Whilst the street-orderlies were engaged in cleansing Regent-street, &c., the City Commissioners of the sewers of London were invited to depute some person to observe and report to them concerning the method pursued; but with that instinctive sort of repugnance which seems to animate the great bulk of city officials against improvement of any kind, the reply was, that they “did not consider the same worthy their attention.” The matter, however, was not allowed to drop, and by the persevering efforts of Mr. Cochrane, the president, and of the body of gentlemen who form the Council of the Association, Cheapside, Cornhill, and the most important parts of the very heart of the city were at length cleansed according to the new method. The ratepayers then showed that they, at least, did consider “the same worthy of attention,” for 8000 out of 12,000 within a few days signed memorials recommending the adoption of what they pronounced an improvement, and a public meeting was held in Guildhall (May 4, 1846), at which resolutions in favour of the street-orderly method were passed. The authorities did not adopt these recommendations, but they ventured so far to depart from their venerable routine as to order the streets to be “swept every day!” This employed upwards of 300 men, whereas at the period when the sages of the city sewers did not consider any proposed improvement in scavagery worthy their attention, the number of men employed by them in cleansing the streets did not exceed 30.
The street-orderly system was afterwards tried in the parishes of St. Paul, Covent-garden, St. James (Westminster), St. Martin-in-the-Fields, St. Anne, Soho, and others—sometimes calling forth opposition, of course from the authorities connected with the established modes of paving, scavaging, &c.
It is not my intention to write a complete history of the street-orderlies, but merely to sketch their progress, as well as describe their peculiar characteristics.
Within these few months public meetings have been held in almost every one of the 26 wards of the City, at which approving resolutions were either passed unanimously or carried by large majorities; and the street-orderly system is now about to be introduced into St. Martin’s parish instead of the street-sweeping machine.
As far as the street-orderly system has been tried, and judging only by the testimony of public examination and public record of opinion, the trial has certainly been a success. A memorial to the Court of Sewers, from the ward of Broad-street, supported by the leading merchants of that locality, in recommendation of the employment of street-orderlies, seems to bear more closely on the subject than any I have yet seen.
“Your memorialists,” they state, “have observed that those public thoroughfares within the city of London which are now cleansed by street-orderlies, are so remarkably clean as to be almost free from mud in wet, and dust in dry weather—that such extreme cleanliness is of great comfort to the public, and tends to improve the sanitary condition of the ward.”
But it is not only in the metropolis that the street-orderlies seem likely to become the established scavagers. The streets of Windsor, I am informed, are now in the course of being cleansed upon the orderly plan. In Amsterdam, there are at present 16 orderlies regularly employed upon scavaging a portion of the city, and in Paris and Belgium, I am assured, arrangements are being made for the introduction of the system into both those cities. Were the street-orderly mode of scavaging to become general throughout this country, it is estimated that employment would be given to 100,000 labourers, so that, with the families of these men, not less than half a million of people would be supported in a state of independence by it. The total number of adult able-bodied paupers relieved—in-door and out-door—throughout England and Wales, on January 1, 1850, was 154,525.
The following table shows the route of the street-orderly operations in the metropolis. A further column, in the Report from which the table has been extracted, contained the names of thirteen clergymen who have “weekly read prayers and delivered discourses to the street-orderlies at their respective stations, and recorded flattering testimonials of their conduct and demeanour.”
EMPLOYMENT OF STREET-ORDERLIES.
| Localities Cleansed. | No. of Street-Orderlies. | Wives and Children dependent. | Money expended. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £ | s. | d. | ||||
| 1843-4. | Oxford and Regent Streets | 50 | 256 | 560 | 0 | 0 |
| 1845. | Strand | 8 | — | 38 | 0 | 0 |
| 1845-6. | Cheapside, Cornhill, &c., City of London | 100 | 363 | 1540 | 2 | 0 |
| 1846-7. | St. Margaret’s and St. John’s, Westminster | 15 | 65 | 306 | 0 | 0 |
| 1847. | Piccadilly, St. James’s, &c. | 8 | 32 | 115 | 0 | 0 |
| 1848. | Strand | 8 | 31 | 35 | 0 | 0 |
| 1848. | St. Martin’s Lane, &c. | 38 | 138 | 153 | 0 | 0 |
| 1848. | Piccadilly, St. James’s, &c. | 48 | 108 | 341 | 3 | 0 |
| 1848-9. | St. Paul’s, Covent Garden | 13 | 38 | 38 | 10 | 0 |
| 1849. | Regent Street, Whitehall, &c. | 18 | 68 | 98 | 0 | 0 |
| 1849. | St. Giles’s and St. George’s, Bloomsbury | 14 | 71 | 58 | 1 | 0 |
| 1849. | St. Pancras, New Road, &c. | 16 | 46 | 177 | 6 | 0 |
| 1849. | St. Andrew’s and St. George’s, Holborn | 23 | 83 | 63 | 4 | 9 |
| 1849. | Lambeth Parish | 16 | 41 | 84 | 16 | 0 |
| 1851. | St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields | 68 | 179 | 119 | 3 | 4 |
| 1851. | City of London, Central Districts (per week, during 6 weeks last past) | 103 | 378 | 55 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 546 | 1897 | 3782 | 6 | 1 | |