Thames watermen and ferries
The earliest mention of the first Hall of the Company of Watermen was in 1603. At the time of this view of 1647 it was located at Cold Harbour, to the east of the modern Charing Cross, a mansion that had been acquired from Earl Gilbert. It was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666 along with the Company’s records. The Company moved to the present Hall at St. Mary at Hill, upon its completion in 1780.
The livelihoods of watermen and ferrymen were regularly put at risk by the effects of the weather. The narrow arches of old London Bridge held back the river, the upstream slow-moving water susceptible to freezing. Records have been kept at Watermen’s Hall of many severely cold winters during which the river froze over, putting watermen and ferrymen out of work. These record four times in the 13th century, three in the 15th century (including for fourteen weeks in 1408), and four in the 16th century (when in 1537 Henry VIII and Jane Seymour were able to travel along the ice to Greenwich on horseback). Freezing became even more frequent in the 17th and 18th centuries, leading to the famous frost fairs such as that of 1684. Things became so bad in the winter of 1762-3 that a public subscription was raised to relieve the watermen and their families, with King George III contributing a thousand pounds.
In 1715 the London-based Irish comic actor and theatre manager, Thomas Doggett, founded the ‘wager’ of a sculling race for Thames Watermen to celebrate the anniversary of the accession to the throne of King George I. It was open to six watermen who had completed their apprenticeship in the previous twelve months. It took place between Swan Stairs at London Bridge and the White Swan Tavern at Chelsea, a distance of about five miles, rowing against the tide. An unlikely old watermen’s tale relates that Doggett conceived the idea when he waited for a wherry at Old Swan Stairs in foul weather and a young waterman eventually agreed to tow him across the river. Due to such a high demand to enter the race, competitors were chosen by lottery. There was a cash prize but, more importantly, a prestigious orange livery coat with a large silver badge on the left upper-arm showing the white Hanoverian horse. The colour of the winner’s uniform represented both the House of Hanover and the Whig Party, of which Doggett was a supporter. The value of the badge was such that, if the waterman fell on hard times or needed a pension, it could be melted down for its silver. Although the race is open to watermen who have gained their freedom from the Watermen’s Company, Doggett arranged for it to be administered by the Fishermen’s Company. The Doggett’s Coat & Badge race continues annually from London Bridge to Chelsea and is now said to be the world’s oldest continuously staged sporting event.
Lightermen, who transported goods on barges, or ‘lighters’, typically from ship to wharf, were previously members of the Woodmongers’ Company. They petitioned Parliament to instead be brought under the Watermen’s Company, which occurred from 1700. Thereafter they were bound by the same regulations.
As theatres relocated to the City side of the river in the 17th century, roads improved in the following century, and an increasing number of bridges were constructed, there was a decreasing need for the services of watermen upriver of London Bridge. However, during the 19th century a vast complex of docks and wharves was established to the east of the bridge, with a need for the growing population of workers to cross the Thames. The continuous coming and going of ships prevented the opening of new bridges along that part of the river. Watermen continued to offer their services from the many stairs east of London Bridge. Henry Mayhew, writing in the 1860s, when there were already many bridges over the river, reported there were about 1600 watermen still working. However, it was a declining trade, particularly after the abolition of tolls on the Woolwich Ferry (1889), the opening of Tower Bridge (1894), the Blackwall Tunnel (1897), and the Rotherhithe Tunnel (1908). In the 21st century there are still a small number of new entrants into the trade each year, obtaining a Waterman’s Certificate from the Company of Watermen & Lightermen. Their services continue to be required to operate the many Thames trip boats and passenger services.
Sources include: John Pudney ‘Crossing London’s River’; Information from the Company of Watermen & Lightermen; Robert John Cottrell ‘Thomas Doggett Coat & Badge’; John Stow ‘A Survey of London’ (1598); Di Murrell ‘Barges and Bread’.
