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195
lease), whilst other new artisan houses of six rooms and washhouse
were fetching 14s. 6d. per week, a rent which in itself was
a rise of 3s. or 4s. a week over that demanded three years
previously. This latter point serves to indicate the "building
up" of pressure for living accommodation in an area which
previously had no such problem. It is remarkable to think that,
with a great deal of local opposition and criticism, the London
County Council built several blocks of dwellings specially for
working classes in Armada Street which were considered well
arranged and in marked contrast to other housing in the neighbourhood.
These same dwellings today are considered substandard
from the amenities point of view and are ripe for
redevelopment or conversion.
In these early years, Blackheath and Kidbrooke were still
rural areas and the song of the nightingale was to be fairly
common on Shooters Hill for several years yet. Eight cowhouses
were registered with the Public Health Department and among
other registerable premises were 76 bakehouses (of which 29
were underground), 7 slaughterhouses and one knackers' yard.
Offensive trades operating within the Borough with the consent
of the Council consisted of a fat melter, a blood boiler, 9 gut
scrapers and 3 tripe boilers, none of which is functioning today.
Men in West Greenwich obtained their employment mainly
at the Deptford Cattle Market, the victualling yard, in occupations
on or near the river and at the Electricity Generating
Station, although a fair number of people were occupied in the
gas, chemical, candle, manure, cement, linoleum, soap and
asphalte works, in the flour mills and timber and wood chopping
yards. At the Charlton end of the Borough, the Royal Arsenal,
the Royal Dockyard and cable works were the main sources of
employment and, due to wartime demand, these were naturally
the more lucrative occupations. For women there was little
variety and, if not "in service" or "taking in washing", they
were engaged in cleaning of slaughtered animals, making bags
and sacks, tin boxes, dresses, shirts, lawn-tennis balls and, what
is most interesting, gold and silver thread spinning. Some
women and girls who were prepared to travel obtained a steady
job in a match factory not far away and a number suffered
from "phossy jaw" due to the solvent action on teeth of yellow
phosphorus, the principle ingredient of matches in those days.
Females formed 29% of all the labour force in 1901 and 6%
of all married women were working.
Times were hard and there was heavy drinking among all