INDUSTRIES 



The metal trades, an important class of 

 the Southwark manufactures of a later date, 

 were represented during this period by a few 

 foreign smiths and blacksmiths, cutlers, cop- 

 persmiths, brasiers, gunmakers, locksmiths, 

 nail-makers, needle-makers, and gold refiners. 

 Amongst the miscellaneous trades and indus- 

 tries in which aliens were engaged in the 

 same place to a greater or less extent, may be 

 noticed those carried on by glaziers, comb- 

 makers, file-hewers, button-makers, lace- 

 makers, chandlers, masons, sawyers, stone- 

 carvers, ball-makers, trunk-makers, tailors, 

 hosiers, brush-makers, string and harp string 

 makers, thread-makers, dice-makers, and fal- 

 coners. Thus already by the end of the 

 sixteenth century that remarkable catholicity 

 in its manufactures which has for long been 

 the most characteristic feature of Southwark 

 and its neighbourhood, was being brought 

 about to no small extent through the influence 

 of alien immigrants. 



During the Tudor period the greatest 

 difficulty against which the foreign workmen 

 had to contend in this country was the 

 jealousy of the native artisans, which made 

 itself felt in attempts to check their employ- 

 ment in any large numbers. In 1523 this 

 jealousy had led to the passing of the Act 

 which forbade any alien handicraftsman to 

 maintain more than two alien journeymen in 

 his employ.^ The Act was modified in 1530 

 in favour of beer-brewers, bakers, surgeons, 

 and scriveners, who were declared to be out- 

 side its meaning.^ But the Act of 1540 

 which restricted all subjects and denizens to 

 keeping no more than four alien denizens ^ 

 was interpreted to include all trades, and the 

 greater number of the informations which 

 were lodged in the Exchequer of offences 

 under it committed in Surrey occur in the 

 case of the beer-brewers. On the other hand 

 advantage began to be taken in Elizabeth's 

 reign of the presence of the aliens in the 

 kingdom to set on foot new industries, and to 

 this end it was generally stipulated in the 

 patents granted to foreigners to pursue their 

 various callings that they should take into 

 their service a certain number of native work- 

 men and instruct them in their arts. So far 

 as Surrey is concerned during the period we 

 have been considering, the most important 

 illustration of this policy is in the case of the 

 saltpetre industry, the establishment of which 

 was necessary to make the manufacture of 

 gunpowder possible in this country. The 



1 Stat. 14 & 15 Hen. VIII. cap. 2. 

 ^ Ibid. 22 Hen. VIII. cap. 13. 

 ' Ibid. 32 Hen. VIII. cap. 16. 



system of granting patents for the setting-up 

 of particular manufactures was extended by 

 the first two Stuart sovereigns, under whose 

 economic policy the patents developed into 

 monopolies and became a convenient means 

 for increasing the revenues of the Crown in- 

 dependently of Parliament. This policy is 

 strikingly illustrated in the case of several 

 Surrey industries of both native and foreign 

 origin. The manufacture of gunpowder 

 again furnishes the chief illustration. Until 

 the meeting of the Long Parliament this 

 remained virtually a monopoly in the hands 

 of the successive Surrey makers. A curious 

 instance is supplied by the history of the soap 

 monopoly of 1632 and following years, the 

 leading makers in the Westminster company 

 of soapboilers having their houses in Lambeth. 

 At Lambeth also the first experiments in the 

 art of making glass with coal fuel appear to 

 have been carried out by Sir Edward Zouch 

 and his company under the monopoly in the 

 exercise of this art granted to them by the 

 Crown in 161 1. 



Lambeth indeed became a manufacturing 

 centre of the first importance during the 

 seventeenth century. Again no small part 

 of the credit for this development is due to 

 the influence of foreign workmen. The 

 manufacture of looking-glasses and plate 

 glass, which attained to so high a degree of 

 perfection at Vauxhall in this parish, appears 

 to have been started in the latter half of the 

 century by Venetians working under the 

 patronage of the Duke of Buckingham. But 

 still more important is the position of Lam- 

 beth as the scene of the first manufacture of 

 delft-ware in England. The association with 

 Lambeth of Ariens van Hamme, who first 

 introduced this manufacture into this country, 

 rests, it is true, on little more than tradition, 

 but is strongly corroborated by the absence 

 of any other claimant for the scene of his 

 labours and by other indirect or negative 

 evidence. Moreover the attribution to Lam- 

 beth of some of the earliest pieces of English 

 delft-ware has never been disputed. Lambeth 

 became famous as a centre of the earthenware 

 industry, and its reputation in this respect 

 has been maintained by a succession of firms 

 to the present day. 



In other directions during the seventeenth 

 century alien influences were at work in 

 Surrey to call into being several new indus- 

 tries which are of particular interest to the 

 economic history of the county. The manu- 

 facture of high-warp tapestries at Mortlake 

 by Walloons was established in the reign of 

 James I. and flourished most vigorously under 

 the direct personal encouragement of his 



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