Enjoy this The Stock Exchange chapter from "Imperial London", a unique view of London and its inhabitants, first published in 1901, by Arthur H. Beavan.

Built of stone and white brick, the Stock Exchange covers a large triangular area to the immediate east of the Bank of England, and has seven entrances, each of them unassuming, the main one in Bartholomew Lane being more suggestive of a descensus Averno than of an entry into the Temple of Fortune.

Each of these approaches was in 1900 jealously guarded by a Cerberus in uniform, who, although thousands of persons entered the building every day, appeared to know them all by sight, and to be able to spot a stranger instantly.

From the chief entrance, known as Capel Court, and through a bare lobby where clients were supposed to consult with their brokers, and through swing-doors, the House was reached.

It was a vast oblong hall, irregular in shape, and culminated in a rotunda, not unlike that of St. Paul's Cathedral, with a gilt dome and vaulted glass roof upheld by red granite columns.

Round the rotunda ran an interminable hat-rack for the accommodation of the "jobbers," who rarely wore head-gear in the streets, as they were continually going to and from their offices, which, as a rule, were not far from the House; the brokers, on the other hand, who did not move about so much, were never uncovered.

Every member of the House was either a broker or a jobber, the latter being a kind of "middleman" between the former and any other broker, but, unlike the typical middleman, he was indispensable, ready to sell or buy, and to make a price at a moment's notice.

The amount of business transacted on the Stock Exchange was enormous, property to the value of fifteen millions having been known to change hands in a few hours; yet no written contract passed, a few hasty notes in the little narrow, memorandum books carried by jobbers, was the only record at the time, though the bargains were formally called over by the clerks the following morning.

More than a dozen markets were carried on simultaneously upon the Stock Exchange.

Each one was approached by a special entrance (as for instance, the American from Shorter's Court in Throgmorton Street), but all were conducted under one roof, and were distinguished only by the individuality of the various groups.

There came a solemn moment in the House, when an attendant mounting the steps of a rostrum in the middle of the rotunda, removed his hat, and rapping three times with his hammer, cried: "Gentlemen, Mr. Z_ begs to inform the House that he cannot comply with his bargains."

The perpetual roar of voices for an instant was stilled; there was a silence that could be felt.

A terrible moment for Mr. Z _, whose name was posted on the board as a defaulter, and who for the time was expelled from the House.

Except on Saturdays and settling days, business inside the House closed at 4. p.m. sharp; but there was always an overflow meeting in and about Broad Street and Throgmorton Street, the latter thoroughfare sometimes being completely blocked by the crowd, when a boom or a slump was on.

In the intervals of business there was much relaxation amongst the members of the House; betting was incessant, and of as varied a character as that practised by William Flasher, the stock-broker in Pickwick, who, amongst other wagers, entered a bet that Boffer, who had been expelled by the House, would kill himself within ten days, and another, that Flasher's man would outbid Frank Simmery's man at a coming sale of rare old port.

Apart from betting, there was plenty of boisterous play, diversions of the school-boy order, as, for instance, the ice-test in very hot weather.

One member casually mentioned to another - not "in the know " - that the latter could not hold a piece of ice on his arm for the space of two minutes.

If a small wager was taken, the stock-broker, No. 2, lost his money, for No. 1, having choice of position from the fingers to the elbow, placed a good-sized lump just over No.2's pulse.

The result was so painful that in nine cases out of ten, No. 2 threw up the game under forty seconds.

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Mercantile London in 1900 - Lloyd's