A listing of historical London public houses, Taverns, Inns, Beer Houses and Hotels in St Benet Fink parish, City of London.
Past Betsey's and down a few steps were some small wine-rooms,
known as the Baltic Coffee house, or Monger's.
This little snuggery was done away with many years ago ; but during the busy
time of the railway mania of 1845-6 Monger's little "crib" played a very
important part more so than many larger and more pretentious places round
about.
When the various new railway companies' Bills were undergoing the process of
being passed through the different stages of Parliamentary formalities,
preparatory to becoming Acts of Parliament, the interest in every stage of the
tedious and tortuous proceedings was intense.
Then it was tliat little "Monger and his wine crib were seen to advantage. Long
after the " House '' had closed, and all legitimate business had ceased, the
place was full of members and others interested, waiting anxiously for any news
from Westminster as to how particular Bills were getting on in the House or
Committee of either Lords or Commons, as the case might be, and dealings to a
considerable extent frequenth- took place there, in anticipation of the opening
of the markets on the following morning.
Anyone now seeing the afternoon scenes in Throgmorton Street after four o'clock
during a boom will understand what Monger's was, on a
smaller scale, in the evening.
Not only here, but at the Auction Mart in Bartholomew Lane, in the coffee-room,
were large gatherings of people more or less interested in what was going on at
Westminster. It goes without saying that at both places the consumption of
liquids, vinous and spirituous, was considerable.
There were no telegraphs or telephones in those primitive days, it must be
remembered ; and though I have heard it said that some parties in the City kept
carrier pigeons to convey' the news, I do not believe it. When any Bill reached
the stage of second reading in the Lords or Commons, which would probably be
late in the evening, perhaps night some men, deeply interested, would stay
at Monger's until after midnight.
I was cognizant of an amusing case when one of the Bills for constructing what
is now the Great Northern Railway either Rastrict's or Remmington's line from
London to York was before the Committee of the Commons on Standing Orders.
These rival Bills for the line from London to York were so called from the names
of the engineers who had made the surveys and plans.
The Committee, of course, sat early in the day, and the excitement in the " York
" Market in the " House " and at all the brokers' offices was intense. There had
been enormous speculative dealings in the shares of both companies, and the
results as to the Bills in question passing the Standing Orders were very
momentous, as in the event of one or other of the Bills being "thrown out," the
shares, which were at a considerable premium, would become worse than waste
paper, for their registered possession entailed no end of liability. The limited
liability of the present day was then still in the sweet by-and-by.
Two clerks, from two rival jobbers, were waiting in the Committee-room to hear
the result, with instructions to take the fastest cab, and rush off to the City
with the news with all possible haste.
When the chairman of the Committee announced that the Bill had complied with the
Standing Orders, and thus passed a critical stage, the two clerks cleared out of
the place as quickly as possible, and bolted downstairs into Palace Yard, where
each hailed and sprang into one of the new hansom cabs. Off they started as fast
as the jehus could persuade their horses to travel. Each driver knew the nature
of his fare, and that the pay would be good.
The quickest route was over Westminster Bridge, through York Road, Stamford
Street, Union Street, the Borough, and over London Bridge.
(The reader will please remember that there was no short cut by the Thames
Embankment and Queen Victoria Street at that time.) All went well until both
cabs were on London Bridge, where, as a matter of course, the usual block
occurred. The driver of the cab ahead looked over his shoulder and saw his
rival's fare quietly seated in the cab behind him. The clerk in the rear one,
although uttering a few very strong words at the delay, looked ahead and saw the
other cab.
Naturally considering that all was right, and that if he was delayed by the
block, the other was also, he told his cabby that if he could pass the other
fellow, when they got over the bridge, it would be worth another half-crown to
him.
While this conversation between driver and fare of the rear cab was proceeding,
the young gentleman in the front vehicle, poked up the little trap-door over his
head and told his man to just keep a little ahead of the party behind, and then
to come on to the office.
He then quietly slipped out of the cab not on to the pavement, but on the
offside into the road, and dodging between the various carts, vans, cabs, and
omnibuses, reached the footpath and rushed off, as fast as he could push his way
through the passing crowd of foot passengers to King William Street. Here he
jumped into another hansom and dashed off to the Stock Exchange, where he
arrived before the other man had passed King William's Statue. He, poor fellow,
had sat quite contented looking at the cab in front, knowing very well the block
that stopped his cab would prevent the other one from going very far ahead.
He felt easy in consequence, and when at last the block did give way, and the
two cabs emerged from the crowd and started at a decent pace up King William
Street, he quite chuckled as his hansom overhauled the other one and passed it.
On his arrival at Capel Court, a great commotion was going on in the York
Market, which was much convulsed, as is often the case when anything causes a
material fluctuation in prices.
There was the usual shouting, and dealers were bidding vociferously for the
shares of the fortunate line at 5 higher than the market opened at in the
morning. It was some time before that young man was enlightened as to how the
thing was done.
There was a crusty old gentleman who jobbed in the Dutch Market, and whose only
office was one of the little square pew-like enclosures up in the gallery
overlooking the floor of the House, where the foreign market assembled.
The mischievous members in those days were just as larky a set as they are now,
and used to play the old jobber in Dutch 2 1/2 and 4 per cents, some very sad
tricks. He lived at Balham, and was a perfect model of the sedate family man,
who purchased his own fish, poultry, and eggs in Leadenhall Market, and took
them home in neat little mat baskets, as very many City men do now.
Sometimes he would make his purchases on his arrival by omnibus or coach in
Gracechurch Street, close to the Spread Eagle and the entrance to Leadenhall
Market. On reaching the House he deposited it in a corner under the desk in his
little pen of an office up in the gallery. This was noticed, and when an
opportunity offered, one of the wicked ones slipped up, and took the neat little
mat basket into the Auction Mart coffee-room. The larky members were bv no means
all giddy young fellows far otherwise, as some of the very worst were as
grey-headed as the victim of their jokes.
Once when the contents were nice country new-laid eggs they were carried off to
the Mart, and handed to the waiter with instructions to have them boiled for two
or three minutes. They were then put back, and the basket was replaced where it
was abstracted from.
Great was the surprise at Balham next morning when the eggs at breakfast were
iound to be hard and indigestible. Cook was summoned to the breakfast-room and
reprimanded. Another batch was ordered to be properly boiled with a like
result. Then after further reprimanding, falling very little short of a "blowing
up," cook was told to bring up the rest of the eggs and a saucepan, and they
should be boiled on the table over the neat little silver spirit lamp. The same
fate befell them. They were quite hard. One was then broken ; it was cooked to a
nicet)', but unfortunately was cold.
On another occasion, when a pair of fat capons were in the mat bag, they were
slily abstracted and conveyed to the Auction Mart coffee-room, with instructions
for them to be cooked and served up at a snug table in the end box, with all the
proper " fixins " at one o'clock, when a party of four or five would be there to
lunch.
Just before the old gentleman's time for his frugal lunch, which he invariably
brought with him from home, consisting of a sandwich or slice of home-made cake
and a small flask containing exactly one glass of sherry no more and no less
one of the bad, base conspirators stepped up to him as he leaned against his
usual pillar at the bottom of the gallery stairs and asked him to come and have
lunch with So-and-So in the Mart. The rest of the party were there, and all five
greatly enjoyed their meal, for the capons were young, plump, and beautifully
cooked. The light sherry and the one glass of port with the cheese as a finish
were faultless.
When all was over, the cheekiest of the band ot robbers, withdrawing the little
mat basket from under the table, and addressing their victim, said they thanked
him for the capons, which they had all enjoyed, and finished by complimenting
him upon being so good a judge of poultry. It was of no use being angry ; an
contrairy, by far the best way was to join in the laugh. It was very seldom in
those days that any jokes were not taken in good part, but autres temps, autres
moeurs. It would appear that practical jokers are brought before the terrible
tribunal of the House Committee nowadays. Alore's the pity.
By 1862, a Baltic Wine shades is listed at Hercules Passage, Old Broad Street which is as close as you can get too 54 Threadneedle street.
Residents at this address.
1805/Thomas Butler, Antwerp Tavern, 58 Threadneedle street/../../Holdens Directory
1822/Burridge and Phillips, Antwerp & Stock Exchange coffee house, 58 Threadneedle street/../../Directory
1827/William Melton, Baltic Coffee house, & wine merchant, 58 Threadneedle street/../../Pigots Directory
1829/W Milton, Baltic Coffee House, 58 Threadneedle street/../../Robsons Directory
1832/William Milton/../../../Pigots Directory
1832/William Melton, Baltic Coffee House, 58 Threadneedle street/../../Robsons Directory
1836/John Monger, Baltic Coffee House & Tavern, Threadneedle street/../../Pigots Directory
1842/J Monger, Baltic Coffee House, 58 Threadneedle street/../../Robsons Directory
1843/John Monger, Baltic Coffee House, 58 Threadneedle street/../../Kellys Directory
1848/John Monger, Baltic Coffee House, 58 Threadneedle street/../../Post Office Directory
1851/Harriet Cox/Housekeeper/39/Oxfordshire/Census
1851/Georgina Atkinson/Housekeeper/36/York/Census
1851/Margaret Maloney/House Servant/25/Cork, Ireland/Census
1851/Samuel Baker/Waiter/26/Great Baddow, Essex/Census
1851/John Rimmerstone/Porter/21/Epping, Essex/Census
1851/George Penner/Waiter/18/Mile End, Middlesex/Census
Era 30 October 1859
Baltic Coffee House, Hercules Court, John Jenner Saltmarsh to William Barnes Passmore
1862/Daniel Dyer, Baltic Wine Shades, Hercules Passage, Old Broad Street EC/../../Post Office Directory
1869/Daniel Dyer, Baltic Wine Shades, Hercules Passage, Old Broad Street EC/../../Post Office Directory
References :
Lots of references are made to two sources on the
internet archive
:
Edward Callows, Old London Taverns