A HISTORY OF SURREY 



brazil mill there in the previous century we 

 have already noted. Matthew Hebert of 

 Wandsworth, a dyer, died on I2 July 1703/ 

 In 17 1 8 was buried Theodore Hodshon, 

 described in his will as a scarlet dyer.' He 

 bequeathed his household furniture to his 

 wife Annabella, who was to carry on the 

 trade of a scarlet dyer in the house in which 

 he then lived, free firom interruption by his 

 sons. Voltaire, it is of interest to recall in 

 connection with this industry, spent the first 

 period of his stay in England, between the 

 years 1726 and 1729, at a scarlet dyer's in 

 Wandsworth.* A Mr. G. Spence, who was 

 buried in Mount Nod Cemetery here in 

 September 1763, is described on his tomb- 

 stone as * Dyer of Wandsworth.' * He was 

 doubtless a relative of John Spence who 

 carried on a very considerable trade at 

 Wandsworth as scarlet dyer to the East 

 India Company and retired in 1764.° He 

 was succeeded by Mr. Barchard, who was 

 carrying on the business in 1792,' and in 

 partnership with Mr. Piatt in 1811.^ In 

 1823 we find the firm in existence under the 

 style of Messrs. Hilton, Barchard & Piatt, 

 and still described as scarlet dyers.* Another 

 cloth dyer at Wandsworth, both in 1792 and 

 in 181 1, was Mr. Williamson." The 

 Elizabeth Williamson, who is described as a 

 scarlet dyer here in 1823 was no doubt his 

 successor." At the present day the business 

 of fur dyeing is carried on at Wandsworth 

 by Messrs. EUwood, who have been estab- 

 lished there some eighteen years. They 

 receive the skins already dressed at their 

 factory, and dye the fur to any desired 

 colour by a patent process." 



The origin of the art of bleaching in this 

 country is obscure, not much being known 

 concerning it until the seventeenth century. 



' C. T. Davis, Industries of Wandsworth, 12. 



> Ibid. 



» [Luke Howard, F.R.S.], ^he Yorhhireman, i. 

 167 seq. The dyer was Everard Falkener, who 

 lived then near the Friends' School at Half-firthing. 

 Ballantyne, Voltaire's Fisit to England, 1 726-1 729 

 (1893), describes him as 'an English merchant 

 trading in silk and cloth in the Levant.' Voltaire 

 dedicated to him his tragedy Zaire (See Wands- 

 worth N. y Q. (iSgg), 33 seq.). 



♦ C. T. Davis, Industries of Wandsworth, 1 1 . 



' Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surrey, iii. 342. 



• Lysons, Environs of London, ed. I, i. 503. 

 ' Ibid. ed. 2. i. 378, 379. 



" Pigot, London, etc.. Commercial Directory, 

 1823-4. 



» 'Lyiom, Environs ed. I, i. 503 ; ed. 2, i. 379. 

 " Pigot, op. cit. 

 " C. T. Davis, op. cit. 17. 



Shakespeare however speaks or 'whiting- 

 time ' in his Merry Wives of Windsor, and in 

 the same play alludes to the ' whitsters in 

 Datchet-mead.'" But in the sixteenth cen- 

 tury it seems to have been the usual practice 

 to send linen goods to Holland in the spring 

 to be bleached and to have them returned in 

 the autumn." The Dutch had acquired a 

 great reputation in the art, and there seems 

 little doubt that it is to them that we must 

 ascribe the introduction of the industry on any 

 considerable scale into this country. Under 

 the influence of Dutch settlers early bleaching 

 grounds were started in Surrey, and the 

 industry remained firmly established there, 

 principally on the banks of the Wandle, 

 until its final migration to the north of Eng- 

 land in the early part of the nineteenth cen- 

 tury. 



Although of later introduction yet almost 

 inseparably connected with the bleaching 

 industry was that of calico-printing, which, 

 too, was principally carried on along the 

 course of the river Wandle in Surrey until 

 the same period. It was also carried on in 

 Essex, chiefly at West Ham, and also at 

 Lewisham and Crayford in Kent, and it will 

 appear later in this account that there was 

 some intercourse between the calico printers 

 of these three home counties. The works 

 had gradually dwindled off by the middle of 

 the nineteenth century, the Surrey calico 

 printers, who had for many years held their 

 own against all others, being unable to com- 

 pete with the improved quality and cheap- 

 ness of the goods produced by the Man- 

 chester manufacturers.** 



The indebtedness of the English bleaching 

 industry for its origin to the Dutch is 

 evidenced in the earliest reference which we 

 have been able to discover to it relating to 

 Surrey. This occurs in 1582-3, when 

 Jacob Ost was returned as a * whitster of the 

 Dutch Church dwelling in the ward of 

 Bridge Without.' " A little later, in 1583, 

 'Jeames Hurst,' who is probably to be 

 identified with the above, appears as a Dutch 

 * whister ' in the parish of St. Olave, South- 

 wark." Jacob Ost appears from the subsidy 



" Act III. so. 3. 



" See Draper's Dictionary, art. ' Bleaching.' 



" For the following account of the whitsters 

 and calico printers of Surrey the editor is mainly 

 indebted to R. Garraway Rice, Esq., F.S.A., for 

 the information kindly supplied by him, and 

 especially for the numerous references to manufac- 

 turers of Mitcham and neighbourhood. 



'» Kirk, ATtens in London (Hug. Soc. Publ. x.), 

 ii. 287. 



>« Ibid. ii. 328. 



36B 



