Hawkers

Hawkers supplied wares which were otherwise unavailable locally. They walked the streets calling out what they had for sale, pushing a barrow or handcart laden with their merchandise. They might set up at fairs and markets or target tourist hotspots - such as the beach at Ramsgate or a London park on a sunny afternoon.

Costermongers generally sold fruit and vegetables whereas pedlars sold household goods like brushes and pots. Other hawkers specialised as hot potato or ginger beer sellers. Muffin men went door to door.

Ginger beer seller, Hampstead 1877 'Street Life in London' by John Thomson and Adolphe Smith

All were regarded as a nuisance due to the noise and obstruction they caused, so were frequently fined. They were prohibited from setting up too near a shop-keepers door. The General Dealers’ Protection Society was formed in 1861 to help street vendors pay these fines. Instead of renting their barrows for a shilling a week, members could pay that money into the Sciety and eventually become the owner of the barrow.

Sprats or young herrings were often sold by women and children in the street in the winter months. When shellfish were in season, they sold whelks, mussels, cockles and oysters. Many were sold raw, but some hawkers paid extra to have them boiled and salted, ready to eat.

Many poor and working class women turned to hawking as a way to stay out of the workhouse. The living it provided was only a step away from destitution so they usually lived in overcrowded, single-room dwellings. Chip girls gathered small bits of wood and sold baskets of kindling while older women waded up to their knees gathering watercress, which they cleaned and packed it into baskets to be sold direct to housewives. Irish women frequently sold onions, twisted and platted onto a straw rope, or oranges - orange sellers had a reputation for being loud, like ‘fish-wives’.

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https://www.thesocialhistorian.com/pedlars-tinkers-and-hawkers/