1895 South London Tramways Company Application Military India Manuscript
This is an original late nineteenth century printed application form from the South London Tramways Company for Five Per Cent Mortgage Debenture Bonds, with a substantial handwritten autobiographical manuscript covering the entire reverse. The document dates to the late Victorian period, circa the 1880s to 1890s, and combines early transport investment history with a detailed personal military and employment record.
The printed side is an unused application form addressed to the South London Tramways Company at Gresham House, Old Broad Street, London EC. The form relates to applications for five percent mortgage debenture bonds, a common Victorian investment instrument used to finance tramway and transport expansion in London during this period.
The reverse contains a carefully written first person account of the writer’s working life and military service, ending shortly after his return from India in 1890. This manuscript appears to have been written as a personal record or employment history and is contemporary with the events described.
Full transcription of the handwritten text follows, expanded only for clarity while preserving original meaning.
The writer states that after working about twelve months for a previous employer who then died, he went to Mr Lemon, B and Company, makers, located on Dowgate Street in the City of London. He worked there for approximately twelve months. From there he went to work with Mr Saffron, a blacksmith, where he looked after horses and cattle and carried out general duties as required. He remained there only a few months before leaving.
He then went to work for Baker on a new line, likely referring to a railway or tramway construction line, where he worked for approximately twelve months.
He records that he enlisted in March 1882 into the Norwich Militia, West Norfolk, Third Battalion. On the first of June 1882 he entered the Second Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment. In July he joined the Ninth Regiment and went with them to the depot at Warwick, then on to Colchester. He later went to Harwich on detachment and then returned again to Colchester.
On the twenty fourth of July 1884 he went to Gosport with the Second Regiment. On the twenty sixth of November 1884 he sailed for India. He states that he left India on the eleventh of January 1890 and arrived home on the sixth of February 1890. The manuscript ends with him stating that he then went to work for another employer, with the text breaking off at that point.
This document provides a rare combination of Victorian transport history, financial ephemera, and a genuine working class military service narrative, including overseas service in British India during the late nineteenth century. The mention of Dowgate Street places the writer firmly in the commercial heart of the City of London, while the military details align with known movements of the Norfolk Regiment during the period.
The document is entirely original, handwritten in period ink, and shows age-related wear consistent with its age, including folds and toning, but remains fully legible.
This item would be of strong interest to collectors of Victorian ephemera, British military history, India service, tramway and railway history, social history, or genealogical research.
Requires more research, a museum piece
South London Tramways Company
Victorian tramways
London tramway history
Tramway debenture
Mortgage debenture bonds
Victorian investment document
British transport ephemera
London transport history
Dowgate Street London
Gresham House Old Broad Street
Victorian financial ephemera
Victorian manuscript
Autobiographical manuscript
19th century handwritten document
British military service record
Norfolk Regiment
West Norfolk Militia
Norwich Militia
Victorian army service
British India service
India military 1880s
Colonial service India
Gosport military
Colchester garrison
Harwich detachment
Warwick depot
Victorian working class history
Victorian employment record
Blacksmith horses cattle
Railway construction worker
Tramway construction history
Genealogy document
Antique manuscript ephemera
Victorian paper document
Late 19th century Britain