Report addressed to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department, relative to the grievances complained of by the journeymen bakers : with appendix of evidence / presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty.

Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report addressed to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department, relative to the grievances complained of by the journeymen bakers : with appendix of evidence / presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    journeymen and the public, I am prepared to submit to you, thirdly, that it would be desirable that the provisions of the Act “ for preventing the adult- eration of articles of food,” &c. (23 & 24 Viet. c. 84.) should be made more effectual. ther remedies it legislative. le introduc- in of ma- inery. utual con- ssions for tlie olition of ht-work. 3tails of legis- :ive remedies. s to youths ider 18. Although these are the only measures which I feel justified in submitting to the judgment of Parliament, with a view to the removal or mitigation of some of the evils at present connected with the employment of the journeymen bakers of the Metropolis, there is another important subject to which it is highly desirable to direct the attention of them- selves, their employers, and the public at lax-ge, as not only involving great prospective benefits to the journeymen, but certain economical and other advantages to the com- munity, of no small value. This subject is, The introduction of machinery in the process of bread- making, 1. By Mr. Stevens’s Patent Dough-making Machine. 2. By Dr. Dauglish’s system of making what is termed the “ aerated bread.” Lastly, although it would be impossible for Parliament to interfere with the night-work and the long hours of day-woi*k of the adult labourei-s in the baking trade, it is to be hoped that this inquiry, and the renewed discussion of the sub- ject to which it is likely to give rise, may have some effect in leading to such mutual concessions, of a simple nature, between the men and their masters, as may place those questions upon a footing satisfactory to both parties. I will now proceed to deal with each of the above sub- jects in ordei’. I. Youths under 18.—The work of a London journeyman baker begins, as a rule, at about 11 at night. At that hour he “ makes the dough,”—a laborious process, which lasts from half an hour to three quarters of an horn-, accoi’ding to the size of the batch or the labour bestowed upon it. He then lies down upon the lcneading-boai’d, which is also the covering of the trough in which the dough is “ made ; ” and with a sack under him and another rolled up as a pillow, he sleeps for about a couple of hours. He is then engaged in rapid and continuous labour for about five hours ,—tlix'ow- ing out the dough, “ scaling it off,” moulding it, putting it into the oven, preparing and baking rolls and fancy- bread, taking the batch-bread out of the oven and up into the shop, &c. &c. The temperature of a bakehouse ranges from about 75 to upwards of 90 degx*ees, and in the