Notes about Thomas Martin

This document refers to my great-great-great-grandfather, Thomas Martin, who was a contractor for the building of Kings College London.

The building contract
The Provisional Committee and its successor, the College Council, next obtained tenders for the building work. The contract was awarded on 26 November 1829 to an St Pancras-based developer, Thomas Martin, to sink foundations and erect the substructure or 'carcass' of the main building for the sum of £63,947, paid in instalments every three calendar months. He was charged to 'duly execute perform and complete all the works' by 1 December 1831. Robert Smirke retained overall control of the project as its manager as well as architect
The method of construction: foundations
The original contract provided detailed specifications on the method of construction and materials employed. The contractor was required to clear the site. All bricks, stone, timber and other materials were to be transported by barge and unloaded from the river, while workmen were required to enter at the small Strand Lane entrance. The saving by using river instead of road to transport heavy materials was estimated at 5% of the total cost.
The foundations were to be sunk to a depth of 19 feet 6 inches at the river end at low water using a cofferdam if necessary to contain the water. They comprised coarse river gravel with a lime grout made with 'well pounded Mersham or Maidstone lime', seven parts gravel to one part lime thrown into trenches. The contract insisted that a man be present in the trench during this process in order to 'work down and level the grout'. Bricklayers were then charged with erecting footings, the lowest to be laid in Roman cement to harden in the waterlogged conditions.
The superstructure
The main body of the building comprised brickwork, cast iron joists and wrought iron fittings faced with Bath, Portland or Bramley fall or other Yorkshire sandstone in public areas; 'Bangor Rag' slates each to be fastened with four copper nails and exterior paving three inch thick in hardwearing and expensive York stone. Roof lead was specified as 'Greenwich Hospital' sourced from the mines of the northern estates of the charity located high in the Pennines near Alston. The floorings of the basement and sub-basement were tooled York stone set into courses based with rough bedding built over brick arches.
Staircases were in high quality Elland edge or Cornwall bottom Yorkshire stone, rubbed on both surfaces with landings in six-inch thick stone on iron bearings set nine inches under the adjoining walls. The balustrades on the entrance hall stairs were in Portland stone. Smirke considered every detail such as the precise dimensions of the drains, constructed with air traps and cesspools of brick 18 inches square. Thought was also put into minimising the risk of fire spreading throughout the College buildings and the construction incorporated several advanced features including chimney flues that could be cleaned by machine rather than by using children.
Problems with building
Supplies of materials sufficient for only two days were to be kept on site to minimise risk of theft or breakage: the construction of King's was to be 'just in time'. The large number of workers employed on the project made security an - obvious problem , one highlighted by the apprehension of a suspected murderer, an Irish labourer named Donovan, wanted for a double killing in County Cork. A gatekeeper was provided in his own small hut on 20 shillings per week and sections of the site exposed to the public on the Strand and by Somerset House enclosed by a seven-foot high fence to reduce pilfering and the inconvenience of noise and dust to neighbouring homes and businesses.
Progress and completion
The Times reported in February 1830 that 'the preparations for the new edifice of King's college are now considerably advanced'. An average of 300 workmen were engaged at any one time in laying the foundations including between 25 and 100 masons, 47 bricklayers and a dozen carpenters. Heavy work usually stopped in mid-winter and the half-finished brickwork protected by awnings and covers. Rapid progress was made and the carcass of the building was completed towards the end of 1830, when fitting out could begin. Joinery, furniture, oil lamps, boilers, coal stores, office equipment, stationery, and laboratory and engineering machinery such as lathes, were purchased.
The College authorities were frequently dissatisfied by the standard of workmanship, which was often entrusted to tradesmen on account of their proximity to the Strand or because of their financial stake in the College owing to proprietorship. The school playground was declared unsafe and the glaziers in particular singled out for criticism. The budget for library books, equipment and the refectory were initially insufficient and economy encouraged. The College received generous gifts of books, however, for example the library of William Marsden in 1835, and also received numerous unsolicited approaches from suppliers of maps, globes, books, human anatomical specimens, and even a collection of extinct mastodon casts from Norfolk and a giraffe skeleton for £150.