CHAP. XV. THE RAILWAY NAVVIES. 



321 



capital of a great nation, the English railway was 

 constructed, in the face of every conceivable obstruction 

 and difficulty, by a company of private individuals out 

 of their own resources, without the aid of Government 

 or the contribution of one farthing of public money. 



The labourers who executed these formidable works 

 were in many respects a remarkable class. The " rail- 

 way navvies, 1 " as they were called, were men drawn 

 by the attraction of good wages from all parts of the 

 kingdom ; and they were ready for any sort of hard 

 work. Many of the labourers employed on the Liver- 

 pool line were Irish ; others were from the Northum- 

 berland and Durham railways, where they had been 

 accustomed to similar work ; and some of the best came 

 from the fen districts of Lincoln and Cambridge, where 

 they had been trained to execute works of excavation 

 and embankment. These old practitioners formed a 

 nucleus of skilled manipulation and aptitude, which 

 rendered them of indispensable utility in the immense 

 undertakings of the period. Their expertness in all sorts 

 of earthwork, in embanking, boring, and well-sinking 

 their practical knowledge of the nature of soils and 

 rocks, the tenacity of clays, and the porosity of certain 

 stratifications were very great ; and, rough-looking 

 though they were, many of them were as important in 

 their own department as the contractor or the engineer. 



During the railway-making period the navvy wan- 

 dered about from one public work to another appa- 

 rently belonging to no country and having no home. 

 He usually wore a white felt hat with the brim turned 

 up, a velveteen or jean square-tailed coat, a scarlet plush 

 waistcoat with little black spots, and a bright-coloured 

 kerchief round his herculean neck, when, as often 



1 The word " navvie," or " naviga- 

 tor," is supposed to have originated in 

 the fact ot many of these labourers 

 having been originally employed in 



VOL. III. 



making the navigations, or canals, the 

 construction of which immediately 

 preceded the railway era. 



