The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette of 5th April 1845 reported how the Magistrates at the Exeter Guildhall were obliged to consider the following:
"Jon Stockham, a master corkcutter, charged Samuel Tozer, a small lad, his apprentice, with having neglected his work.
"It appeared that he was expected to cut 16 gross of phial corks in a day, and on a day named he had only cut 8 gross.
"In answer from an enquiry from the Bench, the master stated that the hours of the trade according to the indenture were from six in the morning to nine at night.
"Mr. Justice Kingdon said, an indenture from six to nine was in these times an absurdity, and no Magistrate would think of interfering to enforce it,
"Mr. Justice Harris and Mr. Justice Davy, who were on the Bench, also expressed their surprise at the number of hours required, and desired to have the indenture produced, for which purpose the case was adjourned to Saturday"
*
Corkmaking must have been miserable work. It seems the corkmaker sat at a table and made corks one by one using special knives and punches. A gross (is it still widely known?) is 144, which means that little Samuel Tozer was required to produce 2,304 corks every long working day.
One has the impression that some of these Victorian Exeter indentures had continued unchanged from the Middle Ages.
No comments:
Post a Comment