Comments on: So Long, Tom The Sailor

By: Adrian Amos

Adrian Amos — Sun, 22 Nov 2020 21:37:02 +0000

Dear Gentle Author,
Thank you for letting us know about the departure of Tom.
We, at LASSCO, first encountered Tom [and Terry] maybe forty years or more ago.
I fear that we may have given Tom his taste for fireplaces – and architectural salvage generally.
He would turn up at our premises at St Michael’s Church in Mark St, off Paul St quite regularly.
One of many ‘runners’ or rather ‘totters’ who had heard that we bought ‘salvage’ for ready cash – before that sort of transaction became ‘haram’.
He very quickly developed an ‘eye’ or ‘feel’ for the desirable and commercial. He had the run of decayed Hackney and Tower Hamlets. I seem to recollect he generally used a barrow to collect his merchandise but Terry introduced a motor van into the equation which expanded his field of operations.
One notable offering of his was a nice Regency door case from Prescott Street. We recognised the provenance and, with the help of the Tower Hamlets conservation officer, it was arranged that the developer of the [still surviving] range of buildings would be required to reinstate it and it was repatriated to its original site.
No doubt the developer was hoping that the disappearance of the building’s most distinguished feature would persuade the planners to allow the clearance of the listed buildings which stood in the way of a comprehensive redevelopment.
I rather think that all parties benefitted from the event – barring the developer.
Regrettably this was not the case where the two magnificent carved console brackets from the building facing the west end of Bethnal Green were concerned. Tom readily admitted to me that he had removed them but where they went I do not know. The building survives.
Doorcases were Tom’s speciality. I don’t wish to speak ill of the dead but Tom seemed to have picked up a habit of ‘scrumping’ low hanging fruit.
We were all very fond of Tom – the ladies seemed to be attracted to his ‘animal magnetism’. His buccaneering and intelligent spirit was evident and given different ‘life chances’ he could have been a roaring, conventional success.
I seem to recollect that Terry moved on and got caught up in a short lived Krugerand scheme and left Tom to his own less ambitious devices.
Was it Tom that offered us the wonderful mirrors from the Knave of Clubs? If so, this worked out to the benefit of all concerned. We bought the pub, bought the mirrors, restored them [which the PubCo were obliged to pay for in the price we paid for the pub] – and subsequently sold the pub to Les Trois Garçons – another brick in the wall of the gentrification of Shoreditch.
It might be suggested that Tom was a victim of drink or dissolution – but I reckon he just lived life differently. From what I’ve learnt from your obit his was a life predicated by his upbringing.
He always spoke with a detectable East Anglian twang which he shared with a lot of the regular Sunday visitors to Brick Lane that I encountered in Gina’s caff. They also had the unfathomable habit of holding their forehead in their hand crouched over their mugs of tea. These displaced folk in their orange Market Boots came to inspect the odd shoes and browse the desperately meagre offerings of Brick Lane attracted by the very faintest lingering myth of ‘Up West’ along the arteries of the Hackney Road, the Roman and Mile End Road which my own father [from Bow] would remind me of as a boy.
Jack London and Arthur Morrison were not far wrong.
Again I am obliged to you for your kind recollections of Tom for whom I felt great affection.
Sincerely,
Adrian Amos,
Brunswick House,
Vauxhall

By: Hilary

Hilary — Sun, 22 Nov 2020 10:29:28 +0000

So glad you befriended Tom.
I live just round the corner from Dagger Lane in Hull’s Old Town – I must do some research and find out where the motorbike pub would have been…

By: Pamela Traves

Pamela Traves — Sat, 21 Nov 2020 23:42:18 +0000

Thank You So Much for the Wonderful Pictures of Sailor Thomas Finch. I enjoyed this very much.?????????

By: Miss Gherkin

Miss Gherkin — Sat, 21 Nov 2020 21:56:20 +0000

What a loss for the Brick Lane community.

When on my way to work on a Sunday while I lived in E3, I often got off the bus at the top of Brick Lane and walked from there to the City, enjoying the market before the crowds descended upon it, and stopping along the way to buy a coffee, some fruit at the market stand or a biegel if the queue wasn’t too long. If I had enough time I would detour to Sclater Street Market for a quick browse at the book stand.

Tom the Sailor was always very much a part of these Sunday morning walks. I always looked forward to seeing him outside the Beigel Bake, and always gave him a quid or two. I was very sad for him when I saw him without his dog some time ago, and he told me that his dog had died.

Everyone knew him and he was part of the unique fabric of Brick Lane. I was just thinking about him the other day. Bless him, my thoughts are with his family and those close to him.

By: Marcia Howard

Marcia Howard — Sat, 21 Nov 2020 18:51:20 +0000

What a character, and what a tough life he lived. He was obviously one of life’s survivors.

By: Allison Holmes

Allison Holmes — Sat, 21 Nov 2020 16:59:28 +0000

Thank you for today’s report. I enjoyed reading this and the other ones about him and Matty. Could you please let us know what has happened to Matty.

By: Catherine Morris

Catherine Morris — Sat, 21 Nov 2020 15:44:48 +0000

I used to see him down Brick Lane. Friendly chap. I do hope someone will look after his dog

By: Russ Metz

Russ Metz — Sat, 21 Nov 2020 14:31:53 +0000

This is one fellow I wish I had known, and when I think about it, it’s not often that I can say that. Thank you for the story.

By: Michael Levy

Michael Levy — Sat, 21 Nov 2020 13:59:34 +0000

A nice story. Wonderfully written. Thank you.

By: Linda Granfield

Linda Granfield — Sat, 21 Nov 2020 12:47:09 +0000

My condolences to the Brick Lane community on the loss of Tom.

I read through the other pieces you, GA, wrote about him. What a life! What a storyteller!
Perhaps the Orphan has found peace now.

I hope his dear companion, Matty, has been adopted into a loving home.