The Commission on Childrens Employment investigated the brickyards of Crayford in 1864-1865. A major report was presented to Parliament in 1866. Two Crayford brickyards were reported on: D & C Rutter, and Lucas, Brothers. D & C Rutter were a well known enterprise and traces of their Crayford activities remain. Rutter's pit is marked on the Kennard map of the Crayford brickearths.
Lucas, Brothers presents problems. It is difficult to find traces of their activities in Crayford. Its hard to believe that the Commissioners misplaced the Lucas, Brothers operation but they do not appear in the Crayford section of Kellys Directory of Kent 1862. The 1866 Report of the Commissioners has a substantial section on Lucas,Brothers:
Reports from Commissions v.24
Crayford Messrs Lucas, Brothers. In the summer of 1864 there were 112 persons employed here; one girl and three boys under 13 years old; six girls and eleven boys between 13 and 18; and six females over 18. Mr H.W.Lord reports.
Mr.Nevill (manager?) reports- The children are employed at the stools with the brick moulders, they are frequently the children of the moulder or some other person in the gang but not always so. We have 52(maybe 32 - report indistinct at this point) stools; there are usually seven persons to each; the children are either barrow loaders or pug boys; the pug boy carries the clay in his arms from the pug mill to the moulder; sometimes a man has two small pug boys of ten tears old or so, instead of one older one; one of these two cuts the clay as it comes from the bottom of the pug mill with a kind of flat fork, which they call a 'cackle'; the barrow loader is often a girl . The clay is prepared for the moulder by a 'walk flatter', who stands by the moulders side, and receives the clay from the pug boy; that is often done by women. The bricks weigh 8 lbs each, there are 28 bricks loaded on each barrow before it is wheeled off; the 'pushers-on' (that is those who wheel off) are usually men.
Mr.Lord reports' I went with Mr Nevill to every stool in both the brickfields worked by Messrs Lucas'. So- two brickfields but where and which? And what do we know about Lucas Brothers? A Construction company; founded in 1842, defunct in 1895. Built Albert Hall (1871) Covent Garden Opera House (1858) Charing Cross Station (1864) Cliveden (1851), Charterhouse School, Woolwich Arsenal ? If their brickworks were operating in 1864 it suggests that maybe Craford bricks were used in the construction of Charing Cross Station; not far by barge from Crayford to the Charing Cross site. But why is there no record of their operations at Crayford? D & C Rutter- well recorded- no records of Lucas Brothers.
An explanation of the Lucas Bros anomaly: There was a typographic error in the Commission report and this resulted in the Lucas Bros operation being classified under Crayford rather than Faversham. The Crayford marker in the text was slightly misplaced making Lucas Bros appear in Crayford rather than Faversham; investigations by Mr.J.Howarth of Erith show Lucas Bros listed in the Kellys Directories for 1874 and 1882 and located at Teynham (near Murston, near Sittingbourne, near Faversham). In 1874 near Crayford there were Rutter D & C at Crayford, Furners at Slade Green, Erith, Dawson at Plumstead Common & Wickham Lane, White John Bazley Bros at Swanscombe, Dartford, Greenhithe & Erith.
