3 „ 3_s._ 6_d._} | | | |11 „ 3_s._ }_b_| | | | 3 „ 2_s._ 6_d._} | | | | 1 „ 2_s._ } | | | | | | 290 | -- | 2_s._ _b_ |1_s._ 6_d._ _b_

----------------+---------+---------+----------+----------+-------------+ | | | No. of | No. of | | | No. of | |Journeymen|Journeymen| | | Master | | employed | employed |No. of Under | Districts. |Sweepers | No. of | in the | in the | Journeymen, | | in each | Foremen | brisk | slack |men, or boys,| |District.|employed.| season. | season. | employed. | ----------------+---------+---------+----------+----------+-------------+ CENTRAL | | | | | | DISTRICTS. | | | | | | _St. Giles’s and| 12 | -- | 9 | 7 | 5 | St. George’s, | | | | | | Bloomsbury._ | | | | | | _Strand_ | 5 | -- | 11 | 8 | 2 | | | | | | | _Holborn_ | 6 | 2 | 11 | 10 | -- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | _Clerkenwell_ | 6 | -- | 9 | 9 | 1 | | | | | | | _St. Luke’s_ | 6 | -- | 4 | 3 | 2 | _East London_ | 8 | -- | 10 | 8 | -- | _West London_ | 5 | -- | 9 | 6 | -- | | | | | | | _London City_ | 6 | -- | 12 | 10 | 2 | | | | | | | EAST DISTRICTS. | | | | | | _Shoreditch_ | 13 | -- | 6 | 5 | 1 | _Bethnal Green_ | 6 | -- | 2 | 2 | -- | | | | | | | _Whitechapel_ | 11 | -- | 1 | 1 | 3 | _St. George’s-in| 14 | -- | 14 | 10 | 3 | -the-East and | | | | | | Limehouse._ | | | | | | _Stepney_ | 9 | -- | 3 | 2 | -- | _Poplar_ | 4 | -- | 1 | -- | 1 | | | | | | | SOUTH DISTRICTS.| | | | | | _Southwark_ | 17 | -- | -- | -- | -- | _Bermondsey_ | 8 | -- | 4 | 4 | 1 | _Walworth and | 9 | -- | 6 | 4 | 4 | Newington_ | | | | | | _Wandsworth_ | 6 | -- | 6 | 5 | 1 | | | | | | | _Lambeth_ | 16 | -- | 9 | 9 | 5 | | | | | | | _Camberwell_ | 8 | -- | 8 | 7 | 1 | _Clapton, } | 11 | -- | 13 | 7 | 1 | Brixton, } | | | | | | and Tooting_} | | | | | | _Rotherhithe_ | 7 | -- | 2 | 2 | -- | _Greenwich_ | 6 | -- | 4 | 4 | 1 | | | | | | | _Woolwich_ | 7 | -- | 17 | 12 | 3 | | | | | | | _Lewisham_ | 2 | -- | 5 | 5 | 1 | _Ramoneur | | | | | | Company_ | -- | -- | 18 | 18 | 18 | ----------------+---------+---------+----------+----------+-------------+ TOTAL | 350 | 12 | 399 | 62 | 62 | ----------------+---------+---------+----------+----------+-------------+

+---------+-----------+----------------------+--------------- | | | | | No. of | | | | Bushels | Weekly | Weekly | Weekly | of Soot | Wages | Wages | Wages of |collected| of each | of each | each Under | Weekly. | Foreman. | Journeyman. | Journeyman. +---------+-----------+----------------------+--------------- | | | | | | | | | 435 | -- |8 at 12_s._ | 1_s._ _b_ | | |1 „ 3_s._ _b_ | | | | | | 350 | -- | 4_s._ _b_ |1 at 2_s._} | | | |1 „ 1_s._} _b_ | 435 | 20_s._ |2 at 18_s._ | -- | | |3 „ 8_s._} | | | |4 „ 4_s._} _b_ | | | |2 „ 3_s._} | | 310 | -- |8 at 3_s._ } _b_| 1_s._ _b_ | | |1 „ 2_s._ 6_d._} | | 175 | -- | 2_s._ _b_ | 1_s._ _b_ | 455 | -- | 3_s._ _b_ | -- | 205 | -- |3 at 4_s._} | -- | | |6 „ 3_s._}_b_ | | 415 | -- |6 at 6_s._ } | 2_s._ _b_ | | |6 „ 4_s._ }_b_ | | | | | | 380 | -- | 2_s._ _b_ | 1_s._ _b_ | 150 | -- |1 at 5_s._ | -- | | |1 „ 2_s._ _b_ | | 330 | -- | 2_s._ _b_ | 3_s._ _e_ | 650 | -- |3 at 3_s._ } |1 at 1_s._ 6_d._}_b_ | | |4 „ 2_s._ 6_d._}_b_ |2 „ 1_s._ } | | |7 „ 2_s._ } | | 275 | -- | 3_s._ _b_ | -- | 110 | -- | 2_s._ _b_ | 1_s._ 6_d._ _b_ | | | | | | | | | 385 | -- | -- | -- | 220 | -- | 2_s._ _b_ | 1_s._ _b_ | 330 | -- | 2_s._ _b_ | 1_s._ _b_ | | | | | 240 | -- | 3 at 3_s._ } | 1_s._ _b_ | | | 3 „ 2_s._ 6_d._}_b_ | | 560 | -- | 3 at 3_s._ { |1 at 1_s._ 6_d._} | | | 6 „ 2_s._ 6_d._{_b_ |4 „ 1_s._ } _b_ | 315 | -- | 2_s._ 6_d._{_b_ | 1_s._ _b_ | 410 | -- | 2_s._ 6_d._ _b_ | 1_s._ _b_ | | | | | | | | | 170 | -- | 2_s._ _b_ | -- | 195 | -- | 1_s._ 6_d._ _b_ | 1_s._ _b_ | | | | | 515 | -- |13 at 2_s._ 6_d._ |2 at 1_s._} | | | 4 „ 1_s._ 6_d._ |1 „ 9_d._} _b_ | 160 | -- | 2_s._ _b_ | 1_s._ _b_ | | | | | 450 | -- | 18_s._ | -- +---------+-----------+----------------------+------------------ | 15350 | | | +---------+-----------+----------------------+------------------

NOTE.--_b_ means board and lodging as well as money, or part money and part kind; _e_ stands for everything found or paid all in kind.

These returns have been collected by personal visits to each district:--the name of each master throughout London, together with the number of Foremen, Journeymen, and Under Journeymen employed, and the Wages received by each, as well as the quantity of soot collected, have been likewise obtained; but the names of the masters are here omitted for want of space, and the results alone are given.

Sweepers, however, have not from this cause generally been an hereditary race--that is, they have not become sweepers from father to son for many generations. Their numbers were, in the days of the climbing boys, in most instances increased by parish apprentices, the parishes usually adopting that mode as the cheapest and easiest of freeing themselves from a part of the burden of juvenile pauperism. The climbing boys, but more especially the unfortunate parish apprentices, were almost always cruelly used, starved, beaten, and over-worked by their masters, and treated as outcasts by all with whom they came in contact: there can be no wonder, then, that, driven in this manner from all other society, they gladly availed themselves of the companionship of their fellow-sufferers; quickly imbibed all their habits and peculiarities; and, perhaps, ended by becoming themselves the most tyrannical masters to those who might happen to be placed under their charge.

Notwithstanding the disrepute in which sweepers have ever been held, there are many classes of workers beneath them in intelligence. All the tribe of finders and collectors (with the exception of the dredgermen, who are an observant race, and the sewer-hunters, who, from the danger of their employment, are compelled to exercise their intellects) are far inferior to them in this respect; and they are clever fellows compared to many of the dustmen and scavagers. The great mass of the agricultural labourers are known to be almost as ignorant as the beasts they drive; but the sweepers, from whatever cause it may arise, are known, in many instances, to be shrewd, intelligent, and active.

But there is much room for improvement among the operative chimney-sweepers. Speaking of the men generally, I am assured that there is scarcely one out of ten who can either read or write. One man in Chelsea informed me that some ladies, in connection with the Rev. Mr. Cadman’s church, made an attempt to instruct the sweepers of the neighbourhood in reading and writing; but the master sweepers grew jealous, and became afraid lest their men should get too knowing for them. When the time came, therefore, for the men to prepare for the school, the masters always managed to find out some job which prevented them from attending at the appointed time, and the consequence was that the benevolent designs of the ladies were frustrated.

The sweepers, as a class, in almost all their habits, bear a strong resemblance to the costermongers. The habit of going about in search of their employment has, of itself, implanted in many of them the wandering propensity peculiar to street people. Many of the better-class costermongers have risen into coal-shed men and greengrocers, and become settled in life; in like manner the better-class sweepers have risen to be masters, and, becoming settled in a locality, have gradually obtained the trade of the neighbourhood; then, as their circumstances improved, they have been able to get horses and carts, and become nightmen; and there are many of them at this moment men of wealth, comparatively speaking. The great body of them, however, retain in all their force their original characteristics; the masters themselves, although shrewd and sensible men, often betray their want of education, and are in no way particular as to their expressions, their language being made up, in a great measure, of the terms peculiar to the costermongers, especially the denominations of the various sorts of money. I met with some sweepers, however, whose language was that in ordinary use, and their manners not vulgar. I might specify one, who, although a workhouse orphan and apprentice, a harshly-treated climbing-boy, is now prospering as a sweeper and nightman, is a regular attendant at all meetings to promote the good of the poor, and a zealous ragged-school teacher, and teetotaller.

When such men are met with, perhaps the class cannot be looked upon as utterly cast away, although the need of reformation in the habits of the working sweepers is extreme, and especially in respect of drinking, gambling, and dirt. The journeymen (who have often a good deal of leisure) and the single-handed men are--in the great majority of cases at least--addicted to drinking, beer being their favourite beverage, either because it is the cheapest or that they fancy it the most suitable for washing away the sooty particles which find their way to their throats. These men gamble also, but with this proviso--they seldom play for money; but when they meet in their usual houses of resort--two famous ones are in Back C---- lane and S---- street, Whitechapel--they spend their time and what money they may have in tossing for beer, till they are either drunk or penniless. Such men present the appearance of having just come out of a chimney. There seems never to have been any attempt made by them to wash the soot off their faces. I am informed that there is scarcely one of them who has a second shirt or any change of clothes, and that they wear their garments night and day till they literally rot, and drop in fragments from their backs. Those who are not employed as journeymen by the masters are frequently whole days without food, especially in summer, when the work is slack; and it usually happens that those who are what is called “knocking about on their own account” seldom or never have a farthing in their pockets in the morning, and may, perhaps, have to travel till evening before they get a threepenny or sixpenny chimney to sweep. When night comes, and they meet their companions, the tossing and drinking again commences; they again get drunk; roll home to wherever it may be, to go through the same routine on the morrow; and this is the usual tenour of their lives, whether earning 5_s._ or 20_s._ a week.

The chimney-sweepers generally are fond of drink; indeed their calling, like that of dustmen, is one of those which naturally lead to it. The men declare they are ordered to drink gin and smoke as much as they can, in order to rid the stomach of the soot they may have swallowed during their work.

_Washing_ among chimney-sweepers seems to be much more frequent than it was. In the evidence before Parliament it was stated that some of the climbing-boys were washed once in six months, some once a week, some once in two or three months. I do not find it anywhere stated that any of these children were never washed at all; but from the tenour of the evidence it may be reasonably concluded that such was the case.

A master sweeper, who was in the habit of bathing at the Marylebone baths once and sometimes twice a week, assured me that, although many now eat and drink and sleep sooty, washing is more common among his class than when he himself was a climbing-boy. He used then to be stripped, and compelled to step into a tub, and into water sometimes too hot and sometimes too cold, while his mistress, to use his own word, _scoured_ him. Judging from what he had seen and heard, my informant was satisfied that, from 30 to 40 years ago, climbing-boys, with a very few exceptions, were but seldom washed; and then it was looked upon by them as a most disagreeable operation, often, indeed, as a species of punishment. Some of the climbing-boys used to be taken by their masters to bathe in the Serpentine many years ago; but one boy was unfortunately drowned, so that the children could hardly be coerced to go into the water afterwards.