NEWS
The latest issue of
The Crossness Engines Record contains
the usual information from our local steam museum along with news and
entertaining articles. One - less usual record - is as follows:
OFF TO SEA
In July 1908 a neatly
penned note observed that the Main Drainage Committee's Chief Engineer approved
an allowance of 1/- per head for refreshments for children from the Outfalls at
Barking and Crossness during their excursion. This exciting day out was a
journey on one of the new sludge vessels as no doubt it took its cargo out to the
Barrow Deep, five miles off Clacton, Essex. A rudimentary calculation of the number of children at the southern outfall
repeals that about fifty children would have
been of an age to make such a trip. Assuming a similar number would be
available from the northern outfall, the prospect of the Captain and crew being
responsible for about one hundred little souls either running around or
throwing-up, beggars belief. The one
hundred plus miles round trip can be very pleasant, but the excitement of the
day, sandwiches and pop and maybe an on-shore breeze against an ebbing tide
making for unwanted motion, could no doubt turn some of the )youngsters a shade
of eau de nil. Whatever the weather conditions or minor discomforts, I am sure
that many children would carry memories of that 'day out ' for many years to
come. The thought occurred to me - who was
the first person to promote the idea of a sea-going trip for children of the
work-force of the two outfalls and when did the practice cease '
GAS LIGHT AFLOAT
A recent issue of 'Historic Gas Times' concerns the use of
gaslight on ships in the 19'h century. After discussing its use by such luminaries as lsambard Kingdom Brunel (on
Great Eastern) the article turns to the Royal Navy. The experience of the Royal
Navy was also unfavourable. Following
oil gas manufacturing trials at Woolwich in the early 1860s, the battleship HMS
Resistance was equipped with an oil gas plant in 1862 and HMS Monarch in 1869. It was reported that pressure waves from the
firing of the ship's heavy guns extinguished the lamps and the prospect of gas
air mixtures accumulating in the enclosed spaces of the ships did not encourage
the adoption of the system in others
HISTORY OF HIGHBRIDGE
The August issue of Bygone Kent contains an article by Barbara
Ludlow on 'Royalists, a Regicide, Paupers and Iron Masters. The colourful past
of Highbridge, East Greenwich -- and
this is just part one. Without revealing all it is perhaps fair to say
that this first part is not strictly industrial since the Crowley family of ironmasters,
although hinted at. Only take possession by the last paragraph by which time
Barbara has only reached 1704. The
preceding two centuries had seen a number of colourful characters. posh houses.
Executions for treason and the foundation of Trinity Hospital whose inmates were
then not allowed out without permission. and had a weekly correction into those
who might have broken some of the rules.
A JOURNEY WITH THE LABOUR MOVEMENT
John Keyes is s resident
of the Charlton area who has just published his biography and this is of particular
interests in that it is many ways a history of the post-war labour
movement. John came originally from Ireland
vice Liverpool where he worked in the Camel Laird shipyard and then the LMS
railway before the war. As a labour
party activists he met and acting as agent for Bill Hamling in a by election at
Wavertree. John then became a full time Labour
party employee as agent for Woolwich East and took the step of moving from Liverpool
to Dallin Road in Plumstead. He was soon embroiled in a by election following the
death of Ernie Bevin and a couple of years later saw Bill Hamling selected as
candidate for the Woolwich West constituency.
In the early 1960s John became the Labour Party’s London regional
organiser and retired in 1979. This is a
book which is likely to be of great interest to anyone even those who have only
a slight knowledge of local politics. Woolwich
was of course a heavily industrialised area and it is inevitable and local
politics had a close interaction with local industry and trade unions. For those with a Labour Movement background it
will be exceptionally fascinating.
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