1 The London School of Economics and Political Science The organisation of work and wages in the London building trades in the long eighteenth century Judy Stephenson A thesis submitted to the Department of Economic History of the London School of Economics for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, London, September 2015. 2 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work. I acknowledge the help of Annette Mackenzie in proofreading. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 76, 553 words. Judy Stephenson, September 29th, 2015. 3 Acknowledgements This thesis was researched and written under some challenging circumstances. In mid-2012, with two small children, about to be a single parent, and in a financially precarious position I hardly looked like a good bet to complete a thesis, let alone make any sort of contribution. In such a situation, sometimes the outcome is as dependent on luck as dedication. I got lucky on a number of counts. The first, to have Prof. Patrick Wallis as a supervisor and mentor, his support and discipline were unwavering. I must have given him cause to howl with laughter as well as frustration many times. My respect for him has increased daily during the period of my studies, and I owe him a great deal more than the usual amount of gratitude for the wisdom and sensitivity of his supervision and for being a better than good human being on more than one occasion. Dr. Gerben Bakker came to supervise my research when the process was already underway. I am very grateful for his encouragement, patience, and sound advice and feedback. The second lucky strike was to gain an Economic History Society Ph.D bursary for the year 2013-4. Without the support of the Society I would not have been able to continue my studies, and I am incredibly grateful for the resources and opportunities the Society has afforded me. Two LSE research studentships to cover fees in 2013- 4 and 2014 -5 also kept the financial show on the road, and I am enormously grateful to the Department and to Linda Sampson for the opportunity to teach two undergraduate courses during the three years of my studies. It has been hugely enjoyable, and has also made my research financially possible. Working on controversial topics with vast archival sources is complex and challenging at the best of times. A few scholars wished me a sort of back handed luck, some just warned me off, but the Economic History department at LSE has been warm and thriving scholarly community to be part of. Dr. Chris Minns, Prof. Stephen Broadberry, Dr. Oliver Volckart, and Prof. Max-Stephan Schulze have provided sage advice, and been generous when it has not been followed. Michael Aldous, Tobias Vogelsang and John Gent have been supportive office companions, teaching colleagues, and dear friends for the road ahead. 4 Beyond the department, my sincere thanks to Dr. James Campbell for his time to discuss the core concept of contractors’ margin, to Prof. Bruno Blonde for the wealth of ideas he presented as discussant to my paper in at the “Building and Rebuilding the City”, Workshop, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 18 March 2014, and to Dr Heidi Deneweth for that opportunity. Participants at the Oxford Economic and Social History Graduate Workshop in March 2014, and at the Economic History Society conference in 2014 helped me develop both sources and arguments. If there are errors, misconceptions or omissions in what follows however, they are solely mine. The archival sources available to a scholar of London’s built history are some of the best in the world - and the archivists who hold them some of the nicest and most accommodating. My sincere thanks to all staff at the London Metropolitan Archives, the National Archives, Miss Christine Reynolds at Westminster Abbey Muniments, and Lesley Whitelaw at Middle Temple for their knowledgeable, warm welcomes and access to their records. My parents, Yvonne, and Fergal Boland have been generous and supportive. Many dear friends have been a source of moral support and renewed energy. Particular thanks I offer to Sarah Jane and Marius Nasta who put up with my laptop and furrowed brow on not one, but two family holidays with nothing but love and support. I sincerely thank my children's teachers for their patience and uncalled for enthusiasm for my work when at the end of a long days teaching or archival work I have been the last, dishevelled mummy at pick up. So to Belle and Arthur; my witty, stylish, effervescent and very loving children. Their needs have been both the supreme discipline, and the most joyful distraction to a project such as this. If the circumstances were hard, most of the time it was due to my stubborn insistence on being both the mum they deserved and the researcher I wanted to be. My real luck was that they let me. I dedicate this thesis to them. Judy Stephenson, September 2015. 5 Abstract The wage data that economic historians rely on for calculating key economic indicators and living standards across Europe are all derived from records of building craftsmen and labourers’ pay. Existing series suggest wages in London were substantially higher than in other European centres from 1650 to 1800, and current accepted theories ascribe Britain’s early industrialisation to the products and incentives of this wage structure. But the period after the Restoration was one of prodigious building in London, and of organisational change in the construction trades. This thesis examines the contractual and organisational context in which building craftsmen and labourers operated and shows that the nature of the ‘day rates’ used to construct wage series in London and England has been misunderstood. As a result, wages and real wages have been overstated for England throughout the long eighteenth century. 6 Contents Title page and front matter page 1 Abstract page 5 Contents page 6 List of Figures page 9 List of Tables page 11 List of Images page 13 Introduction page 15 Chapter 1. London construction workers’ earnings in historical perspective page 19 1.1. A history of London construction workers’ wage series in economic history page 19 1.2. Compiled series page 21 1.3. Gilboy’s sources, methodology, and findings page 24 1.4. Schwarz’s sources, methodology, and findings page 26 1.5. Boulton’s sources, methodology, and findings page 27 1.6. Associated series: Rappaport’s sources, methodology and findings page 29 1.7. Outside of London: Northern England page 30 1.8. Outside of London: Southern England page 31 1.9. Comparison of the series’ findings: biases and differences page 32 Chapter 2. Literature on business and construction in early modern England page 41 2.1. Literature on business forms in early modern England page 41 2.2. Literature concerned with the organization of the construction industry 1650 – 1800 page 48 2.3. Outline of argument and methodology page 55 Chapter 3. The market for building page 57 2.1. The extent of the market page 57 2.2. Contractors page 62 2.3. Sites and Sources page 73 7 Chapter 4. Managing risk, contracts and ways of working in the building trades. page 87 4.1. Managing risk in construction page 87 4.2. Three ways of working page 89 4.3. How did contracting work? page 96 4.4. Contracts and wage evidence page 101 Chapter 5. Contractors’ operating and profit margin page 108 5.1. The question of margin page 108 5.2. The Jenings case page 109 5.3. Management & Operating Costs page 111 5.4. Credit page 120 5.5. Discounting page 123 5.6. Additional costs page 124 5.7. Profit page 127 5.8. Overall margin page 128 5.9. Ordinary work and margin page 129 Chapter 6. Pay in practice. page 133 6.1. The employment relation context page 133 6.2. Skill levels page 134 a. Skill of craftsmen page 136 b. Skill of labourers page 139 6.3. Wage formation page 142 6.4. Pay at The Office of the King’s Works in the 1660s page 149 6.5. Pay at Westminster Bridge and under Andrews Jelfe page 163 6.6. Middle Temple page 171 6.7. Summary of Pay in practice page 172 Chapter 7. Pay at St. Paul’s Cathedral page 174 7.1 St. Paul’s and William Kempster in context page 174 7.2. The Kempster Day books page 178 8 Chapter 8. Pay at Bridge House page 195 8.1. Bridge House in context page 195 8.2 Bridge House Pay 1660 – 1685 page 201 8.3 Bridge House, 1706 – 1757 page 209 8.4. Bridge House Pay in the long run page 218 Chapter 9. Working hours and number of days worked page 220 Chapter 10. Conclusions and implications for wage series and Economic history page 233 9.1 Observations and conclusions based on the new evidence page 233 9.2 Comparisons with other cities page 238 a. Amsterdam and Strasbourg page 240 b. Southern England page 242 Concluding remarks page 244 Archival sources page 245 Bibliography page 247 9 List of Figures Figure 1.1. Eighteenth-century London compiled wage data page 23 Figure 1.2.