The 'London Gold Rush' 1903: Part 2.

The ‘London Gold Rush’ 1903: Part 2.

Willie and Davy had now been in London for 6 months and as the January weather put a hold on most of their type of work, they had time to relax and visit places they had never seen the likes of before. With Davy’s control over Willie’s spending they had saved a nice few pounds and that was after they sent ten pounds each to their parents for Christmas. They were now saving as hard as they could so that they could have a summer holiday back home in July.

They soon found that their lodgings at Mrs. O’Brien’s was nothing like home. Although she did her best to keep it clean, the fact that twenty odd hard working and some hard drinking men slept in the four rooms set aside for them, the whole house always had a damp smell about it. They slept five to a room on mattresses on the floor. Most of the men, especially the heavy drinkers, slept wherever they fell. Davy had moved their mattress under a table and he and Willie seldom if ever had any trouble. It was Willie who had suggested that they join the other men on a Friday night to try out drinking but Davy insisted on not doing so. As their savings grew and they saw the other workers who drank to excess most nights penniless, both of them decided there and then to keep off the drink for good.

The boss of the gang had taken a great liking to Davy and took him under his wing to show him all the ‘tricks of the trade’. Davy was a quick learner especially where money was concerned. He discovered that the boss would always charge his employers for at least two extra men’s wages each week and when Davy spoke to him about it, the boss confided in him. He confirmed that it was ‘one of his little fiddles’. Ten or sometimes twenty pounds was no sneezing matter. The day after he had told Davy his prime secret, he regretted doing so and in order to secure his loyalty and more importantly his silence, he would pay Davy double wages each week. For doing so, Davy had to keep the accounts, make up the wage packets and pay the workers. He would have to act as ‘site foreman’ in the absence of the boss. Davy was only too happy to do so.

During one of their rambles around London, they came across one of the many street markets. They heard one costermonger call out his prices in a strong Belfast accent. They went up to him and had a long conversation. The result of it was that if Davy bought food in some quantity the seller would do him a special price. He was able to get all sorts of food including eggs, bacon, bread and other basics. Davy began to play around with an idea in his head.

During the weeks they did not do a full week’s work they were only paid for the work completed. This left many of the hard drinkers short of money. It was well known that Davy held the purse strings for both himself and Willie so naturally these men made an approach. Davy decided that he would indeed lend them up to a maximum of ten shillings provided they repaid him eleven shillings on payday. The men were delighted with the arrangement as it saved them the trouble of pawning whatever valuables they had and paying commission when they redeemed the articles.

So all in all, the boys were doing well.

On another occasion whilst strolling along one of the High Class shopping areas, Willie drew Davy’s attention to something in one of the windows. "Good God Almighty Davy" he exclaimed "but I would swear that that piece of Linen there in the window was woven by my own mother herself. And would you look at the price of it". Davy looked with wide-open eyes and quickly summed up the situation. He worked it out that one of their mothers would have been paid as little as seven shillings for the four foot square piece of beautiful handiwork whilst the price in the window was one pound seventeen shillings and six pence. A difference of over one pound ten shillings. Another idea began to form in Davy’s mind.

March gradually crept in and the weather had plenty of spring in it. They celebrated Saint Patrick’s Day in a public house but did not drink anything stronger than lemonade. They had a great day – in fact one to remember.

Davy had purchased a large quantity of food from his Belfast costermonger and charged the workers the normal price. The food was better quality and the portions bigger so they had no grounds for complaint. He managed to earn well over one pound per week with this little enterprise.

He had sent his mother twenty pounds with specific instructions. She was to buy up as much fancy linen from her neighbours at a cheap but fair price. He insisted that the patterns be as complicated as possible. He would send her more money as it became available and she was to hold onto the purchased linen until his arrival in July. Davy sat back in a chair with the biggest smile on his face that Willie had ever seen.

"Why are you so happy?" he asked. "Because young William" Davy replied "I think you might have been correct when you said that we could be millionaires in a couple of years. Yes indeed, I think you could be right"……………
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