BOROUGH OF SOUTHAMPTON 



Rood, St. Michael, and St. John, the other the 

 parishes of All Saints and St. Mary. The butchers 

 were to supply the tallow which was to be divided 

 equally ; and no form or regulation was too minute 

 in this as in other trades. At the end of the period 

 there was but one ' town-chandler,' who in 1598 was 

 dismissed from his office, bitterly complaining of the 

 terms set him by the town ; but another was 

 appointed. 3 " 



In 1504 the wardens and company of cloth- 

 workers (shearmen) came before the mayor and his 

 brethren complaining of the infringement of theirliber- 

 ties by certain galley men, when several arrangements 

 were made. 548 A hundred years later (1608) usurpers 

 of their trade were again encroaching ; they were made 

 to pay the usual fine, half to the town and half to the 

 company, for their privilege." 9 In 1616 a company 

 of clothworkers was formed or reformed ; and in 

 1629 they were fined $ for not having read 

 among themselves the articles of their incorpora- 

 tion. 860 



The fine of admission to the cappers (1502) was 

 one mark divided equally, as usual, between the 

 town and the master of the craft. 351 Early in the 

 same century the cobblers were fined for breaking the 

 rules of their corporation by giving strangers work. 3 " 



The coopers probably existed as something of a 

 community from early times ; but at all events in 

 answer to a petition concerning infringements of 

 rights in 1486 they received a charter from the 

 corporation ; no one was permitted to exercise the 

 craft without having made fine in the usual way, 

 under penalty of 5 to be levied by the mayor's 

 command and divided equally between the town and 

 the craft company. 353 In 1608 the admission fine 

 was 4, one half to the town, the other to the 

 society. 354 



Very similar to the petition of the coopers was 

 that of the tailors in 1474 against the encroachment 

 of strangers and foreigners, such as galley-tailors, &c. 

 They received the desired concessions and gave the 

 town j5 for them.' 55 In 1616 the company was 

 partially reconstituted, but as usual in all money 

 payments, whether of admissions or of amercements, 

 the interests of the town and the company were equally 

 consulted. 356 



The shoemakers' (corvesers, cordwainers) company 

 existed here at least in 1 488, when the town steward 

 acknowledges dues from the masters of the craft. 3 " 

 In 1550 seven fishmongers were appointed for the 

 town, the arrangement being annual. 358 In 1553 the 

 linen-hall which was in West Street was ordered to 

 be used under severe penalties, a custom having arisen 

 of stowing away linen cloth contrary to good order. 359 



The mercers had their craft company here before 

 1486, admission to which was in the usual way. 360 

 A company of serge-makers, serge weavers, and wool 

 combers was formed in 1609, dissolved in 1620, and 

 re-formed in i657. 361 



Tobacconists were here before 1629. In 1632 



retail tobacconists to the number of seven were 

 licensed for the town. 36 ' Other trades of course 

 there were, such as the bowyers in the earlier time, 

 the vintners or wine-sellers at all times : but whether 

 or not gathered into gilds or fraternities, they were 

 equally held in the iron grasp of the corporation, 

 not without at least occasional protest. 



A ' sisterhood ' for wool-packing consisting of 

 thirteen women, two being wardens, existed here in 

 the sixteenth century. They were sworn and their 

 regulations are given at length. The employment 

 of women in this capacity is said to have been 

 customary from old times. 363 



A revival of the town may be dated from the 

 commencement of the last century. From the r61e 

 of a fashionable watering-place which Southampton 

 was enjoying about the middle of the eighteenth 

 century with its distinguished company, its retired 

 naval and military gentlemen, the occasional presence 

 of warlike equipments and of royalty ; its balls and 

 concerts, and master of the ceremonies, its spa, and 

 archery, its sea bathing, 364 its libraries, its theatre, its 

 unrivalled coaching and beautiful drives the Act of 

 I803 365 for abolishing the 'petty customs,' making 

 convenient docks, and calling the harbour board into 

 existence, aroused her and may be said to have been 

 the harbinger of Southampton's prosperity. The Act 

 was amended by that of iSlo, 366 but the formation of 

 the docks was still in abeyance owing to the demand 

 on capital by harbour and quay improvements 

 already being carried out under the board. It was 

 not until 1836 that the dock company was incorpor- 

 ated by Act of Parliament, the construction of docks 

 being commenced in 1838. Meanwhile, the forma- 

 tion of a railway to London, which had been 

 contemplated as far back as 1825, was taken in hand 

 in 1830 and following years, the works being actually 

 commenced in March, 1836 ; but it was not until 

 1 840 that the whole line was opened from London to 

 Southampton. 



The docks were now rapidly advancing in construc- 

 tion. The great tidal dock, then the largest in 

 England, which had been commenced in October, 

 1839, was opened in August, 1842. It contains a 

 surface of 1 6 acres of water, 1 8 ft. deep at low water 

 of spring tide, the average rise of tide being I 3 ft. ; its 

 entrance 1 50 ft. wide. An inner or close dock with a 

 surface of 10 acres of water, 28 ft. deep, was opened in 

 1851. The Itchen extension quay, with a frontage 

 of 1,720 ft. and a depth of 20 ft., now deepened to 

 28 ft. at low water spring tides, was opened in 1876, 

 and formed the first instalment of the Empress Dock, 

 opened by Queen Victoria in 1890, and containing 

 a surface of i8J acres of water with a depth of 26 ft. 

 at spring tide low water, and entrance 165 ft. wide. 

 The first graving or dry dock was opened in July, 

 1 846, entrance gates 66 ft. wide, length 400 ft., 

 depth over blocks 21 ft. ; the second, opened in 1847, 

 entrance 5 1 ft., length 280 ft., depth 156.; the third, 

 finished in 1854, entrance Soft., length 521 ft., depth 



M < Boke of Remembrances, fol. 198*. 



848 Lib. Remembranc. H. fol. 12. 



""Town Journ. (Corp. MSS.). 



so Ibid. 4 Sept. 



861 Lib. Remembranc. H. fol. 64. 



141 Ibid. fol. 140*. 



" Liber Niger, fol. 60. 



> M Town Journ. 



" Liber Niger, fol. 13. 



M Town Journ. (Corp. MSS.), 6 Sept. 

 8S " Steward's Bk. 



858 Boke of Remembrances, fol. 58. 

 8S Ibid. fol. 68. 



860 Lib. Remembranc. H. I Hen. VIII. 



861 Town Journ. tub annii. 



> M Hiit. MSS. Com. Ref. xi, App. iii, 

 28 ; Cal. S.P. Dem. 1629-31, p. 99. 

 868 Lib. Remembranc. B.B. fol. 264. 



884 Dr. Speed wrote a Latin treatise 

 on sea-bathing at Southampton which 

 afterwards appeared in English ; see also 

 Count Kilmansegg's Diary in 1761 

 (Athenaeum^ No. 3914* I Nor. 1902), and 

 the 1778 edition of Defoe's Tour, 



M6 Stat. 43 Geo. Ill, cap. 21. 



966 Stat. 50 Geo. Ill, cap. 168. 



