The Laundry of Stratford Road

ONE often finds unidentified photographs in old collections, which capture the mundane aspects of everyday life. Identifying them takes time and even a little detective work.

- MARK LEVIN

One such picture was the Natal Steam Laundry, photographed in 1909. It represented a new type of business which relied increasingly on machinery rather than labour-intensive hand washing.

The company was started in 1898 at 22 Stratford Road in what is today known as the Warwick Triangle precinct.

Back in the 1890s, it was still a quiet part of town surrounded by trees and a few scattered houses.

By 1910, it had grown into a working-class neighbourhood whose residents included a wagon maker, a pony rickshaw driver, a trolley driver, a baker, carpenters and grocers, a teacher, a fireman and a coppersmith.

Most residents were white, but there were also Indian families and a “Native Minister”, Mr BM Dube. Later, St Raphael’s Church was built at No.65.

In 1901, Natal Steam Laundry was bought by Mr S Rogerson who would build it into the largest undertaking of its kind in Natal. When he died in 1936, his son John took over the business.

In 1921, they had acquired Fletcher’s Laundry which had been established in Point Road in 1894 before moving to 28-32 Moore Road in 1900. There it remained for decades, managed for many years by Mr AW Ellis

This laundry has been demolished, which is why 22 Stratford Road is so special: it may be the only purpose-built Victorian laundry that has survived, although the building is no longer used for that purpose.

In the 19th century, most laundry was done by hand, usually by washerwomen whose tasks were made a little easier by the invention of the mangle. A laundry worker cranked wet clothing through the mangle (or wringer) expelling the water — a quicker process than hand twisting. Early washing machines were still hand-operated: most involved turning a handle to move paddles in a tub. Later, the “agitator” was electrically powered.