 | OF THE STATIONARY STREET-SELLERS OF FISH, FRUIT,
AND VEGETABLES. London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1 |  |
OF A PUBLIC MEETING OF STREET-SELLERS.
The Association above described arose out of
a meeting of costermongers and other street-
folk, which was held, at my instance, on the
evening of the 12th of June last, in the National
Hall, Holborn. The meeting was announced as
one of "street-sellers, street-performers, and
street-labourers," but the costermongers were
the great majority present. The admission was
by ticket, and the tickets, which were of course
gratuitous, were distributed by men familiar with
all the classes invited to attend. These men
found the tickets received by some of the street-
people with great distrust; others could not be
made to understand why any one should trou-
ble himself on their behoof; others again, cheer-
fully promised their attendance. Some accused
the ticket distributors with having been bribed
by the Government or the police, though for
what purpose was not stated. Some abused them
heartily, and some offered to treat them. At
least 1,000 persons were present at the meeting,
of whom 731 presented their tickets; the others
were admitted, because they were known to the
door-keepers, and had either lost their tickets or
had not the opportunity to obtain them. The
persons to whom cards of admission were given
were invited to write their names and callings
on the backs, and the cards so received gave
the following result. Costermongers, 256; fish-
sellers, 28; hucksters, 23; lot-sellers, 18; street-
labourers, 16; paper-sellers and workers, 13;
toy-sellers, 11; ginger-beer-sellers, 9; hardware-
sellers, 9; general-dealers, 7; street-musicians,
5; street-performers, 5; cakes and pastry-sellers,
fried-fish-vendors, and tinkers, each, 4; turf-ven-
dors, street-exhibitors, strolling-players, cat's-
meat-men, water-cress-sellers, stay-lace, and
cotton-sellers, each, 3; board-carriers, fruit-
sellers, street-tradesmen, hawkers, street-green-
grocers, shell-fish-vendors, poulterers, mud-
larks, wire-workers, ballad-singers, crock-men,
and booksellers, each, 2; the cards also gave
one each of the following avocations: — fly-cage-
makers, fly-paper-sellers, grinders, tripe-sellers,
pattern-printers, blind-paper-cutters, lace-collar-
sellers, bird-sellers, bird-trainers, pen-sellers,
lucifer-merchants, watch-sellers, decorators, and
play-bill-sellers. 260 cards were given in
without being indorsed with any name or
calling.
My object in calling this meeting was to
ascertain from the men themselves what were the
grievances to which they considered themselves
subjected; what were the peculiarities and what
the privations of a street-life. Cat-calls, and
every description of discordant sound, prevailed,
before the commencement of the proceedings,
but there was also perfect good-humour. Al-
though it had been announced that all the
speakers were to address the meeting from the
platform, yet throughout the evening some man
or other would occasionally essay to speak from
the body of the hall. Some of those present
expressed misgivings that the meeting was got
up by the Government, or by Sir R. Peel, and
that policemen, in disguise, were in attendance.
The majority showed an ignorance of the usual
forms observed at public meetings, though some
manifested a thorough understanding of them.
Nor was there much delicacy observed — but,
perhaps, about as much as in some assem-
blages of a different character — in clamouring
down any prosy speaker. Many present were
without coats (for it was a warm evening),
some were without waistcoats, many were in
tatters, hats and caps were in infinite varieties
of shape and shade, while a few were well and
even genteelly dressed. The well dressed street-
sellers were nearly all young men, and one of
these wore moustachios. After I had explained,
amidst frequent questions and interruptions, the
purpose for which I had summoned the meet-
ing, and had assured the assembly that, to the
best of my knowledge, no policemen were pre-
sent, I invited free discussion.
It was arranged that some one person should
address the meeting as the representative of
each particular occupation. An elderly man
of small stature and lively intelligent features,
stood up to speak on behalf of the "paper-
workers," "flying-stationers," and "standing-
patterers." He said, that "for twenty-four years
he had been a penny-showman, a street-seller,
and a patterer." He dwelt upon the difference
of a street-life when he was young and at
the present time, the difference being between
meals and no meals; and complained that though
[Description: 915EAF. Page 103.]
respectable way of life, and had never been
accused of any dishonesty, such was the moral
brand," of having been connected with a "street
life, that it was never got rid of. He more
than once alluded to this "moral brand."
The question was, he concluded, in what way
were they to obtain an honest livelihood, so
as to keep their wives and children decently,
without being buffeted about like wild beasts
in the open streets? This address was charac-
terised by propriety in the delivery, and by the
absence of any grammatical inaccuracy, or vul-
garity of tone or expression.
A costermonger, a quiet-looking man, tidily
clad, said he was the son of a country auctioneer,
now dead; and not having been brought up
to any trade, he came to London to try his luck.
His means were done before he could obtain em-
ployment; and he was in a state of starvation.
At last he was obliged to apply to the parish.
The guardians took him into the workhouse,
and offered to pass him home: but as he could
do no good there, he refused to go. Whereupon,
giving him a pound of bread, he was turned
into the streets, and had nowhere to lay his head.
In wandering down the New-cut a costermon-
ger questioned him, and then took him into his
house and fed him This man kept him for a
year and a half; he showed him how to get a
living in the street trade; and when he left, gave
him 20s. to start with. With this sum he got
a good living directly; and he could do so now,
were it not for the police, whose conduct, he
stated, was sometimes very tyrannical. He had
been dragged to the station-house, for standing
to serve customers, though he obstructed nobody;
the policeman, however, called it an obstruction,
and he (the speaker) was fined 2s. 6d.; where-
upon, because he had not the half-crown, his
barrow and all it contained were taken from him,
and he had heard nothing of them since. This
almost broke him down. There was no redress
for these things, and he thought they ought to
be looked into.
This man spoke with considerable energy; and
when he had concluded, many costermongers
shouted, at the top of their voices, that they
could substantiate every word of what he had
said.
A young man, of superior appearance, said
he was the son of a gentleman who had held a
commission as Lieutenant in the 20th Foot, and
as Captain in the 34th Infantry, and afterwards
became Sub-director of the Bute Docks; in which
situation he died, leaving no property. He (the
speaker) was a classical scholar; but having no
trade, he was compelled, after his father's death,
to come to London in search of employment,
thinking that his pen and his school acquire-
ments would secure it. But in this expectation
he was disappointed, — though for a short period
he was earning two guineas a week in copying
documents for the House of Commons. That
time was past; and he was a street-patterer
now through sheer necessity. He could say
from experience that the earnings of that class
were no more than from 8s. to 10s. a week. He
then declaimed at some length against the inter-
ference of the police with the patterers, con-
sidering it harsh and unnecessary.
After some noisy and not very relevant dis-
cussion concerning the true amount of a street-
patterer's earnings, a clergyman of the Esta-
blished Church, now selling stenographic cards
in the street, addressed the meeting. He ob-
served, that in every promiscuous assembly
there would always be somebody who might be
called unfortunate. Of this number he was one;
for when, upon the 5th September, 1831, he
preached a funeral sermon before a fashionable
congregation, upon Mr. Huskisson's death by a
railway accident, he little thought he should
ever be bound over in his own recognizances in
10l. for obstructing the metropolitan thorough-
fares. He was a native of Hackney, but in early
life he went to Scotland, and upon the 24th June,
1832, he obtained the presentation to a small
extra-parochial chapel in that country, upon the
presentation of the Rev. Dr. Bell. His people
embraced Irvingism, and he was obliged to
leave; and in January, 1837, he came to the
metropolis. His history since that period he
need not state. His occupation was well known,
and he could confirm what had been stated with
regard to the police. The Police Act provided,
that all persons selling goods in the streets were
to keep five feet off the pavement, the street not
being a market. He had always kept with his
wares and his cards beyond the prohibited dis-
tance of five feet; and for six years and a half
he had sold his cards without molesting or being
molested. After some severe observations upon
the police, he narrated several events in his
personal history to account for his present con-
dition, which he attributed to misfortune and
the injustice of society. In the course of these
explanations he gave an illustration of his
classical acquirements, in having detected a
grammatical error in a Latin inscription upon
the plate of a foundation-stone for a new church
in Westminster. He wrote to the incumbent,
pointing out the error, and the incumbent asked
the beadle who he was. "Oh," said the beadle,
"he is a fellow who gets his living in the
streets." This was enough. He got no answer
to his letter, though he knew the incumbent and
his four curates, and had attended his church
for seven years. After dwelling on the suffer-
ings of those whose living was gained in the
streets, he said, that if persons wished really
to know anything of the character or habits of
life of the very poor, of whom he was one, the
knowledge could only be had from a personal
survey of their condition in their own homes.
He ended, by expressing his hope that by better
treatment, and an earnest attention — moral,
social, and religious — to their condition, the poor
of the streets might be gathered to the church,
and to God.
A "wandering musician" in a Highland
garb, worn and dirty, complained at some
[Description: 915EAF. Page 104.]
the police.
A hale-looking man, a costermonger, of middle
age — who said he had a wife and four children
dependent upon him — then spoke. It was a
positive fact, he said, notwithstanding their
poverty, their hardships, and even their degra-
dation in the eyes of some, that the first mar-
kets in London were mainly supported by
costermongers. What would the Duke of
Bedford's market in Covent-garden be with-
out them? This question elicited loud
applause.
Several other persons followed with state-
ments of a similar character, which were
listened to with interest; but from their general
sameness it is not necessary to repeat them
here. After occupying nearly four hours, the
proceedings were brought to a close by a vote
of thanks, and the "street-sellers, performers,
and labourers," separated in a most orderly
manner.
| OF THE STATIONARY STREET-SELLERS OF FISH, FRUIT,
AND VEGETABLES. London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1 | |