Navvy

Navvy is a shorter form of navigational engineer (USA) or navigator (UK) and is particularly applied to describe the manual labourers working on major civil engineering projects. The term was coined in the late 18th century in Britain when numerous canals were being built, which were also sometimes known as "navigations". Canal navvies typically worked with shovels, pickaxes and barrows.

Nationalities

Many navvies were immigrants, as manual labourers of low social standing and training requirements often are in relatively affluent societies (compare the Chinese coolies on the US railroad construction). Brooke's study of 19th century British railway contracts coinciding with census returns demonstrates conclusively that the great majority of British-based navvies were English. He does however state that 'only the ubiquitous Irish can be regarded as a truly international force in railway construction'. The dominance of the Irish in groundworks in Britain is a 20th century phenomenon. By 1818, higher wages in North America attracted many of these immigrants to move again. They became a major part of the workforce in the construction of the Erie Canal, in New York State and similar projects; as well as building canals in Britain.

Migration from canal to railway projects

The construction of canals in Britain was superseded by contracts to construct railway projects from 1830 onwards, which developed into the railway manias, and the same term was applied to the workmen employed on building rail tracks, their tunnels, cuttings and embankments.

Navvies working on railway projects typically continued to work using hand tools, supplemented with explosives (particularly when tunnelling, and to clear obdurate difficulties). Steam-powered mechanical diggers or excavators (initially called 'steam navvies') were available in the 1840s, but were not considered cost effective until much later in the 19th century, especially in Britain and Europe where experienced labourers were easily obtained and comparatively cheap. Elsewhere, for example in the "United States and Canada, where labour was more scarce and expensive, mechanical diggers were used. In the States the machine tradition became so strong that [...] the word navvy is understood to mean not a man but a steam shovel."

Use of the term "navvy"

More recently, in Britain "navvy" sometimes means a workman digging a hole in a public road to get access to buried services such as gas mains or water mains.
In Britain the name "navvies" is sometimes given to members of the Inland Waterways Protection Society and other canal restoration societies.
In Australia, the term "navvy" is still applied solely to railway workers. Some areas of the country, particularly towns and cities along the sugarcane belt of the state of Queensland, still employ teams of navvies on a permanent basis to lay and maintain the state's narrow-gauge cane-train tracks. Whereas Council workers who work on general civic projects advise of their worksites with fluorescent orange "Workers Ahead" signage, navvies use pale blue "Navvies at Work" signs.
In British Columbia, "navvy jack" is a common term in construction and landscaping trades and in their respective supply stores for washed pea gravel used for fill and drainage purposes. The usage derives from "Navvy Jack", by ordinary name Jack Thomas, a former navvy who used a rowboat to mine good-quality gravel from beaches in West Vancouver, and who as time went on ran a rowboat-ferry for settlers on Burrard Inlet and English Bay.

Working conditions for railway navvies

Many of the navvies employed building the railways in England in the early part of the 19th Century had to live in squalid temporary living accommodations. The navvies working on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway were paid daily and their pay reputedly went on ale and Porter, leaving little for food. When the workers were unfit to work, monies were deducted from their wages and meal tokens were issued. These tokens could be handed in at meal caravans for a bowl of soup and a portion of bread. At first the token was a slip of paper called a "flimsy" because of its thickness. In today's terms it would be similar to a grade called "bank paper". As these tokens could be copied by the forgers, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway supplied its contractors with six-sided food tokens that were surrendered for meals. These were cut from brass and had the initials LMR stamped upon them. This reduced the problems of drunken navvies and eliminated the local farm labourers freeloading from the food caravans. Tokens and a description of their use can be found in the Museum of Science & Industry in Manchester.

Navvies in popular culture

Alfred Doolittle in George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion is referred to as a navvy.

Navvies are referenced throughout George Orwell's novel Down and Out in Paris and London.

Gordon Lightfoot used the term navvies in his "Canadian Railroad Trilogy," a song written to commemorate Canada's centennial in 1967: "We are the navvies who work upon the railway, swingin' our hammers in the bright, blazing sun." The song debuted on CBC's "100 Years Young" and later appeared on the album "The Way I Feel".

Andy Partridge's song "Towers of London" on XTC's album Black Sea is inspired by a Dickensonian perspective of the thankless contribution of navvies to Victorian era London.

The first song on Pere Ubu's second album, Dub Housing, is called "Navvy."

The Pogues song Navigator is based on the life of a Navvy

The Genesis song "Driving the Last Spike" describes the life of the Navvies.

In the Doctor Who episode "The Unquiet Dead", the Doctor introduces himself to Charles Dickens, prompting Dickens to reply "Doctor? You look more like a navvy."

Translation of "Navvy"

Norwegian (Bokmål): raller, Norwegian (Nynorsk): rallar, Swedish: rallare.