From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Specialist dock workers in London
Deal Porters
sculpture by Philip Bews
The
deal porters
were a specialist group of workers in
London
's docks. They handled baulks of
softwood
or "deal", stacking them up to 60 feet (18 m) high in quayside warehouses. This was a demanding and dangerous job. It required physical strength, dexterity and a
head for heights
, to such an extent that they were nicknamed "Blondins" after the famous acrobat,
Charles Blondin
. Deal porters wore special leather headgear (backing hats) with long "aprons" over their shoulders in order to protect their heads and necks from wooden splinters.
Their trade was a notably hazardous one. The
New Survey of London Life and Labour
, published in 1928, noted:
- "Deal portering is heavy and dangerous work which cannot safely be undertaken by any save experienced men. The shoulder of an experienced deal porter is said to develop a callosity which enables it to bear the weight and friction of a load of planks. But even with a hardened shoulder the deal porter has an unenviable task. To carry over a shaking slippery plankway a bundle of shaking slippery planks, when a fall would almost certainly mean serious injury, is work for specialists."
Most of the deal porters worked at the
Surrey Commercial Docks
in
Rotherhithe
, which specialised in timber. The workers were represented by the
Port of London Deal Porters' Union
. They were eventually rendered obsolete by the 1940s as mechanisation provided a better and cheaper way of moving timber cargo, and less arduous jobs became available elsewhere.
There are a number of commemorations of the deal porters in Rotherhithe. At
Canada Water
there is a sculpture in their honour, designed by Philip Bews.
[1]
[2]
There is a street named "Deal Porters Way", a street named "Blondin Way", a path named "Deal Porters Walk", and a public square alongside Canada Water Library named "Deal Porters Square". The Compass pub in Rotherhithe Street was formerly named "The Deal Porter".
References
[
edit
]
