INDUSTRIES 



years of the eighteenth century consequent 

 upon the extended introduction of machinery 

 into manufactures. The history of South 

 London industries affords many illustrations 

 of the early application of such machinery, 

 and we shall have to deal with them fully in 

 the sections which we shall devote to special 

 industries. For the present we may call at- 

 tention more particularly to such instances as 

 will be found in the accounts of the pottery, 

 the hat-making, the brewing and the print- 

 ing industries. 



The benefits attending the application to 

 manufactures of the improved principles 

 gained by science during the nineteenth 

 century are nowhere more strikingly shown 

 than in the history of the candle-making indus- 

 try in Surrey. Advantage has been taken 

 of the great attention given to sanitary 

 reform by a firm of Lambeth potters 

 to build up the fortunes of one of the 

 largest and most important houses of this 

 description in the world. The fertility of 

 their inventive powers and the energy and 

 enterprise with which so many of them have 

 helped to give practical efifect to the improve- 

 ments dictated by the great scientific dis- 

 coveries of the century have indeed been the 

 most distinguishing characteristics of manu- 

 facturers in South London. This fact is well 

 borne out by the frequency with which they 

 appear amongst the patentees for inventions 

 during the first half of the century. 



The Surrey suburbs of London have now 

 for long constituted one of the busiest indus- 

 trial quarters of the metropolis. In the fore- 

 going remarks we have attempted to put for- 

 ward some of the chief reasons which led to 

 this development in the first place. Special 

 conditions favouring the existence of certain 

 industries south of the Thames, but at no 

 great distance from the capital, will be con- 

 sidered in the sections devoted to those indus- 

 tries. In more recent times, as we have 

 already said, the greater space available for 

 works demanding more acreage over which 

 they could be expanded than the more 

 crowded north side of the Thames could 

 afiPord has been a leading cause for the estab- 

 lishment of many of the more important 

 Surrey manufactures. In proof of this we 

 need only point to some of the largest works 

 which exist in South London at the present 

 day, to those of Messrs. Doulton and Co., 

 for instance, at Lambeth, of Messrs. Peek 

 Frean and Co. at Bermondsey, of Barclay 

 and Perkins' Brewery at Southwark, of 

 Beaufoy and Co. at South Lambeth, and of 

 Price's Candle Works at Battersea. Instances 

 are not wanting where firms have transferred 



their works from the north side of the river 

 to the south on account of this very desire 

 for greater room. Messrs. R. Hoe and Co.'s 

 manufactory of printing machinery is a 

 special case in point, and instances of other 

 well-known makers are afforded by Messrs. 

 Day and Martin and by Messrs. Cooper, 

 Dennison and Walkden. Such examples 

 could be readily multiplied, but the pro- 

 cess has now been going on for so long 

 that it is not surprising that with the growing 

 scarcity of land in these parts and the conse- 

 quent rise of rental values and increased cost 

 of living and wages, signs of a reaction 

 should be already apparent. Many of the 

 greatest Surrey manufacturers have for long 

 had branch works in other parts of the king- 

 dom. Especially is this the case with those 

 firms which require for their factories vast 

 quantities of fuel, for in spite of the increased 

 facilities for transport brought about by rail- 

 ways, coal has always remained one of the 

 most costly commodities to be carried any 

 distance from the pits. That some of the 

 largest Surrey makers can outgrow their 

 already ample premises is seen in the case of 

 Price's Candle Company, which in recent 

 years has had to acquire land on the oppo- 

 site bank of the Thames for the extension of 

 its London Works, whilst another impor- 

 tant firm of candle-makers, Messrs. J. C. and 

 J. Field, who for upwards of two hundred 

 years have been able to confine their business 

 to Lambeth and other places in Surrey, have 

 only in the last year been compelled to go 

 farther afield and outside the county to find 

 room for the additional works necessary to 

 permit them to keep pace with the demand 

 for their productions. 



In the following pages we shall endeavour 

 to treat of all those industries which have 

 been carried on in Surrey at one time or 

 another since the Norman invasion, and to 

 which some historic importance may be con- 

 sidered to attach. The catalogue when com- 

 plete will represent fairly adequately the 

 great variety in the manufactures which 

 existed or still exist in the county. Never- 

 theless there are some important industries 

 belonging to Surrey with which, either be- 

 cause materials for an account of them are 

 not readily to be found or because in many 

 cases they are of too recent an origin to lend 

 themselves to historical treatment, we shall 

 not be able to deal more particularly. As to 

 these, therefore, we will confine ourselves here 

 to some remarks more or less of a general 

 character, and intended rather to call atten- 

 tion to their existence than to comment on 

 any special features attaching to them. 



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