Deal porters in the Surrey Commercial Docks

Deal porters were a specialist group of workers in London's docks. They handled baulks of softwood or "deal", stacking them up to 60 feet high in quayside warehouses. This was a demanding and dangerous job. It required physical strength, dexterity and a head for heights, to such an extent that they were nicknamed "Blondins" after the famous acrobat. Deal porters wore special leather headgear with long "aprons" over their shoulders in order to protect their heads and necks from wooden splinters.

Their trade was a notably dangerous one. The New Survey of London Life and Labour, published in 1928, noted:

"Deal portering is heavy and dangerous work which cannot safely be undertaken by any save experienced men. The shoulder of an experienced deal porter is said to develop a callosity which enables it to bear the weight and friction of a load of planks. But even with a hardened shoulder the deal porter has an unenviable task. To carry over a shaking slippery plankway a bundle of shaking slippery planks, when a fall would almost certainly mean serious injury, is work for specialists."

Most of the deal porters worked at the Surrey Commercial Docks in Rotherhithe, which specialised in timber. They were eventually rendered obsolete in the 1930s as mechanisation provided a better and cheaper way of moving timber cargoes. They are today commemorated by a sculpture at Canada Water, designed by Philip Bews and Diane Gorvin.