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ABSTRACT
The last third of the nineteenth century was a turning point in terms of legislation surrounding itinerant trading in Britain. Liberal governments sought to adapt to what they perceived as the decline of peddling and encourage its transformation into a makeshift activity for humble labourers. This shift took place during the chancellorship and primeministership of William Gladstone. It reflected the popularity of self-help and the desire to improve the lot of the labouring poor in the late-nineteenth century. Encouraging peddling appeared to be an adequate tool to help poor labourers and subsidise working-class consumers, as itinerant traders supplied them with cheap goods. The period was thus marked by debates about the relevance of taxing hawkers: the Pedlars Act 1871 and Hawkers Act 1888 lowered the price of their certificates. Reformers and police constables, however, were also concerned by the ‘decline’ of peddling. They advocated for stricter control of the sellers, often likened pedlars to vagrants, and their salesmanship. The ‘self-help’ objective of the national legislation was furthermore debated and contested by local authorities, to which more powers were devolved in the late-nineteenth century. In some municipalities, it was mitigated by legislation related to urban planning, street cleanliness or shopkeepers’ interests.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Fontaine, History of Pedlars in Europe; Salman, Pedlars and the Popular Press: Itinerant Distribution Networks in England and the Netherlands 1600–1850.
2 Rioux, The Social Cost of Cheap Food. Rioux quotes English social reformer Helen Dendy, who described “the industrial residuum” as “economically dead” in 1893.
3 House of Commons Debate (HC Deb.) 19 May 1865, vol. 179, cc. 564-77; Fontaine, History of Pedlars.
4 Benson, The Penny Capitalists; Benson, “Working-Class Capitalism in Great Britain and Canada, 1867–1914”; Kelley, Cheap Street: London’s Street Markets; Rioux, The Social Cost of Cheap Food.
5 Hufton, The Poor of Eighteenth-Century France; King and Tomkins, The Poor in England.
6 Biagini, Liberty, Retrenchment and Reform.
7 Boyer, The Winding Road to the Welfare State; Gazeley, Poverty in Britain, 1900–1965; Stedman Jones, Outcast London.
8 Innes, “The Mixed Economy of Welfare”.
9 DiGaetano, “Creating the Public Domain”; Doyle, Urban Politics; Fraser, Power and Authority.
10 34&35 Vict c. 96 and 51&52 Vict c. 33.
11 Articles were collected through an online search using the keywords ‘pedlar’ and ‘hawker’ on the British Newspapers Archives. The sample is non-exhaustive.
12 8 & 9 W.III. c.25, §1.
13 HC Deb. 19 May 1865, vol. 179, cc. 564-77.
14 Merewether and Stephens. The History of the Boroughs, 1778.
15 The National Archives (TNA), CUST 49/711.
16 HC Deb. 06 July 1863 vol. 172, cc. 249-50.
17 HC Deb. 11 April 1870, vol. 200, cc.1607-86.
18 Ibid.
19 HC Deb. 30 May 1870, vol 201 cc.1627-36, 1627.
20 Boyer, The Winding Road to the Welfare State, 15; 62.
21 HC Deb. 27 April 1871 vol 205 c1778; “Pedlers’ Certificates. Return of the Number of Certificates to Pedlers Granted by the Police Under 33 & 34 Vict. c. 72, in the Months of January and February 1871” 1871; House of Commons Papers, 283; vol. LVIII, p.585; “Police Reports of the Inspectors of Constabulary for the Year ended 29th September 1871, Made to Her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State, Under the Provisions of the Statute 19 & 20 Vict. c. 69”; 1872; House of Commons Papers, 47, vol. XXX, p.1.
22 House of Lords Debate 13 May 1870 vol 201 cc623-4; HC Deb. 30 May 1870 vol 201 cc1627-36, 1627; HC Deb. 27 April 1871 vol 205 c1778.
23 “Local News”, Wigan Observer and District Advertiser, 11 March 1871, 5.
24 Althammer et al., The Welfare State; Althammer, “Controlling Vagrancy”; Lucassen. “Eternal Vagrants?”.
25 TNA, HO 45/10532/149883, “Verbatim of Cowan v. Cramont”, 22 February 1896.
26 TNA, HO 45/9327/18422, 5 April 1871.
27 34&35 Vict c. 96.
28 51&52 Vict c. 33.
29 “Thirty-Second Report of the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Inland Revenue for the Year Ended 31st March 1889”, 1889, Command Papers, C.5843, vol. XXVIII p.379; “Forty-Third Report of the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Inland Revenue”, 1900, Command Papers, Cd.347, vol. XVIII, p.363.
30 TNA, HO 45/9327/18422/105, 25 April 1871.
31 Tosh, Manliness and Masculinities.
32 Wadauer, “Mobility and Irregularities”; Wadauer, “Asking for the Privilege to Work”.
33 TNA, HO 45/9327/18422, 5 April 1871.
34 Blackman, “The Food Supply of an Industrial Town”; Benson and Ugolini. A Nation of Shopkeepers.
35 Burnett et al., The Autobiography of the Working-Class.
36 TNA, MEPO 2/199, 1882.
37 HC Deb. 30 May 1870, vol. 201, cc. 1627-36.
38 HC Deb. 23 August 1881 vol 265 cc.764-7.
39 34&35 Vict c. 96.
40 TNA, CUST 49/711, 10 December 1923.
41 Kelley, “The Streets for the People”; Kelley, Cheap Street.
42 TNA, HO 45/10481/X73961.
43 Ibid., “Letter from the Southern Counties Village Colportage and Evangelist Mission to the Home Office”, 28 November 1914; Ibid. “Minutes”, January 1915.
44 “The Scotch Tally-Trade”, Chambers’s Journal of Popular Literature, Science and Arts, April 6, 1861, 379, 215.
45 Finn, “Working-Class Women”; Finn, “Scotch Drapers”.
46 TNA, HO 45/10015/A52489; HO 45/10532/149883; Labour History Archive and Study Centre, Manchester, LP/LRC/31/168 and LP/GC/13/280.
47 Parry, Ten Years’ Experience.
48 Taylor, Working-Class Credit.
49 Johnson, “Credit and Thrift”.
50 DiGaetano, “Creating the Public Domain”; Fraser, Municipal Reform and the Industrial City; Palmowski, “Liberalism and Local Government”; Prest, Liberty and Locality.
51 Carls and Schmiechen, The British Market Hall.
52 Kelley, Cheap Street.
53 TNA, MEPO 2/1199; HO 45/9738/A54733. Jurisprudence and police orders limiting the width and length of stalls or monitoring their location however sought to regulate costermongers. Regulations were passed under 30 & 31 Vict, c.134, s.6 and 48 & 49 Vict, c.18.
54 Valverde, “Seeing Like a City”.
55 Ibid.
56 Bluestone, “‘The Pushcart Evil’”; Jones, “Redressing Reform Narratives”.
57 “Street Hawkers”, Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 20 July 1907, 8.
58 Ibid.
59 “Important to Roast Potato Dealers”, Bolton Evening News, 30 December 1878, 3.
60 “Rochdale borough police court”, Heywood Advertiser, 2 March 1907, 5.
61 The Keep, DH/C/29/16, R/W/16; DL/D/267/63.
62 The Keep, QAC/3/7, 1871–1899.
63 “Reports of the Inspectors of Constabulary for the Year Ended 29th September 1871, Made to Her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State, under the Provisions of the Statute 19 & 20 Vict. c. 69”; 1872; House of Commons Papers, 47, vol. XXX, p.1.
64 “Travelling Photographers, License Required in Blackpool”, Lancashire Evening Post, 29 July 1908, 4.
65 “The Blackpool Improvement Bill”, Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 29 March 1893, 8.
66 “Lancashire Notes”, Preston Herald, 7 July 1888, 6.
67 Parliamentary Papers, “Report of the Departmental Committee on Vagrancy, vol.2: Minutes of Evidence”, Cd. 2891, 1906.
68 “Local Taxation Returns (England). Year 1898–99”, House of Commons Papers, 193, vol. 72 p.32 and 36. In 1899, £2,477,33 were collected in Lancashire. Only £413,930 were collected in Sussex that year, although the rates were higher in that county.
69 “The Market Committee”, The Burnley Gazette, 8 June 1889, 7.
70 “The Street Hawking Question”, Liverpool Mercury, 14 February 1882, 7.
71 Parliamentary Papers, “Report of the Departmental Committee on Vagrancy”, 1906.
72 Holland, “Toffee Men”; Tabili, “The Construction of Racial Difference”.
73 TNA, MAF/99/652.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Léa Leboissetier
Léa Leboissetier is a PhD candidate at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon and teaching fellow in contemporary history at Sciences Po Paris. She studies itinerant traders in late-modern Britain through the lens of labour, migration and commercial history.