London River Man - Admirals Way, Docklands, London, UK
N 51° 30.073 W 000° 01.284
30U E 706726 N 5709771
A statue depicting a character that could be found working the river in years gone by.
Waymark Code: WMD492
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 11/16/2011
Views: 4
The plaque, on the plinth, reads:
"'London River Man' John W Mills ARCA FRBS 1987
This sculpture salutes all London river workers - tosshers
bargees - dockers - ale tasters - coalheavers - ferrymen & Co".
The statue, made from bronze, shows a bearded man in calf-length boots, wearing a hat pulled down over his face, carrying a bundle on his right shoulder, held in position in the crook of his right arm. His left arm is fully outstretched, pointing to his left. The statue is about 75% lifesize with the dimension for the piece given as: Figure (145cm high), Plinth (16cm high x 61cm wide x 61cm deep), Base(45cm high x 90cm wide x 90cm deep).
The work was sculpted by John W Mills in 1987.
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What is a "tossher"? Should probably read "tosher".
A tosher is someone who scavenges in the sewers, especially in London during the Victorian era. The word tosher was also used to describe the thieves who stripped valuable copper from the hulls of ships moored along the Thames. The former activity began around the time of the construction of the London sewerage system, designed by Joseph Bazalgette.
The toshers decided to cut out the middle man and it was a common sight in 19th-century Wapping for whole families to lift a manhole cover and go down into the sewers.
As most toshers would reek of the sewers, they were not popular with the neighbours. One unexpected side effect of the sewer work was that toshers - or, at least, those toshers who survived - built up a strong tolerance to typhus and the other diseases that swept the ghettos
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The statue is accessible 24/7/365.
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