 | OF THE STREET-SELLERS OF MANUFACTURED ARTICLES. London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1 |  |
OF THE "SWAG-BARROWMEN," AND "LOT-
SELLERS."
The "swag" (miscellaneous) barrow is one of
the objects in the streets which attracts, perhaps
more readily than any other, the regards of the
passer-by. There are so many articles and of such
various uses; they are often so closely packed, so
new and clean looking; and every here and there
so tastefully arranged, that this street-trader's
barrow really repays an examination. Here are
spread on the flat part of the barrow, pepper-
cruets or boxes, tea-caddies, nutmeg-graters,
vinegar-cruets, pen-cases, glass or china-handled
pens, pot ornaments, beads, ear-rings, finger-rings
(plain or with "stones"), cases of scent-bottles,
dolls, needle-cases, pincushions, Exhibition medals
and "frames" (framed pictures), watches, shawl-
pins, extinguishers, trumpets and other toys,
kaleidoscopes, seals, combs, lockets, thimbles, bone
tooth-picks, small playing-cards, teetotums, shut-
tle-cocks, key-rings, shirt-studs or buttons, hooks
and eyes, coat-studs, money-boxes, spoons, boxes
of toys, earthenware-mugs, and glass articles, such
as salt-cellars and smelling-bottles. On one barrow
were 225 articles.
At the back and sides of the swag-barrow are
generally articles which are best displayed in an
erect position. These are children's wooden
swords, whips, climbing monkeys, and tumblers,
jointed snakes twisting to the wind from the top
of a stick, kites, and such things as tin egg-
holders.
Perhaps on very few barrows or stalls are to be
seen all the articles I have enumerated, but they
are all "in the trade," and, if not found in this
man's stock, may be found in his neighbour's.
Things which attain only a temporary sale, such
as galvanic rings, the Lord's Prayer in the com-
pass of a sixpence, gutta-percha heads, &c., are
also to be found, during the popular demand, in
the miscellaneous trader's stock.
Each of the articles enumerated is retailed at
1d. "Only a penny!" is the cry, "pick 'em out
anywhere; wherever your taste lies; only a
penny, a penny, a penny!" But on a few other
barrows are goods, mixed with the "penny"
wares, of a higher price; such as knives and
forks, mustard pots, sham beer glasses (the glasses
which appear to hold beer frothing to the brim),
higher-priced articles of jewellery, skipping-ropes,
drums, china ornaments, &c. At these barrows
the prices run from 1d. to 1s.
The practice of selling by commission, the
same as I have shown to prevail among the
costers, exists among the miscellaneous dealers of
whom I am treating, who are known among street-
folk as "swag-barrowmen," or, in the popular
ellipsis, "penny swags;" the word "swag" mean-
ing, as I before showed, a collection — a lot.
The "swag-men" are often confounded with
the "lot-sellers"; so that I proceed to show the
difference.
The Lot-Sellers proper, are those who vend a
variety of small articles, or "a lot," all for 1d.
A "lot" frequently consists of a sheet of songs, a
Chinese puzzle, a 5l. note (Bank of Elegance),
an Exhibition snuff-box (containing 6 spoons),
a half jack (half sovereign), a gold ring, a silver
ring, and a chased keeper with rose, thistle, and
shamrock on it. The lots are diversified with
packs of a few cards, little pewter ornaments,
boxes of small wooden toys, shirt-buttons, baby
thimbles, beads, tiny scent bottles, and such like.
The "penny apiece" or "swag" trade, as con-
tradistinguished from the "penny lots" vended by
the lot-sellers, was originated by a man who, some
19 years ago, sold a variety of trifles from a tea-
tray in Petticoat-lane. My informant had heard
him say — for the original "penny apiece" died
four years ago — that he did it to get rid of the odds
and ends of his stock. The system, however, at
once attracted popularity, and the fortunate street-
seller prospered and "died worth money." At
that period penny goods (excepting such things as
sweet-stuffs, pastry, &c.) were far less numerous
in the streets, and yet I have never met with an
old street-trader (a statement fully borne out by
old and intelligent mechanics) who did not pro-
nounce spare pennies to be far more abundant in
those days among the poorer and even middle
classes. There were, moreover, far fewer street
chapmen, so that this novel mode of business had
every chance to thrive.
The origin of "lot-selling," or selling "penny
lots" instead of penny articles, was more curious.
It was commenced by an ingenious Swiss (?)
[Description: 915EAF. Page 448.]
known in the street circles as "Swede." He was
a refugee, a Roman Catholic, and a hot poli-
tician. He spoke and understood English well,
but had no sympathy with the liberal parties in
this country. "He was a republican," he would
say, "and the Chartists were only milk and
water." When he established his lot-selling he
used to place to his mouth an instrument, which
was described to me as "like a doubled card,"
and play upon it very finely. This would attract
a crowd, and he would then address them in good
English, but with a slight foreign accent: "My
frents; come to me, and I will show you my
musical instruments, which will play Italian, Swiss,
French, Scotch, Irish, or any tunes. And here
you see beautiful cheap lots of useful tings, and
elegant tings. A penny a lot, a penny a lot!"
The arrangement of the "lots" was similar to
what it is at present, but the components of the
pennyworth were far less numerous. This man
carried on a good trade in London for two or
three years, and then applied his industry to a
country more than a town career. He died about
five or six years ago, at his abode in Fashion-street,
Spitalfields, "worth money." At the time of his
decease he was the proprietor of two lodging-houses;
one in Spitalfields, the other in Birmingham, both
I am told, well conducted; the charge was 4d. a
night. He did not reside in either, but employed
"deputies." I may observe that he sold his "mu-
sical instruments," also, at 1d. each, but the sale
was insignificant. "Only himself seemed master
of 'em," said one man; "with other people they
were no better nor a Jew's-harp."
Of the "penny apiece" street-vendors, there
are about 300 in London; 250 having barrows,
and 50 stalls or pitches on the ground. Some
even sell at "a halfpenny apiece," but chiefly to
get rid of inferior wares, or when "cracked up,"
and unable to "spring" a better stock. The bar-
rows are 7 feet by 3; are well built in general,
and cost 50s. each. These barrows, when fully
stocked, are very heavy (about 4 cwt.), so that it
requires a strong man to propel one any distance,
and though occasionally the man's wife officiates
as the saleswoman, there is always a man con-
nected with the business. In my description of
a stock of penny goods, I have mentioned that
there were 225 articles; these were counted on a
barrow in a street near the Brill — but probably on
another occasion (when there appeared a better
chance of selling) there might be 500 articles, such
things as rings and the like admitting of being
stowed by the hundred in very small compass.
The great display, however, is only on the occa-
sion of holidays, or "when a man starts and wants
to stun you with a show." At Maidstone Fair
the other day, a London street-seller, rather well
to do, sold his entire stock of penny articles to a
shopkeeper of the town, and when counted there
were exactly fifteen gross, or 2160 "pieces" as
they are sometimes called. These, vended at 1d.
each, would realize just 9l., and would cost,
wholesale, about 6l., or for ready money, at the
swag-shops, where they may be bought, from 10s.
to 20s. less, according to the bargaining powers of
the buyer. The man's reason for selling was that
the Fair was "no good;" that is to say, the far-
mers had no money, and their labourers received
only 7s. a week, so there was no demand; the
swag-seller, therefore, rather than incur the
trouble and expense of having to carry his wares
back to London, sold at a loss to a shopkeeper in
Maidstone, who wanted a stock.
The swag-barrowmen selling on commission
have 3s. in every 20s. worth of goods that they
sell. The commission may average from 9s. to 12s.
a week in tolerable weather, but as in bad, and
especially in foggy weather, the trade cannot be
prosecuted at all, 7s. 6d. may be the highest aver-
age, or 10s. the year through.
The character of the penny swag-men belongs
more to that of the costermongers than to any
other class of street-folk. Many of them drink as
freely as their means will permit. I was told of a
match between a teetotaller and a beer-drinker,
about nine years ago. It was for 5s. a side, and
the "Championship." Each man started with an
equal stock, alike in all respects, but my informant
had forgotten the precise number of articles.
They pattered, twenty-five yards apart one from
another, three hours in James-street, Covent-
garden; three hours in the Blackfriars-road; and
three hours in Deptford. The teetotaller was
"sold out" in seven-and-a-half hours; while his
opponent — and the contest seems to have been
carried on very good-humouredly — at the nine
hours' end, had four dozen articles left, and was
rather exhausted, or, as it was described to me,
"told out." The result, albeit, was not looked
upon, I was assured, as anything very decisive of
the relative merits of beer or water, as the source
of strength or inspiration of "patter." The tee-
totaller was the smarter, though he did not appear
the stronger, man; he abandoned the champion-
ship, and went into another trade four years ago.
The patter of the swag-men has nothing of the
humour of the paper-workers; it is merely de-
claratory that the extensive stock offered on such
liberal terms to the public would furnish a whole-
sale shop; that such another opportunity for cheap
pennyworths could never by any possibility occur
again, and that it was a duty on all who heard the
patterer to buy at once.
The men having their own barrows or stalls
(but the stall-trade is small) buy their goods as
they find their stock needs replenishment at the
swag-shops. "It was a good trade at first, sir,"
said one man, "and for its not being a good
trade now, we may partly blame one another.
There was a cutting down trade among us.
Black earrings were bought at 14d. the dozen,
and sold at a loss at 1d. each. So were children's
trap-bats, and monkeys up sticks, but they are
now 9d. a dozen. Sometimes, sir, as I know,
the master of a swag-barrow gets served out. You
see, a man may once on a time have a good day,
and take as much as 2l. Well, next day he'll
use part of that money, and go as a penny swag
on his own account; or else he'll buy things he is
sold out of, and work them on his own account on
[Description: 915EAF. Page 449.]
makes him a convenience for his own pocket, and
so his master may be made a convenience for the
man's. When he takes the barrow back at the
week's end, if he's been doing a little on his own
dodge, there's the stock, and there's the money.
It's all right between a rich man and a poor
man that way; turn and turn about's fair play."
The lot-sellers are, when the whole body are
in London, about 200 in number; but they are
three times as itinerant into the country as are
the traders in the heavier and little portable swag-
barrows. The lot-sellers nearly all vend their
goods from trays slung from their shoulders. The
best localities for the lot-sellers are Ratcliffe-high-
way, Commercial-road, Whitechapel, Minories,
Tower-hill, Tooley-street, Newington-causeway,
Walworth, Blackfriars and Westminster-roads,
Long-acre, Holborn, and Oxford-street. To this
list may be added the Brill, Tottenham-court-road,
and the other street-markets, on Saturday even-
ings, when some of these places are almost impas-
sable. The best places for the swag-barrow trade
are also those I have specified. Their customers,
alike for the useful and fancy articles, are the
working-classes, and the chief sale is on Saturdays
and Mondays. One swag-man told me that he
thought he could sell better if he had a less
crowded barrow, but his master was so keen of
money that he would make him try everything.
It made selling more tiresome, too, he said, for a
poor couple who had a penny or two to lay out
would fix on half the things they saw, and change
them for others, before they parted with their
money.
Of the penny-a-piece sellers trading on their
own account, the receipts may be smaller than
those of the men who work the huge swag-barrows
on commission, but their profits are greater. Cal-
culating that 100 of these traders are, the year
round, in London (some are absent all the summer
at country fairs, and on any favourable opportu-
nity, while a number of swag-barrowmen leave
that employment for costermongering on their own
account), and that each takes 2l. weekly, we find
no less than 10,400l. thus expended in the streets
of London in a year.
The lot-sellers also resort largely to the country,
and frequently try other callings, such as the sale
of fruit, medals, &c. Some also sell lots only
on Saturday and Monday nights. Taking these
deductions into consideration, it may be estimated
that only fifty men (there is but one female lot-
seller on her own account) carry on the trade,
presuming it to be spread over the six days of
the week. Each of them may take 13s. weekly
(with a profit of 7s. 6d.), so showing the street
outlay to be 1190l. The "lots" are bought at the
German and English swag-shops; the principal
supply, however, is procured from Black Tom in
Clerkenwell.
| OF THE STREET-SELLERS OF MANUFACTURED ARTICLES. London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1 | |