# Deal porter

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The **deal porters** were a specialist group of workers in [London](/source/Port_of_London)'s docks. They handled baulks of [softwood](/source/Softwood) or "deal", stacking them up to 60 feet (18 m) high in quayside warehouses. This was a demanding and dangerous job. It required physical strength, dexterity and a [head for heights](/source/Head_for_heights), to such an extent that they were nicknamed "Blondins" after the famous acrobat, [Charles Blondin](/source/Charles_Blondin). Deal porters wore special leather headgear (backing hats) with long "aprons" over their shoulders in order to protect their heads and necks from wooden splinters.

Their trade was a notably hazardous one. The *New Survey of London Life and Labour*, published in 1928, noted:

- *"Deal portering is heavy and dangerous work which cannot safely be undertaken by any save experienced men. The shoulder of an experienced deal porter is said to develop a callosity which enables it to bear the weight and friction of a load of planks. But even with a hardened shoulder the deal porter has an unenviable task. To carry over a shaking slippery plankway a bundle of shaking slippery planks, when a fall would almost certainly mean serious injury, is work for specialists."*

Most of the deal porters worked at the [Surrey Commercial Docks](/source/Surrey_Commercial_Docks) in [Rotherhithe](/source/Rotherhithe), which specialised in timber. The workers were represented by the [Port of London Deal Porters' Union](/source/Port_of_London_Deal_Porters'_Union). They were eventually rendered obsolete by the 1940s as mechanisation provided a better and cheaper way of moving timber cargo, and less arduous jobs became available elsewhere.

There are a number of commemorations of the deal porters in Rotherhithe. At [Canada Water](/source/Canada_Water) there is a sculpture in their honour, designed by Philip Bews.[1][2] There is a street named "Deal Porters Way", a street named "Blondin Way", a path named "Deal Porters Walk", and a public square alongside Canada Water Library named "Deal Porters Square". The Compass pub in Rotherhithe Street was formerly named "The Deal Porter".

## References

1. ["Deal Porters, London"](http://www.bewsgorvin.co.uk/sculpture-deal-porters-sculpture.html). *Deal Porters*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20210510024215/http://bewsgorvin.co.uk/sculpture-deal-porters-sculpture.html) 10 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2021-12-18.

1. ["Deal Porters"](https://web.archive.org/web/20070206150855/http://www.bewsgorvin.co.uk/work/dealport.htm). *www.bewsgorvin.co.uk*. Archived from [the original](http://www.bewsgorvin.co.uk/work/dealport.htm) on 6 February 2007. Retrieved 18 December 2021.

- [Many hands: Trades of the Port of London, 1850-1980](https://web.archive.org/web/20110609183814/http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.80/chapterId/1912/Many-hands-Trades-ofthe/Port-of-London-1850.html)
- [History for GCSE. The Dockers](https://web.archive.org/web/20090108152047/http://www.bardaglea.org.uk/docklands/7-dockers-work.html)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Deal porter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deal_porter) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deal_porter?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.