Contracts and Pay in Construction in the Long Run

Stephenson, Judy Z.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-57508-7_8

Judy Z. Stephenson³

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Economic History ((PEHS))

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Abstract

This chapter seeks to put the new wage observations into the context of debates about early modern remuneration and wage formation more generally, and it attempts to offer a new craft and labourers wage series within the limitations set out in the book.

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Notes

1.
Thompson , The Making of the English Working Class, pp. 62–63.
2.
Styles, ‘Embezzlement, Industry and the Law in England’, pp. 173–205.
3.
Hobsbawm, ‘Custom, Wages and Work-Load in Nineteenth-Century Industry’, pp. 113–139.
4.
Schwarz , ‘The Standard of Living’, p. 33; Schwarz, London in the Age of Industrialisation, pp. 164–165.
5.
Schwarz , ‘The Formation of the Wage: Some Problems’.
6.
D’Sena, ‘Perquisites and Casual Labour on the London Wharfside in the Eighteenth Century’, pp. 130–147.
7.
Westminster Abbey Muniments 34513, plumbers’ bills.
8.
TNA WORK 5/67.
9.
See Wren Society accounts , all years, all months.
10.
The case of chips at London dockyards notwithstanding, which persisted to the Revolutionary Wars. See Haas ‘The Introduction of Task Work’, pp. 44–68.
11.
Schwarz , London in the Age of Industrialisation, p. 130.
12.
ADM 67/2, and Mobus, ‘Surviving Late Payments; The Strategies of Christopher Wren’s Masons from Burford’.
13.
See ADM67/2, pp. 4–15.
14.
Wren Society, Vol. XVI, pp. 109–111, 149, 163–165.
15.
TNA C 145/106.
16.
Wren Society, Vol. XVI, Introduction.
17.
Wilmor bills paid on account until audit, see LMA CLA/FN/04/018, 019.
18.
LMA COL /CC/BHC/10 /003, 006, Purveyors bills.
19.
TNA WORK 5/ 1–26 and beyond, Account keeping is monthly at all sites.
20.
Emption in accounts of the time is akin to ‘expenses’ today, it refers to items purchased.
21.
LMA COL/SJ/09/003.
22.
TNA PRO /145/106, 1708 day book (no page numbers).
23.
Fairholt, Costume in England, Fig. 283, p. 373 offers an example, of an arrangement of a fine slippe and protective clog. It is likely that workmen in this period would have worn clogs, not boots. I am grateful to Alasdair Peebles, an independent researcher of early modern mens’ clothing for this reference.
24.
LMA CLA/007/AD/01/007.
25.
COL/CC/BHC/ 10 003-006.
26.
TNA WORK6/46 p. 19 and Etheridge’s (carpenter’s) bills for winter only.
27.
BL MS 27587, p. 4.
28.
Ibid., p. 6.
29.
TNA PRO 145/106, Day book, page of June 9th 1709.
30.
Mordaunt Cook, The History of the King’s Works, Vol. V., pp. 107–108, 110.
31.
Campbell, Building St Paul’s, p. 39.
32.
LMA COL/CC/BGC/10/003.
33.
BL MS27587, p. 12.
34.
de Vries , ‘An Employer’s Guide to Wages and Working Conditions in the Netherlands’, pp. 60–61.
35.
Marglin ‘What Do Bosses Do?’, p. 63.
36.
Mitch, ‘Learning by Doing Among Victorian Farmworkers’, p. 8.
37.
Van Zanden , ‘The Skill Premium and the Great Divergence’, pp. 121–131.
38.
Goldin and Katz, ‘Technology, Skill, and the Wage Structure: Insights from the Past’ for debate summary.
39.
The argument was reiterated by Schwarz , ‘Custom, Wages and Workload in England During Industrialization’.
40.
Woodward , Men at Work, pp. 53–64, Wallis ‘Apprenticeship and Training in Pre-modern England’.
41.
Westminster Abbey Muniments 34513.
42.
Wren Society, Vol. XIII, pp. 159, 163.
43.
Here I use the taxonomy of skill described based on episteme and techne by Mokyr, Gifts of Athena, p. 3.
44.
Wren Society, XIV, p. 77.
45.
LMA CLC 313/B/I/003/25473/ 10–30.
46.
Schwarz , London in the Age of Industrialisation, pp. 11–30.
47.
see Ayres, Building the Georgian City. Chapters listed by trade .
48.
Ibid.
49.
Ibid., p. 125.
50.
Ibid., p. 11.
51.
Mokyr, Gifts of Athena, p. 3.
52.
Ayres, Building the Georgian City, pp. 66–81.
53.
By way of example see Bath City College stone masonry courses spec. https://www.bathcollege.ac.uk/product/stonemasonry-introductory-programme.
Some of this information was based on a conversation with Andy Dean, Stonemason, Somerset, England, April 2015.
54.
Burnette, Gender, Work and Wages in Industrial Revolution Britain, see discussion of strength and excess wages, p. 106.
55.
Hall and Krueger, ‘Wage Formation Between Newly Hired Workers and Employers’; Hall and Lazear, ‘The Excess Sensitivity of Layoffs and Quits to Demand’, pp. 233–257.
56.
Muldrew, ‘Wages and the Problem of Monetary Scarcity in Early Modern England’, pp. 391–408.
57.
LMA CLA/007/FN/04/09.
58.
Allen’s data is available at https://www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/media/2139/london.xls. Please note, when converting nominal wages and prices into real wages and welfare ratios Allen has converted the nominal wages into grams of silver for the purpose of international comparison.
59.
Guillery, The Small House, p. 286 referring to James Burton.
60.
Cooney ‘Origins of the Victorian Master Builders’.
61.
In fact the process of consolidation is usually presented as deskilling and destabilizing, Guillery, The Small House, p. 286.
62.
Chambers archive, Victoria & Albert Museum, RIBA CH3.

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Bartlett, University College London, London, UK
Judy Z. Stephenson

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Stephenson, J.Z. (2020). Contracts and Pay in Construction in the Long Run. In: Contracts and Pay. Palgrave Studies in Economic History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57508-7_8

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57508-7_8
Published: 08 March 2020
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-57507-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-57508-7
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