File:Ballast heavers in the Pool of London - 1861.jpg

Identifier: londonlabourlond03mayh (find matches)
Title: London labour and the London poor; a cyclopædia of the condition and earnings of those that will work, those that cannot work, and those that will not work
Year: 1861 (1860s)
Authors: Mayhew, Henry, 1812-1887 Tuckniss, William
Subjects: Working class Crime Prostitution Poor Charities
Publisher: London : Griffin, Bohn, and Company
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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id for.About twelve years ago tliey could earn twiceor three times as much as they can now; butprices were higher (12s. per score, for what isnow 8s.), and the men were far less nume-rous. The following is a precise statementof the sums to which each ballast-heaver pre-sent was entitled, followed by the amount hehad carried home the week before, after pay-ment of his compulsory drinkings, and of whatlie might be induced to drink at the house ofhis employer while waiting to be paid:— Earned.^0 12 00 70 ir)0 120 130 110 50 8 0 a 1 0 0 12 1 00 120 150 150 100 15Kothinc 0 12 0 0 9 0 1 0 010 00 10 00 10 00 12 00 8 00 14 0 £l(i 13 0 Tof k home. i,0 r- 0 0 3 0 0 9 a 0 6 0 0 4 0 0 5 0 0 2 6 0 5 0 0 5 0 0 10 0 0 3 0 0 9 0 0 4 0- 0 9 0 0 8 c 0 fi 0 0 5 0 N jthi ng 0 o 6 0 0 0 0 4 fJ 0 10 0 0 3 0 0 5 0 0 2 6 0 3 6 0 9 0 £7 0 This statement shows, out of 1 Is. l^d. earn-ings, a receipt of less than 5s. a-week. According to the returns of the Trinity ■■i!:ir!!ii;:;Miiiiii;;;ii;ifi;i;;i;iii
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LONDON LABOUR AND THE LONDON POOR. 277 House, there were C15,G10 tons of ballast puton board 11,234 ships in the year 1848. Theballast-heavers are paid at the rate of Grf. perton for shovelling the ballast out of the TrinityCompanys lighters into the holds of vessels.Hence, the total earnings of the ballast-heaversin that year were 15,390/. Os. Qd. And calcu-lating two-thirds (the men say they always getrid of a half, and often three foinrths, of theirearnings in drink) of this sum to have beenspent in liquor, it follows that as much as10,300/. Cjs. id. went to the pubhcau, and only5,130/. 3s. 2d. to the labouring men. Accord-ing to this estimate of their gross earnings, ifwe calculate the body of the ballast-heaversas numbering 350 men, the average wages ofthe class are about 16s. Qd. per week eachman; or if we reckon the class at 400, thenthe average wages of each persoja would beabout 14s. Gd. per week. From all I can learnthis appears to be about the truth—the earn-ings of the m

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