I stayed at home the rest of the year, but from the beginning of the following year went to work for Mr Grace of Ealing. I suppose my work was not very valuable, so at Manchester was given a shilling a week to go without beer for dinner, and that was wages and pocket money; well, I used to get a few rides on dobby horses (otherwise roundabouts), occasionally. When I got to Ealing I don’t remember getting any wages, only money for clothes, if I wanted anything by way of clothing I used to ask for it. And when I had been there 3 years I had a settlement, and for the years received £10, £12 and £15, and had [76] as may be anticipated very little to draw on; but enough, as events subsequently showed.
My duties here were to
· rise at 7am, help open the shop, which consisted of taking down 30 shutters and running them into a cellar over a roller, where one of the others took and stacked them, sweep out the floor, dust where necessary,
· put up overnight orders, and serve a few customers until 8am;
· then breakfast, clean boots, and be ready by 9am to
· start out on rounds and wait on customers at their homes for their orders; three of us out each morning on different rounds, from 9 to 11 or 12
· the preparing, dispatching and delivery of goods lasted until 6pm on the average, but in busy seasons later (and I have heard the last man home say he had to pay another toll, as he was not back before midnight).
These tolls were for keeping up the repair of roads, before local improvement boards were instituted. That seems like going back a long way, but I saw the [77] change take place and the tollgates abolished.
The first holiday I had was on the occasion of the thanksgiving for the restoration to health of the then Prince of Wales, afterwards Edward VII; a general holiday was proclaimed, and public worship held in St Paul’s Cathedral, London. I went to see my Uncle Joseph[1] and family at Ruislip, and walked it, about 7 miles through Greenford etc.; he brought me back in his gig to Southall Station at night, from whence I got the train to Ealing. The next public holiday was the first bank holiday, when I went to London via Brentford, and there were such crowds of people out that the passenger service on the railways was disorganised, and I did not get back until about 2AM. Of course Mr G wanted to know where on earth I’d been, and what up to. However the newspapers told the story, or some of it, the next day.
[78] Mr G was the most angry man I ever met in my life, and although a professing Christian, that did not seem to make any difference to seemingly small things. He would go into such angry tantrums, and it did not seem to matter who it was with, as I never did see in anyone else; and his wife got more than her share of it, or so it seemed to me. While here the Wednesday ½-holiday was instituted, a great relief; also mechanics got a ½-day off on Saturday; also payment of the weekly wage was on Friday instead of Saturday, which enabled the wives of working men to do their shopping on Saturday during the daytime, instead of only on Saturday night. The Horticultural society (local) had its flower show once a year, and Mr G used to lend dozens of plates, as he had a china and glass shop as well as a grocery; and as they gave him a complimentary ticket, and he and his family never went, I got [79] the ticket and enjoyed myself on that annual occasion – the exhibits were great, and always a brass band in attendance, and a bar with a special licence, so every facility.
About this time the underground railways were extending, and opening up outside London, and the one which started at Aldgate to S Kensington not only completed the inner circle by joining the Metropolitan Line there, but branched off in other directions, and one was emerging from under-ground at Hammersmith and obtaining running rights over the SWR to Acton; thence a branch to Ealing and Greenford and joined the Great Central, the last train line to run into London. I watched the excavations being made and the bridges being built, with great interest, for about 2 years. Also at Acton a branch went off to Brentford and Richmond.
Now about Sundays. I went with my employer to his chapel at Acton. [80] He had been suspended for 6 months for an alleged misdemeanour, from the Strict and Particular (footnote 1), and as he did not care to be disciplined by them told them to put a nought at the end of the 6, and so his charges. We walked there pretty regularly twice a day; then in fine weather I took a walk in the afternoon by myself. The minister died, and we had a Mr Cuff, a real lively one and made a great stir, until he was not satisfied with results etc., and told them he would not stop and preach to 30 or 40 people, as he was sure he could preach to hundreds in London. And there he went, to an old church at Providence Chapel Hackney, whence he soon got a congregation that more than filled the building; and so moved into the Shoreditch Town Hall until they built what was known as the Shoreditch Tabernacle, where he preached [81] to large and appreciative audiences for many years. It was an inspiration to me to hear him preach, and could I have preached as well as he would have chosen that as my life work, but I lacked education and training, and perhaps inspiration enough to do it. With the going of Mr Cuff, my employer went also, and then settled down for a long spell at Ealing Dean, where Mr Ferguson had recently formed a church. Mr F was also a tutor at Spurgeon’s College, and was also an enthusiastic preacher, but a teacher and expositor also. My employer and a friend, whom I shall hereafter designate as Mr B, joined the diaconate and so attended regularly not only on Sundays but also on Monday evening prayer meeting and Wednesday mid-week preaching services; of course to these week-night meetings I did not go; I had work to do.
[82] I stayed at this place for 3 years, and then went home for a spell, working in my father’s business until the next summer, when Mr G asked me to go and be in his business while he and the family went away to the seaside for his annual vacation, and while the other hands had their holidays; after which I again went home until the next summer when Mr G requested my services again. I went, and from there to Harrow where Mr G had a nephew in business and was going to be married, and he needed someone dependable to be with his two assistants while he was away; so I went, after which I went home again, as my father was selling his business and going into the coal trade in London. Well, the grocery and general was sold, and left us with the coal trade, and I was left to [83] carry that on while my father located another business.
But before we left the store I found I could teach a few boys to play the flute, and as I had a few pounds bought a couple of side-drums and a bass drum, and the boys of the neighbourhood took to it, and we had lots of enjoyment, and people donated enough cash to repay me for the outlay on drums. Also, I had a quad of young horses and a heavy coal cart to work the business; I sold out all the coals that were at the depot, and continued to have more, when Mr G again wrote for me. I went and stayed a short time, and then wanted something different, and so went to London (footnote 2); I hoped to get into the wholesale grocery, and after a while got into the business establishment I wanted, but it was only a [84] short term. But I took it, and worked in the warehouse of a firm in Eastcheap from 7am until 6pm, and as I had to get lodgings went with a fellow employee to Islington, walking it morning and night, and going home to Camberwell for weekends, where my father and family had settled down. Our days work was often extended to 10pm, and for this we received no extra pay, but a ticket for 3d (6 cents) to go for a drink at a pub; and as we had been working hard, were thirsty – I have sometimes not taken my lips from the pot until I had drunk the whole pint.
Sometimes we were called on to volunteer to “carry the knot”; that was what the orange porters wore to carry heavy loads on their shoulders. It was a thing somewhat like a horse-collar, but thicker at the lower end; [85] it fitted round the head over a stiff leather hat, and rested on shoulders, and when you had a 150lb case of fruit up, could stand almost upright and march. It was strenuous work, but gave experience of what other men had to stand continually, or starve. These cases of fruit, mostly oranges, lemons, onions and grapes in barrels, were landed at Flesh Wharf near London Bridge, and we had to carry them to the different warehouses. I left as arranged after the busy season was over, and then after Xmas put an advt in the trade paper, and got an answer soon, and from the very house where I had been warehouseman – but this was for the counting-house, and I got engaged. I was asked by the chief of the dept who I was to work under where I had been working; I said “In the warehouse, and if you [86] ask Mr Brambleby he will tell you about me”. I was engaged immediately, and went to work, but had to wear a black coat and white collar, for the same wage as I had in the warehouse. However, instead of beginning work at 7am, 9am was the hour to begin, but I worked at nights after time, sometimes until 11pm. – missing the last train and bus, and had to walk home 3 or 4 miles. Moreover I had my breakfast at 8am, and was told “3/4 of an hour for dinner, and get it when you can”. I was kept pretty busy, round at the broker’s offices all the morning and without dinner often, was round at the docks and wharves lodging warrants, for tea, coffee etc. until after 5, when I might be miles away from the office. Tea was served at 4pm, but I was not there, so no dinner and no tea, and then I had a set of [87] books to keep. This I did between whiles and late at night, and when I got home, was ready for 3 meals rolled into one. I carried on like this for some time but got indigestion badly, also although I worked late 5 nights weekly I always got my Saturday afternoon off after 2pm.
One day I met a man on London Bridge whom I knew, and he asked me if I would lend him a hand in his retail provision shops in West King St, Hammersmith (footnote 3), on Saturday nights; this I did – used to go by river steamer from London Bridge to Chelsea, and walk to Hammersmith, stand at the butter scale the whole evening, and get home early Sunday morning. I got 5/- or 1.20 for 5 hours work and was tired out, so had a good rest on Sundays. King Street Hammersmith was one of the busiest thoroughfares that [88] I ever saw or worked in; on Saturday night you could have, as the saying is, walked on the people’s heads. Well, one can stand hard work when young, but regular meals are a necessity, and as I did not get these, I had to get something else to do. Mr G offered me to go back to him at what to me was good wages and board, and I went and stayed with him 6 years this time.
My work here was now a bit better. I used to do the writing, i.e. help make up a/c books and bills, keep double-entry books, beside doing a round for orders, serving behind counter, and do whatever there was to do in a business like that – but I had regular and good meals and in my spare time did other things – learned shorthand, joined a brass band, and it was one of the happiest days of my life when I could play [89] second cornet. Also I got my certificate as shorthand writer at 120 words a minute; I used to take down the sermons on Sunday mornings, for practice. Next door to the grocery we had a china and glass shop, separate entrance, but we who served could just slip through the entry from one counter to another.
Mr G was so pleased with my work that he told me “If I had another one like you, I would discharge the other three”; that is, he reckoned I was as good as 2½ men. I did not presume on this, but I knew he appreciated what I did. He told my father once, that if I stayed with him and married his daughter, he would put me into business; but, although his eldest daughter was pretty nice to me, she could not make [90] a very good piano player, and that is one thing I wanted in my home, if ever I got one – so that came to nothing.
Transcriber’s footnotes:
1. Baptist church
2. It is interesting to hear some of these places referred to in a way that suggests separate townships; in these days (2000) they are perceived by most people to be “all London”.
3. As I type this, I’m at work in Hammersmith (in my lunch break); quite a coincidence.
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