London in 1839
Part Five - Production & Consumption
Production :-
That London is not commonly considered as a manufacturing town is owing to the more important aspects under which it presents itself and not because of the absence of manufacturing industry. Manufactures of almost every kind are in fact carried on in the metropolis, and upon a scale of great magnitude ; the best workmen in almost every branch of handicraft being certain of finding employment in London at the highest rate of wages. London was for a long time the only seat of the English broad silk manufacture, which is still carried on as extensively as formerly, and perhaps to a greater extent than ever, although Manchester, Macclesfield, and other towns have now become rivals in that branch of industry. Linen, woollen, and cotton fabrics are not made in or about London.
The largest breweries, distilleries, and sugar-refineries in the kingdom are in the metropolis. The manufacture of metals in almost every branch is carried on to a vast extent. It is true that a great part of the hardware and cutlery required for common purposes is made at Birmingham and Sheffield, which likewise supply the greater part of those articles required for exportation, because of the lower prices at which they can be there produced ; but when taste or fashion is to be considered, and superiority of quality is desired, the London workmen are commonly employed. Almost every kind of machinery, from the smallest wheels required by the watch-maker to the most powerful steam-engines, are made in London. The making of gold and silver articles, of optical and surgical and other instruments, tools of the best quality, and musical instruments, gives employment to numerous hands. Ship-building, with all its accessaries, rope-makers, mast-makers, block-makers, anchor-smiths, &c., has always been actively prosecuted. There are also numerous chemical works on a large scale, tanneries, soap-manufactories, potteries, and dye-houses. Male and female clothing of all descriptions is made, not merely for the use of the inhabitants of the metropolis, but for the supply of wealthy persons in various parts of the kingdom, and even in the British colonies. The metropolis is also the great workshop of literature, science, and the arts. The number of books printed and published in all other parts of England is small in comparison with what is produced in London. The number of men employed as compositors in London is estimated at 2,000 ; there are also 500 apprentices, and 1,000 pressmen, in addition to those who superintend the working of the great printing-machines, and whose number has not been ascertained. In the extent to which it has now reached, the mechanical part of the labour of producing books and periodical publications in London may well be considered a manufacture. It has been computed by a bookseller long conversant with one great branch of publication - that of periodical works - that the number of such works sold on the last day of every month in London amounts to half a million of copies, occasioning an expenditure on the part of the public of £25,000 ; and that the number of parcels containing periodicals despatched into the country in various directions on that day is 2,000. This estimate does not include weekly publications (not newspapers), about fifty in number, of which about ten millions of copies are sold in the course of the year. Of newspapers there are eleven published daily, six in the morning and five in the evening. There are besides twenty-four weekly newspapers, and thirty-eight which appear at other intervals of time, some three times and some twice a week ; others on alternate weeks, and one or two monthly. The number of newspaper stamps issued for London publications between 15th September, 1835, and 15th March, 1838, was :-
In the year ending 15th of September, 1836 - 19,241,640
In the year ending 15th of September, 1837 - 29,172,797
In the six months ending 15th March, 1838 - 14,438,556
The number of newspapers despatched from the General Post-Office in London in each of the three years ending 31st of October, 1835-6-7, was as follows :-
|
Year ending 31 October |
1835 |
1836 |
1837 |
Sent from the Inland-Office |
14,066,406 |
12,913,878 |
19,046,411 |
Sent from the Foreign-Office |
155,929 |
231,819 |
427,516 |
Sent from the Ship-Letter Office |
55,555 |
66,158 |
87,537 |
Sub-total: |
14,280,890 |
13,211,855 |
19,561,464 |
Sent through the Twopenny-Post |
234,756 |
242,630 |
367,942 |
Total: |
14,515,646 |
13,454,485 |
19,929,406 |
The increase in the number of stamps and in the transmission by post during the last year above given, doubtless arises from the reduction of the stamp-duty to which newspapers were liable.
Consumption :-
It is not possible to state with any pretensions to accuracy the amount of consumption in London, of any except a very few articles of general use. A considerable part of the foreign and colonial merchandise that passes every year through the custom-house of the port is forwarded into the interior of the country, and the same remark applies, though in a less degree, to the produce of London breweries, distilleries, tanneries, &c. A tolerably good test of the consumption of butchers' meat was formerly supplied by the returns of sheep and cattle sold in Smithfield market, although this would at all times be somewhat below the actual amount, because of the number of animals sold to butchers by the drovers on their road to the market ; but of late years, since the improvement of turnpike-roads, and the consequent acceleration of travelling, and more especially since the adoption of steam-navigation, a great and continually increasing quantity of cattle and slaughtered meat is brought for sale to London, of which no account is taken. During all the colder months of the year, from October to April, almost every steam-vessel employed in the coasting-trade to London brings a supply to its markets. Oxen, sheep, and swine slaughtered on Saturday in Edinburgh are by this means brought and exposed to sale on the following Monday, and this branch of business is now followed with activity and regularity from almost every port of the kingdom within 500 miles of the metropolis, which has with it a constant steam communication. Live cattle, sheep, and pigs are brought by the same means during the summer months, and in considerable numbers. With this explanation the following table is offered, showing the average number of sheep and cattle sold in Smithfield market in each quinquennial period from 1730 to 1770, and the actual numbers so sold in each of the years from 1820 to 1838 :-
|
Sheep |
Cattle |
1730 to 1735 |
568,060 |
93,655 |
1735 to 1740 |
599,466 |
97,548 |
1740 to 1745 |
531,134 |
85,892 |
1745 to 1750 |
655,516 |
80,876 |
1750 to 1755 |
680,618 |
80,843 |
1755 to 1760 |
616,750 |
91,699 |
1760 to 1765 |
635,247 |
86,555 |
1765 to 1770 |
632,812 |
84,244 |
|
Sheep |
Cattle |
1820 |
947,990 |
132,933 |
1821 |
1,107,230 |
129,125 |
1822 |
1,340,160 |
142,043 |
1823 |
1,264,920 |
149,552 |
1824 |
1,239,720 |
163,615 |
1825 |
1,130,310 |
156,985 |
1826 |
1,270,530 |
143,460 |
1827 |
1,335,100 |
138,363 |
1828 |
1,288,460 |
147,968 |
1829 |
1,240,300 |
158,313 |
1830 |
1,287,070 |
159,907 |
1831 |
1,189,010 |
148,168 |
1832 |
1,257,180 |
158,640 |
1833 |
1,167,820 |
152,093 |
1834 |
1,237,360 |
162,485 |
1835 |
1,381,540 |
170,325 |
1836 |
1,219,510 |
164,351 |
1837 |
1,329,010 |
172,435 |
1838 |
1,403,400 |
183,362 |
The following statement of the quantity of wheat and flour brought into the port of London in each year from 1820 to 1838 contains the only information that can be given concerning the consumption of bread in the metropolis, but must not be taken as an accurate test of that fact. In ordinary seasons the great bulk of these importations are retained for the use of the metropolis and surrounding district, but in addition to the quantities thus recorded a great deal of flour is brought by land-carriage from the adjoining counties which does not pass through the books of the custom-house, nor of the clerks of the markets ; and on the other hand, in seasons of scarcity, when grain is brought from abroad, much that figures in the returns of the port is afterwards transmitted to other parts of the country. In order to render the following figures as useful as possible in a comparative point of view, notice is added characteristic of each season.
Year ending Michaelmas |
Wheat Quarters |
Flour Sacks and Barrels |
Nature of Harvest |
1821 |
641,371 |
464,820 |
Average |
1822 |
486,484 |
442,218 |
Average |
1823 |
554,351 |
450,095 |
Below an average |
1824 |
394,637 |
502,390 |
Average |
1825 |
354,267 |
457,231 |
Not quite an average |
1826 |
530,961 |
540,253 |
Average |
1827 |
447,677 |
482,266 |
Average |
1828 |
409,042 |
450,689 |
Below an average |
1829 |
423,102 |
468,293 |
Average |
1830 |
1,342,745 |
484,793 |
Average |
1831 |
873,488 |
475,746 |
Not quite an average |
1832 |
908,517 |
627,003 |
Full average |
1833 |
695,902 |
542,813 |
Full average |
1834 |
459,222 |
409,565 |
Full average |
1835 |
457,448 |
442,152 |
Above an average |
1836 |
429,748 |
376,775 |
Above an average |
1837 |
465,362 |
428,481 |
Below an average |
1838 |
525,407 |
515,005 |
Below an average |
The following statement of the quantity of coals brought to London in each year, from 1825, will show the consumption of that article with tolerable accuracy. Of late years the greater amount of gas-lighting, the increasing number of steam-engines employed for manufacturing purposes, and still more the supplying of steam-vessels, occasion an increased consumption beyond the quantity used in families ; but these circumstances cannot very materially affect the general result.
|
Tons |
|
|
Tons |
1825 |
1,856,606 |
1832 |
2,139,078 |
1826 |
2,040,291 |
1833 |
2,010,409 |
1827 |
1,882,321 |
1834 |
2,078,685 |
1828 |
1,960,599 |
1835 |
2,298,812 |
1829 |
2,018,975 |
1836 |
2,398,352 |
1830 |
2,079,275 |
1837 |
2,626,997 |
1831 |
2,045,292 |
1838 |
2,581,085 |
The consumption of coals in London, in 1744 was 596,192 tons, and in 1795 had reached 1,163,100 tons.
The inhabitants of London draw nearly the whole of their supply of water, for manufacturing and household purposes, from the Thames and what is called the New River. The daily consumption is stated by the directors of the principal companies (eight in number) by which it is distributed, to amount to 20,829,555 imperial gallons. Of this quantity, the north-western district receives 9,000,727 gallons, the north-eastern 7,694,828 gallons, and the district on the south side of the Thames 4,134,000 gallons. The inhabitants of the northern suburb are partly supplied by a ninth company, from ponds at Hampstead and Highgate. The six companies which draw their supply from the Thames have large reservoirs, into which the water is pumped by powerful engines, and allowed to remain sufficiently long for the subsidence of the grosser impurities. Besides these sources of supply, London has the advantage of possessing, in many parts, springs of peculiarly fine water ; and there is little doubt that the comparative state of healthiness enjoyed by the inhabitants must be in a great measure attributed to the abundant supply of water and the excellent drainage.
The consumption of the metropolis, in regard to some principal articles which are under the management of the excise, may be stated with tolerable accuracy. The following statement gives the number of bushels of malt used by the London brewers, and the quantities of British and foreign spirits, tobacco, and snuff, which have been sent out with permits by the dealers or manufacturers, for consumption, in different years since 1827 :-
|
|
Sent out of Stock for foreign Consumption |
|
Malt used in brewing |
Foreign spirits |
British spirits |
Tobacco |
Snuff |
Years |
bushels |
gallons |
gallons |
pounds |
pounds |
1827 |
3,964.649 |
1,512,268 |
4,602,376 |
3,167,503 |
895,009 |
1830 |
3,176,046 |
1,485,953 |
5,222,145 |
3,359,273 |
818,946 |
1833 |
4,653,526 |
1,471,267 |
5,218,818 |
3,384,744 |
1,107,660 |
1835 |
5,284,826 |
1,420,600 |
5,941,351 |
4,038,317 |
1,086,492 |
1837 |
5,692,360 |
1,270,931 |
5,354,388 |
3,636,362 |
1,181,723 |
Some abatement from the above quantities, but in what proportion cannot he stated, must be made before we can ascertain the actual consumption of the metropolis, because many persons who reside beyond its limits procure supplies London tradesmen.
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