The Baked Potato Man

"Hot hot all ot—mealy and floury, hot ot ot. 

Yere's yer reg'lar Hirish fruit, with plenty of butter and Bait, all ot ot hot." 

It is always a delight to stumble across a bit of written history that gives a real emotional connection to the times it takes place in.  I find it is usually because there is a link to something I know first hand from my life, a receptor, that the historical facts grab on to my imagination with such force.  The baked potato, with its distinctive smell and hand warming abilities, is a bridge across a number of centuries for many people I should think.

The Baked Potato Man came to my attention through an ebay auction of the postcard of "London Life, the Baked Potato Man".

What a great cart!!

The metal rays on which he has impaled some really big spuds are a fantastic design.

Four drawers to warm the potatoes.

This is a really good cart.

The following article from 1833 takes a good look at the Baked Potato Man business and gives us the "who, how and why" of the thing. The men in that article use a much simpler "can" to keep the potatoes warm.






Below from 1883, The Working Man's Friend, and Family Instructor:

THE BAKED POTATO CANS - 

"Hot hot all ot—mealy and floury, hot ot ot. Yere's yer reg'lar Hirish fruit, with plenty of butter and Bait, all ot ot hot." 

All round the metropolis, and for some distance in the country, may be seen various originals of Gayarni's graphic sketch, every one of whom announces his trade in some such loud-voiced legend as the above. It is calculated that there are not fewer than three hundred individuals engaged in the street trade of baked potatoes. Some of these have regular standings, while others travel about from place to place with their cans on their arms. The trade is a comparatively new one in London, it having been introduced within the last twenty years. Previous to the sale of baked potatoes in the streets, roasted chestnuts and apples were carried about in baskets; but, for at least six months in the year, the potato trade is considered very profitable.

The potatoes for street consumption—as we learn from Mr. Mayhew's " London Labour and the London Poor"—are bought of the salesmen in Spitalfields and the Borough markets, at the rate of 6s. 6d. the cwt. They are usually a large-sized "fruit",  running about two or three to the pound. The kind generally bought is what are called the "French Regent's".  French potatoes are greatly used now, as they are cheaper than the English. They are picked, and those of a large size, and with a rough skin, selected from the others, because they are the "mealiest".  What is known as a waxy potato shrivels in the baking.

 There are usually from 280 to 300 potatoes in the cwt.; these are cleaned by the huckster, and, when dried, taken in baskets, about a quarter cwt. at a time, to the baker's, to be cooked. They are baked in large tins, and require an hour and a half to cook them well. The charge for baking is 9 d. the cwt.,  the baker usually finding the tins. They are taken home from the bakehouse in a basket, covered up, and protected from the cold, by a piece of green baize. 

The huckster then places them in his can, which consists of a tin with a half-lid; it stands, as we see in the engraving, on four legs, and has a large handle to it, while an iron fire-pot is suspended immediately beneath the vessel which is used for holding the potatoes. Directly over the fire-pot is a boiler for hot water. This is concealed within the vessel, and serves to keep the potatoes always hot. Outside the vessel where the potatoes are kept is, at one end, a small compartment for butter and salt, and at the other end another compartment for fresh charcoal. Above the boiler, and beside the lid, is a small pipe for carrying off the steam. 

These potato-cans are sometimes brightly polished, sometimes painted red, and occasionally brass mounted, Some of the handsomest are all brass, and some are highly ornamented with brass-mountings. The potato sellers take great pride in their cans, and usually devote half an hour every morning to polishing them up, by which they are kept almost as bright as silver. We have seen a potato can in Shoreditch, of brass mounted with German silver, which cost ten guineas. There are three lamps attached to it, with coloured glass, and of a style to accord with that of the machine; each lamp cost 5s. The expense of an ordinary can, tin and brass mounted, is about 50s. They are made by a tinman in the Ratcliffe-highway. 

The usual places for these cans to stand are the principal thoroughfares and street markets. There are three at the bottom of Farringdon-street, two in Smithfteld, and three in Tottenham-court-road (the two places last named are said to be the best " pitches" in all London), two in Leather-lane, one on Holborn-hill, one at King's-cross, three at the Brill, Somers-town, three in the New-cut, three in Coventgarden (this is considered to be on market-days the second-best "pitch "), two at the Elephant and Castle, one at Westminsterbridge, two at the top of Edgewore-road, one in St. Martin's-lane, one in Newport-market, two at the upper end of Oxford-street, one in Clare-market, two in Regent-street, one in Newgatemarket, two at the Angel, Islington, three at Shoreditich church, four about Rosemary-lane, two at Whitechapel, two at Mile-endgate, two near Spitalfields-market, and more than double the above number wandering about London. Some of the cans have names—as, the "Royal Union Jack" (engraved on a brass plate), the "Royal George," the "Prince of Wales," the "Original Baked Potatoes," and the " Old Original Baked Potatoes."

The business of the baked potatoes sellers begins about the middle of August and continues to the latter end of April, or as soon as the potatoes get to any size,—until they are pronounced "bad." The season, upon an average, last about half the year, and depends much upon the weather. If it is cold and frosty, the trade is brisker than in wet weather. The best hours for business are from half-past ten in the morning till two in the afternoon, and from five in the evening till eleven or twelve at night. The night trade is considered the best. In cold weather the potatoes are frequently bought to warm the hands. Indeed, an eminent divine classed them, in a public speech, among the best of modern improvements, a cheap luxury to the poor wayfarer, who was benumbed in the night by cold, and an excellent medium for diffusing warmth into the system, by being held in the gloved hand. Some buy them in the morning for lunch and some for dinner. A news vender, who had to take a hasty meal in his shop, told Mr. Mayhew he was "always glad to hear the baked-potato cry, as it made a dinner of what was only a snack without it".  The best time at night, is about nine, when the potatoes are purchased for supper.

The customers of baked-potatoes belong to nearly all classes. Many "gentlefolks" buy them in the Street, and take them home for supper in their pockets; but the working people are of course the greatest purchasers. Many poor boys and girls lay out a half-penny in a baked potato. Women buy a great number of those sold. Some take them home, and sone eat them in the street. Three baked potatoes are as much as will satisfy the stoutest appetite.

 One potato-dealer in Smithfield is said to sell about 2 1/2 cwt. of potatoes on a market-day; or, in other words, from 900 to 1,000 potatoes, and to take upwards of 2l. Upon an average, taking the good stands with the bad ones throughout London, there are about 1 cwt. of potatoes sold by each baked potato man—and taking the number of these throughout the metropolis at 200, we have a total of 10 tons of baked potatoes consumed every day. The money spent upon these comes to within a few shillings of 125l. (calculating 300 potatoes to the cwt., and each of those potatoes to be sold at a halfpenny). Hence, there are 60 tons of baked potatoes eaten in London streets, and 750l. spent upon them every week during the season. 

 Saturdays and Mondays are the best days for the sale of baked potatoes in those parts of London distant from the markets; but in those in the vicinity of Clare, Newport, Covent-garden, Newgate, Smithfield, and other markets, the trade is briskest on the market-days. The baked-potato men are many of them broken down tradesmen. Many are labourers who find a difficulty of obtaining employment in the winter time; some are costermongers; and some have been artisans.

After the baked potato season is over, the generality of the hucksters take to selling strawberries, raspberries, or anything in season. Some go to labouring work. The capital required to start in this trade is not, we are told, more than £2, while the average daily receipts amount to about 6s.