The Trades of the Street

The hawker
The waterman
The watchman
The market seller
The poor

Hawkers in Eighteenth-Century London

... water ...

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... coal ...

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... matches ...

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... singing birds ...

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... oysters ...

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... fat chickens ...

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...strings of onions.

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Already very popular in London during the seventeenth century, hawkers were as appreciated as ever by the inhabitants of the capital in the eighteenth century.
The streets of London rang out with the bantering cries of these pedlars who offered housewives a wide range of merchandise:
" water, coal, matches,
singing birds, oysters,
fat chickens, strings of onions..."
to name but a few.
The Cryes of the City of London. Drawne After the Life. London: P. Tempest, 1692.

Some of the hawkers were skilled in calling out to their customers and singing the praises of their merchandise or their services in strident tones. Their respective refrains were well-known to Londoners.


Chair mender: [click on the picture to enlarge it]

There was the cry of the chair mender:

“Old chairs to mend! Chairs to mend!”
I get my bread by seating chairs:
If old ones you want mended,
I’ll try to please you if I can,
When I the work have ended.


Chimney sweep: [click on the picture to enlarge it]

that of the chimney sweep:

“Sweep! Sweep! Sweep for the soot ho!”
How hard must be the fate of those
Who up black chimneys go?
While snug in bed we lay our head,
They bawl out “Sweep Soot, ho!”


Rabbit seller: [click on the picture to enlarge it]

and that of the rabbit seller:

“Rabbits! Fine Hampshire Rabbits!”
Rabbits! Rabbits! who will buy them,
Always nice to roast or fry;
Nice with onions, only try them,
Nicer still if in a pye.

The hawkers, the picturesque characters of the streets of London, continued to offer their services to the English people throughout the eighteenth century.

Dr. Johnson describes the cries of London.

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