INDUSTRIES 



drawing the oozes for the vats and handlers 

 from the floaters and working the oozes 

 through the floaters in every respect as 

 though they were a set of taps, and using 

 them at the same time in the nature of 

 floaters by handling the greenest packs in 

 them.' The greater number of patents 

 taken out by Surrey manufacturers and others 

 for improvements in the leather industry 

 seem to deal with the final stages of the pro- 

 cess, the finishing, glazing, ornamentation, 

 and dyeing of the leather. 



An Act of the second year of James I. had 

 prohibited the use of horse hides in the making 

 of boots and shoes. This Act was repealed 

 by the Act 39 and 40 George III. c. 66, 

 except for the cities of London and West- 

 minster, the borough of Southwark and all 

 places within 15 miles of the Royal Ex- 

 change. But the effect of the repeal was 

 found to be so beneficial to the leather trade 

 and of such advantage to the general public 

 that in 1803 the latter Act was extended by 

 a further Act to the districts previously ex- 

 cepted.* At the same time it was enacted 

 that all hides tanned within 5 miles of the 

 Royal Exchange should be brought to 

 Leadenhall to be examined and stamped, and 

 all sheepskins to one of the three sheepskin 

 markets about the metropolis, of which that 

 in the borough of Southwark was one. Two 

 inspectors were to be annually appointed for 

 Southwark market. 



In 1792, according to Lysons, the Ber- 

 mondsey tanners were very numerous, and 

 carried on that business to a greater extent 

 than was known in any other part of the 

 kingdom. From a natural connection 

 between the several trades there were also 

 many wool-staplers, fellmongers, curriers, and 

 leather-dressers, and some parchment makers.^ 

 In 1832 Bermondsey Leather Market was 

 erected by many of the principal tanners and 

 other inhabitants of the parish, the total cost 

 of the building and the freehold land on 

 which it was erected amounting to ^^40,000, 

 subscribed for in shares of ;{^ioo each.* 

 About the year 1840 we learn that many of 

 the tanners and leather-factors had their ware- 

 houses here and conducted the whole of their 

 business within it. Many of the hides were 

 brought to the market for sale, and the prin- 



» Rep. Dep. Keeper of the Records, vi. App. 1 99. 



2 Local and Personal Acts, 43 George III. cap. 

 106. 



3 Lysons, Environs of London (ed. 1792), !• IM- 

 The passage stands writhout modification in the 

 181 1 edition of the same work, p. 47. 



' G. W. Phillips, Hist, of Bermondsey, pp. 102, 

 103. 



cipal portion of the sheepskins of the 

 metropolis were sold there. About the same 

 time several of the Bermondsey tanners and 

 leather-dressers in an extensive way of busi- 

 ness had had steam engines erected on their 

 premises." 



In an account of the industries of Surrey 

 published in 1850 it was estimated that fully 

 one-third of the great quantity of leather then 

 produced in the kingdom was manufactured 

 and dressed in Surrey. ' Situated close to the 

 Thames and to the immense London markets, 

 Bermondsey has advantages in the supply of 

 all the materials, for the accomplishment of 

 the process, and the disposal of the finished 

 product, that withstand competition. ' The 

 general principles of the various processes, 

 which with only slight modifications are the 

 same to-day, are described. Thick hides 

 had still to be allowed eight, twelve, or 

 eighteen months' tanning, although chemists 

 had done much to shorten the process in 

 respect to time. But beyond a certain point 

 the quick operation had not answered, and 

 was at that time more cautiously applied than 

 it had been some years before.* 



The most important tanneries and leather 

 works at Bermondsey described in this same 

 account were those of Messrs. John & 

 Thomas Hepburn in Long Lane, Messrs. 

 Bevingtons at the Neckinger Mills, and 

 Messrs. Learmouth & Roberts in Swan 

 Street. The following account of Messrs. 

 Hepburns' tannery, which was then said to 

 be one of the largest and most complete pri- 

 vate establishments of its kind in the world, 

 gives some interesting particulars of the 

 industry and may be quoted at length. 



The premises, originally composed of five 

 separate tanneries, occupy a space of two acres 

 and a half, partly covered with buildings, and 

 partly occupied by numerous tan-pits. Three of 

 the original tanneries, which had existed for more 

 than a century previous, were purchased by Mr. 

 John Hepburn, father of the present proprietors, 

 in 1770. The extent of his business was at first 

 about sixty hides a week, not including what, as a 

 factor, he gave out to little tanners in the oak- 

 growing parts of Sussex ; for in those days, before 

 London had become the great mart for materials 

 from Germany, Flanders, France, Spain, Turkey, 

 America, Africa, and even China and Van Die- 

 men's Land, it was worth while to carry the skins 

 to the bark, and bring them back when tanned. 

 The work now performed on the premises amounts 

 to an average of 900 bullocks' hides, and 200 

 horses' weekly, or 57,000 a year, besides a due 



s Ibid. p. 107. 



' Brayley and Britton, Hist, of Surrey, v. App. 



29. 



II 



337 



43 



