CHAPTER VIII.
SOUTHWARK (continued).—OLD ST. THOMAS'S HOSPITAL, GUY'S HOSPITAL, &c.
"I cannot walk through Southwark without thinking of Chaucer and Shakespeare."—Leigh Hunt.
Foundation of St. Thomas's Hospital—A Well-timed Sermon of Bishop Ridley—Purchase of the Old Building by the Citizens of London—The
Lease of the Hospital in Pawn—The Edifice Rebuilt and Enlarged—Description of the Building—Statue of Sir Robert Clayton—Removal
of the Hospital to Lambeth—Value of Land near London Bridge—St. Thomas's Church—Gerard Johnson, the Sculptor of Shakespeare's
Bust—Foundation of Guy's Hospital—Anecdotes of Thomas Guy, the Founder—Description of the Hospital—Statue of Guy—Medical staff
of the Hospital—London Bridge Railway Terminus—The Greenwich Railway—The South-Eastern Railway—The London, Brighton, and
South Coast Railway—Watson's Telegraph to the Downs—Southwark Waterworks—Waterworks at Old London Bridge.
We have already mentioned, in a previous chapter, (fn. 1)
the temporary church dedicated to St. Thomas by the
canons of St. Mary Overy's, whose priory had been
partly or entirely burnt down in the reign of King
John. About the same time—or to give the exact
date, in 1213—Richard, Prior of Bermondsey, with
the consent of the convent, founded close by it, in
the land appropriated to the cellarer, an "almery,"
or hospital, for converts and boys, which was
dedicated to St. Thomas the Martyr (à Becket).
For this ground, which adjoined the wall of the
monastery, we read that the prior appointed a
payment by the almoner to the cellarer, of 10s. 4d.
annually, on the feast of St. Michael; and this
almery, like the parent monastery, was exempt
from all episcopal jurisdiction. After the priory
church of St. Mary Overy had been repaired, and
the canons had returned thither, the temporary
building above mentioned, which stood within the
precincts of the Priory of Bermondsey, was assigned
for the use of the poor, and the support of certain
brethren and sisters. In 1228 this hospital of
St. Mary Overy was transferred from the land
belonging to the priory to that of Amicius, Arch
deacon of Surrey, who was custos, or warden, of the
hospital founded by the monks of Bermondsey,
which had the advantage of a better supply of
spring water, and pure air; and the two institutions being united, the hospital was dedicated
anew to the celebrated Archbishop of Canterbury,
under the title of the "Hospital of St. Thomas the
Martyr." The new arrangement took place under
the auspices of Peter de Rupibus, Bishop of Winchester, who granted an indulgence for twenty days
to all such as should contribute to the expenses of
the hospital, the bishop himself becoming a benefactor to it; hence it was always accounted as a
foundation of the bishops of Winchester, and the
prelates of that see had the patronage of it.
At the Dissolution, this hospital, or almery, was
surrendered to the king. At this time its members
were a master and six brethren, and three lay
sisters. They made forty beds for poor infirm
people, who also had victuals and firing supplied to
them. The institution, however, was suffered to go
to decay; but in 1552, Ridley, Bishop of London,
by a well-timed sermon, preached before King
Edward VI., awakened the benevolence of his disposition. The young king consulted with him how
he should commence some great charitable institutions, and by his advice, addressed a letter to the
mayor and corporation of London, announcing his
intention, and requiring their advice. After some
consultation, at which the bishop assisted, three
different institutions were suggested, which at length
produced Christ's Hospital, for the education of
youth; Bridewell, for the poor, and correcting the
profligate; and this of St. Thomas, for the relief of
the lame and sick.
ST. THOMAS'S HOSPITAL, 1840.
The citizens of London purchased the old building, and after having repaired and enlarged it,
opened it for the reception of the sick poor, under
the patronage of the young king. In the course
of four months after the purchase of the hospital,
the institution had received no less than 260 poor
infirm people. In the following year a charter of
incorporation was granted for this foundation; but
seven years afterwards the hospital was so poor that
the lease was pawned for £50. Funds, however,
were obtained for its support, and the establishment
subsequently throve.
In 1664, part of St. Thomas's Hospital was used
as a military hospital, as we learn from the following entry in John Evelyn's "Diary," under date of
2nd of December of that year:—"We deliver'd
the Privy Council letters to the Governors of St.
Thomas's Hospital, in Southwark, that a moiety of
the house should be reserv'd for such sick and
wounded as should from time to time be sent from
the Fleete during the war."
Much injury was done to the property belonging
to this establishment by the fires which, as already
stated, took place in Southwark in the Stuart times,
although the hospital itself received no damage on
either occasion. However, towards the close of
the seventeenth century the building had become
so much decayed that a public subscription was
made in order to re-edify and enlarge it, and the
first stone of the new edifice was laid by Sir John
Fleet, who was Lord Mayor of London in 1692.
The whole was executed at different times, and the
work was not completed till the year 1732.
GUY'S HOSPITAL.
The following description of the edifice is given
in Brayley's "History of Surrey," published in
1843:—"The hospital buildings now consist of
several quadrangles; in the centre of the first of
which, facing Wellington Street, is a brazen statue
of Edward VI., by Scheemakers, bearing this inscription, on one side in Latin, on the other in
English:—
'This Statue of King Edward the Sixth, a most excellent
Prince of exemplary piety, and wisdom above his years, the
glory and ornament of his age, and most munificent Founder
of this Hospital, was erected at the expense of Charles Joyce,
Esq., in the year MDCCXXXVII.'
"Through the first court is the entrance to the
second, by a descent of steps. This court has a
Doric colonnade with a cornice, on which is the
basement to nine pilasters. On the north side is
the chapel for the use of the patients, in which
service is performed daily; on the south, the parish
church; on the east, the hall, elevated on Tuscan
columns, with compartments for the chaplain,
treasurer, steward, &c; in the north-east corner is
the kitchen. The court-room is over the colonnade.
"The third court is surrounded by a colonnade
of the Tuscan order, with an entablature, from
which ascends a long range of pilasters of the Ionic
order. In the centre is a statue of Sir Robert
Clayton, in his robes as Lord Mayor, with the
following inscription, in Latin and in English:—
'To Sir Robert Clayton, Knt., born in Northamptonshire, Citizen and Lord Mayor of London, President of this
Hospital, and Vice President of the new Workhouse, and a
bountiful benefactor to it; a just Magistrate, and brave
Defender of the Liberty and Religion of his Country; who
(besides many other instances of his charity to the poor) built
the Girls' Ward in Christ's Hospital; gave first toward the
rebuilding of this house £600; and left by his last Will
£2,300 to the poor of it. This statue was erected in his
life-time by the Governors an. Dom. MDCCI. as a monument
of their esteem of so much worth; and, to preserve his
memory after death, was by them beautified anno Dom.
MDCCXIV.'
"In a small court, farther to the east, are two
wards for salivation (now little used), and what
is called the cutting-ward. Here also are the
surgery, bathing-rooms, theatre, and dead-house, in
which corpses are deposited until the time of interment. In the court-room are portraits of Edward
VI., William III., and Queen Mary; Sir Robert
Clayton, by Richardson; Sir Gilbert Heathcote;
Sir Gerard Conyers; Sir John Eyles, by Vanloo;
Sir James Campbell, &c. The gentlemen here
named were presidents, and most of them patrons
also, of the foundation." A tablet over the entrance
to the court-room in the old building, in allusion to
the great fire of Southwark, May, 1676, bore this
inscription: 'In the midst of judgment God remembered mercy, and by His goodness in remembering the poor and the distressed, put a stop to
the fire at this house, after it had been touched
several times therewith; by which, in all probability, all this side of the Borough was preserved."
Northouck tells us that the reason why this fire
was so wide in its devastation was the fact that
the houses there were chiefly built of timber, lath,
and plaster; he adds that afterwards commissioners
were appointed for rebuilding them regularly and
substantially with brick, "as now (1773) appears
from the Bridge-foot up to St. Margaret's Hill
beyond it."
There were at the above period twenty wards for
the reception of patients, each under the care of a
sister or female superintendent, and two or three
nurses. The number of beds was 485. The grand
entrance, with its gates, lodges, &c., was from Wellington Street, between the north and south wings.
In front was a dwarf stone wall, surmounted by
lofty and massive iron railings, which were carried
on and flanked the north side of the north wing,
running along Duke Street, up to the offices of the
South-Eastern Railway.
Imposing as the building was, it seems to have
had its drawbacks; for we read in a topographical
account of it published many years ago, that "The
magnitude of St. Thomas's Hospital, with the relief
of its many colonnades, will not permit us wholly
to exclude the character of the edifice from a
species of grandeur. But it is time to rebuild this
hospital in a better style; and with this improvement might commence a system of decorating
the borough of Southwark and its vicinity, which
at present are more than a century behind the
northern bank of the river in the progress of refinement; and to this it may be added, that if the
practice of wholly surrounding a space with buildings, so as to stagnate the air within the quadrangle,
is as unhealthy as we deem it to be, no plan can
be so unfit for an hospital as an accumulation of
courts behind each other."
Of the "inner life" of St. Thomas's Hospital we
shall have more to say when we reach Lambeth,
where the institution is now located. But we may
add here that it is one of the oldest hospitals in
the kingdom as an asylum where all sick poor
could be relieved. Its charter dates from the time
of Edward VI., who gave it some of its lands,
which were then of such little value that—as we
have shown above—the whole freehold was pawned
to the City for £50, for the hospital was then in
debt, as it had been ever since it was first founded,
in 1213, by "ye Priore of Bermondseye." How
the value of land has increased at that spot near
London Bridge since then need not be told, beyond
saying that some was sold by the hospital about the
year 1865 at the rate of £55,000 per acre, and
some a little later at the rate of £70,000 an acre.
St. Thomas's, too, was made in the olden time into
a distinct parish, and had peculiar rights of its own.
Still, ancient possession and modern usefulness
proved no adequate bar to the march of that universal leveller—the railway. The site was wanted,
and the site was taken; certainly at a very heavy
price—nearly £300,000. When thus "disestablished," the choice of the hospital authorities for a
new site was rather limited. It was felt necessary
that the new building should be on the south side
of the water; that it should be in the midst of a
poor neighbourhood, to the wants of which it could
administer; and that, above all, it should have a
certain amount of open space around it. This latter
was a difficult desideratum, and while waiting a
choice, St. Thomas's Hospital, its patients, and its
staff were located in the music-hall which stands
in the midst of what was once the Surrey Zoological Gardens at Kennington. Fortunately, at this
time the southern Thames Embankment was being
made, and the necessities of its construction compelled a considerable reclamation from the slimy
foreshore of the river opposite the Houses of Parliament. The advantages of this site were instantly
seen, and about eight and a half acres were bought
by the hospital from the Board of Works for about
£100,000. On this land the new hospital has
been built. The south wing of the old hospital
has been left standing, and has been converted
into a chapel.
On the north side of St. Thomas's Street—the
first turning from the High Street southward of
the London Bridge Station—stands St. Thomas's
Church. It is a donative, in the gift of the
governors of St. Thomas's Hospital, the church
having been originally part of the hospital—as,
indeed, it continued down to the time of the removal of the hospital as above mentioned—forming
a part of the south side of it. The old church
having become ruinous and dilapidated, it was
rebuilt early in the last century, at an expense of
£3,000 granted out of the coal duty, with the
further assistance of the governors and others. The
present edifice is a plain and unsightly building of
red brick, with stone dressings, of a nondescript
character, having a square tower in three storeys
attached to the south side. In the south side of
the church, which is open to the street, are four
lofty circular arched windows, the key-stones of
which are carved with cherubim; its elevation is
finished with an attic over a cornice; in the centre
is a pediment. The ground-floor of the tower
forms a porch to the church. The interior of the
church is exceedingly plain. The altar-screen is
composed of oak, and encircled with Corinthian
pilasters, surmounted by their entablature and a
segmental pediment. This is crowned by "the
royal arms of George I., and over them a crest; on
the side pilaster is the lion and unicorn; the whole
executed in dark oak."
Gerard Johnson, a Hollander, who made the
monumental bust and tomb of Shakespeare in
Stratford-on-Avon Church, lived in the parish of
St. Thomas, as ascertained by Mr. Peter Cunningham and Mr. J. O. Halliwell. Dugdale assures
us that Gerard Johnson must often have seen
Shakespeare.
On the south side of St. Thomas's Street, and
covering a large space of ground, stands Guy's
Hospital—perhaps the noblest institution in London founded by one man. It was founded, along
with other charities, by an eccentric but philanthropic individual, Thomas Guy, a bookseller of
London, of whom we have spoken in a previous
volume, in our account of the Stock Exchange. (fn. 2)
The son of a lighterman and coaldealer, he was
born in Horselydown, Southwark, in 1645. He
was apprenticed to a bookseller in Cheapside, and
having been admitted a freeman of the Stationers'
Company in 1668, was received into their livery in
1673. He began business with a stock of about
£200, in the house which, till about the year 1834,
formed the angle between Cornhill and Lombard
Street, but which was pulled down for the improvements then made in that neighbourhood. His
first success was owing to the great demand for
English Bibles printed in Holland, in which he
dealt largely; but on the importation of these being
stopped by law, he contracted with the University
of Oxford for the privilege of printing Bibles; and
having furnished himself with types from Holland,
carried on this branch of business for many years,
with great profit.
It has been stated by other writers, and also in
the previous volume of this work, referred to above,
that whatever foundation he might have laid for
his future wealth, in the usual course of trade, no
small portion of his property arose from his purchase of seamen's tickets. These, it is asserted,
he bought at a large discount, and afterwards
subscribed in the South Sea Company, which was
established in 1710, for the purpose of discharging
those tickets, and giving a large interest. Here, it
is added, Mr. Guy was so extensively, as well as
cautiously, concerned that in 1720 he was possessed of £45,500 stock, by disposing of which
when it bore an extremely advanced price, he
realised a considerable sum. But Charles Knight,
in his "Shadows of the Old Booksellers," has
shown good reasons for believing that seamen's
tickets were not in use after Thomas Guy was out
of his apprenticeship, and that therefore we must
look to his sale of Bibles as the real basis of his
wealth.
"With regard to the South Sea Stock," observes
a writer in the Saturday Magazine in 1834, "Mr.
Guy had no hand in framing or conducting that
scandalous fraud; he obtained the stock when low,
and had the good sense to sell it at the time it
was at its height. Never, indeed, can we approve
of that speculative spirit which leads men to step
out of the line of a particular calling, and to 'make
haste to be rich;' nor, while we admire the mode
in which a fortune has been spent, and contemplate some splendid endowment that has derived
its origin from the 'bad success' of gambling or
avarice, can we be so far misled as to allow that
the end justifies the means. Gay, who, under the
form of a fable, often couched just and biting
satire, alluding to the large fortunes suddenly
made by means of the 'South Sea Bubble,' remarks—
'How many saucy airs we meet,
From Temple Bar to Aldgate Street!
Proud rogues who shared the South Sea prey,
And sprung, like mushrooms, in a day.'"
Being a single man, Mr. Guy is reported to have
spent but a very small portion of his profits as a
bookseller. He dined on his counter, with no other
tablecloth than a newspaper, and was not more nice
about his wearing apparel. "For the application
of this fortune to charitable uses," says Highmore,
in his "History of the Public Charities of London,"
"the public are indebted to a trifling circumstance.
He employed a female servant, whom he had
agreed to marry. Some days previous to the
intended ceremony, he had ordered the pavement
before his door to be mended up to a particular
stone which he had marked, and then left his
house on business. The servant, in his absence,
looking at the workmen, saw a broken stone beyond this mark which they had not repaired, and
on pointing to it with that design, they acquainted
her that Mr. Guy had not ordered them to go so
far. She, however, directed it to be done, adding,
with the security incidental to her expectation of
soon becoming his wife, 'Tell him I bade you,
and he will not be angry.' But she too soon learnt
how fatal it is for any one in a dependent situation
to exceed the limits of his or her authority; for
her master, on his return, was enraged at finding
that they had gone beyond his orders, renounced
his engagement to his servant, and devoted his
ample fortune to public charity." Another anecdote has been related of Guy, which exhibits him
in another light. He was so complete a pattern
of economy, that the celebrated Vulture Hopkins
once called upon him to have a lesson in the art
of saving. Being introduced into the parlour,
Guy, not knowing his visitor, lighted a candle;
but when Hopkins said, "Sir, I always thought
myself perfect in the art of getting and husbanding
money, but being informed that you far exceed
me, I have taken the liberty of waiting upon you
to be satisfied on this subject." Guy replied, "If
that is all your business, we can as well talk it over
in the dark," and immediately put out the candle.
This was evidence sufficient for Hopkins, who
acknowledged Guy to be his master, and took his
leave.
The following anecdote which has been told
concerning Mr. Guy will bear repetition:—"The
munificent founder of Guy's Hospital was a man
of very humble appearance, and of a melancholy
cast of countenance. One day, while pensively
leaning over one of the bridges, he attracted the
attention and commiseration of a by-stander, who,
apprehensive that he meditated self-destruction,
could not refrain from addressing him with an
earnest entreaty, 'not to let his misfortunes tempt
him to commit any rash act;' then, placing in his
hand a guinea, with the delicacy of genuine benevolence, he hastily withdrew. Guy, roused from
his reverie, followed the stranger, and warmly
expressed his gratitude, but assured him he was
mistaken in supposing him to be either in distress
of mind or of circumstances, making an earnest
request to be favoured with the name of the good
man, his intended benefactor. The address was
given, and they parted. Some years after, Guy,
observing the name of his friend in the bankrupt
list, hastened to his house; brought to his recollection their former interview; found, upon investigation, that no blame could be attached to him
under his misfortunes; intimated his ability and
also his full intention to serve him; entered into
immediate arrangements with his creditors; and,
finally, re-established him in a business which ever
after prospered in his hands, and in the hands of
his children's children, for many years in Newgate
Street."
Thomas Guy served in several Parliaments as
member for Tamworth, in Staffordshire, where his
mother was born, and where he founded almshouses for poor persons, besides bestowing considerable benefactions. To Christ's Hospital he
gave a perpetual annuity of £400, to receive, on
the nomination of his trustees, four children yearly,
who must be his connections; and there are
always applicants. He left £1,000 to discharge
poor prisoners in London, Middlesex, and Surrey,
at £5 each, and another £1,000 to be distributed
among poor housekeepers at the discretion of his
executors. The erection of the hospital now
under notice, the earliest part of which was built
by Dance, is said to have cost nearly £19,000,
the amount of the residue of Guy's personal property being stated at upwards of £219,000. His
death happened on December 27, 1724, in the
eightieth year of his age, before which he saw his
hospital covered with the roof. Besides his public
expenses he gave during life to many of his poor
relations £10 or £20 a year, and to others money
to advance them in life; to his aged relations
£870 in annuities; and to his younger relations
and executors the sum of £75,589.
Before Guy had founded the hospital to which
he gave his name, he had contributed £100 annually to St. Thomas's Hospital for eleven years, and
had erected the stately iron gate with the large
houses on each side.
It is now time to speak more of the hospital
which bears his name. At the age of seventy-six
Mr. Guy procured from the governors of St.
Thomas's Hospital the lease of a large piece of
ground for a term of 999 years, at a rent of £30
a year. Having cleared the space, which was then
occupied by a number of poor dwelling-houses, he
laid the first stone of his new building in the
spring of 1722. He lived to see it covered in; but
before the excellent institution was in full work
the benevolent founder was laid in the grave;
for the hospital received within its walls the first
sixty patients on the 6th of January, 1725. His
trustees faithfully effected the completion of his great
and good design, and shortly after procured an
Act of Parliament for establishing the foundation,
according to the directions of his will. Large and
profitable estates were afterwards purchased in
Herefordshire and Essex, for the benefit of the
institution; the lease of an additional piece of
ground was also obtained, for which, with the
former, the governors still pay an annual sum to
St. Thomas's. On this were erected two handsome
wings, connected by an iron railing and gates.
These gates open into a square court, in the centre
of which is a bronze statue of the founder, by
Scheemakers. In front of the pedestal is this
inscription:—"Thomas Guy, sole Founder of this
Hospital in his life-time, A.D. MDCCXXII." On
the west side of the pedestal is represented, in
basso relievo, the parable of the Good Samaritan;
on the south side are Mr. Guy's armorial bearings;
and on the west, a representation of our Saviour
healing the impotent man.
The centre of the principal front of the hospital
is of stone, and consists of a rusticated basement, in
which are three arched entrances to the quadrangle,
and two windows. This supports two pilasters and
four Ionic columns, the intercolumniation containing three windows and two niches, in which are
two emblematic figures, Æsculapius, the heathen
god of medicine, and Hygieia, the goddess of
health, daughter of Æsculapius. The tympanum
is ornamented with an emblematic relief. This
front was new faced about the year 1778, and is,
with the statues, the work of Bacon, who was a
native of Southwark. Passing through the arches,
the visitor enters a long corridor, on each side of
which are several of the wards for the patients.
The court-room, with its painted ceiling, is a handsome apartment; over the president's chair is a
portrait of the founder, by Dahl.
The chapel, in the west wing, is plainly fitted
up. At the end opposite the entrance is a marble
statue of Guy. It was executed by Bacon, in
1779, and is said to have cost £1,000. Mr. Guy
is represented in his livery gown, holding out one
hand to raise a poor invalid lying on the earth,
and pointing with the other to a distressed object,
carried on a litter into one of the wards, the
hospital being in the background. On the pedestal
is this inscription:—
Underneath are deposited the remains of
Thomas Guy,
Citizen of London, Member of Parliament, and the sole
founder of this hospital in his life-time.
It is peculiar to this beneficent man to have preserved,
during a long course of prosperity and industry, in
pouring forth to the wants of others, all
that he had earned by labour,
or withheld from selfindulgence.
Warm with philanthropy, and exalted by charity, his mind
expanded to those noble affections which grow but
too rarely from the most elevated pursuits.
After administering with extensive bounty to the claims of
consanguinity, he established this asylum for that stage
of languor and disease, to which the charity of
others had not reached: he provided a
retreat for hopeless insanity, and
rivalled the endowments
of kings.
He died the 27th of December, 1724, in the 80th year
of his age.
The hospital was founded for the reception of
400 patients, but having been enlarged through
the aid of a munificent bequest in 1829, from Mr.
William Hunt, of Petersham, it now contains 720
beds; an additional wing having been constructed
accommodating 320 more patients. The hospital
buildings form an extensive and handsome range,
and, with the large airing-grounds attached, occupy
an area of about six acres. The administration of
its affairs is under the care of sixty governors; the
treasurer being the general acting manager, and
having the especial direction of the Medical School.
The annual income of the institution is about
£40,000, of which nearly £30,000 are available
for hospital purposes.
The ordinary medical staff consists of three
physicians and three assistant-physicians for general
medical cases; two obstetric physicians; four
surgeons, and three assistant-surgeons for general
surgical cases; also ophthalmic, dental, and aural
surgeons; besides other professors not engaged in
the care of patients, who assist as lecturers and
demonstrators in the school.
The school department comprises anatomical,
pathological, and comparative anatomy museums,
materia medica museum, model-room, dissectingroom, electrifying-room, chemical laboratories,
library, besides every appurtenance that modern
science has devised for medical institutions of the
first magnitude. Close by, a commodious theatre
was erected by Dr. Edward Grainger, whose early
death, in 1823, was a loss to the medical world.
At the age of twenty-two, he commenced here a
course of lectures on anatomy and physiology; but
his pupils increasing beyond the capacities of his
theatre, he built a larger room, and turned the
former into a museum.
Passing to the rear of the hospital buildings,
amidst trees which flourish well and give a look
of cheerfulness, so delightful to many a languid
sufferer when permitted to walk forth into the air,
the visitor reaches the museum. This is a neat
edifice, comprising a valuable surgical collection,
the principal feature of which is a vast variety of
wax models, illustrative of the wonders of the human
frame, and of remarkable cases of disease.
FOLLY DITCH, JACOB'S ISLAND (see next Chapter).
Guy's Hospital, we need scarcely add, has long
held a prominent position among the philanthropic
institutions in this country, both in respect to the
great scope of the charity it dispenses as a hospital,
and as one of the first schools of medicine in
Europe. Some idea of the magnitude of its benevolent work may be gathered from the fact that
in the course of a year it receives into its wards
upwards of 5,000 in-patients, and affords medical
relief to upwards of 70,000 out-patients, including
a large number of minor accidents and urgent
surgery cases, and upwards of 2,000 lying-in women,
who are attended to at their own homes.
It should also be stated that a fund has been
established for relieving the families of deserving
and very poor patients in Guy's Hospital, by gifts
of coal and other provisions, and in some instances
by money. The chief distress of mothers and
children must be during the absence of their
"bread-winner" in hospital, and few—except those
who have undergone the trial—can conceive what
this is, or what the anxiety which a patient suffers
while powerless to help his family.
THE GREAT FIRE AT COTTON'S WHARF TOOLEY STREET, 1861. (See Pages 105. 106.)
Between St. Thomas's Street East and Tooley
Street, and covering some considerable part of the
ground formerly occupied by St. Thomas's Hospital,
is the cluster of stations, irregularly combined, and
without any unity of plan or architectural beauty,
forming the terminus of the following railways:—The Crystal Palace; the London, Brighton, and
South Coast; the South-Eastern; the North Kent;
the South London, &c. From London Bridge the
approach is by an inclined road, which passes
under an iron bridge, over which is carried the
Cannon Street and Charing Cross extension of the
South-Eastern Railway, which originally had its
terminus here. The approach, previous to the
above-mentioned extension, was bounded on the
south-west by St. Thomas's Hospital and grounds,
and on the north-east by a range of shops, communicating with Tooley Street. The south-western
portion of the station comprises the booking-offices
of the Brighton and South-Coast line, and also
the offices of the Crystal Palace and of the South
London lines. On the extreme south is the Railway Hotel, one of those monster establishments
of which we have already had occasion to speak
in our notices of the Midland and other railway
stations.
The London and Greenwich Railway was the
first line opened here, and, indeed, in the neighbourhood of London. It is remarkable as standing
upon one continuous series of 878 brick arches, and
is interesting to engineers from the experiment tried
upon it as regards the respective value of stone
sleepers (or square slabs) at intervals, or continuous
bearers of wood, for the support of the rail. Stones
were first used, but with such unsatisfactory result,
that they were taken up and replaced with timber.
The improvement, it is said, has been most decisive. With reference to its formation, we read
that in 1834 the substructions of this work were
advancing rapidly, and so great was the quantity
of bricks required for them, that the price of brickwork in and about London had been "materially
affected by this extraordinary consumption of that
material." At first, the third-class carriages on this
line were simply common trucks, with no seats,
and no covering overhead. The author of the
"Wonders of Nature and Art" writes, "We have
anticipated this line to be a failure, unless it be
extended to Dover, in which case an immense
advantage would be secured to the public. Colonel
Landmann, the engineer, estimated the cost at
£400,000, but the expenditure thus far has exceeded £600,000, and a considerable sum is still
required in order to complete it."
The original Act of the South-Eastern Railway
Company was obtained in 1836, for the express
purpose of constructing a railway from London to
Dover, the expenses of which were calculated at
£1,400,000, to be raised in £50 shares; but by
subsequent Acts the company was authorised to
form branch lines, and for that purpose to make
loans and issue new shares, involving for the Maidstone and Isle of Thanet branches an expenditure
of £3,564,170; besides which there has been a
further outlay of about £1,800,000, to complete
the Hastings branch and that from Reigate, through
Dorking and Guildford, to Reading.
The Greenwich Line, as stated above, had been
previously constructed; and the Croydon Company
had obtained the sanction of Parliament to pass
over three miles thereof to New Cross, whence
they continued their line seven miles and a half to
Croydon. The next ten miles and a quarter, as
far as Red Hill, or the Reigate Junction, belonged
originally to the South-Eastern and Brighton Companies in joint shares; but the whole has subsequently, as sanctioned by Act of Parliament, been
purchased by the South-Eastern Company; so
that the whole line, together with the Greenwich
Line, which it holds on a lease of 999 years, belongs
to this company. More recently, also, besides constructing several branch lines, the South-Eastern
Company has purchased the North Kent Line, thus
becoming master of the whole railway communication for Kent, East Surrey, and a part of Sussex.
The railway was opened as far as Tunbridge,
forty miles from London, in May, 1842; from
thence to Ashford in the following December; as
far as Folkestone in June, 1843; and to Dover in
February, 1844. The branch line to Maidstone
was opened in September of the same year; that
to Hastings, in February, 1852; and the junction
line to Reading in 1849. This railway has seven
tunnels on its main line to Dover, and four on
its branch lines, some of them of a stupendous
nature, involving not only very great engineering
skill, but a vast outlay of capital; besides which,
there are numerous embankments, deep cuttings,
viaducts, and bridges, which bespeak no ordinary
skill. Since 1868, however, the greater number of
the main-line trains to Hastings, Dover, Margate,
&c., pass over a part of the North Kent Line by
a more direct route to Tunbridge; the original
main line to Red Hill being used for the Dorking
and Reading trains, as well as by the Brighton
Company.
The construction of the London and Brighton
Railway seems to have been a somewhat slow and
aborious undertaking; at all events, we read in
'Wonders of Nature and Art," 1839, that—"After
the immense bustle in Parliament, and the shameless stock-jobbing of some of the directors and
managers of this line of road, we are unable to
report the progress of it. That it has been commenced and is proceeding is quite true; but it is
proceeding slowly, and as yet the public is quite
in the dark as to its present expenditure and its
anticipated cost." This railway, however, we need
hardly state, was at length completed, and opened
in September, 1841, or in about three years from
the time of its commencement.
On either side of the booking-office of the
Brighton and South-Coast Railway, when it was
first erected, was a screen, one masking the gateway
of the carriage-road arrival side of this railway, and
the other giving access to the carriage-road of the
Dover line. The South-Eastern booking-office faces
he approach road, and forms the main portion of
he façade. Beyond it are the North Kent and
Greenwich booking-offices. On the first-floors of
these several buildings are the offices, board-rooms,
and other accommodations for the chief officials.
There are spare lines for the reception of empty
carriages under the same roofs as the respective
arrival and departure lines. The roofs themselves
are somewhat remarkable; and there are particular
details connected with the roadway of a nature
to merit prolonged examination. Immediately in
the rear of the station are several elevated signalboxes, furnished with the latest and most approved
appliances for signalling the arrival and departure
of the several trains; so that, notwithstanding the
large number of the lines of rail entering the
station there is scarcely any room for accidents—indeed, an accident here is very rarely heard of.
A few words concerning the various lines of
railway from London Bridge Station may not be
out of place here. By the Brighton line, fifty-one
miles in length, that favourite watering-place has
been made a "suburb of London:" it has many
branch lines; and from Brighton, railways run east
and west along the coast. The South-Eastern
originally branched off from the Brighton line at
the station of Red Hill, near Reigate, and reached
Dover by a roundabout course, with a branch from
Tunbridge through Tunbridge Wells to Hastings;
but passengers are now generally conveyed to
Dover, Hastings, &c., by the new line viâ Sevenoaks. The metropolitan extension of this line
crosses the river by an iron bridge to Cannon
street, and also to the Charing Cross Station, built
on the site of Hungerford Market. The Croydon
passes by Forest Hill, Sydenham, and Norwood,
with a short branch line through Mitcham to the
South-Western Railway at Wimbledon, and another
branch through Epsom to Horsham, on the London
and Portsmouth line. The Crystal Palace line
branches off from the Sydenham station, and after
passing close to Lower Norwood, Streatham, and
Balham, reaches its terminus at the Victoria Station,
Pimlico. The North Kent line passes by a tunnel
under Shooter's Hill to Woolwich, Gravesend, and
Rochester, and thence to Maidstone. The South
London line runs parallel with the Greenwich Railway as far as South Bermondsey, then passes southward to Clapham, and unites with western London
at Victoria Station, Pimlico.
At the entrance to Duke Street—which leads
from London Bridge down to Tooley Street, by the
side of the railway approach—might have been
seen during 1842–3, a lofty building bearing this
inscription, "Watson's Telegraph to the Downs."
This telegraph station, which occupied the summit
of a building once used as a shot tower, and erected
in 1808, was established by a Mr. Watson, of
Cornhill, about the year 1842, with the object of
connecting London with Deal by means of the old
semaphore telegraph. The first station near St.
Olave's Church was placed in communication with
a similar station near Forest Hill, and with others
on elevated spots between the metropolis and
Deal. At the summit of the tower were two masts
about twenty feet apart, and fifty feet high. On
each side of these masts were the semaphore arms,
which were to be seen in various positions, and
were worked by levers in the tower below. This
telegraph station, which was a conspicuous object
to foot-passengers proceeding over London Bridge,
was entirely consumed in the great fire in which
St. Olave's Church was destroyed, with the surrounding buildings, on the 19th of August, 1843.
This system of telegraphy was in its turn superseded by the electric telegraph, which very soon
afterwards came into operation on all the railway
lines in Great Britain, and thus rendered unnecessary the old cumbrous system of semaphore telegraphy, the success of which depended so much
on clear weather for the accurate interpretation of
the signals. The shot-tower, close by St. Olave's
Church, is shown in pages 6, 102, and 103 of the
present volume.
Before closing this chapter, and making our way
into Bermondsey, we may be pardoned for saying a
word or two concerning the water-supply of Southwark about half a century ago. In the Mirror for
1828, we read that "the Southwark Water Works
(the property of an individual) are supplied from
the middle of the Thames, below Southwark and
London Bridges; and the water thus taken is sent
out to the tenants without standing to settle or any
filtration, further than that it receives from passing
through wire grates and small holes in metallic
plates. The number of houses supplied by these
works is about 7,000, and the average daily supply
about 720,000 gallons." Apropos of these water
works, we may state that in 1581 Peter Morris, a
Dutchman, established a wheel worked by the tide
at London Bridge to lift water from the river, and
propel it into the houses of the citizens, whose
admiration he captivated by forcing a jet over the
steeple of St. Magnus' Church, close by. These
water-works, a cumbrous-looking structure of wood,
stood on the Middlesex side of the Thames, adjoining the bridge, and near the site of Fishmongers'
Hall steam-boat pier. The works subsequently
passed into the possession of the New River Company, and lasted for 240 years, until demolished by
Act of Parliament in 1822. On the Surrey side of
the old bridge formerly stood the water-works for
supplying the inhabitants of Southwark, which we
have already mentioned, but these were removed
long before the bridge was demolished.