Modern London, 1888
“The attention of our readers is now directed to the history of the rise and progress of leading business houses of London. We have endeavoured to give a review of those firms whose honourable dealings and straightforward methods, irrespective of the magnitude and class of their of operations, make them worthy of the mention they have received” – from Modern London, The World’s Metropolis, 1888
J G Ingram & Son, The London India Rubber Works, Hackney Wick – The business dates back in its foundation over forty years and was established originally by Mr Ingram in Hoxton, before – owing to its rapid development and the necessity for increased accommodation – the present factory was built fifteen years ago.
D H Evans & Co, Silk Mercers, Drapers & Outfitters, Oxford St – Within a comparatively short period of time, this notable concern has developed, through the energy and perseverance of its proprietary, from one shop of average size to one of the largest drapery establishments in London.
John Ward, Patentee & Inventor of Invalid Chairs, Carriages etc, Tottenham Court Rd –This notable business was formed upwards of a century and a half ago. Mr Ward is engaged in this very scientific industry upon a very extensive scale and his productions for the relief of the invalid are esteemed all over the world.
Charles Taylor, The Depository, Southwark, Opposite The Elephant & Castle – There are very few business establishments whose names are more familiar to the general public of London than the name of The Depository, as a monument to Mr Taylor’s vigorous ability and progressive spirit.
George Wright & Co, Billiard Table Manufacturers, Westminster Bridge Rd – During the time it has been in existence, this notable firm has led the way in inventions and improvements, thereby extending and improving the popularity of the game of billiards as a universal pastime for gentlemen.
Whittard, Crisp & Co, Leather & Hide Factory, Market St, Bermondsey – This is a house that occupies a very prominent position in the factoring trade of Bermondsey, and its name and commercial principles are well known and highly esteemed by a widespread circle of valuable connections.
Thorley & Co, Cattle Food Manufacturers, Caledonian Rd, Kings Cross – Thorley’s Cattle Food is the first production of its kind to achieve a recognised position among agriculturalists and must be regarded as one of the great discoveries of a period that has been particularly prolific in great inventions.
P B Cow & Co, Patentees & Manufacturers of India Rubber & Waterproof Fabrics, Cheapside – It is now about forty years since Mr Peter Brusey Cow succeeded Mr Mackintosh, the inventor of the remarkable waterproof garment, in the control of this gigantic commercial concern.
W Walker & Sons, Cabinet Manufacturers, Bunhill Row – The history of the firm dates back to 1848 when the concern was founded by Mr W Walker and during the whole of the forty years that has elapsed since then the growth of the business has been continuous. A visit to their superb showrooms in Bunhill Row will reveal the very acme of artistic achievement in this branch of the industry.
W H Willcox & Co, Manufacturers & Merchants in Engineers’, Mill & Railway Furnishings & Supplies, Southwark St – Founded fifteen years ago by Walter Henry Willcox, the firm are in a position to supply everything in the way of engineers’ requisites – from a bolt to a steam engine.
Robert Adams, Patentee, Manufacturer & Specialist in Improved Builders’ Ironmongery & Building Appliances, Newington Causeway – The business in question was established in 1870 and has acquired the most eminent reputation in the special departments of mechanical industry and hardware supply to which its undertakings apertain.
W Wilfred Head & Mark, News & General Printers, Lithographers & Engravers, Fleet Lane, Old Bailey – This eminent firm was founded upward of a quarter of a century ago and carried on business in Johnson’s Court, Fleet St, taking the name ‘Dr Johnson Press’ which it still retains and under which it is widely known in the printing world.
Avern, Sons & Barris, Cork Merchants & Manufacturers, Minories – One of the principal house engaged in the great London Cork Trade, their corks obtained a medal in Paris in 1878 and find favour with bottlers all over the world.
Conrad W Schmidt, Varnish Manufacturer, Carpenters Rd, Stratford – There is probably no larger firm of varnish manufacturers in the United Kingdom or, for that matter, anywhere than that of Mr Conrad W Schmidt.
Grovers & Rockley, Musical Instrument Warehouse, The Grove, Stratford – This is the only establishment in the East End that embraces all departments in connection with the musical instrument trade. It was founded in the Kingsland Rd many years ago and was long since removed to its present location.
John Burgess & Son, Italian Warehousemen, Strand – Nowhere in London is the art of conservation, as practically applied to the preserving of certain classes of comestibles, more perfectly exemplified in some of its higher forms than at this famous old establishment at the corner of Savoy Steps.
Samuel Haskins & Brothers, Engineers, Manufacturers of Shop Fronts, Revolving Shutters Etc, Old St – This eminently reputed house originated in the year 1784 under the auspices of the grandfather of the present principals and has been conducted uninterrupted from that day to this by members of its founder’s family.
S E Norris & Co, Curriers, Leather Merchants, Belting Manufacturers, Shadwell High St & St Paul’s Works – This notable concern is one of the oldest in the trade and first came into especial prominence as far back as 1775, and, in the character and quality of their curried leather, this firm takes rank with the first in the kingdom.
Images courtesy Bishopsgate Institute
The Gasometers Of Bethnal Green
Behold the mighty gasometer looming against the sky!
Just as Rome has the Coliseum, New York has the Empire State Building, Paris has the Eiffel Tower and Cairo has the Pyramids – in Bethnal Green, we have the awe-inspiring pair of gasometers towering over the canal. Like the Coliseum, they possess an elegant curvaceous geometry, like the Empire State, they punctuate the skyline with their familiar silhouette, like the Eiffel Tower, they remind us of the engineering achievements of the nineteenth century and, like the Pyramids, there is a lesser (1866) and a greater one (1889) of differing ages.
In common with all these famous landmarks, the gasometers are also an integral part of the distinctive identity of their place – offering intricate three-dimensional patterns against the sky that frame our ever-changing northern cloudscapes to spectacular effect. Yet look beyond the epic romance of their towering presence and you discover their history is intimately bound up with the creation of the urban landscape they inhabit.
In the eighteen-fifties, the site of the gasometers was established as a holding station for the Shoreditch Gasworks nearby, built by the Imperial Gas Light & Coke Company in 1823 on land that is now Haggerston Park, capitalising upon the facility to deliver coal by barge along the Regent’s Canal which opened in 1820. Today, only the original retaining walls of the gas works, which traverse and enfold the park, remain as evidence of this particular vanished industry.
The smaller of the pair of gasometers, possessing the decorative ironwork, was completed in December 1866, designed by Joseph Clark, chief engineer at the gasworks, and constructed by Westwood & Wright’s of Dudley. It has sixteen classical columns, ascending from the Doric to the Corinthian in style.
The larger gasometer is twice the height, towering over its little brother, at one-hundred-and-forty-six feet. This was designed by George Trewby, chief engineer of the Gas Light & Coke Company, which had taken over its predecessor to become the largest gas company in the world. Built in 1888 and 1889, it is constructed of elegant tapering iron lattice-work columns. Two hundred feet in diameter, the structure descends fifty feet below ground – demonstrating a classical equilibrium of design in which the height is equal to the diameter.
Nestling side by side, the old pair compliment each other nicely. Poised on the canal bank, they are the industrial equivalent of that popular variety double act, Little & Large. They are fine examples of the two main types of nineteenth century gasometer and the only surviving pair of gasometers in London, which was the birthplace of the gas industry.
When I learnt that both gasometers are to be decommissioned and the site is to become a park at the centre of a housing scheme, it was obvious that this presents the ideal opportunity to preserve these gasometers and enliven the newly-created green space with their dramatic sculptural forms. Disappointingly, the National Grid seeks to demolish both structures and sacrifice any possibility of a future life for these magnificent towers which have been integral part of the cityscape in Bethnal Green for generations.
Similarly in Poplar, a handsome gasometer of 1876-8 faces demolition when it could also be integrated into a new park. Designed by Robert Jones and his son Harry, of the Commercial Gas Company, and constructed by Samuel Cutler & Sons of Milwall, it is a graceful structure with many claims to significance in the history of engineering and industrial design. It has one of the earliest concrete gas-holder tanks in the world, while the lower girders with their unique box-lattice form are the only surviving examples of this design.
At this moment, we might needlessly lose these beloved old gasometers that have been part of the fabric of the East End for well over a century and which – fortuitously situated beside water – permit such endlessly fascinating and beautiful reflections.
Click here for the petitions to preserve the Bethnal Green & Poplar Gasometers
The larger Bethnal Green gasometer was built 1888-9, designed by George Trewby
The smaller Bethnal Green gasometer was completed in 1866, designed by Joseph Clark
Decorative iron work designed Joseph Clark
Tiers of classical columns upon the smaller gasometer in Bethnal Green
Tapered lattice work columns of the larger gasometer in Bethnal Green, designed by George Trewby
Poplar Gasometer, designed by Robert & Harry Jones in 1876 and built by Samuel Cutler & Sons
The elegantly structure of the Poplar gasometer with its unique box-lattice girders
Poplar gasometer upon the bank of the River Lea
The Bethnal Green gasometers viewed from Mare St
Photographs 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 & 11 copyright © Malcolm Tucker
At S.Festenstein & Sons, Furriers
Observe this young woman peering from the upper window of S.Festenstein & Sons in Banner St, Bunhill Row, around 1900. She looks a little precarious, as if she had climbed up onto a table in her curiosity to look down at the photographer below. She did not know that Mr Festenstein was standing in the doorway in his top hat, three floors below, and I wonder if any comment was made when the photograph was shown to the proprietor later. Yet she had won her place in eternity, which is surely a satisfactory outcome from taking a five minute break?
Danny Tabi, the last furrier in the East End, told me that in 1967 he worked at Gale Furs in Fournier St, when James Mason was filming The London Nobody Knows in the street outside. There is a famous tracking shot that captures all the factory workers as they crowd the pavement and lean from the windows. Danny can name all of them and now regrets that – unlike the woman at Festensteins – he forsook his opportunity to be captured on film, just because he wanted to finish his piece of work in hand.
The fur trade flourished in East London for centuries, working with imported skins that came through the London Docks – and these photographs of Festenstein & Sons, one among hundreds of similar companies, record a trade that no longer suits the sensibility of our modern world and has almost vanished entirely today.
S. Festenstein & Sons, 31 & 33, Banner St, Bunhill Row, Ec1
Is this Mr Festenstein in his silk hat?
Factory workers step outside to watch the photographer
In the Factory
In the Skin Department
In the Showroon
Home Order Department
Overseas Order Department
Images courtesy Bishopsgate Institute
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Phil Maxwell’s Mobile Phone Zombies
“I photographed people with mobile phones since they first arrived on Brick Lane in the eighties,” Contributing Photographer Phil Maxwell admitted to me, “What’s happened is that those people on the phone have become separated from the dynamic life of the street, inhabiting their own digital bubble. It’s a change that’s crept up and now you can no longer tell who’s deranged, when everyone is talking to themselves.”
Photographs copyright © Phil Maxwell
CLICK HERE TO GET A COPY OF PHIL MAXWELL’S ‘BRICK LANE’ FOR £10
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New Designs From Old Treasures
Renaissance Bronze bridle motif embellished with gold and set upon a silver pin
Jewellery maker Romilly Saumarez Smith has long been fascinated by all the small pieces of metalwork from previous ages that litter our landscape, endlessly lost, buried and rediscovered. The majority are not of significant quality or value to merit inclusion in a museum yet – however modest they may be – each of these items possesses a potent magic of their own. They speak of their makers and owners who inhabited this land centuries ago, evoking other times and other ways.
Over the last three years, Romilly has developed a collection of jewellery that cherishes these artefacts, presenting them in settings and mounts which are sympathetic to their material and form. A cardinal principle is that no object is damaged and the patina acquired over time is preserved.
“Because they come from the landscape, I decided to put them back into a landscape,” explained Romilly, referring to the subtle sculptural form of her work which exploits the possibilities of burnt and oxidised silver and gold to produce muted tones that offer a natural complement to the worn surface of old metal.
“Many of these are things that people have lost, maybe they fell off a bridle on the battlefield, and were once searched for,” Romilly told me, as I wondered over the great variety of her ancient treasures laid out upon her table in Stepney. Each one has been rescued now for perpetuity, ingeniously worked into brooches, mounting on rings or attaching onto pendants, so they will be valued and preserved safely by their new owners.
Upon closer examination, you realise that each piece consists a puzzle – or rather – a solution to a puzzle. Every artefact possesses different qualities of form, challenging the designer to conceive of the ideal means to present it sympathetically – proposing a dialogue between the original maker and the jewellery designer today. It can be a conversation in which each speaks a different language with results both humorous and poetic – such as the pair of gold rings, entitled ‘King & Queen,’ in a setting which is unexpectedly revealing of the quirky personalities manifest in two old buckles.
There is an irresistible romance in these exquisite pieces that declare their elegant contemporary handmade quality while also engaging with the distant past so affectionately and respectfully. No longer discarded junk metal, they become precious talismans – setting the concerns of our moment against the wider perspective of history, offering a welcome consolation and a necessary sense of proportion to the fortunate owner living in our modern age.
Dark silver brooch with a Roman turban nail head, gilded pins and a piece of eighteenth century paste
Medieval button and Renaissance finial mounted upon a silver ring
Nineteenth century buckle with teeth encased in gold
Eighteenth century thimble with silver embellishment
Broken eighteenth century thimble with gold edge attached to serve as a ring
Renaissance metal finial from a leather belt set upon a gold pendant
Medieval enamel button mounted upon a gold ring
Nineteenth century thimble with gold
Nineteenth century cut stone mounted in reverse in gold with pearls
King & Queen, buckles mounted as rings
Bronze Saxon brooch with traces of original gilding and addition of gold ring
Medieval buttons mounted upon gold earrings
Saxon bronze pin head mounted upon a silver ring
Golden hand from an effigy mounted upon a silver ring
Medieval castle brooch adorned with pearls and gold pins
Eighteenth century clasp filled with black pearls and gold pins mounted on a gold ring
Silver and gold pendant with black pearls, nineteenth century paste and earlier studs, finials and nail heads
Saxon ring embellished with pearls threaded on gold wire
Nineteenth century thimble mounted upon a gold ring
Saxon ring embellished with pearls threaded on gold wire
Medieval button mounted upon a gold ring
Nineteenth century thimble embellished with gold and silver wire
Photographs copyright © Lucinda Douglas Menzies
NEWFOUNDLAND – Joint exhibition of Romilly Saumarez Smith‘s jewellery alongside the work of Edmund de Waal runs Friday 10th to Sunday 12th October, 11am – 5pm
If you would like an invitation to attend the exhibition please email romilly@saumarezsmith.wanadoo.co.uk
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At The Bethnal Green Weightlifting Club
Dominic Patmore, Powerlifter
In Turin St, there is a single-storey brick building so unassuming that even the locals do not know what it is, yet this is home to the celebrated Bethnal Green Weightlifting Club. The esteemed members believe their association dates from 1926, but a poster for the New Bethnal Green Weightlifting & Physical Culture Club on the wall inside the gym, dated 1931, suggests that its origin may be earlier.
Even the most senior member, Ron Whitton of Columbia Rd, is a relative newcomer who joined in 1946. He greeted Contributing Photographer Sarah Ainslie & I when we paid a visit at the weekend, fresh from his twice-weekly swim in the Serpentine and preparing for his twice-weekly weightlifting session to follow. A sprightly octogenarian, Ron is a shining exemplar of the health benefits of body-building and weightlifting. “I’ve always been a keep fit guy,” he vouched, indicating the photos of his former glories upon the wall,“there’s not many guys of eighty-three still training.”
“In 1946, it was just an old shed in the playground with one or two bars and a set of dumbbells, where a couple of guys who’d come out of the forces started weight-training,” Ron recalled fondly, casting his eyes around the hallowed space, “Around 1948, Jack Brenda, Secretary of the Club, opened up this place but it was like something out of the Hammer House of Horrors then, it had been closed for years and there was no equipment, but we got it going and we’ve been here ever since.”
On Saturday morning, we encountered a mutually respectful crew of all sizes of male and female weightlifters absorbed in their training session, punctuated with intense cathartic moments when a major lift was ventured and one among them heaved and strained, channelling the support of their comrades egging them on, before throwing the weight down with a clang onto the mat. Although there were those who had the obvious advantage of size, most compelling in their lifts were those skinny individuals of diminutive stature who appeared to summon resources of strength from the ether in lifting weights that looked far beyond their apparent capacity.
“I started because I liked the idea of being strong,” powerlifter Laura Porter admitted to me, “but now I’m obsessed – it’s the satisfaction when you get a new personal best. I’m not super-duper strong yet, but I’m not bad and I like the feeling of being powerful.”
“It’s a good thing for women to do because it’s good for your bone strength, counteracting any tendency to brittle bones,” she revealed with a blush, “I’m approaching forty so I think about these things, but I hope to be weightlifting and competing in my sixties and beyond.”
A relaxed family atmosphere prevails at Bethnal Green Weightlifting Club, uniting enthusiasts of all ages and walks of life. “There was a time when every London borough had places like these but now there only two left in the entire capital,” Martin Bass, Club Secretary informed me, readily indicated pals that joined with him over forty years ago – and demonstrating the modest camaraderie among all those who seek transcendence of their physical and spiritual limits, here in confines of the gym, as a counterpoint to the external challenges of life’s journey beyond its walls.
Ron Whitton, still weighlifting at eighty-three
Ron is second from right at the Bethnal Green Physique Contest of 1952 – London’s first body-building contest. “all the other have passed away”
Laura Porter, Powerlifter
Laura – “I like the feeling of being powerful”
Martin Bass, Club Secretary and Member for forty-five years
At the Women’s Powerlifting Contest
Photographs copyright © Sarah Ainslie
Bethnal Green Weightlifting Club, 229 Bethnal Green Rd, E2 6AB – entrance in Turin St
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The Language Of Tailors
Complementing yesterday’s portrait of Chris Georgiou, Bespoke Tailor, today I offer this selection of the language of tailors.
Chris Georgiou
BABY – The stuffed pad of cloth that the tailor works his cloth on.
BALLOON, TO HAVE A – To have no money coming in at the end of the week.
BANGER – A piece of wood with a handle used to draw steam out of the material during ironing.
BOARD – Tailor’s work bench.
BUNCE – A perk of the trade. Mungo is one type of tailor’s bunce.
CODGER – A tailor who does up old suits.
CRIB – Larger scraps of cloth, saved from a length of cloth alloted for a job. The crib can be used to make a skirt or a pair of trousers. Another example of a tailor’s bunce.
DEAD – A job is dead when it’s been paid for already. So there is no more money coming in from it and it is as well to get it off your hands quickly.
DOCTOR – An alteration tailor – a separate trade in most houses.
DOLLY – A roll of material, wetted, and used as a sponge to dampen the cloth.
DRAG, IN THE– Late with a job of work.
DRUMMERS – Trouser makers. A term of contempt used by jacket makers to describe trouser makers because there is said to be less skill in making a pair of trousers. Trouser makers are also given the more contemptuous name of FOUR SEAMS & A RUB OF SOAP.
DUCK SHOVING – An East End expression, meaning making the stitches too big. The West End equivalent is SKIPPING IT.
GOOSE IRON – Hand iron, which used to be heated upon a gas flame.
INCH STICK – Wooden ruler.
KICKING – Looking for another job. If dissatisfied, a tailor might go out looking for another job during the lunch break.
A KILL – A job that is no good at all and cannot be resold. eg If burnt with an iron.
KIPPER – Female tailor’s assistant, called kippers because they always worked in pairs. This was for their own safety – a kind of chaperone system – so that one could protect the other if the tailor made advances.
MANGLE – Sewing machine. Old machine that worked on a treadle looked like mangles.
MUNGO – Cloth cuttings. These belong to the tailor and he can make a few pennies by selling them to a rag merchant.
ON THE COD – Gone for a drink.
ON THE LOG – Piecework. As in most trades, tailors are paid according to the amount of work they turn out. The work is logged up against the tailor’s name in the book.
A PORK – A job that customer rejects but which can be sold to someone else.
PT, RUBBING IN A – Fitting in a private job eg making yourself a pair of trousers during the lunch break. This practice os allowed in most work rooms provided th tailors are discreet about it, and do it in their own time.
SCHMUTTER, BIT OF OLD – Jewish expression for a piece of poor cloth.
SHEARS – Tailor’s scissors.
SKIFFLE – A fast job that a customer wants in a hurry.
SMALL SEAMS – A warning expression to a fellow tailor that the person you are talking about is coming into the room.
SOFT SEW – A cloth that is easy to work with eg tweed.
TWEED MERCHANT – A tailor who does the easy work. A term of contempt for a poor workman, because tweed being soft and rough is easier to work with than other cloths.
UMSIES – A name to describe someone who is in the room whom you are talking about but you do not want them to know it. Even if they hear, there is an element of doubt who you are referring to.
Photograph copyright © Colin O’Brien
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