become a predominant part of their duty at an early period is shown by the Scavagers Oath which we
quote below from the Liber Albus. In Skinners Etymologicon, 1671, the definition is Collector sordium
abrasarum (erroneously connecting the word with shaving and scraping), whilst he adds: Nostri Scabengers
vilissimo omnium ministerio sordes et purgamenta urbis auferendi funguntur. In Cotgraves English-
French Dict., ed. by Howel, 1673, we have: Scabinger. Boueur. Gadouardagreeing precisely with our
modern use. Neither of these shows any knowledge of the less sordid office attaching to the name. The
same remark applies to Lyes Junius, 1743. It is therefore remarkable to find such a survival of the
latter sense in the service of the Company, and coming down so late as 1761. It must have begun with
the very earliest of the Companys establishments in India, for it is probable that the denomination was
even then only a survival in England, due to the Companys intimate connection with the city of London.
Indeed we learn from Mr. Norton, quoted below, that the term scavage was still alive within the City in
1829.
1268.Walterus Hervy et Willelmus de Dunolmo, Ballivi, ut Custodes
de Lxxv.l. vj.s. & xd. de consuetudinibus
omnemodarum mercandisarum venientium de partibus transmarinis ad Civitatem praedictam, de quibus
consuetudo debetur quae vocatur Scavagium.
Mag. Rot. 59. Hen. III., extracted in T. Madox, H.
and Ant. of the Exchequer, 1779, i. 779.
Prior to 1419.Et debent ad dictum Wardemotum per Aldermannum
et probos Wardae, necnon per juratores, eligi Constabularii, Scavegeours, Aleconners, Bedelle, et
alii Officiarii.Liber Albus, p. 38.
SEREMENT DE Scawageours. Vous jurrez qe vous surverrez
diligientiement qe lez pavimentz danz vostre Garde soient bien et droiturelement reparaillez et nyent
enhaussez a nosance dez veysyns; et qe lez chemyns, ruwes, et venelles soient nettez dez fiens et de
toutz maners dez ordures, pur honestee de la citee; et qe toutz les chymyneys, fournes, terrailles soient
de piere, et suffisantement defensables encontre peril de few; et si vous trovez rien a contraire vous
monstrez al Alderman, issint qe lAlderman ordeigne pur amendement de celle. Et ces ne lerrezsi
Dieu vous eyde et lez Saintz. Ibid. p. 313.
1594.Letter from the Lords of the Council to the Lord
Mayor and Aldermen, requesting them to admit John de Cardenas to the office of Collector of Scavage,
the reversion of which had
been granted to him.Index to the Remembrancia of the C. of London
(1878), p. 284.
1607.Letter from the Lord Mayor to the Lord Treasurer
enclosing a Petition from the
Ward of Aldersgate, complaining that William Court, an inhabitant of that Ward for 8 or 10 years past,
refused to undergo the office of Scavenger in the Parish, claiming exemption
being privileged as Clerk
to Sir William Spencer, Knight, one of the Auditors of the Court of Exchequer, and praying that Mr. Court,
although privileged, should be directed to find a substitute or deputy and pay him. Ibid. 288.
1623.Letter
reciting that the City by ancient Charters held
the office of Package and Scavage of Strangers
goods, and merchandise carried by them by land or water, out of the City and Liberties to foreign parts,
whereby the Customs and Duties due to H.M. had been more duly paid, and a stricter oversight taken
of such commodities so exported.Remembrancia, p. 321.
1632.Order in Council, reciting that a
Petition had been presented to the Board from divers Merchants born in London, the sons of Strangers,
complaining that the Packer of London required of them as much fees for Package, Balliage, Shewage,
&c., as of Strangers not English-born.
Ibid. 322.
1760.Mr. Handle, applying to the Board to have
his allowance of Scavenger increased, and representing to us the great fatigue he undergoes, and
loss of time, which the Board being very sensible of. Agreed we allow him Rs. 20 per month more than
before on account of his diligence and assiduity in that post.Ft. William Consn., in Long, 245. It
does not appear from this what the duties of the scavenger in Mr. Handles case were.
1829.The
oversight of customable goods. This office, termed in Latin supervisus, is translated in another charter
by the words search and surveying, and in the 2nd Charter of Charles I. it is termed the scavage, which
appears to have been its most ancient and common name, and that which is retained to the present
day.
The real nature of this duty is not a toll for showing, but a toll paid for the oversight of showing;
and under that name (supervisus apertionis) it was claimed in an action of debt in the reign of Charles
II.
The duty performed was seeing and knowing the merchandize on which the Kings import customs
were paid, in order that no concealment, or fraudulent practices
should deprive the King of his just dues
(The duty) was well known under the name of scavage, in the time of Henry III., and it seems at that
time to have been a franchise of the commonalty.G. Norton, Commentaries on the Hist., &c., of the
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