Up: Hayward
YOR: 15 of 113
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Prices were high compared with those of modern
times. A looking-glass 50 inches by 40 inches in the mid-eighteenth
century cost over sixty pounds. Ignoring purchase tax, the same article
would cost less than a twelfth of that sum today. Window-glass, of
course, was much cheaper and would have comprised the greater part of
Samuel Hayward's business.
The original premises were at No. 26, Bread Street,
off Cheapside. Here, in the heart of the thoroughfare then largely
occupied by silk merchants, ribbon mercers, hosiers, lace manufacturers
and other kindred trades, Samuel Hayward pursued a flourishing trade. The
City of London was full of houses and places of business and these were
full of windows. "Let there be light," to a God-fearing son of a Dissenter
like Samuel Hayward was an excellent precept which, apart from its divine
origin, brought excellent returns. Doubtless, even today, in some dark
Bread Street
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courtway or passage in the City, a clerk or typist still works by the
light of a window cut and glazed by Samuel Hayward.
While he was trading in Bread Street, in nearby
Wood Street a second John Hayward carried on the occupation of sash and
fanlight manufacturer. Whether he was a brother, a cousin or no relation
at all, the nature of his business certainly suggests the shape of things
to come in the future of the Haywards.
Let us pause for a moment to examine the national
life of the times. It was a time of Empire building in the East
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