 Section 68 of London Labour and the London Poor, volume 2 by Henry Mayhew. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, recording by Gillian Henry. A table showing the number of master chimney sweepers residing in the several districts of the metropolis, the number of foremen, off-journeymen and underjourneymen employed in each district during the year, as well as the weekly wage of each class. Number of master sweepers in each district. West Districts. Kensington and Hammersmith, 11. Westminster, 13. Chelsea, 22. St George's Hanover Square, 10. St Martins and St Anne's, 9. St James's Westminster, 7. North Districts. Marlebone, 18. Paddington, 10. Hampstead, 2. Islington, 9. St Pancras, 18. Hackney and Hormerton, 13. Central Districts. St Gileses and St George's, Bloomsbury, 12. Strand, 5. Obern, 6. Clarkinwell, 6. St Luke's, 6. East London, 8. West London, 5. London City, 6. East Districts. Shoreditch, 13. Bethnal Green, 6. Whitechapel, 11. St George's in the East and Limehouse, 14. Stepney, 9. Poplar, 4. South Districts. Southerk, 17. Bermondsey, 8. Walworth and Newington, 9. Wandsworth, 6. Lamberth, 16. Camberwell, 8. Clapton-Brickston and Tooting, 11. Rotherith, 7. Greenwich, 6. Woolwich, 7. Lewisham, 2. Rumoneer Company, 0. Total number of master sweepers in each district. 350. Number of foremen employed. West Districts. Kensington and Hammersmith, 2. Westminster, 1. Chelsea, 0. St George's, Hanover Square, 5. St Martins and St Anne's, 0. St James's, Westminster, 1. North Districts. Marlebone, 0. Paddington, 1. Hampstead, 0. Islington, 0. St Pancras, 0. Central Districts. St Gileses and St George's, Bloomsbury, 0. Strand, 0. Holburn, 2. Clarkinwell, 0. St Luke's, 0. East London, 0. West London, 0. London City, 0. East Districts, 0. South Districts, 0. Total number of foremen employed, 12. Number of journeymen employed in the brisk season. West Districts. Kensington and Hammersmith, 25. Westminster, 26. Chelsea, 13. St George's, Hanover Square, 27. St Martins and St Anne's, 16. St James's, Westminster, 9. North Districts. Marlebone, 21. Paddington, 17. Hampstead, 2. Islington, 13. St Pancras, 33. Central Districts. St Gileses and St George's, Bloomsbury, 9. Strand, 11. Holburn, 11. Clarkinwell, 9. St Luke's, 4. East London, 10. West London, 9. London City, 12. East Districts. Shoreditch, 6. Bethnalgrain, 2. Whitechapel, 1. St George's in the East and Limehouse, 14. Stepney, 3. Poplar, 1. South Districts. Southark, 0. Bermondsey, 4. Walworth and Newington, 6. Wandsworth, 6. Lambeth, 9. Camberwell, 8. Clapham-Brickston and Tooting, 13. Rotherith, 2. Greenwich, 4. Woolwich, 17. Lewisham, 5. Ramanur Company, 18. Total number of journeymen employed in the brisk season. West Districts. Kensington and Hammersmith, 16. Westminster, 18. Chelsea, 11. St George's Hanover Square, 25. St Martins and St Anne's, 15. St James's Westminster, 6. North Districts. Marlemon, 16. Paddington, 10. Hampstead, 2. Islington, 12. St Pancras, 21. Hackney and Hormerton, 3. Central Districts. St Gileses and St George's Bloomsbury, 7. Strand, 8. Holburn, 10. Clarkinwell, 9. St Luke's, 3. East London, 8. West London, 6. London City, 10. East Districts. Shoreditch, 5. Bethnal Green, 2. Whitechapel, 1. St George's in the East and Limehouse, 10. Stepney, 2. Poplar, 0. South Districts. Southwark, 0. Bermondsey, 4. Walworth and Newington, 4. Onesworth, 5. Lambeth, 9. Camberwell, 7. Clapton, Brixton and Tooting, 7. Rotherith, 2. Greenwich, 4. Willich, 12. Lewisham, 5. Ramanur Company, 18. Total number of journeymen employed in the slack season. Total number of journeymen employed in the slack season. 313. Number of underjourneymen or boys employed. West Districts. Kensington and Tammersmith, 2. Westminster, 1. Chelsea, 2. St George's Hanover Square, 0. St Martins and St Anne's, 1. St James's Westminster, 0. North Districts. Marlebone, 0. Paddington, 3. Hampstead, 2. Islington, 3. St Pancras, 6. Hackney and Hormerton, 4. Central Districts. St Gileses and St George's Bloomsbury, 5. Strand, 2. Holburn, 0. Clarkinwell, 1. St Luke's, 2. East London, 0. West London, 0. London City, 2. East Districts. Shortditch, 1. Bethnal Green, 0. Whitechapel, 3. St George's in the East and Limehouse, 3. Stepney, 0. Poplar, 1. South Districts. Southark, 0. Bermondsey, 1. Walworth and Newington, 4. Wandsworth, 1. Lambeth, 5. Camberwell, 1. Clapton-Brickston and Tooting, 1. Rotherith, 0. Greenwich, 1. Woolwich, 3. Lowsham, 1. Ramanur Company, 0. Total number of underjourneymen or boys employed, 62. Number of bushels of soot collected weekly. West Districts. Kensington and Tammersmith, 695. Westminster, 735. Chelsea, 670. St George's Hanover Square, 890. St Martins and St Anne's, 415. St James's Westminster, 355. North Districts. Marlebone, 775. Paddington, 495. Hampstead, 60. Islington, 425. St Pancras, 920. Hackney and Hormerton, 290. Central Districts. St Gileses and St George's Bloomsbury, 435. Strand, 350. Hoburn, 435. Markinwell, 310. St Luke's, 175. East London, 455. West London, 205. London City, 415. East Districts. Shoreditch, 380. Bethnal Green, 150. Whitechapel, 330. St George's in the East and Limehouse, 650. Stepney, 275. Poplar, 110. South Districts. Southirk, 385. Bermondsey, 220. Walworth and Newington, 330. Wandsworth, 240. Lambeth, 560. Camerewell, 315. Clapton-Brickston and Tooting, 410. Rotherith, 170. Greenwich, 195. Woolwich, 515. Lowsham, 160. Ramanur Company, 450. Total number of bushels of soot collected weekly, 15,350. Weekly wages of each foreman. West Districts. Kensington and Tammersmith, 18 shillings. Westminster, 14 shillings. St George's Hanover Square, 4 at 18 shillings, 1 at 16 shillings. St James's Westminster, 14 shillings. North Districts. Paddington, 18 shillings. Central Districts. Hoburn, 20 shillings. East Districts. None. South Districts. None. Weekly wages of each journeyman. West Districts. Kensington and Tammersmith, 7 at 16 shillings, 6 at 15 shillings, 10 at 14 shillings, 1 at 12 shillings. Westminster, 5 at 18 shillings, 10 at 12 shillings, and, with board and lodging as well as money, or part money and part kind, 3 at 4 shillings, 4 at 3 shillings, and 4 at 2 shillings. Chelsea, 1 at 16 shillings, 3 at 12 shillings, 4 at 10 shillings, and, with board and lodging as well as money, or part money and part kind, 3 at 3 shillings, 1 at 2 shillings, 6 pence, and 1 at 2 shillings. St George's Hanover Square. 5 at 18 shillings, 3 at 16 shillings, 2 at 15 shillings, 9 at 14 shillings, 7 at 12 shillings, and, with board and lodging as well as money, or part money and part kind, 1 at 6 shillings. St Martin's and St Anne's. All with board and lodging as well as money, or part money and part kind. 7 at 6 shillings, 6 at 4 shillings, 2 at 3 shillings. St James's Westminster. 5 at 12 shillings, 1 at 10 shillings, and, with board and lodging as well as money, or part money and part kind, 1 at 3 shillings, 6 pence. North District's. Malibun, 18 shillings. Paddington, 1 at 14 shillings, 1 at 10 shillings, and, with board and lodging as well as money, or part money and part kind, 2 at 4 shillings, 8 at 3 shillings, 6 pence, 1 at 2 shillings, 6 pence, and 2 at 1 shillings. Hampstead, with board and lodging as well as money, or part money and part kind, 1 at 3 shillings and 1 at 2 shillings. Islington, with board and lodging as well as money, or part money and part kind, 3 at 4 shillings, 2 at 3 shillings. St Pancras, 2 at 14 shillings, 6 at 12 shillings, 4 at 10 shillings, and, with board and lodging as well as money, or part money and part kind, 6 at 4 shillings, 3 at 3 shillings, 6 pence, 11 at 3 shillings, 3 at 2 shillings, 6 pence, and 1 at 2 shillings. Hackney and Hormerton with board and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind two shillings. Central Districts, St Gileses and St George's Bloomsbury, 8 at 12 shillings and with board and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind, one at three shillings. Strand with board and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind, four shillings. Hallburn, 2 at 18 shillings and with board and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind, 3 at 8 shillings, 4 at 4 shillings and 2 at 3 shillings. Clarkinwell, with board and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind, 8 at 3 shillings and 1 at 2 shillings 6 pence. St Luke's, with board and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind, 2 shillings. East London, with board and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind, 3 shillings. West London, with board and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind, 3 at 4 shillings and 6 at 3 shillings. London City, with board and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind, 6 at With six shillings, and six at four schillings... East Districts Shore Ditch With bored and lodging as well as money, or parked money and parked kind, two shillings. Bethnoe Green One at five shillings, and with bored and lodging as well as money, or parked money and park kind, one at two shillings. Whitechapel With bored and lodging as well as money, or parked money and park kind, two shillings. Saint George's in the East and Lime House Withboard and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind Three at three shillings, four at two shilling sixpence and seven at two shillings Stepney Withboard and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind Three shillings Poplar Withboard and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind Two shillings South Districts Southern Zero Bermondsey Withboard and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind, two shillings. Walworth and Newington, with board and lodging as well as money, or part money and part kind, two shillings. Wunsworth, with board and lodging as well as money, or part money and part kind, three at three shillings and three at two shillings, six pence. Lambeth, with board and lodging as well as money, or part money and part kind, three at three shillings and six at two shillings, six pence. Cabrwell, withboard and lodging as well as money, or part money and part kind, two shilling sixpence. Clapton Brickston and Tooting, withboard and lodging as well as money, or part money and part kind, two shilling sixpence. Rotherith, withboard and lodging as well as money, or part money and part kind, two shillings. Greenwich, withboard and lodging as well as money, or part money and part kind, one shilling sixpence. Woolwich, 13 at two shilling sixpence, four at one shilling sixpence. Lusham, with board and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind, two shillings. Ramanur Company, 18 shillings. Weekly wages of each under journeyman. West Districts, Kensington and Hammersmith, 10 shillings. Westminster, with board and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind, three shillings. Chelsea, with board and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind, one at two shillings. And everything found or paid all in kind, one. St. George's Hanover Square, zero. St. Martin's and St. Anne's, with board and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind, two shillings. St. James's Westminster, zero. North Districts, Marlebone, zero. Paddington, with board and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind, two at two shillings, one at one shilling sixpence. Hampstead, with board and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind, one at one shilling sixpence, one at one shilling. Islington, with board and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind, one shilling sixpence. St. Fancris, with board and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind, three at two shilling two at one shilling sixpence and one at one shilling. Hackney and Humberton, with board and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind, one shilling sixpence. Central Districts, St Gileses and St George's Bloomsbury, with board and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind, one shilling. Strand, with board and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind, one at two shillings, one at one shilling. Vauburn, zero. Clarkinwell, with board and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind, one shilling. St Luke's, with board and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind, one shilling. East London, zero. West London, zero. London City, with board and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind, two shillings. East Districts Short Itch With Board and Lodging as well as Money or Part Money and Part Kind One Shilling Bethnal Green Zero White Chapel Everything Found or Paid All in Kind Three Shillings St George's in the East and Limehouse With Board and Lodging as well as Money or Part Money and Part Kind One at One Shilling Sixpence and Two at One Shilling Stepney Zero Poplar with Board and Lodging as well as Money or Part Money and Part Kind One Shilling Sixpence South Districts Sothec Zero Bermondsy With Board and Lodging as well as Money or Part Money and Part Kind One Shilling Walworth in Newington With Board and Lodging as well as Money or Part Money and Part Kind One Shilling Wunsworth With Board and Lodging as well as Money or Part Money and Part Kind One Shilling Lambeth With Board and Lodging as well as Money well as money or part money and part kind. One at one chilling sixpence and four at one chilling. Camberwell, with board and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind, one chilling. Clapton-Brickston and Tooting, with board and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind, one chilling. Rutheress, zero. Greenwich, with board and lodging as well as money or part money and part kind, one shilling. Woolwich, with board and lodging as well as money, or part money and part kind, two at one shilling and one at ninepence. Lusham, with board and lodging as well as money, or part money and part kind, one shilling. Ramanur Company zero. Note, 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 underjourneymen employed, and the wages received by each, as well as the quantity of suit collected, have been likewise obtained. But the names of the masters are here omitted for want of space, and the results alone are given. End note. End of section 68. Section 69 of London Labour and the London Poor, volume 2 by Henry Mayhew. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, recording by Gillian Henry. Sweeping off the chimneys of steam vessels. The sweeping of the flues in the boilers of steamboats in the port of London, and also of land boilers in manufacturers, is altogether a distinct process, as the machine cannot be used until such time as the parties who are engaged in this business travel a long way through the flues, and reach the lower part of the chimney, or funnel, where it communicates with the boilers, and receives the smoke in its passage to the upper air. The boilers in the large seagoing steamers are of curious construction. In some large steamers there are four separate boilers with three furnaces in each, the flues of each boiler uniting in one beneath the funnel. Immediately beyond the end of the furnace, which is marked by a little wall, constructed of fire brick, to prevent the coals and fire from running off the fire bars, there is a large open space, very high and wide, and which space, after a month's steaming, is generally filled up with soot, somewhat resembling a snowdrift collected in a hollow, were it not for its colour, and the fact that it is sometimes in a state of ignition. It is at times so deep that a man sinks to his middle in it, the moment he steps across the fire bridge. Above his head, and immediately over the end of the furnace, he may perceive an opening in what otherwise would appear to be a solid mass of iron. Up to this opening, which resembles a doorway, the sweeper must clamber the best way he can, and when he succeeds in this, he finds himself in a narrow passage, completely dark, but with so strong a current of air rushing through it, from the furnaces beneath, towards the funnel overhead, that it is with difficulty the wick lamp which he carries in his hand can be kept burning. This passage, between the iron walls on either side, is lofty enough for a tall man to stand upright in, but does not seem at first of any great extent. As he goes on however, to what appears the end, he finds out his mistake, by coming to a sharp turn, which conducts him back again towards the open space in the centre of the boiler, but which is now hid from him by the hollow iron walls, which on every side surround him, and within which the waters boil and sieve as the living flames issuing from the furnaces rush and roar through these winding passages. Another sharp turn leads back to the front of the boilers, and so on for seven or eight turns, backwards and forwards, like the windings in a maze, till at the last turn, a light suddenly breaks upon him, and looking up, he perceives the hollow tube of the funnel, black and ragged with the adhering suit. Here then, the labour of the sweeper commences. He is armed with a brush and shovel, and laying down his lamp in a space from which he has previously shoveled away the suit, which in many parts of the passage is knee deep. He brushes down the suit from the sides and roof of the passage, which being done, he shovels it before him into the next winding. This process he repeats till he reaches by degrees the opening where he ascended. Whenever the accumulation of suit is so great that it is likely to block up the passage in the progress of his work, he wades through and shovels as much as he thinks necessary out of the opening into the large space behind the furnaces, then resumes his work, brushing and shoveling by turns till the flows are cleared. When this is accomplished, he descends and the fire bars being previously removed, he shovels the suit now all collected together over the fire bridge and into the ash pit of the furnace. Other persons stand ready in the stokehole armed with long iron rakes with which they drag out the suit from the ash pits, and others shovel it into sacks, which they make fast to tackle, secured to the upper deck, by which they bouse it up out of the engine room, and either discharge it overhead or put it into boats, preparatory to being taken ashore. In this manner an immense quantity of suit is removed from the boilers of a large foreign-going steamer when she gets into port, after a month or six weeks steaming, having burned in that time perhaps seven hundred or eight hundred tons of coal. This work is always performed by the stokers and coal trimmers in the foreign ports, who seldom if ever get anything extra for it, although it is no uncommon thing for some of them to be ill for a week after it. In the port of London however, the sweeper comes into requisition, who besides going through the process already described, brings his machine with him and is thus enabled to cleanse the funnel and to increase the quantity of suit. Some of the master sweepers who have the cleansing of the steamboats in the river and the sweeping of boiler flows are obliged to employ a good many men and make a great deal of money by their business. The use of anthracite coals however, and some modern improvements by which air at a certain temperature is admitted to certain parts of the furnace, have in many instances greatly lessened if they have not altogether prevented the accumulation of suit by the prevention of smoke, and it seems quite possible from the statements made by many eminent scientific and practical men who were examined before a select committee of the House of Commons presided over by Mr McKinnon in 1843, that by having properly constructed stoves and a sufficient quantity of pure air properly admitted, not only less fuel might be burned and produce a greater amount of heat, but suit would cease to accumulate so that the necessity for sweepers would be no longer felt and there would be no fear of fires from the ignition of suit in the Flues of Chimneys. Blacks and smoke moreover would take their departure together and with them the celebrated London fog might also in a great measure disappear. The funnels of steamers are generally swept at from eight pins to one shilling six pins per funnel. The Chelsea steamers are swept by Mr Albrook of Chelsea, the Continental by Mr Hozi of Rosemary Lane, and the Irish and Scotch steamers by Mr Tuff, who resides in the East London District, of the Ramanur Company. The patent Ramanur Company demands perhaps a special notice. It was formed between four and five years ago and is now four stations, one in Little Harcourt Street, Brineston Square, another in New Road, Sloan Street, a third in Charles Place, Euston Square, and the fourth in William Street, Portland Town. This company has been formed, the prospect has stated, for the purpose of cleansing chimneys with the patent Ramanur machine and introducing various other improvements in the business of chimney sweeping. Chimneys are daily swept with this machine where others have failed. The company charged the usual prices and all the men employed have been brought up as sweepers. The patent machine is thus described. The patent Ramanur machine consists of four brushes forming a square head, which by means of elastic springs contracts or expands according to the space it moves in. The rods attached to this head or brush are supplied at intervals with a universal spring joint capable of turning even a right angle, and the hole is surmounted with a double revolving ball, having also a universal spring joint, which leads the brush with certainty into every corner, cleansing its route most perfectly. The recommendation held out to the public is that the patented chimney machine sweeps cleaner than that in general use and for the reasons assigned, and that being constructed with more and better springs it is capable of turning even a right angle, which the common machine often leaves unswept. This was and is commonly said of the difference between the cleansing of the chimney by a climbing boy and that effected by the present mechanical appliances in general use. The boy was better around a corner. The patent machines now worked in London are 15 in number and 15 men are thus employed. Each man receives as a weekly wage, always in money, 14 shillings, besides a suit of clothes yearly. The suit consists of a jacket, waistcoat and trousers, of dark coloured corduroy, also a frock or blouse to wear when at work, and a cap. The hole being worth from 35 shillings to 40 shillings. This payment is about equivalent to that received weekly by the journeyman in the regular or honourable trade, for although higher in nominal amount as a weekly remuneration, the remanueur operatives are not allowed any perquisites whatever. The resident or manager at each station is also a working chimney sweeper for the company and at the same rate as the others, his advantage being that he lives rent free. At one station which I visited, the resident had two comfortable looking upstairs rooms, the stations being all in small streets, where he and his wife lived. While the cellar, which was indeed but the ground floor, although somewhat lower than the doorstep, was devoted to business purposes, the suit being stored there. It was boarded off into separate compartments, one being at the time quite full of suit, all seemed as clean and orderly as possible. The rent of those two rooms, unfurnished, would not be less than four shillings or five shillings a week, so that the resident's payment may be put at about £50 a year. The patent machine operatives sweep on an average the same number of chimneys each as a master chimney sweeper's men in a good way of business in the ordinary trade. Of the brisk and slack seasons and the casual trade among the chimney sweepers, as among the rubbish characters in the unskilled and the tailors and shoemakers of the skilled trades, the sweeper's trade also has its slackness and its briskness and from the same cause, the difference in the seasons. The seasons affecting the sweeper's trade are however the natural seasons of the year, the recurring summer and winter, while the seasons influencing the employment of West End tailors are the arbitrary seasons of fashion. The chimney sweeper's brisk season is in the winter and especially at what may be in the respective households the periods of the resumption and discontinuance of sitting room fires. The sweeper's seasons of briskness and slackness indeed may be said then to be ruled by the thermometer, for the temperature causes the increase or diminution of the number of fires and consequently of the production of suit. The thermometrical period for fires appears to be from October to the following April, both inclusive, seven months. For during that season the temperature is below 50 degrees. I have seen it stated and I believe it is merely a statement of a fact that at one time and even now in some houses it was customary enough for what were called great families to have a fixed day, generally Mikkelmus Day, September the 29th, on which to commence fires in the sitting rooms and another stated day, often May Day, May the 1st, on which to discontinue them no matter what might be the mean temperature whether too warm for the enjoyment of a fire or too cold comfortably to dispense with it. Some wealthy persons now I am told such as call themselves economists, while their servants and dependents apply the epithet mean to fire fires until the temperature descends to 42 degrees or from November to March, both inclusive, a season of only five months. As this question of the range of the thermometer evidently influences the seasons and therefore the casual labour of the sweepers, I will give the following interesting account of the changing temperature of the metropolis month by month, the information being derived from the observations of 25 years, 1805 to 1830, by Mr Luke Howard. The average temperature appears to be January 35.1 degrees, February 38.9 degrees, March 42 degrees, April 47.5 degrees, May 54.9 degrees, June 59.6 degrees, July 63.1 degrees, August 57.1 degrees, September 50.1 degrees, October 42.4 degrees, November 41.9 degrees, December 38.3 degrees. London, I may further state, is two and a half degrees warmer than the country, especially in winter, going to the shelter of buildings and the multiplicity of the fires in the houses and factories. In the summer the metropolis is about one and a quarter degrees hotter than the country, owing to want of free air in London, and to a cause little thought about, the reverberations from narrow streets. In spring and autumn however, the temperature of both town and country is nearly equal. In London moreover, the nights are 11.3 degrees colder than the days. In the country they are 15.4 degrees colder. The extreme ranges of the temperature in the day in the capital are from 20 degrees to 90 degrees. The thermometer has fallen below zero in the night time, but not frequently. In London the hottest months are 28 degrees warmer than the coldest. The temperature of July which is the hottest month being 63.1, and that of January the coldest month 35.1 degrees. The month in which there are the greatest number of extremes of heat and cold is January. In February and December there are, generally speaking, only two such extreme variations, and five in July. Through the other months however, the extremes are more diffused, and there are only two spring and two autumn months, April and June, September and November, which are not exposed to great differences of temperature. The main temperature assumes a rate of increase in the different months, which may be represented by a curve, nearly equal and parallel, with one representing the progress of the sun in declination. Horror frosts occur when the thermometer is about 39 degrees, and the dense yellow fogs, so peculiar to London, are the most frequent in the months of November, December and January, whilst the temperature ranges below 40 degrees. The busy season in the chimney sweepers trade commences at the beginning of November, and continues up to the month of May. During the remainder of the year the trade is slack. When the slack season has set in, nearly 100 men are thrown out of employment. These, as well as many of the single-handed masters, resort to other kinds of employment, some turn costar mongers, others tinkers, knife grinders, and so on, and others migrate to the country and get a job at hay-making, or any other kind of unskilled labour. Even during the brisk season there are upwards of 50 men out of employment. Some of these occasionally contrive to get a machine of their own, and go about nulling, getting a job where they can. Many of the master sweepers employ in the summer months only two journeymen, whereas they require three in the winter months. But this I am informed is not the general average, and that it will be more correct to compute it for the whole trade, in the proportion of two-and-a-half to two. We may then calculate that one-fourth of the entire trade is displaced during the slack season. This, then, may be taken as the extent of casual labour, with all the sufferings it entails upon improvident, and even upon careful working men. A youth casually employed as a sweeper gave the following account, I jobs for the sweep sometimes, sir, as I job for anybody else, and if you have any errands to go and will send me, I'll be uncommon thankful. I have no father, and don't remember one, and mother might do well but for the ruin, note gin and note. I call it ruin out of spite. No, I don't care for it myself. I like beer tend to a farthing to it. She's an ironer, sir, a stunning good one, but I don't like to talk about her, for she might yarn a hat full of browns, throbbing sixpence a day, and when she has pulled up for a month or more, its stunning is the difference. I'd rather not be asked more about that. Her great fault against me is as I won't settle. I was one time put to a woman's shoemaker as worked for a wearer's. He was a relation, and I was to go printist if it suited, but I couldn't stand his confining ways, and I'm certain sure that he only wanted me for some tin mother said she'd spring if all was square. He was bad off, and we lived bad, but he always pretended he was going to be stunning busy. So I hooked it. I'd other places. A pot boy's was one, but no go, none suited. Well, I can keep myself now by jobbing least ways I can partly, for I have a crib in the corner of mother's room, and my rent's nothing. And when she's all right, I'm all right, and she gets better, as I grows bigger, I think. Well, I don't know what I'd like to be, something like a lamp lighter, I think. Well, I look out for sweet jobs, among others, and get them sometimes. I don't know how often. Sometimes three mornings a week for one week, then none for a month. Can anyone live by jobbing that way for the sweeps? No, sir, nor get a quarter of a living, but it's a help. I know some very tidy sweeps now. I'm sure I don't know what they are in the way of trade. Oh yes, now you ask that, I think they're masters. I've had sixpence and half a pint of beer for a morning's work, jobbing-like. I carry suit for them, and I'm lent a sort of jacket or a wrap about me, to keep it off my clothes, though a Jew wouldn't sometimes look at them, and there's worser people nor sweeps. Sometimes I'll get only tuppence or thruppence a day for helping that way, a carrying suit. I don't know nothing about weights or bushels, but I know I've found it, blank, heavy. The way you see, sir, is this here. I meet the sweep, as knows me by sight, and he says, come along, Tom's not at work, and I want you. I have to go at harder, so you carry the suit to our place, to save my time, and join me again at number thirty-nine. That's just the ticket of it. Well, no, I wouldn't mind being a sweep for myself with my own machine, but I'd rather be a lamp lighter. How many help sweeps as I do? I can't at all say. No, I don't know, whether it's ten or twenty, or a hundred or a thousand. I'm no scholar, sir, that's one thing. But it's very seldom such as me's wanted by them. I can't tell what I get for jobbing for sweeps in a year. I can't guess at it, but it's not so much, I think, as from other kinds of jobbing. Yes, sir, I haven't no doubt that the tuthers as jobs for sweeps is in the same way as me. I think I may do as much as any of them that way, quite as much. Off the leaks among the chimney sweepers. The leaks are men who have not been brought up to the trade of chimney sweeping, but have adopted it as a speculation, and are so-called from their entering green, or inexperienced, into the business. There are, I find, as many as two hundred leaks altogether among the master chimney sweepers of the metropolis. Of the high masters, the greater portion are leaks, no less than ninety-two out of one hundred and six. I was informed that one of this class was formerly a solicitor. Others had been ladies shoemakers, and others, master builders, and bricklayers. Among the lower class sweepers who have taken to this trade, there are dustmen, scavengers, bricklayers labourers, soldiers, costermongers, tinkers, and various other unskilled labourers. The leaks are regarded with considerable dislike by the class of masters who have been regularly brought up to the business, and served their apprenticeships as climbing boys. These look upon the leaks as men who intrude upon, or interfere with, their natural, and, as they account it, legal, rights. Declaring that only such as have been brought up to the business should be allowed to establish themselves in it as masters. The chimney sweepers, as far as I can learn, have never possessed any guild or any special trade regulations, and this opinion of their rights being invaded by the leaks arises most probably from their knowledge that, during the climbing boys' system, every lad so employed, unless the son of his employer, was obliged to be apprenticed. This jealousy towards the leaks does not at all affect the operative sweepers, as some of these leaks are good masters, and among them perhaps, is to be found the majority of the capitalists of the chimney sweeping trade, paying the best wages, and finding their journeymen proper food and lodging. Into whatever district I travelled, I heard the operative chimney sweepers speak highly in favour of some of the leaks. Many of the small masters, however, said, it were a shame for persons who had never known the horrors of climbing to come into the trade and take the bread out of the mouths of those who had undergone the drudgery of the climbing system, and there appears to be some little justice in their remarks. Since the introduction of machines into the chimney sweeping trade, the masters have increased considerably. In 1816 there were 200 masters, and now there are 350. Before the machines were introduced, the high master sweepers, or great gentlemen, as they were called, numbered only about 20, their present number is 106. The lower class and master men sweepers, on the other hand, were under the climbing system from 150 to 180 in number, but at present there are as many as 240 odd. The majority of these fresh hands are leaks, not having been bred to the business. Of the inferior chimney sweepers, the nullers and queriers. The majority of occupations in all civilized communities are divisible into two distinct classes, the employers and the employed. The employers are necessarily capitalists to a greater or less extent, providing generally the materials and implements necessary for the work, as well as the subsistence of the workmen in the form of wages, and appropriating the proceeds of the labour, while the employed are those who, for the sake of the present subsistence supplied to them, undertake to do the requisite work for the employer. In some few trades, these two functions are found to be united in the same individuals. The class known as peasant proprietors, among the cultivators of the soil, are at once the labourers and the owners of the land and stock. The cottageers, on the other hand, though renting the land of the proprietor, are so to speak peasant farmers, telling the land for themselves, rather than doing so at wages, for some capitalist tenant. In handicrafts and manufacturers, the same combination of functions is found to prevail. In the clothing districts, the domestic workers are generally their own masters, and so again in many other branches of production. These trading operatives are known by different names in different trades. In the shoe trade, for instance, they are called chamber masters. In the cabinet trade, they are termed garret masters, and in the cooper's trade, the name for them is small trading masters. Some style them mastermen, and others single-handed masters. In all occupations, however, the mastermen are found to be especially injurious to the interests of the entire body of both capitalists and operatives. For owing to the limited extent of their resources, they are obliged to find a market for their work, no matter at what the sacrifice, and hence by their excessive competitions, they serve to lower the prices of the trade to the most unprecedented extent. I have as yet met with no occupation in which the existence of a class of mastermen has worked well for the interest of the trade, and I have found many which they have reduced to a state of abject wretchedness. It is a peculiar circumstance, in connection with the mastermen, that they abound only in those callings which require a small amount of capital, and which consequently render it easy for the operative immediately on the least disagreement between him and his employer, to pass from the condition of an operative into that of a trading workman. When among the fancy cabinet makers I had a statement from a gentleman in Aldergate Street, who supplied the material to these men, that a fancy cabinet maker, the manufacturer of writing desks, tea caddies, ladies' workboxes and so on, could begin, and did begin, business, on less than three shelling sixpence. A youth had just then bought materials of him for two shelling sixpence, to begin on a small desk, stepping at once out of the trammels of apprenticeship into the character of a masterman. Now this facility to commence business on a man's own account is far greater in the chimney sweepers trade than even in the desk makers, for the one needs no previous training while the other does. Thus when other trades, skilled or unskilled, are depressed, when casual labour is with a mass of work people more general than constant labour, they usually inquire if they cannot do better at something else, and often resort to such trades as the chimney sweepers. It is open to all, skilled and unskilled alike. Distress, a desire of change, a vagabond spirit, a hope to better themselves, all tend to swell the ranks of the single-handed master chimney sweepers, even though these men, from the casualties of the trade in the way of seasons and so on, are often exposed to great privations. There are in all 147 single-handed masters, who are thus distributed throughout the metropolis. Southern 17, Chelsea 11, Marlebone, Shoreditch and Whitechapel each 9, Hackney, Stepney and Lambeth each 8, St George's in the East 7, Rotherith 6, St Gelsie's and East London each 5, Bethnal Green, Bermondsey, Camberwell and Clapham each 4, St Pancras, Islington, Walworth and Greenwich each 3, St James's Westminster, Hoburn, Clarkinwell, St Luke's, Poplar, Westminster, West London, City, Wandsworth and Woolwich each 1, in all 147. Thus we perceive that the single-handed masters abound in the suburbs and poorer districts, and it is generally in those parts where the lower rate of wages is paid that these men are found to prevail. Their existence appears to be at once the cause and the consequence of the depreciation of the labour. Of the single-handed masters there is a subclass known by the name of Nullars or Querriers, the Nullars where formerly it is probable known as Nellars. The Saxon word knullen is to knell, to knull properly, or sound a bell, and the name Nullar accordingly implies the sound of a bell, which has been done, there can be no doubt, by the London chimney sweepers as well as the dustmen, to announce their presence, and as still done in some country parts. One informant has known this to be the practice at the town of Hungerford in Berkshire. The bell was in size between that of a muffin man and the dustman. The Nullar is also styled a Querrier, a name derived from his making inquiries at the doors of the houses as to whether his services are required or are likely to be soon required, calling even where they know that a regular resident chimney sweeper is employed. The men go along calling sweep, more especially in the suburbs, and if asked, are you Mr. So-and-So's man? Answer in the affirmative, and may then be called in to sweep the chimneys, or instructed to come in the morning. Thus they receive the full charge of an established master, who for the sake of his character and the continuance of his custom must do his work properly. While if such work be done by the Nullar, it will be hurriedly, and therefore badly done, as all work is, in a general way, when done under false pretenses. Some of the sharpest of these men, I am told, have been re-adapt as sweepers, but it appears, although it is a matter difficult to ascertain with precision, the majority have been brought up to some generally unskilled calling, as scavengers, costar mongers, tinkers, pricklers labourers, soldiers, and so on. The Nullars, or queriers, are almost all to be found among the lower class chimneysweepers. There are, from the best information to be obtained, from one hundred and fifty to two hundred of them. Not only do they scheme for employment in the way I have described, but some of them call at the houses of both rich and poor, boldly stating that they had been sent by Mr. Blank to sweep the flows. I was informed by several of the master-sweepers that many of the fires which happen in the Metropolis are owing to persons employing these Nullars. For, say the High Masters, they scamp the work, and leave a quantity of soot lodged in the chimney, which in the event of a large fire being kept in the range or great, ignites. This opinion as to the fires in the chimneys being caused by the scamped work of the Nullars must be taken with some allowance. Tradesmen who has established business is thus, as they account it, usurped, are usually angry with the usurpers. There is another evil, so say the regular masters, resulting from the employment of the Nullars. The losses accruing to persons employing them, as they take anything they can lay their hands upon. This also is a charge easy to make, but not easy to refute, or easy to sift. One master-chimney-sweeper told me that when chimneys are swept in rich men's houses, there is almost always some servant in attendance to watch the sweepers. If the rich, I am told, be watchful under these circumstances, the poor are more vigilant. The distribution of the Nullars, or queriers, is as follows. Southern, 17. Chelsea and St. Charles's, 11 each. Shoreditch and Whitechapel, 10 each. Lambeth, 9. Marlebone, Stepney and Wallworth, 8 each. St. George's in the East and Woolwich, 7 each. Islington and Hackney, 6 each. Paddington, St. Pancras, East London, Rutherith and Greenwich, 5 each. Bethnograin, Bermondsey and Clapham, 4 each. Westminster, St. Martins, Hoburn, St. Luke's, West London, Poplar and Camberwell, 3 each. St. James's Westminster, Clarkinwell, City of London and Wandsworth, 2 each. Kensington, 1. In all, 183. Like the single-handed men, the Nullars abound in the suburbs. I endeavoured to find another who had been a skilled labourer, and was referred to one who, I was told, had been a working plumber, and a good hand at spouts. I found him a doggedly ignorant man. He saw no good, he said, in books or newspapers, and wouldn't say nothing to me, as I told him it would be printed. He wasn't going to make a holy show, so I understood him, of his self. Another Nullar, to whom I was referred by a master who occasionally employed him as a journeyman, gave me the following account. He was doing just middling, when I saw him, he said, but his look was that of a man who had known privations, and the suit actually seemed to bring out his wrinkles more fully, although he told me he was only between 40 and 50 years old. He believed he was not 46. I was hard brought up, sir, he said. I, them as I'll read your book, I mean, them readers, as is well to do, cannot fancy how hard. Mother was a widow, father was nobody knew where, and poor women she was sometimes distracted, that a daughter she had before her marriage went all wrong. She was a washerwoman, and slaved herself to death. She died in the house, note, workhouse, and note, in Birmingham. I can read and write a little. I was sent to a charity school, and when I was big enough I was put printist to a gunsmith at Birmingham. I'm master of the business generally, but my particular part is a gun lock filer. No, sir, I can't say as ever I liked it. Nothing but file, file, all day. I used to wish I was like the three bits of boys that used to beg steel filings off me for their fifth of November fireworks. I never could bear confinement. It's made me look older than I ought, I know. But what can a poor man do? No, I never cared much about drinking. I worked in an iron foundry when I was out of my time. I had a relation that was forming there. Perhaps it might be that, among all the dust and heat and smoke and stuff, that made me a sweep at last, for I was then almost or quite as black as a sweep. Then I came up to London. Ah, that must be more than 20 years back. Oh, I came up to better myself, but I couldn't get work either at the gun makers, and I fancy the London masters don't like Birmingham hands, nor at the iron foundries. And the iron foundries is nothing in London to what they is in Staffordshire and Warwickshire. Nothing at all. They may say what they like. Well, sir, I soon got very bad off. My tugs was hardly to call tugs. One night, and it was a coldish night too, I slept in the park, and was all stiff and shivery next morning. As I was wandering about near the park, I walked up a street near the Abbey. King Street, I think it is. And there was a picture outside a public house, and a writing of men wanted for the East India Company's service. I went there again in the evening, and there were soldiers smoking and drinking up and down, and I listed at once. I was to have my full bounty when I got to the depot. Southampton, I think they called it. Somehow I began to rue what I'd done. Well, I hardly can tell you why. Oh no, I don't say I was badly used, not at all. But I had heard of snakes and things in the parts I was going to, and I gently hooked it. I was a navvy on different rails after that, but I never was strong enough for that their work. And at last I couldn't get any more work to do. I came back to London. Well, sir, I can't say as you ask why I came to London, instead of Birmingham. I seemed to go natural like. I could get nothing to do, and lord, what I suffered. I once fell down in the cut from hunger, and I was lifted into watchhorns. And he said to his men, Give the poor fellow a little drop of brandy, and after that a biscuit, the best things he can have. He saved my life, sir. The people at the bar, they said it was no humbug, gathered seven pins hapeny for me, a penny apiece from some of Monsley's men, and a hapeny from a gent that hadn't no other change, and a poor woman as I was going away slipped a couple of trotters into my hand. I slept at a lodging-house then in Baldwin's gardens, when I had money. And one day, in Grey's Inn Lane, I picked up an old gent that fell in the middle of the street, and might have been run over. After he'd felt in all his pockets and found he was all right, he gave me five shillings. I knew a sweep, for I sometimes slept in the same house, in King Street, Dury Lane, and he was sick and was going to the big house. And he told me all about his machines, that's six or seven years back, and said if I'd pay two shilling sixpins down and two shilling sixpins a week, if I couldn't pay more, I might have his machine for twenty shillings. I took it at seventeen shilling sixpins and paid him every farthing. That just kept him out of the house, but he died soon after. Yes, I've been a sweep ever since. I've had to shift as well as I could. I don't know that I'm what you call a nuller or a querier. Well, if I'm asked, if I'm anybody's man, I don't like to say no, and I don't like to say yes, so I says nothing if I can help it. Yes, I call it houses to ask if anything's wanted. I've got a job that way sometimes. If they took me for anybody's man, I can't help that. I lodge with another sweep which is better off than I am, and pay him two shillings ninepins a week for a little stairhead place with a bed in it. I think I clear seven shillings a week, one week with another. But that's the outside. I never go to church or chapel. I've never got into the way of it. Besides, I wouldn't be let in, I suppose, in my talks. I've only myself. I can't say I much like what I'm doing, but what can a poor man do? End of Section 69, Section 70, Of London Labour and the London Poor, Volume 2, by Henry Mayhew. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, recording by Gillian Henry. The Fires of London Connected with the subject of chimney sweeping is one which attracts far less of the attention of the legislature and the public than its importance would seem to demand. I mean, the fires in the metropolis, with their long train of calamities such as the loss of life and of property. These calamities too, especially as regards the loss of property, are almost all endured by the poor. The destruction of whose furniture is often the destruction of their whole property, as insurances are rarely effected by them, while the wealthier classes, in the case of fires, are not exposed to the evils of homelessness, and may be actually gainers by the conflagration through the sum for which the property was insured. The daily occurrence of fires in the metropolis, say the Board of Health, their extent, the number of persons who perish by them, the enormous loss of property they occasion, the prevalence of incendiaryism, the apparent apathy with which such calamities are regarded, and the rapidity with which they are forgotten, will hereafter be referred to as evidence of a very low social condition and effective administrative organisation. These fires, it was shown nearly a century ago when the subject of insurance was debated in Parliament, were frequently caused from not having chimney swept in proper time. I am informed that a chimney may be on fire for many days, unknown to the inmates of the house, and finally break out in the body of the building by its getting into contact with some beam or woodwork. The recent burning of Limehouse Church was occasioned by the soot collected in the flue taking fire and becoming red hot when it ignited the woodwork in the roof. The flue, or pipe, was off iron. From a return made by Mr Braidwood of the houses and properties destroyed in the metropolis in the three years ending 1849 inclusive, it appears that the total number was 1,111. Of contents destroyed, which being generally insured separately, should be kept distinct, there were 1,013. The subjoined table gives the particulars as to the proportion insured and uninsured. Houses insured 914, uninsured 197, total 1,111. Contents insured 609, uninsured 404, total 1,013. Total insured 1,523, total uninsured 601, total of both 2,124. The proportion per cent of the uninsured to the insured would be, houses 1,111, insured 82.3%, uninsured 17.7%. Contents 1,013, insured 60.1%, uninsured 39.9%. Total 2,124, insured 71.7%, uninsured 28.3%. The following table gives the total number of fires in the metropolis during a series of years. Abstract of causes of fire in the metropolis, from 1833 to 1849, inclusive. Compiled by W Badley. Accidents of various kinds, for the most part unavoidable. 1833, 83, 1834, 40, 1835, 14, 1836, 13, 1837, 17, 1838, 36, 1839, 25, 1840, 26. A pearl ignited on the person. 1836, 7, 1837, 7, 1838, 5, 1839, 3, 1840, 12, 1841, 5, 1842, 9, 1843, 5, 1844, 4, 1845, 3, 1846, 3, 1847, 3, 1848, 1, 1849, 2. Total 69, average 4. Various accidents with candles. 1833, 56, 1834, 146, 1835, 110, 1836, 157, 1837, 125, 1838, 132, 1839, 128, 1840, 169, 1841, 1884, 1842, 1889, 1843, 166, 1844, 205, 1845, 165, 1846, 229, 1847, 237, 1848, 237, 1849, 241. Total 2876, average 169. Poppable instances of carelessness. 1833, 28, 1834, 0, 1835, 19, 1836, 18, 1837, 7, 1838, 17, 1839, 14, 1840, 24, 1841, 25, 1842, 19, 1843, 27, 1844, 15, 1845, 14, 1846, 15, 1847, 20, 1848, 23, 1849, 24, total 309, average 18. Children playing with fire or candles. 1833 and 1834, 0, 1835, 5, 1836, 6, 1837, 18, 1838, 5, 1839, 12, 1840, 21, 1841, 18, 1842, 16, 1843, 20, 1844, 23, 1845, 19, 1846, 25, 1847, 16, 1848, 19, 1849, 15, total 238, average 14. Drunkenness, 1833, 0, 1834, 2, 1835, 3, 1836, 0, 1837, 2, 1838, 4, 1839, 6, 1845, 1841, 5, 1842, 11, 1843, 6, 1844, 9, 1845, 7, 1846, 9, 1847, 5, 1848, 3, 1849, 7, total 84, average 5. Application of fire heat to various hazardous manufacturing processes. 1833, 31, 1834, 24, 1835, 39, 1836, 34, 1837, 22, 1838, 40, 1839, 26, 1840, 29, 1841, 16, 1842, 36, 1843, 14, 1844, 21, 1845, 22, 1846, 25, 1847, 16, 1848, 22, 1849, 23, total 440, average 26. Firesparks, 1833, 1835, 0, 1836, 7, 1837, 10, 1838, 12, 1839, 9, 1840, 17, 1841, 13, 1842, 23, 1843, 17, 1844, 27, 1845, 24, 1846, 32, 1847, 65, 1848, 63, 1849, 40, total 359, average 21. Fireworks, 1833 and 1834, 0, 1835, 3, 1836, 0, 1837, 5, 1838, 3, 1839, 5, 1841, 1841, 4, 1842, 7, 1843, 5, 1844, 3, 1845, 10, 1846, 9, 1847, 6, 1848, 1, 1849, 8, total 70, average 4. Fire kindled on hearths and other improper places. 1833, 7, 1834, 0, 1835, 9, 1836, 5, 1837, 5, 1838, 15, 1839, 8, 1847, 1841, 8, 1842, 9, 1843, 9, 1844, 8, 1845, 12, 1846, 7, 1847, 3, 1848, 4, 1849, 4, total 120, average 7. Flues, foul, defective and so on. 1845, 1844, 1844, 1845, 78, 1846, 86, 1847, 78, 1848, 56, 1849, 78, total 1273, average 75. Incautious fumigation, 1833, 0, 1834, 3, 1835, 7, 1836, 5, 1837, 2, 1838, 1, 1839, 5, 1843, 1841, 2, 1842, 2, 1843, 1, 1844, 1, 1845, 3, 1846, 4, 1847, 4, 1848, 4, 1849, 2, total 49, average 3. Furnaces, kilns and so on, defective or overheated. 1833, 0, 1834, 11, 1835, 2, 1836, 9, 1837, 12, 1838, 15, 1839, 20, 1840, 15, 1841, 12, 1842, 23, 1843, 19, 1844, 17, 1845, 29, 1846, 28, 1847, 14, 1848, 16, 1849, 21, total 263, average 16. Gas, 1833, 20, 1834, 25, 1835, 39, 1836, 38, 1837, 31, 1838, 42, 1839, 72, 1840, 48, 1841, 48, 1842, 52, 1843, 40, 1844, 33, 1845, 54, 1846, 53, 1847, 63, 1848, 65, 1849, 57, total 780, average 46. Gunpowder, 1833, 3, 1834, 3, 1835, 0, 1836, 1, 1837, 3, 1838, 1, 1839, 2, 1840, 0, 1841, 0, 1842, 3, 1843, 1, 1844, 0, 1845, 1, 1846, 0, 1847, 2, 1848, 0, 1849, 2, total 22, average 1 and 1 fifth, hearths, defective and so on. 1833 to 1841, 0, 1842, 3, 1843, 5, 1844, 2, 1845, 0, 1846, 4, 1847, 3, 1848, 4, 1849, 3, total 24, average 1 and a half. Hot cinders put away. 1833 to 1841, 0, 1842, 3, 1843, 3, 1844, 7, 1845, 10, 1846, 8, 1847, 9, 1848, 5, 1849, 11, total 56, average 3, lamps, 1833 to 1835, 0, 1836, 2, 1837, 3, 1838, 9, 1839, 4, 1843, 1841, 5, 1842, 2, 1843, 2, 1844, 6, 1845, 11, 1846, 7, 1847, 2, 1848, 3, 1849, 17, total 76, average 5, slicking of lime, 1833, 0, 1834, 3, 1835, 4, 1836, 3, 1837, 0, 1839, 4, 1840, 2, 1841, 5, 1842, 4, 1843, 2, 1844, 3, 1845, 9, 1846, 7, 1847, 5, 1848, 5, 1849, 3, total 61, average 4, drying, airing and so on of linen, 1833 and 1834, 0, 1835, 22, 1836, 31, 1837, 48, 1838, 32, 1839, 26, 1840, 25, 1841, 27, 1842, 41, 1843, 33, 1844, 45, 1845, 30, 1846, 39, 1847, 34, 1848, 36, 1849, 40, total 509, average 30, Lucifer matches, 1833 to 1836, 0, 1837, 8, 1838, 9, 1839, 17, 1840, 18, 1841, 16, 1842, 17, 1843, 14, 1844, 19, 1845, 12, 1846, 14, 1847, 9, 1848, 23, 1849, 12, total 188, average 11, ovens, 1833, 6, 1834, 0, 1835, 0, 1836, 6, 1837, 3, 1838, 11, 1839, 4, 1840, 13, 1841, 13, 1842, 13, 1843, 10, 1844, 10, 1845, 8, 1846, 8, 1847, 8, 1848, 2, 1849, 2, total 117, average 7, reading, working or smoking in bed, 1833, 0, 1834, 3, 1835 to 1837, 0, 1838, 1, 1839, 2, 1840, 0, 1841, 5, 1842, 2, 1843, 3, 1844, 0, 1845, 0, 1846, 3, 1847, 1, 1848, 1, 1849, 1, total 22, average 1 and a third, shavings loose, ignited, 1833, 0, 1834, 6, 1835, 9, 1836, 13, 1837, 8, 1838, 17, 1839, 8, 1840, 27, 1841, 35, 1842, 22, 1843, 31, 1844, 18, 1845, 25, 1846, 35, 1847, 37, 1848, 27, 1849, 21, total 339, average 20, spontaneous combustion, 1833, 7, 1834, 2, 1835, 5, 1836, 4, 1837, 4, 1838, 5, 1839, 13, 1840, 11, 1841, 22, 1842, 20, 1843, 23, 1844, 34, 1845, 19, 1846, 18, 1847, 15, 1848, 7, 1849, 19, total 228, average 13, stoves, defective, overheated and so on, 1833, 18, 1834, 20, 1835, 11, 1836, 28, 1837, 36, 1838, 31, 1839, 24, 1840, 48, 1841, 54, 1842, 32, 1843, 58, 1844, 44, 1845, 51, 1846, 43, 1847, 37, 1848, 48, 1849, 43, total 626, average 37, tobacco smoking, 1833, 0, 1834, 6, 1835, 4, 1836, 1, 1837, 3, 1838, 4, 1839, 11, 1849, 1841, 22, 1842, 17, 1843, 14, 1844, 21, 1845, 19, 1846, 29, 1847, 18, 1848, 37, 1849, 24, total 239, average 14, 1833 to 1836, 0, 1837, 7, 1838, 8, 1839, 6, 1840, 11, 1841, 7, 1842, 9, 1843, 16, 1844, 7, 1845, 9, 1846, 7, 1847, 17, 1848, 11, 1849, 10, total 125, average 7, Wilful, 1833, 3, 1834, 9, 1835, 6, 1836, 8, 1837, 5, 1838, 6, 1839, 7, 1849, 1841, 13, 1842, 19, 1843, 21, 1844, 11, 1845, 14, 1846, 19, 1847, 17, 1848, 25, 1849, 19, total 211, average 12, unknown, 1833, 125, 1834, 114, 1835, 91, 1836, 96, 1837, 57, 1838, 45, 1839, 67, 1840, 39, 1841, 23, 1842, 32, 1843, 60, 1844, 74, 1845, 32, 1846, 39, 1847, 72, 1848, 38, 1849, 76, total 1080, average 63. Here, then, we perceive that there are, upon an average of 17 years, no less than 770 fires per annum. That is to say, 29 houses in every 10,000 are discovered to be on fire every year, and about one-fourth of these are uninsured. In the year 1833, the total number of fires was only 458, or 20 in every 10,000 inhabited houses, whilst in 1849, the number had gradually progressed to 838, or 28 in every 10,000 houses. We have here, however, to deal more particularly with the causes of these fires, of which the following table gives the result of many years' valuable experience. Tabular Epitome of Metropolitan Fires from 1833 to 1849 by W Baddily, 29 Alfred Street, Islington. Slightly damaged. 1833, 292, 1834, 338, 1835, 315, 1836, 397, 1837, 357, 1838, 383, 1839, 402, 1840, 451, 1841, 438, 1842, 521, 1843, 489, 1844, 502, 1845, 431, 1846, 576, 1847, 536, 1848, 509, 1849, 582, total 6574, average 470. Seriously damaged. 1833, 135, 1834, 116, 1835, 125, 1836, 134, 1837, 122, 1838, 152, 1839, 165, 1840, 204, 1841, 234, 1842, 224, 1843, 231, 1844, 237, 1845, 244, 1846, 238, 1847, 273, 1848, 269, 1849, 228, total 2955, average 211. Totally destroyed. 1833, 31, 1834, 28, 1835, 31, 1836, 33, 1837, 22, 1838, 33, 1839, 17, 1840, 26, 1841, 24, 1842, 24, 1843, 29, 1844, 23, 1845, 32, 1846, 20, 1847, 27, 1848, 27, 1849, 28, total 365, average 26, total number of fires, 1833, 458, 1834, 482, 1835, 471, 1836, 564, 1837, 501, 1838, 568, 1839, 582, 1840, 681, 1841, 696, 1842, 769, 1843, 749, 1844, 762, 1845, 707, 1846, 834, 1847, 836, 1848, 805, 1849, 838, total 9894, average 770. False alarms. 1833, 59, 1834, 63, 1835, 66, 1836, 66, 1837, 89, 1838, 80, 1839, 70, 1840, 84, 1841, 67, 1842, 61, 1843, 79, 1844, 70, 1845, 81, 1846, 119, 1847, 88, 1848, 120, 1849, 76, total 1150, average 82. Alarms from chimneys on fire. 1833, 75, 1834, 106, 1835, 106, 1836, 126, 1837, 127, 1838, 107, 1839, 101, 1840, 98, 1841, 92, 1842, 82, 1843, 83, 1844, 94, 1845, 87, 1846, 69, 1847, 66, 1848, 86, 1849, 89, total 1307, average 94. Total number of calls. 1833, 592, 1834, 651, 1835, 643, 1836, 756, 1837, 717, 1838, 755, 1839, 755, 1840, 863, 1841, 855, 1842, 912, 1843, 911, 1844, 926, 1845, 875, 1846, 1022, 1847, 990, 1848, 1011, 1849, 1003, total 12351, average 882. Insurances on building and contents. 1833 to 1835, 0, 1836, 169, 1837, 173, 1838, 161, 1839, 169, 1840, 237, 1841, 343, 1842, 321, 1843, 276, 1844, 313, 1845, 313, 1846, 302, 1847, 263, 1848, 310, 1849, 368, total 3718, average 266. Insurances on building only. 1833 to 1835, 0, 1836, 73, 1837, 47, 1838, 59, 1839, 58, 1840, 92, 1841, 149, 1842, 116, 1843, 124, 1844, 138, 1845, 107, 1846, 137, 1847, 125, 1848, 120, 1849, 163, total 1508, average 108. Insurances on contents only. 1833 to 1835, 0, 1836, 104, 1837, 76, 1838, 128, 1839, 115, 1840, 104, 1841, 52, 1842, 112, 1843, 107, 1844, 94, 1845, 73, 1846, 125, 1847, 157, 1848, 134, 1849, 72, total 1453, average 104. Uninsured, 1833 to 1835, 0, 1836, 218, 1837, 205, 1838, 220, 1839, 242, 1840, 248, 1841, 152, 1842, 220, 1843, 242, 1844, 217, 1845, 214, 1846, 270, 1847, 291, 1848, 241, 1849, 235, total 3215, average 230. Thus we perceive that out of an average of 665 fires per annum, the information being derived from 17 years experience, the following were the number of fires produced by different causes. Various accidents with candles, average number of fires per annum, 169, flues, foul defective and so on, 75, unknown 63, gas 46, overheated stoves, 37, linen, drying, airing and so on, 30, accidents of various kinds for the most part unavoidable, 27, application of fire heat to various hazardous manufacturing processes, 26, fire sparks, 21, loose ignited shavings, 20, palpable instances of carelessness, 18, furnace, kilns and so on, defective or overheated, 16, children playing with fire or candles, 14, tobacco smoking, 14, spontaneous combustion, 13, willful, 12, Lucifer matches, 11, ovens, 7, fires kindled on hearths and other improper places, 7, suspicious, 7, lamps, 5, drunkenness, 5, slaking of lime, 4, apparel ignited on the person, 4, fireworks, 4, hot cinders put away, 3, incautious fumigation, 3, reading, working or smoking in bed, 1.33, defective hearths, 1.25, total 665. Here then we find that while the greatest proportion of fires are caused by accidents with candles, about one-ninth of the fires above mentioned arise from foul thlews, or 75 out of 665, a circumstance which teaches us the usefulness of the class of labourers of whom we have been lately treating. It would seem that a much larger proportion of the fires are willfully produced than appear in the above table. The Board of Health, in speaking of incendiarism in connection with insurance, report, quote, inquiries connected with measures for the improvement of the population have developed the operation of insurances in engendering crimes and calamities negatively by weakening natural responsibilities and motives to care and forethought, positively by temptations held out to the commission of crime in the facility with which insurance money is usually obtainable. The steady increase in the number of fires in the metropolis, whilst our advance in the arts gives means for their diminution, is ascribable mainly to the operation of these two causes and to the division and weakening of administrative authority. From information on which we can rely, we feel assured that the crime of incendiarism for the sake of insurance money exists to a far greater extent than the public are aware of, end quote. Mr. Bradwood has expressed his opinion that only one-half of the property in the metropolis is insured, not as to numbers of property, but as to value. But the proportion of insured and uninsured houses could not be ascertained. Mr. Bradley, the inspector to the Society for the Protection of Life from Fire, who had given attention to the subject for the last thirty years, gave the Board the following account of the increase of fires. In the first seven years there were, on average, 623 fires per annum of houses and properties, of which 215 were totally uninsured. Proportion percent of insured houses and properties burnt, 65.15%. In the second seven years, 790 fires per annum of houses and properties, of which 244 were totally uninsured. Proportion percent of insured houses and properties burnt, 69.3%. During this period there has been a great increase in the number of dwellings, but this has been chiefly in suburban places, where fires rarely occur. The frequency of fires, it is further stated, led Mr. Payne, the coroner of the City of London, to revive the exercise of the coroner's function of inquiring into the causes of fires, most usefully. Out of 58 inquests held by him in the City of London and the borough of Southark, which comprise only one-eighteenth of the houses of the Metropolis, since 1845, it appears that eight were proved to be willful. 27 apparently accidental, and 23 from causes unknown, including suspicious causes. The proportion of ascertained willful fires was therefore 23%, which gives strong confirmation to the indications presented by the statistical returns as to the excess of insured property burnt above uninsured. The at once mean and reckless criminality of arson by which a man exposes his neighbours to the risk of a dreadful death, which he himself takes measures to avoid, has long, and on many occasions, gone unpunished in London. The insurance companies, when a demand is made upon them for a loss through fire, institute an inquiry, carried on quietly by their own people. The claimant is informed, if sufficient reasons for such a step appear, that from suspicious circumstances which had come to the knowledge of the company, the demand would not be complied with, and that the company would resist any action for the recovery of the money. The criminal becomes alarmed, he is afraid of committing himself, and so the matter drops, and the insurance companies not being required to pay the indemnification are satisfied to save their money, and let the incendiarism remain unnoticed or unpunished. Mr Payne the Coroner has on some occasions strongly commented on this practice as one which showed the want of a public prosecutor. A few words as regards the means of extinction and help at fires. Upwards of two years ago, the commissioners of police instructed their officers to note the time which elapsed between the earliest alarm of fire and the arrival of the first engine. Seventeen fires were noted, and the average duration of time before the fire brigade or any parochial or local fire engine reached the spot was 36 minutes. Two or three of these fires were in the suburbs, so that in this crowded city so densely packed with houses and people, 15 fires raged unchecked for more than half an hour. There are in the metropolis not including the more distant suburbs 150 public fire stations with engines provided under the management of the parochial authorities. The fire brigade has but 17 stations on land and two on the river, which are indeed floating engines, one being usually moored near Southark Bridge, the other having no stated place, being changed in its locality as may be considered best. In the course of three years, the term of the official inquiry, the engines of the fire brigade reached on the average the place where a fire was raging 35 times as the earliest means of assistance when the parochial engines did the same only in the proportion of two to the 35. Mr Bradwood, the director of the fire brigade, stated when questioned on the subject with a view to a report to be laid before Parliament that the average time of an engine turning out with horses was from three to seven minutes. The engines are driven at the rate of 10 miles an hour along the streets, which in the old coaching days was considered the best royal male pace. Indeed there have been frequent complaints of the rapidity with which the fire engines are driven and if the drivers were not skillful and alert it would really amount to recklessness. Information of the breaking out of a fire, it is stated in the report, will be conveyed to the station of the brigade at the rate of about five miles an hour. Thus in the case of the occurrence of a fire within a mile of the station, the intelligence may be conveyed to the station in about 12 minutes. The horses will be put to and the engine got out into the street in about five minutes on the average. It traverses the mile in about six minutes and the water has to be got into the engine which will occupy about five minutes making under the most favourable circumstances for such a distance 28 minutes or for a half mile distance an average of not less than 20 minutes. The average distance of the occurring fires from a brigade station were however during a period of three years terminating in 1850 upwards of a mile. One was five miles, several four miles, more were two miles and a mile and a half, while the most destructive fires were at an average distance of a mile and three quarters. Thus it was impossible for a fire brigade to give assistance as soon as assistance was needed and under other circumstances might have been rendered. And all this damage may and does very often result from what seems so trifling and neglect as the non-sweeping of a chimney. Mr. W. Badley an engineer and a high authority on this subject has stated that he had attended fires for 30 years in London and that of 838 fires which took place in 1849 two-thirds might have been easily extinguished had there been an immediate application of water. In some places he said delay originated from the turn cocks being at wide intervals and some of the companies objecting to let any but their own servants have the command of the main cocks. The Board of Health have recommended the formation of a series of street water plugs within short distances of each other the water to be constantly on at high pressure night and day and the hole to be under the charge of a trained body of men such as compose the present fire brigade provided at appointed stations with every necessary appliance in the way of hose pipes ladders and so on. The hose should be within the reach it is urged in the report fixed and applied on an average of not more than five minutes from the time of the alarm being given that is to say in less than one-fourth of the time within which fire engines are brought to bear under existing arrangements and with a still greater proportionate diminution of risks and serious accidents. Nor is this mode of extinguishing fires a mere experiment it is successfully practiced in some of the American cities Philadelphia among the number and in some of our own manufacturing towns. Mr. Emmett the engineer and manager of the Oldham Water Works has described the practice in that town on the occurrence of fires quote in five cases out of six the hose is pushed into a water plug and the water thrown upon the building on fire for the average pressure of water in this town is 146 feet by this means our fires are generally extinguished even before the heavy engine arrives at the spot the hose is much preferred to the engine on account of the speed with which it is applied and the readiness with which it is used for one man can manage a hose and throw as much water on the building on fire as an engine worked by many men on this account we very rarely indeed use the engines as they possess no advantage whatever over the hose end quote when the city of Hamburg was rebuilt two or three years back after its destruction by fire it was rebuilt chiefly under the direction of Mr. W. Lindley the engineer and as far as Mr. Lindley could accomplish on sanitary principles such as the abolition of cesspools the arrangements for the surface cleansing of the streets by means of the hose and jet and the water plugs are made available for the extinction of fires and with the following results as communicated by Mr. Lindley have there been fires in buildings in Hamburg and the portion of the town rebuilt yes repeatedly they have all however been put out at once if they had had to wait the usual time for engines and water say 20 minutes or half an hour these might all have led to extensive conflagrations what has been the effect on insurance the effect of the rapid extinction of fires has brought to light to the citizens of Hamburg the fact that the greater proportion of their fires are the work of incendiaries for the sake of the insurance money a person is absent smoke is seen to exude the alarm of fire is given and the door is forced open the jet applied and the fire extinguished immediately case after case has occurred where upon the fire being extinguished the arrangements for the spread of the fire are found and made manifest several of this class of incendiaries for the insurance money are now in prison the saving of money alone by the prevention of fires would be worth the whole expense of the like arrangement in london where it is well known that similar practices prevail extensively the following statement was given by mr quick an engineer on this subject after the destruction of the terminus of the southwestern railway by fire i recommended them to have a nine inch main with three inch outlets leading to six stand pipes with joining screws for hose pipes to be attached and that they should carry a three inch pipe of the same description up into each floor so that a hose might be attached in any room where the fire commenced in how many minutes may the hose be attached there is only the time of attaching the hose which need be nothing like a minute i have indeed recommended that a short length of hose with a short nozzle or branch should be kept attached to the cock so that the cock has only to be turned which is done in an instant it appears that fire engines require 26 men to work each engine of two seven inch barrels to produce a jet of about 50 feet high the arrangement carried out at your recommendation with six jets is equivalent to keeping six such engines and the power of 156 men in readiness to act at all times night and day at about a minute's notice for the extinction of fires it will give power more than equal to that number of men for the jets given off from a 20 inch main will be much more regular and powerful and will deliver more water than could be delivered by any engine the jets at that place would be 70 feet high the system of roof cisterns which was at one time popular as a means of extinction has been found it appears on account of their leakage and diffusion of damp to be but sorry contrivances and have very generally been discontinued mr. home a builder in Liverpool gives the following even under the circumstances i'm using account of a fire where such a cistern was provided the owner of a cotton kiln which had been repeatedly burnt took it into his head to erect a large tank in the roof his idea was that when a fire occurred they should have water at hand and when the fire ascended it would burn the wooden tank and the whole of the contents being discharged on the fire like a cataract it would at once extinguish it well the kiln again took fire the smoke was so suffocating that nobody could get at the internal pipe and the whole building was again destroyed but what became of the tank it could not burn because it was filled with water consequently it boiled most admirably no hole was singed in its side or bottom it looked very picturesque but it was utterly useless the necessity of almost immediate help is shown in the following statement by mr. Bradwood when consulted on the subject of fire escapes which under the present system are not considered sufficiently effective taking london to be six miles long and three miles broad to have anything like an efficient system of fire escapes it would be necessary to have one with a man to attend it within a quarter of a mile of each house as assistants to be of any use must generally be rendered within five minutes after the alarm is given to do this the stations must be within a quarter of a mile of each other as the escapes must be taken around the angles of the streets 253 stations would thus be required and as many men at present scaling ladders are kept at all the engine stations and canvas sheets also at some of them several lives have been saved by them but the distance of the stations from each other renders them applicable only in a limited number of instances the engines of the fire brigade throw up about 90 gallons a minute their number is about 100 the cost of a fire engine is from 60 pounds to 100 pounds and the hose buckets and general apparatus cost nearly the same amount end of section 70