INDUSTRIES 



Aylesbury to London, the terminus being at 

 Baker Street, and the Aylesbury and Bucking- 

 ham Railway was bought by the Metropolitan 

 Railway Company. The line is known as the 

 Metropolitan Extension Railway, and a steam 

 tramway is run in connexion with it from Quain- 

 ton Road to Brill. The Great Central Railway, 

 since its extension to London, also passes 

 through the centre of the county, entering it 

 near Buckingham. It then passes through 

 Quainton Road Junction, Aylesbury, and on to 

 the Marylebone terminus. The Great Western 

 and Great Central Joint Committee have built 

 a new line from Quainton Road, through Princes 

 Risborough and Wycombc, joining the main 

 line near Kingsbury-Neasden and so on to 

 London. 



Several industries have sprung up in the 

 county for different reasons during the latter 

 part of the last century. Amongst these may be 

 classed boat-building, on the banks of the Thames. 

 This trade has probably occupied a large number 

 of the riverside population throughout the history 

 of the county. In 1831 there were said to be 

 ten boat - builders and 998 boat - makers or 

 menders," but the trade in its present form has 

 only developed recently. At Eton it dated from 

 the time when the boys at the college began 

 to row about forty-five years ago." It is now 

 one of the four centres in the country for the 

 building of racing-boats. The industry received 

 a further stimulus about twenty years after 

 the introduction of racing by the popularity of 

 pleasure-boating on the river. A large number 

 of the boats built for this purpose are kept on 

 the Thames for letting on hire, the rest are sold 

 to purchasers in all parts of the country. Re- 

 cently the demand for punts has brought an 

 increase of trade, which had been decreasing 

 owing to the popularity of motoring and other 

 amusements. 14 A large export trade was at one 

 time carried on by the boat-builders at Eton to 

 most continental countries, but this has been 

 stopped by the establishment of boat-building 

 firms in these countries ; boats are still sent to 

 Africa, India, Italy, Portugal, amongst other 

 places. One firm has also extended its business 

 by manufacturing oars and sculls, besides supply- 

 ing the London County Council with a large 

 number of mahogany boats for use in the Lon- 

 don parks. The industry now gives employ- 

 ment to a considerable number of men, whose 

 work is very various, the chief classes being 

 builders, varnishcrs, decorators, upholsterers and 

 watermen. The wages paid to first-class hands 

 are good, the rate of wages amongst the builders 

 reaching between 3 and 4 a week, 



Pof.Rft. 1 83 1, i, 34. 



u From information kindly given by Mr. G. F. 

 Winter, Kton. 



" From information kindly given by Mr. G. Raines, 

 Old Windsor and Wraysbury. 



Although the manufacture of paper has been 

 one of the chief industries of Buckinghamshire 

 for so many years, there do not seem to have 

 been any large printing works established until 

 recently. In the second half of the 1 8th cen- 

 tury there was a printer at Aylesbury, 1 * and for 

 a short time, in the year 1792, the Buckingham- 

 ihire Herald was printed there by a man named 

 Norman, and at the present time there are 

 printers in most of the towns of the county. 

 The Buckinghamshire Standard \& printed at New- 

 port Pagnell, as well as the Newport Pagnell 

 Gazette. The South Bucks Standard at Wycombe, 

 the Buckingham Standard at Buckingham, and the 

 Bucks Herald at Aylesbury, are all printed in the 

 towns where they are published. In the last- 

 named town are large printing works owned by 

 Messrs. Hazell, Watson & Vincy, Ltd." 

 The firm was founded in London in 1845, but 

 the Aylesbury works were not opened till 1867, 

 when they were started as an experiment in an 

 old silk-mill, with the object of establishing works 

 in the country rather than in London. All kinds 

 of printing are done by the firm, who also are 

 book-binders, printing-ink makers, printers' roller 

 makers, &c. A great many institutions and clubs 

 have been established at Aylesbury for the em- 

 ployees of the firm, who are also shareholders under 

 different schemes, the total value of the shares 

 so held being between 16,000 and 17,000. 

 There are numerous coach and carriage builders 

 in all parts of the county. Their trade appears 

 to be of recent development, since in 1831 only 

 twenty-three men were so employed. The 

 chief centres are at Newport Pagnell, Great 

 Marlow, and Slough. At Slough a large export 

 trade is carried on and this has prevented one 

 firm at least from suffering from the increasing 

 demand for motor cars. 17 



Embrocation is made by two firms in the 

 county, the Line Romanelicum Company at 

 Newport Pagnell and the well-known Messrs. 

 Elliman & Sons, Ltd., at Slough. 



Brewing was carried on in Buckinghamshire, 

 as in the rest of England, in nearly every village 

 in mediaeval times, and the industry was super- 

 vised as a rule by the lords of the manors or 

 their officials, claiming the right to hold the 

 assize of ale. Owing to the process then ob- 

 taining, no large quantities of beer or ale were 

 made, so that the business was carried on on a 

 very small scale. At High Wycombe, in the 

 1 6th century, there were severe orders against 

 those who brewed selling, or as it was then 

 called ' tippling,' their beer at their own houses. 18 

 Instead it was to be sent into the town to be 



' Gibb, Hut. ef Aylesbury, 628-9. 



" After Hours, published by Messrs. Hazell, Watson 

 & Viney, Ltd. 



17 Information kindly given by Messrs. Brown & 

 Sons, Slough. 



" Wycombe Borough Records. 



105 



