Dover quay gangs

Standing parties of eleven to twenty hands, nine on the eastern quay and seven on the western, that hire and are paid as units by the tide. Each is a family or two intermarried; places pass by blood and marriage.

Sixteen separate family-based gangs that work the Dover quays, paid by the tide, each with a reckoner (a woman at nine of them) who divides the money in public.

Named with it

• Gang-Master Simon Folkestone · eastern quay
• Quay-Hand Dorcas Buckland · eastern quay
• Tide-Caller Amos Ringwould · eastern quay
• Gang-Reckoner Susan Reculver · reckoner, western quay

Ties

• disputes heard by the Port-reeve of Dover

At the table

Paid a little over two shillings a tide, settled in public by the gang's reckoner, often a woman. Disputes go to the port-reeve. A gang that talks about a cargo loses the next one, so what they know opens only to those seen dealing honestly with someone the quay knows. Nothing is carried up the eastern quay past the bell after dark between New Year and March, and three eastern gangs will not resume after a closure until the bell rings twice. They police their own members and take on casuals in a fixed order. They have no widows' fund because the sixteen have never agreed on anything. Three gangs will not start again after a closure until the bell has rung twice. Bands should go to the gangers first.