Tosher

By Adrian Winney

Tosher: Synopsis

Tosher is the tale of a baby discarded as a foundling in the sewers of Victorian London and his subsequent rescue by a Tosher by the name of Jack Tanner.

It follows the early part of his life living, training and surviving in the sewers with all its challenges, and the personal challenges he must overcome. Then follows the start of his quest for vengeance following the murder of Jack Tanner, the man he considers to be his father.

It deals with the skills and knowledge he acquires, and his interactions and friendships along this journey. The depths to which he will go to achieve his goals, and his drive to overcome his own disability, are a journey into parts of the human mind most people do not contemplate.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: May 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9781665588973

Book preview

© 2021 Adrian Winney. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse  05/12/2021

ISBN: 978-1-6655-8898-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-8897-3 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or

links contained in this book may have changed since publication and

may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those

of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher,

and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Foreword

Dedications

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Glossary

Characters

Currency

About the Author

FOREWORD

This book was written during a difficult time for me, I had been unwell for almost a year at the time I started to write, the worldwide pandemic and lockdown caused by the Coronavirus had been in force for six months. This along with other health issues and worries about finances took me to a low point. There have been ideas for a book floating around for a long time now, but I never got started, with the need to occupy my mind and bring me back to myself my wife actively encouraged me, I could almost say demanded that I start to write, and so this is my first attempt to put my imaginations on paper.

DEDICATIONS

For my wife Maggie

Without your encouragement and support this story would have surely stayed in my imagination, and would have never been realised

For my family

Who through some difficult years, when things have seemed lost, have been the rock to which I clung.

And finally, to all of you that have faced difficulties and setbacks and, though all seemed lost, stayed the course, and survived and can look back and think to yourselves that was truly well done you are inspirations that should be recognised and thanked.

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CHAPTER 1

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J ANUARY 1833, LONDON , MY birth was inauspicious and possibly a curse, for my parents, whoever they had been, had not considered me to even be good enough for an orphanage. I had been bundled in rags and discarded in the sewers to feed the rats that roam there in packs.

And there my life may well have ended, my only recollection of that far back in my life was the cold and then my body striking a hard surface followed by the sounds of a voice.

got you, now I wonder what we’ve got here a bright light, then oh my!

The above was recounted to me later by my saviour Jack Tanner, he had fished me out of a catch basin after I had fetched up against a sluice gate, on his way to his home in the cistern below the Wash House on Little Queen Street in Holburn. This may seem a strange place to live but the water that emptied into the cistern was the waste wash water from above, the sewage was emptied up sewer from the cistern directly into the sewer, the cistern was above this level and off of the sewer, the water was clean apart from the dirt and soap used for the washing and the water in the great vats of the wash house was changed at least six times a day, the gentlefolk of Holburn were not prepared to have their clothing washed with just anyone’s clothes.

There was a large platform filling almost half the cistern, and the brick walls around the platform had been wood lined, on rescuing me and accepting the burden of my life he had created an area for me to sleep, and built a railing around the platform, to prevent me falling into the cistern when crawling around what was now my home too. I was kept fed, clean and clothed, the clothing he made from rags that were gathered from the sewers and cleaned and for a long time I was unaware of where the food and water came from, but I was happy. Whilst he worked, I was confined to my sleeping area, whilst he was at home, he kept me occupied with games and his efforts to teach me to speak, walk and eventually to read from books he had.

Jack Tanner was a Tosher, a sewer-man, roaming the sewers searching for the lost, discarded and broken items that made their way below the streets of London. Almost everything was considered as salvageable, rope, material, broken toys, clockworks, coins and even the occasional piece of jewellery or gem. You would be surprised at what is below the streets, and luckily for me I was considered worth salvaging. The items found are cleaned, repaired and sold.

As I grew, I learnt to read and write and was taught the basics of maths so that I could count the items recovered. I learnt the name of the things he recovered and kept around our home by asking questions of Jack. Some of the books I read were about families, from these I learnt that children had parents, and to me Jack was my father and so I started to call him da, he never corrected this and to this day Jack Tanner was my father or da. Whilst still young the days that bought me most joy were when da returned with toys, even though broken, I would play with until he repaired them.

After I turned five, he decided that I needed to learn some very important skills for survival in the sewers, swimming and control of my breathing, he built a sluice at the entrance to the tunnel that sloped down to the sewer, and we waited whilst the water level from the wash house water drain built up to the level of the sluice, about two and a half to three feet. While we waited for this, he started my breathing training.

Long, slow and gentle breaths lad, so quiet that you cannot hear them, this allows you to hear everything in the sewers, from the movement of rats to water movements, such as those made by men wading through, and the rush after sluice gates have been operated, knowing what is what can save your life.

When I satisfied him that I had mastered this, he taught me to hold my breath.

There are areas in the sewer that as a Tosher you will need to cross and to do this whilst holding your breath, areas where the rot gas builds up and other gases that will kill you for sure if you breathe it in.

This training was accomplished by holding me underwater so that I could hold my breath, either with my lungs full or emptied, for longer than a minute then told me I was to continue to train until I could pass two minutes, but this last was in conjunction with my swimming, at this time I asked him how I was to do this when I was broken, he looked at me,

what do you mean by you are broken boy?

it’s clear I’m broken da, I’m not like you as I only have half of my left leg.

Listen to me boy, you are only broken if that is what you think, besides broken things can be repaired, when I bring broken toys home, do I then moan that they are broken, no I let you have your fun with them, then as Toshers we repair them and then we sell them."

is that what I am da, a Tosher?

Maybe, or a Tosh anyway as you think you’re broken.

From then he started to call me Tosh and that is how I got my name, I learnt to swim as I wanted da to know that I took his words seriously and that the brokenness I saw would not stop me. It wasn’t pretty, but by lying on my left side and stroking with my arms whilst kicking with my right leg I could swim around our cistern before tiring, this skill along with the breathing I would continue to practise for the rest of my life.

You may have realised that I was taught a determination not to be beaten and always to do my utmost to overcome any difficulty.

It was at this time that I was to start learning some skill as a Tosher, da installed a net below the water outlet of the wash house, explaining that you wouldn’t believe what some of those idiots left in the pockets of their clothes before getting them washed, and if the workers missed it, it often ended up down here. Whilst he worked, I was to continue all my training including reading, writing and maths, and when the waters were emptied, I was to search the net and the cistern floor for anything that may have come down. everything I gathered was to go into a pouch he made for me, which was then inspected when he returned, these inspections were lessons in the value of coins and identifying different metals and gems. My first weeks of gathering were poor as I missed parts of the cistern floor and sides where items gathered in gaps between the bricks, each time he would check and anything he gathered went into a bucket for cleaning and assessment at the end of each week, this time of my life was enjoyable because even though I studied and trained, and didn’t find everything that came into our cistern I was never scolded, it was always a lesson, I was taught how to search properly to find those things I missed, the most important lesson was "everything has value from a simple piece of string to a piece of jewellery such as the small ring with a red gem, my greatest find, that da said was a ruby. It is such finds that bolster the Toshers income. The gem was stripped from the ring and placed in a small pouch which he hung around my neck, this pouch was my emergency pouch, things of greatest value such as the gem were to be kept in it and only to be sold when things were dire, but I would still need to know who I could sell these items to and that training would come later.

My life continued in this fashion, until I was ten, during those intervening years my brokenness continued to bother me, so much so that when da brought back broken toys I would study them and watch as he repaired them, until the time I took over their cleaning and repair. I started to draw these and da bought me paper and pencils so that I could continue to do so. My interest peaked the day he returned with a broken clockwork toy, I was totally engrossed as he dismantled it, removing pins, cogs, gears, linkages and springs that he placed on a cloth, he then brought out a box full of clockwork parts and very carefully reassembled it, replacing the broken or missing parts with those from his box of spares until it was working to his satisfaction. This was then wrapped in cloth and placed in a chest to be sold later once he had enough items to make a trip to the markets worthwhile. When I asked how he knew how to do this he explained that when he was in the army a friend of his had been a watchmaker, and when off duty he used to repair watches and clocks for the unit they served in and he had taught him how to do this, and da had expanded on that knowledge to cover toys.

Da, can you teach me I asked almost pleadingly

Not this lad, it takes a lot of time and I still have to work, but next time I’m upsides I will get you some books and more paper so that you can teach yourself.

Upsides da?

Yes lad, upsides, the world above where our findings come from and to where they return to be sold again, and before you ask you will go when you are older and can look after yourself.

True to his word he got the books and more paper for me so I could study and learn about clockworks, and my days now had the extra activity of stripping and repairing clockworks.

1843, according to da I was now ten years old, he had left me tinkering with a clockwork toy strewn around me on the blanket where I sat, with the admonishment not to forget my duties with net or my training and studying with the warning that he would be testing my memory on his return. This was to my mind a new game and though he set me an assignment of pages to read and memorise from one of his many books, I always tried to do more, I was also to study anything found in the net and cistern so that I could make an evaluation to see if it corresponded to his. These assignments prevented me from becoming so engrossed with clockworks that I forgot everything else. This had been ongoing for four weeks now, this I knew because one of my latest lessons had been on time and the hours of the day and the number of days that signified a week, I had studied the passing of days by going to the end of the tunnel from the cistern to the sewer and studied the changes in light from the yellow of the sun to the silver of the moon, I had noticed that after four weeks there was a period of greater darkness with none of the moon’s silver light.

I had by this age perfected the art of filtering sound, to the point I knew when the rats were on the move, our sluice was opened at these times to prevent them from climbing into the tunnel leading to the cistern, and the different water flows indicating a rise in the level of the Thames or the different sluices being opened. That day when da returned I noticed a difference, there was the usual low whistling of him letting me know of his approach and the muted sound of metal on brick from his boots but there was not the usual sound of his long arm striking the bricks as he probed for loose brick work. Where was his long arm, this concerned me as a Tosher without one couldn’t defend or save himself, even I had a shortened version which helped me get about, as well as to search the cistern and fight off any rats that did manage to enter our home, twice in the last two years this had happened. Da gave a whistle from the other side of the sluice and I went to meet him, he handed me his pack to take to the platform then placed two crafted lengths of wood against the sluice then headed back to the end of the tunnel and returned with his long arm, I felt immense relief on seeing this, da was not defenceless. I remained quiet though curiosity was consuming me as da grabbed the lengths of wood and made his way to the platform. As he seated himself, I started our stew, this was the only open fire on the platform, our light was provided by two bullseye lanterns, we carried, another Tosher tool. After eating da quizzed me on my assignments, I had missed the monogram on a handkerchief from the net and miscalculated the value of the small number of coins I had found, but da’s mood was not dampened by this.

Tosh, I have decided that today is your tenth birthday and as such it is an important one.

Why is that da? I asked looking at him.

Because lad, your training gets harder if you want to be a Tosher and earn your living, before except for your little gem you haven’t been paid for your work, as you are my son, now you’re my apprentice so can expect to be paid a percentage of your findings, which will increase once you come out into the sewers with me.

But da, how can …

Hush now, it’s your birthday, and you have gifts."

He reached into his pack and brought out a pocket watch.

first we have your timepiece, this is important with this you will always know when tides are on the rise and the sluices are being opened.

da I know these; I can tell the differences from the sound of the water flow.

that’s all well and good for here, but in the sewers the sounds are different, depending on where you are, these sewers are vast and travel beneath most of the city above, learning the times will allow you to always know when the tide rises or certain gates are open regardless of where you are in the sewers, this will give you warning and enough time to find safety, unless you are being cocky that is. And these here are crutches, you will learn to use these, they will let you move about better and eventually come with me on one of my visits upsides, now get some rest your training starts tomorrow.

This began months of training, I learnt the times and durations of high and low tides, sluice opening times, not just the sluices near the cistern but sluices that affected the sewers we would be working in, da also taught me how to use the crutches, first standing with both of them until I could do so for an hour without tiring or breaking into a sweat, then the same with only the left. When he was satisfied he had me walking on them a half an hour a day around the platform, this became easy, so then it became two hours a day through the waters of the cistern, very hard at first but eventually it was as easy for me as for da to walk through the water, whilst he worked I started walking the sewer outside the cistern between the catch basins at each end, I did not search at this time as I had learnt to my misfortune that the sewers were slippery, unlike the cistern, and I landed flat on my back a number of times until I learnt how to place the crutches correctly. I was eventually able to make this journey twice without loss of breath or strength.

As I grew stronger, I needed less sleep and noticed that da was away regularly, one day a week and almost two days every four when the moon was not in the sky. When I questioned him about this, he said it was almost time I learnt, but only after I had learnt my most important lesson. And so da taught me to fight, first I had to learn to use short clubs in either hand, during this time I had to learn to maintain my balance on one leg as da fought dirty and often kicked my crutches away, Then I learnt to use my crutches as weapons, when he was satisfied I could defend myself with crutches and clubs, he introduced me to the long knife as a weapon, but with the clear warning that bladed weapons were only to be drawn if the intention was to cause serious harm or to kill, which he sincerely hoped I wouldn’t need to do.

Only when I was suitably proficient with all these weapons was I ready for my first journey with him upsides, and I learnt an important secret of our home and one of the reasons for its location. On the back wall of our platform da moved a panel to reveal a tunnel sloping up and away from the cistern, there was a chest in here and at the far end a ladder. Da told me this had once been a smuggler’s route to the Thames, but it was supposedly closed off when he had been caught, da had come across the cistern and tunnel when he first started out as a Tosher, and the tunnel ended below what was now the cellar of the wash house. There was a room that was separated from the rest of the wash house by a wall and this room now had a door into Stonecutter’s Alley hidden under the stairs that led to the back door of the building above, and that is why it is only used in the darkness of night especially overcast or moonless nights, this ensured that the entrance remained concealed.

Da had me strip and wash, we had clean water we collected from the wash house outpourings which was boiled and filtered through multiple layers of cloth, then told me to wait by the chest whilst he did the same. He fitted me out in dark clothes, trousers with the left leg tied up, shirt and a boot and threw a cloak over me with the hood up and told me to keep it up. He dressed in dark clothes too then took a belt with a sword and long knife that he belted on before donning a long dark coat. He had me wait at the ladder while he retrieved our lanterns and closed the hatch to the cistern, he buckled some large pouches to his belt and shouldered a pack as he approached me. then climbed up to a hatch, opened it and entered the room above.

climb up lad, but leave those crutches there, I have a pair up hear for you.

I climbed awkwardly and he pulled me through then handed me a set of crutches.

Now we wait, listen lad I will now use a word once and only once, you are what many consider a ‘runt’, that is you are shorter than most lads your age and definitely most men, but you are strong and broader than most and that’s through your training, and once you start to work you will only get stronger, now that word is often used as an insult, if you can ignore it and avoid fighting you will be a far better man than most, for your strength when full will surely hurt a man.

And with that we waited, finally we heard sounds beyond the wall. I later learnt this was the sound of the Washhouse furnace men starting their day

Ready? he whispered

Yes da was my whispered reply

He led me to the door, which he unbarred and cracked gently open.

wait here, while I check around outside

He carefully opened the door enough to let himself pass and stepped through, keeping my breath slow and steady through the excitement I felt, this was my first venture upsides, I waited and listened as da’s footsteps faded.