Oct 182018
 

We continue with the theme of women in Scotland, this time focusing on poor women and what society did to help them, and women’s health.

Poor women

Many parishes reported a high number of poor women, especially older women or widows, who were unable, or even unwilling, to work.

Here are some figures given in the parish report for Campsie, County of Stirling:

No. of paupers on our list, 25
Of these there are females, 16
Males, 9
Above sixty years of age, 19
The average of the years of their receiving charity, 8
Of this number of paupers, there are no less than five facile in their mind, 5
The higher sum given is per month, 64
It would appear that it is only the hundredth part of the whole inhabitants who require public charity, of these twenty five paupers, eight are unmarried women.

(OSA, Vol. XV, 1795, p. 364)

The lack of work available to women was a big factor in the high percentage of poor women. In Laurencekirk, County of Kincardine, “about one-fourth of the regular paupers are males, the others being chiefly aged women. The class of destitute women is rapidly increasing from the discontinuance of employments, by which females advancing in life were wont to earn some livelihood; yet such is the inevitable result of the extensive use of machinery.” (NSA, Vol. XI, 1845, p. 151) It was a very similar situation in Kings Kettle, County of Fife where “elder women and widows are generally employed in winding pirns; but for these there is a great want of employment since the lint-wheel failed them.” (NSA, Vol. IX, 1845, p. 109) and in Huntly, County of Aberdeen, where “employment in weaving worsted and in knitting stockings was got for many of the old women in the parish; but the former is entirely extinct, and the latter has also been withdrawn.” (NSA, Vol. XII, 1845, p. 1041)

Lack of employment sometimes meant women having to re-locate to try and find work, as reported in the parish report of Yetholm, County of Roxburgh.

“Single women unfit for farmers service, or an old widow with a daughter or two, most of them equally unfit, took refuge in these villages [of the parish], and earned their livelihood by spinning, perhaps someone of the family by hoeing turnips by the day, and hiring themselves in harvest; whilst the males hired themselves for herds, hinds, and farmers servants, and were in other parishes. This is not mere conjecture, for a great part of the paupers upon the list consist of such women, and I know of many more who still subsist by their own labour. Besides, some single women, or widows, after obtaining a settlement in other parishes, come to reside in these villages; because stout women, fit to be employed the whole season in every kind of out-work, are so scarce in proportion to the demand, that no farmer will let a cottage, but upon the condition of being furnished with a worker, for whom, even in the turnip-season, they pay 8 d. or 9 d. per day, without victuals.” (OSA, Vol. XIX, 1797, p. 612)

A painting called 'Little Beggar Girl and Woman Spinning' by the artist Giacomom Ceruti. Painted in the 1720s.

Little Beggar Girl and Woman Spinning, 1720s. Giacomo Ceruti [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

It is very interesting to read the parish report of Ayr, County of Ayrshire, in which is noted its good provision for the poor, the resulting influx of poor women from neighbouring parishes and its negative affects. (OSA, Vol. XXI, 1799, p. 44)

The lack of employment was not the only reason given for the existence of poor women. In some cases, women were able to work, but chose to be beggars. In Auchindoir, County of Aberdeen, “there is no strolling beggar belonging to the parish; but we have great numbers of them from other parishes. Some of these, particularly the women, are young and healthy; and they are usually attended by several children of different ages, whom they train up to the same habits with themselves. If there be laws for remedying these and similar abuses, it is a pity they are not put in execution.” (OSA, Vol. XII, 1794, p. 500) In Glenshiel, County of Ross and Cromarty, “the swarm of sturdy beggars with which this country is infested is considered as no small disadvantage. They consist chiefly of stout able women, who, rather than engage in service are content to go about from house to house; but there is every reason to believe, the introduction of manufactures would effectually relieve the public of this burden.” (OSA, Vol. VII, 1793, p. 131)

It was pointed out in the parish report of Stirling, County of Stirling, that many women decided not to work rather than earn a pittance. “The low rate of female labour in Stirling, is another source of poverty. The utmost a woman can earn by spinning wool, is 3 d. a-day. With this they cannot maintain themselves, pay the rent of a house, and get other necessaries. Such small encouragement destroys industry. A female having so little prospect of advantage from her labour, is at no pains to be expert in it.” It then goes on to say that “the chief cause of the numerous poor in Stirling is the castle”! Find out why here: (OSA, Vol. VIII, 1793, p. 291).

So how did society try to help these disadvantaged, destitute women? As mentioned in the parish report of Wiston and Roberton, County of Lanark, there were poor women who did indeed try to help themselves. “It is sometimes necessary to press aid on the necessitous, such is their modesty. Sometimes two widows, or single women, join in one cottage, to save house-rent and fuel; and many, even such as are advanced in life, support themselves by spinning flax, and working in harvest, and at other times. The rent of a cottage is about 12 s. a year.” (OSA, Vol. VI, 1793, p. 309)

However, these women still needed help from society. In the report for Caputh, County of Perth, it was suggested that a philanthropist consider improving the situation of poor women as “the very fact that, of the 39 paupers supported by the kirk-session, 32 are old women, is sufficient to shew that the weaker sex, do what they will, if depending upon their own efforts for subsistence, must anticipate old age with feelings of the most painful solicitude! This is a sight for pity to peruse,

Till she resemble faintly what she views,
Till sympathy contract a kindred pain,
Pierc’d with the woes “these females feel in vain.”

Cowper” (NSA, Vol. X, 1845, p. 670)

Here are some ways in which society came to the aid of poor women.

  • Creation of houses

In several parishes establishments were set up in which to house poor women, such as St Leonard’s Hospital and Pitreavie’s Hospital in Dunfermline, County of Fife, which took care of widows. (NSA, Vol. IX, 1845, p. 904) In Tinwald and Trailflat, County of Dumfries, “the Duke of Quensberry allows six free cottages to poor old women.” (NSA, Vol. IV, 1845, p. 50) and in Edinburgh, County of Edinburgh there was the House of Industry and Servants’ Home where “about 30 indigent females [were] received into this institution, where work is provided for them.” (NSA, Vol. I, 1845, p. 738)

  • Societies set up to aid women

There are mentions of female societies in several parish reports, including that of Glasgow, County of Lanark (NSA, Vol. VI, 1845, p. 185), Aberdeen, County of Aberdeen, where the society derived its funds for the relief of aged and indigent females “from the subscriptions of its members, and occasional donations and bequests” (NSA, Vol. XII, 1845, p62), Markinch, County of Fife, where “the principal ladies connected with the parish patronize it” (NSA, Vol. IX, 1845, p. 687) and Stirling, County of Stirling (NSA, Vol. VIII, 1845, p. 440).

In Dalkeith, County of Edinburgh, “various other societies have been formed for the relief of the poor. The Indigent Sick Society was formed in 1808; the Old Women’s Society in 1814: the Clothing Society, for supplying work to industrious poor women, in 1837.” (NSA, Vol. I, 1845, p. 531)

In Kinross, County of Kinross, there was the Ladies’ Society, members of which “meet together monthly, when they distribute a certain quantity of oatmeal to each of those destitute women, whom they shall determine upon as the most suitable objects of relief. Their funds arise from a small subscription from each member of 5s. on her entrance; and of a penny a-week or 4s. 4d. a year; from occasional public collections; from the donations of individuals, &c. No small addition was made, two years ago, by the proceeds of a musical festival in Kinross mansion-house.” (NSA, Vol. IX, 1845, p. 23)

The effectiveness of these societies was not lost on the parish reporter for Dowally, County of Perth. “A Female Friendly Society should be established, on the same principle with the Cordiners and Weavers Society. Destitute women have always formed the most numerous lift of claimants on the public charitable funds. In 1755, when 14 persons were supplied weekly by the session, there were 10 women in the number; and there was no less a proportion than 40 women, out of 52 persons, supplied at an occasional distribution, in 1790.” (OSA, Vol. XX, 1798, p. 446)

  • Parochial Funds

Parishes collected funds in order to support the poor. In Keig, County of Aberdeen, “the average number of persons on the poor roll for the last six years has been 9, mostly infirm old women without near relations able to support them, besides whom others in similar circumstances have been occasionally assisted.” (NSA, Vol. XII, 1845, p. 956) In Denny, County of Stirling, “there are a number of house-keepers in indigent circumstances, who receive occasional supplies from the collections, made at the church-doors on Sunday.” (OSA, Vol. II, 1792, p 421)

Figures are provided in the report for Cleish, County of Kinross. ” The number of persons at present receiving parochial aid is 6, at 1s. per week, one at 2s., and two orphan children at 1s. each per week. There is also a woman receiving 2s. 6d. as a temporary assistance, in consequence of her not being able to prove the father of her illegitimate child. The funds for their support are, the church collections, L. 21, 6s. 10d.; interest of L. 265, L. 10, 12s.; and mortcloth dues, which, since the parish procured a hearse by subscription, are merely nominal: these, at an average of seven years, amount to L. 31, 18s. 10d.” (NSA, Vol. IX, 1845, p. 51)

It is particularly interesting to read how the parish of St Mungo, County of Dumfries, offered various methods of support to the poor, including provision of employment and the putting in place of regulations to ensure that an individual or family did not become a burden to the parish. “The means of support collected under the direction of the session are applied to the support of the distressed. The session have also been in the habit of at times giving work to poor women in place of money, paying a house rent on condition their relatives shall in all other respects provide for them; or maintaining a poor person’s family at school, to prevent their becoming a burden on the parish. But, unless driven to it by necessity, direct payment of money from the sessional funds, except to the diseased and aged, has always been avoided… Poor women are also by the trustees employed in gathering stones and filling carts on the roads, at a fixed rate.” To find out more about the regulations established by the session look at NSA, Vol. IV, 1845, p. 216.

There is a great story found in the parish report of Gargunnock, County of Stirling. “An addition was made to the funds of the poor in 1784, by a very singular circumstance. Two old women, sisters, who lived in the village of Gargunnock, had for many years, every appearance of extreme indigence; though without making any application for assistance from the parish. One of them at last, applied to be received on the poor’s list; and as no doubt was entertained of her poverty, she received four shillings per month. ..”. Discover what happened next in OSA, Vol. XVIII, 1796, p. 113.

Women’s health

In several parish reports a direct link between women’s employment and ill health was observed. This included both work involving sitting for long periods of time and being out in all weathers.

  • Leading a sedentary life

Here are some examples found in the Statistical Accounts of Scotland of the negative effects to women of undertaking jobs such as weaving and spinning. These include a couple of very interesting comments on the effect on health of wasting saliva when wetting thread!

Elgin, County of Elgin – “the women lead sedentary lives in spinning, from which arise obstructions, etc. that often terminate fatally; and from the same causes, difficult labours are more common than formerly.” (OSA, Vol. V, 1793, p. 17)

Nigg, County of Kincardine – “from the more sedentary life of women now, at knitting stockings, hysteric complaints are thought frequent.” (OSA, Vol. VII, 1793, p. 198)

Carmylie, County of Forfar – “This new employment [spinning flax] for young women cannot be so conducive to health, as the ordinary labours of female servants; and in the event of their becoming wives, forms no good training for their management of household affairs.” (NSA, Vol. XI, 1845, p. 371)

Engraving by F. Engleheart, 1838, after Sir D. Wilkie, called 'A bedridden sick young woman being examined by a doctor'

A bedridden sick young woman being examined by a doctor, acc. Engraving by F. Engleheart, 1838, after Sir D. Wilkie. [CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Kirkintilloch, County of Dumbarton – “Some, indeed, particularly the females, are not a little subjects to hysterics; a disease, the prevalence of which in this place, has, with some shew of probability, been attributed, partly to the dampness of our carthen floors, and partly, to the effects of spinning, for which, the women in this neighbourhood are deservedly famous*.

*The women, when engaged in spinning, especially in winter, sit by-the fire-side, and keeping, as their custom is, always the same station, the one side side is exposed to the chilling cold of the season, and the other is relaxed by the warm influence of the fire. Besides, in turning her lint-wheel, the person who spins, commonly employs but one foot, and uses chiefly the hand of the
same side, in making the thread. Thus the labour is very unequally divided, by which the health of the body must naturally be affected. Lastly, the waste of saliva in wetting the thread, must
deprive the stomach of a substance essential to its operations, whence, all the fatal consequences of crudities, and indigestion, may be expected.” (OSA, Vol. II, 1792, p. 282)

Forgan, County of Fife – “… the constant sitting at the wheel, and the immoderate waste of saliva, was by no means favourable to their health. Many of these people are employed in cutting down the corns in harvest. During this season they are uncommonly cheerful and healthy; but as this exercise in the field is an extreme entirely opposite to the sedentary life they generally lead through the rest of the year, disagreeable effects are sometimes felt after the harvest; however, the danger of this is not a little abated by their present manner of living during this season, which is upon oat bread and ale, which, when fresh and good, is a most wholesome diet.” (OSA, Vol. XVI, 1795, p. 95)

Auchtermuchty, County of Fife – “Comsumptions are the most prevalent distemper, particularly among young women, which perhaps may be attributed to their staying at home, spinning at two-handed wheels, and not enjoying that comfortable diet, and moderate exercise, the result of being in service.” (OSA, Vol. VI, 1793, p. 339)

Dron, County of Perth – “Many young women, who used to go into service, find it more advantageous to stay at home and spin for the manufacturer, or to purchase lint and dispose of the yarn. By this mode of life, they feel themselves independent, and more at their own disposal, which is no doubt an additional motive for preferring it. But they overlook the ill consequence of their choice to health and vigour of constitution, which is more than a balance for all their advantages. Their sedentary life, and want of proper exercise ; their eager application and scanty provision, are all circumstances which conspire to enfeeble the constitution, produce nervous disorders, and bring on sexual infirmities, which render life uncomfortable, and hurry them into premature old age.” (OSA, Vol. IX, 1793, p. 476)

Riccarton, County of Ayrshire – “A great proportion of the females in the parish are employed in sewing and embroidering muslin… The employment, we believe, is very injurious to the general health of those employed, but especially to, their chest and eyes.” (NSA, Vol. V, 1845, p. 612)

In the parish report of Avondale, County of Lanark, the effects of sedentary employment on the health of children was also commented on. “The great wages made by weaving, induces many parents to put their boys too early to that business, which stints their growth, occasions swellings about their legs, and hurts their morals, by rendering them too soon independent of their parents. The same temptation is presented to the girls by the flowering of muslin, which, by confining them too soon to a sedentary life, makes them pale and sickly, and is likely to subject them to nervous complaint all their lives.” (OSA, Vol. IX, 1793, p. 387)

  • Working on the land

Women also experienced health issues from undertaking agricultural work, i.e. hard labour, or generally being outside.

Tillicoultry, County of Clackmannan – “The dysentery was unknown here for many years. It has, however, appeared of late three different times, and carried off a good many persons, chiefly women. As this alarming malady always broke out in the end of harvest, some have been apt to imagine, that, if it was not caught by infection, it arose from the colds and damps to which the people were exposed in reaping, or to a frequent use of potatoes not brought to a proper state of maturity.” (OSA, Vol. XV, 1795, p. 202)

Old or West Monkland, County of Lanark – “Several young women of this parish have fallen into consumptions by sitting too long on the damp ground at tent preachings.” (OSA, Vol. VII, 1793, p. 380)

Edzell, County of Forfar – “The most prevailing complaints are, asthma amongst the men, and hysterical disorders amongst the women, rheumatism in both sexes. These may, in part, be caused, or nor a little heightened, by poor diet, hard labour, and sorry lodging.” (OSA, Vol. X, 1794, p. 102)

All this being said, it must be noted that several parish reports mention both men and women who have lived to a ripe old-age, in some cases over a hundred! Examples include the parishes of Northmaving, County of Shetland (NSA, Vol. XV, 1845, p. 73), Castletown, County of Roxburgh (OSA, Vol. XVI, 1795, p. 64) and Crimond, County of Aberdeen (NSA, Vol. XII, 1845, p. 703).

In Halkirk, County of Caithness, even though the climate “often goes to extremes in the space of 24 hours; for it is not unusual to be visited here with all the coldness and rigours of winter, and the fervour and heat of a summer-day, in the space of 12 hours… There is no disease that can be called peculiar to it; neither are the distempers by which we are visited more frequent, or more fatal and violent, than in other countries, that are esteemed very healthy and salubrious.” (OSA, Vol. XIX, 1797, p. 12) In the Section on the county of Shetland from volume 15 in account 2 it was reported that “the women usually live to a greater age, and preserve their faculties better, than the men, it may be from having been less exposed to excessive and desultory labour.” (NSA, Vol. XV, 1845, p. 147)

Women and childbirth

Some parishes reported poor care for women giving birth as there were either no skilled midwives or no midwives at all. In Kiltearn, County of Ross and Cromarty, “another disadvantage which the poor women labour under here, which is, that they seldom have proper assistance when in child-bed, as there is no regularly bred midwife in the parish. This often proves of fatal consequence to women in that situation, which, of all others, require the most tender care, as well as skill.” (OSA, Vol. I, 1791, p. 288)

Fossoway, County of Perth – “Though the two parishes taken together, form a large and populous district, there is not a physician, nor a surgeon, nor a midwife in either. Women in child-bed have, however, good assistance at no great distance; and they are, in general, very fortunate. Good medical aid is also to be had from all the neighbouring towns. It is also reasonable to acknowledge with gratitude, that the united parishes lie under peculiar obligations to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.” (OSA, Vol. XVIII, 1796, p. 453)

Jura, County of Argyle – “A great proportion of children die in infancy, and many of the mothers, though of a strong constitution, recover slowly in child-bed. Both these circumstances seem to be owing to unskillful treatment, for there is not a single bred midwife in the island.” (OSA, Vol. XII, 1794, p. 320)

Kilmorie, County of Bute – “The diseases here [include]… a great death of new-born infants, by the falling down of the jaws; and some women die in childbed, both which last two are attributed to the unskillfulness of midwives, who venture upon the practice from natural courage, without necessary and proper knowledge, there being none duly qualified in the island.” (OSA, Vol. IX, 1793, p. 166)

Incidentally, the fatal illness of new-borns, mentioned above, was also known as “the eight-day sickness’. It was reported in Kilbride, County of Bute, that “there is a disorder, no less fatal to children, which seems to be peculiar to this island, as it is seldom known any where else, called the eight-day sickness. Infants are seized with it the 8th day after birth, by the falling down of the jaw, attended with violent convulsions.” (OSA, Vol. VIII, 1793, p. 579) Thankfully, in the New Statistical Accounts report for the same parish this disease “which a few generations ago was so fatal to infants and children, is now never heard of, having disappeared along with its cause,– unskillful treatment on the part of self-taught midwives.” (NSA, Vol. V, 1845, p. 6)

Conclusion

It has been very interesting to find out both about the existence of poor women, its causes and what society did to help them, and about women’s health in 18th and 19th century Scotland. The parish reports are an important source of information not only of actual figures and descriptions of situations faced, but also opinions on causes and suggestions for solutions. This allows you to get an insight into how people thought and felt about what was going on around them. There are plenty more extracts you can find on these subjects in the Statistical Accounts of Scotland. We welcome you to take a look and make comments on our blog posts or to our twitter account.

Watch out for other posts on women in the future, or revisit our past posts on such topics as the influence of Scotland on the world, music and dance, and Scotland’s languages!

 

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Sep 142018
 

In the last three of posts on women in Scotland we have discovered that women worked in many sectors, including manufacturing (spinning, weaving, needlework,etc), and the farming and fishing industries. In this post we look more generally at the impact society had on women and their work.

Multi-tasking!

In many instances, women had to work as well as look after the family – as they do now! In Northmaving, County of Shetland, “the women look after domestic concerns, bring up their children, cook the victuals, look after the cattle, spin, and knit stockings; they also assist, and are no less laborious then the men in manuring and labouring the grounds, reaping the harvest, and manufacturing their crop.” (OSA, Vol. XII, 1794, p. 358) They also undertook not just one type of work, but several, depending on the time of year and the wages they received. In Nigg, County of Kincardine, “the whole female part of the parish, when not occupied by these engagements [kelp production], or harvest, the most, and domestic affairs, work at knitting woolen stockings, the materials of which they generally receive from manufacturers in Aberdeen.” (OSA, Vol. VII, 1793, p. 207) In Clackmannan, County of Clackmannan, “during a considerable part of the year, some of the women in the parish continue to sew for the Glasgow manufacturers, but the earnings from this source are now most lamentably small. Most of the females to which the writer has been referring, derive the greater part of their annual subsistence from field-labour, the preparing of bark, &c.” (NSA, Vol. VIII, 1845, p. 129)

No time for housework!

Although women had to multi-task, it was sometimes remarked in the parish reports that, due to women working, the state of the home suffered! Here is what was written in the parish report of Cross and Burness, County of Orkney:

“But there is a great want of neatness and cleanliness in the management of household matters, so that their condition has nothing of the tidy and comfortable appearance of what is now to be met with in houses of a like description in the south. And for any effectual improvement in this respect, there are two formidable barriers in the way, which are not likely soon to be overcome. The women have much work to do out of doors, a species of work, too, which peculiarly unfits them for neat management of house-hold concerns, such as cutting sea-weed for kelp, carrying up ware for manure on their backs, and spreading it on the land; and besides, the construction of their houses is very unfavourable, which are not only not plastered but not even built with lime, and seldom have any semblance of a chimney even upon the roof, while, for the sake of having each part of the house supplied with an equal share of heat, the fire-place is most commonly planted in the middle of the floor. The smoke consequently finds its way in every direction, and to keep either the walls or the utensils in a state of proper cleanliness, is next to impossible. Yet the present form of houses is much superior to what was possessed by the last generation; and this form may soon perhaps give way to another in a higher state of improvement.” (NSA, Vol. XV, 1845, p. 106)

A painting called 'A Cottage Interior' by Alfred A. Provis, dated 1869.

Provis, Alfred; A Cottage Interior, 1869. Picture credit: Atkinson Art Gallery Collection.

In the parish report for Carmylie, County of Forfar, it was noted that weaving, the new type of employment for young women at that time, “forms no good training for their management of household affairs” in the event of them getting married. (NSA, Vol. XI, 1845, p. 371) It was an even worse situation for colliers families in Tranent, County of Haddington! “The injurious practice of women working in the pits as bearers (now happily on the decline with the married females), tends to render the houses of colliers most uncomfortable on their return from their labours, and to foster many evils which a neat cleanly home would go far to lessen.” (NSA, Vol. II, 1845, p. 295). However, spinning, in particular, was considered a job which married women could do and still be able to run a household, as alluded to in the parish report for Moulin, County of Perth. (OSA, Vol. V, 1793, p. 63)

The need for women (and children) to work

In several parishes it was noted that there were many more females than males residing there, mostly due to men working elsewhere, particularly in the army or navy. This obviously had an effect on who undertook the work in that parish. In Stenton, County of Haddington, “the disparity in the number of males and females probably arises from a number of young men leaving the parish in search of employment; and the young women remaining as outworkers, in which occupation a good many single women, householders, are employed, who receive 9d. every day they are called upon to work, with 600 yards of potatoes planted, coals driven, &c. for their yearly service.” (NSA, Vol. II, 1845, p. 58) Whereas, in Rathven, County of Banff, the disparity between males and females residing there was attributed to losses sustained at sea and an influx of poor women from the Highlands, who wanted to live more comfortably. (OSA, Vol. XIII, 1794, p. 417)

It was noted in the parish report of Nigg, County of Kincardine, that “during some later months of winter, the subsistence of the family has depended much on the work of the females. Since the commencement of the American and French war 1778, 24 men have been impressed or entered to serve their country in the fleet from the fisher families. In these late armaments, their fishing has been interrupted from fear of their young men being seized; and to procure 10 men, instead of one from each boat, who have been demanded from them, the crews have paid 106 L. 14 s. which exhausted the substance of some families, and hung long a debt on others.” (OSA, Vol. VII, 1793, p. 207)

In Aberdeen, County of Aberdeen, a very interesting observation and explanation was reported in the Old Statistical Accounts with regards to the employment of men and women. “Most of our manufactures, especially the bleaching and thread-making businesses, employ a much greater number of women than of men; and the great manufacture of the place, the knitting of stockings, is carried on almost entirely by females. Accordingly, while most of our women remain at home, many of our young men emigrate to other places, in quest of more lucrative employment than they can find in this part of the country… Besides, the temptations of cheap and commodious houses, of easy access to fuel, and to all the necessaries and comforts of life, from our vicinity to the port and market of Aberdeen, and of the high probability of finding employment from some of the many manufactures carried on in the neighbourhood, induce many old women, and many of the widows and daughters of farmers and tradesmen, to leave the country, and reside in this parish, while their sons have either settled as farmers in their native place, or gone abroad, or entered into the army or navy. If to these observations we add, that in all parishes, in which there are several large towns and villages, most families need more female than male servants, the majority of females in this parish, great as it is, will be sufficiently accounted for.” (OSA, Vol. XIX, 1797, p. 178)

The need to work also extended to children. In Nigg, County of Kincardine, “the male children of the land people, from 9 and 10 years old, often herd cattle in summer, and those of all attend school in winter. The female children learn still earlier to knit and to read.” (OSA, Vol. VII, 1793, p. 207) In fact, in most cases children worked in the same areas of employment as women. Examples include: the mining and farming industries; the weaving industry, in particular preparing the yarn for the loom (see our post on ‘Women in Scotland: Manufacturing‘ for more information) and in the mills (as mentioned in one of our earlier posts and in the parish report for Dundee, County of Forfar, where “more than one-half of those employed in the mills are boys and girls from ten to eighteen years of age; the remainder are partly men and partly women of all ages.” (NSA, Vol. XI, 1845, p. 26))

In many parish reports, the hard-work and fortitude of women and children, is clearly displayed. However, in some parishes, there was no work available for them. In Kiltearn, County of Ross and Cromarty, it was noted that “considering the great number of women in the parish, it would be desirable that some manufacture should be introduced to employ the females, and children of both sexes; for it is a hard case, when a labouring man is unable to work by age or sickness, that his family has no means of earning a subsistence, however unwilling to work.” (OSA, Vol. I, 1791, p. 288)

Wages

All parish reports in both the Old and New Statistical Accounts of Scotland give the typical wages of workers. Of course, women were paid much less than men. In Houston and Killallan, County of Renfrew, “men servants from L. 7 to L. 10 a year, if they are good ploughmen; women-servants, from L. 1 : 10 : 0 or L. 2 the half year, and upwards.” (OSA, Vol. I, 1791, p. 325)

There are plenty more examples of this, including:

Keig, County of Aberdeen – “The wages of farm-servants were, of men, from L.4, 10s. to L.6, 10s. or L.7; of women, from L.2 to L.3 per annum; of day labourers, 6d. with maintenance. Reapers were hired for the harvest, the men at L.2 and the women at L.1.” (NSA, Vol. XII, 1845, p. 957)

Dollar, County of Clackmannan – “The wages of men labourers are from 10 d. to 1 s. per day; in harvest, they receive 13 d. or 14 d. per day; and for cutting hay, 1 s. 6 d. The wages of women who work without doors, at hay-making, weeding potatoes, etc. are 6 d. per day; except in harvest, when they receive 10 d. per day: out of which wages, both men and women furnish their own provisions.” (OSA, Vol. XV, 1795, p. 164)

Auchtertool, County of Fife – “Men servants used to get 6 L. Sterling for the year; and women, 2 L. 10 s.: But a man servant, now, receives 8L.; and a woman 3 L., for the year.” (OSA, Vol. VIII, 1793, p. 119)

Dundee, County of Forfar – “The following are the average wages at present paid at the mills, and generally in the linen manufacture in Dundee, viz. to flax-dressers from 10s. to 12s. weekly; girls and boys, 3s. to 6s.; women, 5s. to 8s.; weavers, 7s. to 10s.” (NSA, Vol. XI, 1845, p. 26)

Kingussie, County of Inverness – “A shilling per day is reckoned but very ordinary wages. Many receive 15 d. and 16 d. and some refuse to work under 18 d. The wages of women, however, is not in proportion; during harvest, and when employed at peats, they receive 8 d. a day, and at every other season of the year only 6 d.” (OSA, Vol. III, 1792, p. 39)

Painting showing two men, a woman and girl working in a field harvesting turnips.

Clausen, George; Winter Work, 1883-84. Picture credit:Tate.

The unfair nature of this disparity in wages was highlighted by the Rev. Mr. Joseph Taylor, who wrote in the parish report for Watten, County of Caithness:

“Women, qualified for tending cattle throughout the winter, driving the plough, and filling the dung cart in spring, had only about 8 s. Sterling, with just half the subsistence allowed the man. Why so little subsistence was and still is allowed to women, no good reason can be assigned. Established customs cannot always be accounted for, nor are they easily or suddenly overturned. This article of wages, however, has of late risen, and still continues to increase.” (OSA, Vol. XI, 1794, p. 274)

There are some very interesting descriptions and comments on wages in the Statistical Accounts. In Colinton, County of Edinburgh, it was reported that women and boys were paid the same amount of money (9d. per day) working in the fields and that “in the time of harvest and of lifting potatoes, their wages are regulated by the hiring market, which is held in Edinburgh every Monday morning during, the season.” (NSA, Vol. I, 1845, p. 124)

Weavers in Cults, County of Fife, “while in winding the smaller bobbins for the wool… usually employ their wives or children. At this latter employment, if done for hire, from 2s. 6d. to 3s. may be made per week.” (NSA, Vol. IX, 1845, p. 573)

Another interesting comment, this time on the relationship between technology and wages, can be found in the parish report of Moulin, County of Perth:

“The consequence of yarn selling high is an immediate rise in the wages of women servants. Should the machines for spinning linen yarn come to be much and successfully used, so as to reduce the price of spinning, that effect will be severely felt in this country. Single women may, perhaps, find employment in some other branches of manufacture; but it does not appear in what other way married women, who must fit always at home with their children, can contribute any thing to the support of their families.” (OSA, Vol. V, 1793, p. 63)

In St Vigeans, County of Forfar, the correlation between wages and skill, as well as conditions of employment, are highlighted:

“with respect to the wages of those employed in the factories here, though considerably lower than they have been, we should say, that, looking to age and the preponderance of females, they are perhaps the best paid class employed in the linen trade, with the exception of hacklers. Spinners, who are all girls of fifteen to about twenty-five years of age, earn from 5s. 4d. to 6s. 6d. per week; reelers, from 5s. to 6s.; and those in the preparing departments, from 3s. to 6s., according to the nature of the work assigned to each. The department requiring early and indispensable previous training is the spinning. It consists in expertness and facility in uniting broken threads, and which can only be efficiently acquired by the young. In the present improved state of machinery, the labour is by no means irksome; and hence it is that it is no uncommon thing, in passing through the spinning-flat of a well-conducted mill, to find many of the girls employed in reading. Spreaders, feeders, and reelers have a more laborious work to perform; but the persons employed in these capacities are, for the most part, full-grown women; and, generally speaking, they are allowed a longer time for meals and relaxation than the rest of the hands. The whole of the workers, men, women, and children are at liberty to leave their employment on giving four weeks; notice, in some cases even one week being held sufficient. Hacklers are paid at the rate of 2s. for every hundred weight of rough flax which they dress; and it is no unusual thing for a steady hand, with the assistance of an apprentice, whom he allows 3s. 6d. to 5s. 6d., to earn L. 1, 4s. per week. The average wages, however, of this class, including those who have no apprentices, does not perhaps exceed from 10s. to 12s. per week.*

* In the interview between the writing of this article, in January l842, and the correcting of the proof-sheet in October following, a farther reduction in wages has taken place of five to ten per cent.” (NSA, Vol. XI, 1845, p. 506)

In the parish report of Forfar, County of Forfar, a comparison is made between wages at that time and formerly. “About 60 years ago, a principal farm servant might have been had for 35 s. or 40 s. the half year, and a woman for 40 d. besides her harvest fee. Now many men servants receive L. 12 Sterling per annum, and few or none less than L. 7; and women servants have from L. 3 to L. 4 a year with a lippie of lint ground, or some equivalent called bounties. A man for the harvest demanded formerly half a guinea, now he asks from 30 s. to 40 s, and is sometimes intreated to take more. A female shearer formerly received from 8 s. to 10 s. now 20 s and upwards. Male servants in agriculture, besides their wages, get victuals, or two pecks of meal a-week in lieu thereof, with milk which they call sap. Cottars generally receives from L. 3 to L. 7 a year, with a house and garden, and maintenance of a cow throughout the year. On this scanty provision they live comfortably, and raise numerous families without burdening the public. A family of nine children has been reared by a labourer of this description without any public aid. The cottar eats at his master’s table, or has meal in lieu of this advantage. From 20 to 30 s a year are given to a boy, from 10 to 14 years of age, to tend the cattle or to drive the plough.” (OSA, Vol. VI, 1793, p. 532)

Conclusion

As can be gathered from above, the Statistical Accounts of Scotland contains a lot of information on wages, providing us with examples of differences between both jobs and those employed, whether it be men, women or children. It would be very interesting to make comparisons across parishes! The parish reports are also a great source of comment from the ministers who wrote them, illustrating people’s views on such things as the effect women working had on the community, and the discrepancy between men’s and women’s wages.

In our next post, we will continue to look at the effects society had on women in Scotland, including the existence of poor women and the establishment of female societies; women’s civil status; and women’s health.

 

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Aug 222018
 

We continue our series on women in the Statistical Accounts of Scotland, with a particular focus on employment. The existence of women servants is not a surprise, but women miners may well be! We also look at some of the other jobs women undertook which have not already be mentioned.

Servants

In our previous post on women in Scotland, we mentioned the fact that it was hard to employ people as servants during the summer months because they earned more working on the land. However, there were still those who were not willing or able to work in agriculture. In Cross and Burness, County of Orkney, “women-servants receive from L. 2, 1Os. to L. 3 per annum ; but as they are much engaged at home in the plaiting of rye-straw for bonnets, they are unwilling to work in the field, and are generally employed, only in the care of cattle or as house-servants.” (NSA, Vol. XV, 1845, p. 100)

Conversely, farmers in Kinnell, County of Forfar, found it hard to employ women who were working in the weaving industry. “For the farmers, finding it difficult to induce women to leave the loom for the working of the green crop, have been constrained to bring workers from the northern counties. The engagement of these workers is generally for a certain period, at about 8d. or 9d. a day till harvest, when higher wages are necessarily given.” (NSA, Vol. XI, 1845, p. 404)

A painting called 'A Lady's Maid Soaping Linen', c.1765-82, by Henry Robert Morland.

Morland, Henry Robert; A Lady’s Maid Soaping Linen, c.1765-82. Picture credit: Tate.

Many women had to move away from their parishes to work as servants, such as those in Kirkinner, County of Wigton. “Many of the young women go out as servants to Edinburgh, but particularly to Glasgow and Paisley.” (NSA, Vol. IV, 1845, p. 17) In Walls and Sandness, County of Shetland, “many of the young women, in the character of servants, go to London, Edinburgh, Etc. in the Greenland ships.” (OSA, Vol. XX, 1798, p. 106)

As an aside, in Stornoway, County of Ross and Cromarty, there was a very interesting custom involving women servants! “The people of the town seldom have menservants engaged for the year; and it is a curious circumstance that, time out of remembrance, their maidservants were in the habit of drinking, every morning, a wine glass full of whisky, which their mistress gave them; this barbarous custom became so well established by length of time, that if the practice of it should happen to be neglected or forgotten in a family, even once, discontent and idleness throughout the day, on the part of the maid or maids, would be the sure consequence. However, since the stoppage of the distilleries took place, the people of the town found it necessary to unite in the resolution of abolishing the practice, by withholding the dear cordial from their female domestics, but not without the precaution of making a compensation to them in money for their grievous loss; and it is said, that even this is not satisfactory, and that, in some families, the dram is still given privately, to preserve peace and good order.” (OSA, Vol. XIX, 1797, p. 258)

Mining

Women of all ages, even during the time of the Old Statistical Accounts of Scotland, worked in the mines, carrying the coal up to the surface on their backs! This was particularly prevalent in Alloa, County of Clackmannan and Tranent, County of Haddington. “The depth of a bearing pit cannot well exceed 18 fathom, or 108 feet. There are traps, or stairs, down to these pits, with a hand rail to assist the women and children, who carry up the coals on their backs.” (OSA, Vol. VIII, 1793, p. 615) The women were called “bearers”, who carried about 1 1/2 cwt. on their backs, and ascended the pit by a bad wooden stair. In the deeper pits, the coals were carried to the bottom of the shaft by women, and then raised in wooden tubs by means of a “gin” moved by horses.” (NSA, Vol. II, 1845, p. 287) In Liberton, County of Edinburgh, “the stones from the mine or quarry were formerly carried to the bank-head by women with creels fastened on their backs, and when the works were in full operation, probably fifty women were thus employed.”  (NSA, Vol. I, 1845, p. 19) As reported in Hamilton, County of Lanark, “at Quarter, the first bed worth working is the 10 feet or woman’s coal, so called because it was once wrought by females. This is a soft coal, which burns rapidly; and although called the 10 feet coal, is in reality from 7 to 14 feet in thickness.” (NSA, Vol. VI, 1845, p. 258)

For the actual numbers who worked in the colliery of Alloa in 1780 you can take a look here: OSA, Vol. VIII, 1793, p. 619. There are also figures given for those working at the coal mines in the parish of Dunfermline, County of Fife. (OSA, Vol. XIII, 1794, p. 476) In Lasswade, County of Edinburgh, “there are from 90 to 100 colliers, (pickmen). Women are still employed as bearers below ground; their number may be from 130 to 150.” (OSA, Vol. X, 1794, p. 281)

In the later Alloa parish report, found in the New Statistical Accounts of Scotland, mining was equated to slavery. It was reported that the condition of colliers had, in the last thirty years, improved “since the women were relieved from the most disgraceful slavery of bearing the coals, and the workman from all charge of the coals, the instant they are weighed at the pit. From, the circumstance of the wives remaining at home to attend to the domestic economy, the houses are much more comfortable and better furnished than they formerly were, and the whole style of living has been improved.” (NSA, Vol. VIII, 1845, p. 33) It was felt that not having women working down the pits improved both the character and habits of the people. In the parish report of Tranent, County of Haddington, it was noted that “among a population of colliers, it cannot be expected that the habits of the people should be cleanly; and the injurious practice of women working in the pits as bearers, (now happily on the decline with the married females,) tends to render the houses of colliers most uncomfortable on their return from their labours, and to foster many evils which a neat cleanly home would go far to lessen.” (NSA, Vol. II, 1845, p. 295)

Other jobs!

Here are some other jobs undertaken by women found in the Statistical Accounts of Scotland.

  • Boot-binding

Linlithgow, County of Linlithgow – “Thirty women are also employed as women’s boot-binders, whose weekly wages average 4s. 6d.” (NSA, Vol. II, 1845, p. 180)

  • Fuel manufacture

Rathven, County of Banff – “It is the province of the women to bait the lines; collect furze, heath, or the gleanings of the mosses, which, in surprising quantity, they carry home in their creels for fuel, to make the scanty stock of peats and turfs prepared in summer, last till the returning season.” (OSA, Vol. XIII, 1794, p. 424)

Kirkinner, County of Wigton – “The day-light, during the winter, is spent by many of the women and children in gathering elding, as they call it, that is, sticks, furze, or broom, for fuel, and the evening in warming their shivering limbs before the scanty fire which this produces.” (OSA, Vol. IV, 1792, p. 147)

Appendix for Kincardine, County of Perth – “The women declare they can make more by working at the moss than at their wheel and such is their general attachment to that employment, that they have frequently been discovered working by moon-light.” (OSA, Vol. XXI, 1799, p. 175)

Snizort, County of Inverness – “The fuel is peats, which the women carry home in creels on their backs, from a very great distance.” (NSA, Vol. XIV, 1845, p. 295)

Lismore and Appin, County of Argyle – “Peats are the only fuel in both parishes. The process of making them in Lismore is difficult beyond conception, as they are first tramped and wrought with men’s feet, and then formed by the women’s hands. There is a necessity for this; because the substance of which they are made contains no fibres to enable them to cohere or stick together. This tedious operation consumes much of the farmer’s time, which, in a grain country, might be employed to much better advantage; and affords serious cause of regret that the coal-duty is not taken off, or lessened, which would remove the everlasting bar to the success of the fishing villages, and to improvements in general over all the coasts of Scotland.” (OSA, Vol. I, 1791, p. 490)

  • Varnishing wooden boxes

Old Cumnock, County of Ayrshire – “One set of artists make the boxes, another paint those beautiful designs that embellish the lids, while women and children are employed in varnishing and polishing them. The process of varnishing a single box takes from three to six weeks. Spirit varnish takes three weeks, and requires about thirty coats; while copal varnish, which is now mostly used, takes six weeks, and requires about fifteen coats to complete the process. When the process of varnishing is finished, the surface is polished with ground flint; and then the box is ready for the market.” (NSA, Vol. V, 1845, p. 486)

  • Plaiting straw

Orphir, County of Orkney – “Almost all the young women have, for many years, been employed in winter in plaiting straw for bonnets.” (NSA, Vol. XV, 1845, p. 20)

Stromness, County of Orkney – “There are a few straw plait manufacturers, who employ a number of women in the town as well as in the country. This manufacture has been, for some time past, upon the decline; and, being at all times dependent upon the caprice of fashion, has lately afforded a scanty subsistence to the many young females who totally depend on it for their support. They are now allowed to plait in their own homes, which has been found more conducive to their health and morals, than doing so collectively, in the houses of the, manufacturers, which was the original custom. -There is a small rope manufactory, where ropes of various kinds are made, both for the shipping and for country, use. From the former Account, it appears there was a considerable quantity of linen and woolen cloth manufactured. This business has now wholly ceased here, being superseded by the perfect machinery now in use.” (NSA, Vol. XV, 1845, p. 32)

  • Salt sellers

Duddingston, County of Edinburgh – “Their labours afforded employment to above 40 carriers, all women, who retailed the salt in Edinburgh, and through the neighbouring districts.” (OSA, Vol. XVIII, 1796, p. 368)

  • Lace makers

Hamilton, County of Lanark – “The lace trade, established here about eight years ago by a house at Nottingham, which sent down a number of English women, who took up schools and taught the tambourers here the art, is now in a thriving state, and is contributing greatly to the happiness and comfort of the community.” (NSA, Vol. VI, 1845, p. 294) “From a census taken some months ago, and which seems to be accurate, there has been an increase [in population] of 309, which may be attributed to the introduction and flourishing condition of a lace-manufactory, which now employs a great many females.” (NSA, Vol. VI, 1845, p. 276)

  • Potato-starch makers

Spott, County of Haddington – “The only thing of this sort [manufactures] carried on in the parish, is a manufactory of potato-starch, or flour, on the farm of Easter Broomhouse. It employs six women for six months in the year. The flour is principally used by manufacturers of cloth; and sometimes by bakers and confections in large towns.” (NSA, Vol. II, 1845, p. 230)

For a fascinating insight into the industries found in Scotland in the nineteenth century take a look at the book ‘The industries of Scotland; their rise, progress, and present condition‘ by David Bremner, published in 1869.

Conclusion

The last three blog posts illustrates just how important the role was for women in society. They worked in all sorts of sectors, including manufacturing, agriculture, fishing, and even mining at one point. They supported themselves and helped support their families, showing resourcefulness, adaptability, and willingness to work hard.

We will continue this series on women in Scotland by looking more generally at the impact women’s work had on society, as well as the impact society had on women.

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Aug 082018
 

In our last post we looked at women working in manufacturing. In fact, in many parishes it was the women who predominantly worked in this sector, spinning. However, there were also women still working on the land. In Morebattle and Mow, County of Roxburgh, “little more yarn is spun than what is necessary for private use. The women in this part of the country being accustomed to work much in the agricultural operations of the field, are little disposed for sedentary employments, and therefore, in general, sit down to the spinning wheel with great reluctance. From the present disposition and habits, both of males and females in this place, the introduction of manufactures among them would not, it is probable, meet with great success.” (OSA, Vol. XVI, 1795, p. 510)

Working in the fields

As reported in the parish of Watten, County of Caithness, “our women, perhaps, are more employed in the field, for at least 8 months in the year, than in most other places of the kingdom.” (OSA, Vol. XI, 1794, p. 271) The simple reason for this was that women earned more working in the fields. This actually lead to a lack of servant posts being filled, especially during the summer months, such as was the case in Torphichen, County of Linlithgow. “Servant women are difficult to be had too in summer, as they make nearly as much in harvest as their half year’s wages would be, and can do very well the rest of the time by spinning flax; indeed there are many women who do very well the year round, by spinning flax, with their harvest wages.” (OSA, Vol. IV, 1792, p. 471) This was also reported by the parish of Alford, County of Aberdeen, where “work is never done by the piece or day, but an agreed-upon-sum, together with the reapers victuals, (frequently accompanied by very ridiculous stipulations)… These harvest fees have been rising for some years, and are now 1 L. 15 s. or 2 L. for a man, and 1 L. for a woman, besides victuals”. (OSA, Vol. XV, 1795, p. 469) We will look a little more closely at servants in our next post.

Agricultural work was very hard and labourious, just as it was for men, and this was duly noted in the parish reports. It included clearing weeds, hoeing, carrying creels of manure or produce, sowing, reaping, dressing corn. Here are some examples of the work women actually undertook on the land:

Stornoway, County of Ross and Cromarty – “The ground being prepared, as soon as the season permits, the seed is sprinkled from the hand in small quantities; the plots of ground being so small, narrow, and crooked, should the seed be cast as in large long fields, much of it would be lost. After sowing the seed, a harrow with a heather brush at the tail of it is used, which men and women drag after them, by means of a rope across their breast and shoulders. The women are miserable slaves; they do the work of brutes, carry the manure in creels on their backs from the byre to the field, and use their fingers as a five-pronged grape to fill them.” (NSA, Vol. XIV, 1845, p. 131)

Painting called Midday Rest by Robert Cree Crawford, 1878, depicting three women taking a break while working in the field.

Crawford, Robert Cree; Midday Rest, 1878. Picture credit: Glasgow Museums.

Prestonpans, County of Haddington – “The land is cleared of weeds, by sowing in drills, and horse-hoeing the interstices; and women are often employed to pick them out with the hand. The land designed for wheat is ploughed as soon as it is cleared of the preceding crop.” (OSA, Vol. XVII, 1796, p. 62)

Kingsbarns, County of Fife – “Much of the wheat and beans on the low lands are sown in drills, which, along with the potato and turnip, give a vast deal of employment to young women in hoeing. About 113 are so occupied. In fact, from the time of planting potatoes, which usually begins at the end of April, until harvest be completed, they are seldom off the fields. Their payment when so employed is 8d. per day, without meat; and when lifting potatoes, 1s. with their dinner. A good labourer with the spade obtains from 1s. 4d. to 1s. 6d. per day in summer, and from 1s. to 1s. 2d. in winter. The harvest wages are, for men, L. 2, with some potato and lint ground, and supper meal, and for women, L. 1, 13s. with the above bounties.” (NSA, Vol. IX, 1845, p. 97)

Stornoway, County of Ross and Cromarty – “In this, and all the other parishes of the island, the women carry on as much at least of the labours of agriculture as the men; they carry the manure in baskets on their backs; they pulverize the ground after it is sown, with heavy hand-rakes, (harrows being seldom used), and labour hard at digging the ground, both with crooked and straight spades.” (OSA, Vol. XIX, 1797, p. 258)

Snizort, County of Inverness – “The soil is broken up by the caschrom, and when sown is harrowed by women, who are also employed in carrying out the manure in creels to the field, and other drudgeries of the same nature. It cannot but give pain to every benevolent mind to see not only young women whose delicate frame should exempt them from such hard labours, but even mothers employed as beasts of burden.” (NSA, Vol. XIV, 1845, p. 293)

Kilmuir, County of Inverness – “When the ground is thus turned over and sown, the harrowing department generally falls to the lot of the women. Owing to the lightness of the narrow, which they are able to drag after them, the ground cannot be made, sufficiently smooth, and to remedy this they commence anew with the “racan,” which is a block of wood having a few teeth in it, with a handle about three feet in length. As they have few or no carts, they are under the necessity of carrying manure, peats, potatoes, and all such commodities in creels upon their backs. So little do the women care for the weight of the creel, though full of peat or potatoes on their backs, that, while walking with it, they are engaged either at spinning on the distaff, or knitting stockings. Sacks, or canvas bags, are seldom used; instead of which they have bags which they call “plats,” made of beautifully plaited bulrushes. Of the same useful material they likewise make their ropes, and sometimes cables for their boats. Although the agricultural processes of the small tenants are in this manner conducted, the tacksmen are possessed of ploughs and carts, and other implements of husbandry, of the best and most approved modern construction.” (NSA, Vol. XIV, 1845, p. 279)

Kilmuir, County of Inverness – “The women, for the most part, thrash the corn by a light flail of peculiar but simple construction. The quantity of barley raised is but very small, which the natives seldom reap with a sickle, but when ripe they pull it from the roots, then equalize it, and tie it up in small bunches. When it becomes seasoned, they cut off the ears with a knife, and preserve the straw for thatching their dwellings.” (NSA, Vol. XIV, 1845, p. 285)

Bedrule, County of Roxburgh – A number of women were “chiefly employed in what is called out-work, as hoeing the turnip, making the hay, reaping the harvest, removing the corn from the stack to the barns etc.” (OSA, Vol. XV, 1795, p. 558)

Strath, County of Inverness – “The mode of dressing the corn to be ground by what is called gradan, is here still in use. By this operation they save the trouble of threshing and kiln-drying the grain. Fire is set to the straw, and the flame and heat parches the grain; it is then made into meal on the quern. This meal looks very black, but tastes well enough, and is esteemed very wholesome. The whole of the work is performed by the women. The only apology given by themselves, for this mode of preparing the grain, is, that the quantity of grain which the generality have is very small, and many of them are at a great distance from a mill.” (OSA, Vol. XVI, 1795, p. 228)

Transportation of goods

As well as working on the land, women transported produce to the markets to be sold. In Inveresk, County of Edinburgh, “the whole produce of the gardens, together with salt, and sand for washing floors, and other articles, till of late that carts have been introduced, were carried in baskets or creels on the backs of women, to be sold in Edinburgh, where, after they had made their market, it was usual for them to return loaded with goods, or parcels of various sorts, for the inhabitants here, or with dirty linens to be washed in the pure water of the Esk.”(OSA, Vol. XVI, 1795, p. 15) Yes, women even carried sand to Edinburgh, which was the hardest labour of all and least paid! “For they carry their burden, which is not less than 200 lb. weight, every morning to Edinburgh, return at noon, and pass the afternoon and evening in the quarry, digging the stones, and beating them into sand. By this labour, which is incessant for six days in the week, they gain only about 5 d. a day.” (OSA, Vol. XVI, 1795, p. 17)

The fishing industry

Women also worked in the fishing industry, undertaking a variety of tasks, including making the fishing nets, gathering bait, baiting hooks, gutting the fish and taking the fish to market (often involving heavy loads and miles of trekking). In the parish of Avoch, County of Ross and Cromarty, women even carried the men to the boats on their backs! While in Burntisland, County of Fife, women drunk undiluted spirits to help them get through the disagreeable work of curing herrings.

Photograph of the Fisher Jessie statue in Peterhead, Scotland. (A naturalistic bronze cast statue of a fish-wife and little girl, the woman carrying a creel and a basket.)

Fisher Jessie Statue, Peterhead. Iain Macaulay available through license CC BY-SA 2.0. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/) via Wikimedia Commons.

In Dundee, County of Forfar, “women from Achmithie carry crabs, lobsters, and dried fish to Dundee, a distance of twenty-four miles, and return with the price in the evening. These women are
particularly strong and active.” (NSA, Vol. XI, 1845, p. 40)

In Rathven, County of Banff, men “marry at an early age, and the object of their choice is always a fisherman’s daughter, who is generally from eighteen to twenty-two years of age. These women lead a most laborious life, and frequently go from ten to twenty-five miles into the country, with a heavy load of fish. They seldom receive money for this fish, but take in exchange meal, barley, butter, and cheese. They assist in all the labour connected with the boats on shore, and show great dexterity in baiting the hooks and arranging the lines.” (NSA, Vol. XIII, 1845, p. 257)

Slains, County of Aberdeen – “The women are generally employed to gather the bait. About the one half of the fish caught here is carried in boats to Leith, Dundee, or Perth; the other half is carried by the women to Aberdeen…” (OSA, Vol. V, 1793, p. 277)

Uig, County of Ross and Cromarty – “All the people dwell in little farm-villages, and they fish in the summer-season. The women do not fish; but almost at all times, when there is occasion to go to sea, they never decline that service, and row powerfully.” (OSA, Vol. XIX, 1797, p. 284)

Avoch, County of Ross and Cromarty – “No less remarkable are the inhabitants of this thriving village in general, for their industry and diligence. They manufacture, of the best materials they can procure, not only all their own fishing apparatus, but also a great quantity of herring and salmon nets yearly, for the use of other stations in the North and West Highlands. From Monday morning to Saturday afternoon, the men seldom loiter at home 24 hours at a time, when the weather is at all favourable for going to sea. And the women and children, besides the care of their houses, and the common operations of gathering and affixing bait, and of vending the fish over all the neighbouring country, do a great deal of those manufactures.” (OSA, Vol. XV, 1795, p. 630) “Their women are, in general, hardy and robust, and can bear immense burdens. Some of them will carry a hundred weight of wet fish a good many miles up the country. As the bay is flat, and no pier has yet been build, so that the boats must often take ground a good way off from the shore, these poissardes [fish wives] have a peculiar custom of carrying out and in their husbands on their backs, “to keep their men’s feet dry,” as they say. They bring out, in like manner, all the fish and fishing tackles, and at these operations, they never repine to wade, in all weathers, a considerable distance into the water. Hard as this usage must appear, yet there are few other women so cleanly, healthy, or so long livers in the country.” (OSA, Vol. XV, 1795, p. 637)

Boindie, County of Banff – “One cooper and three women wait on shore for each herring-boat. Coopers’ wages are 12s. per week; in the fishing season, 14s. and 15s. Women receive for gutting and packing a full barrel, 7s. At this rate, with a sufficient supply of work, they might earn 5s. by a day’s work. The expense of curing a barrel of herrings is about 8s. besides the price of the fish.” (NSA, Vol. XIII, 1845, p. 236)

In the parish report for Banff, County of Banff, “the following table exhibits the state of the herring fishery, as regards the port of Banff alone, for the last five years.” (NSA, Vol. XIII, 1845, p. 41)

1831. 1832. 1833. 1834. 1835.
No. of barrels cured, 1759 1959 1265 938 631
No. of boats employed, 14 16 18 22 8
No. of fishermen, 56 64 12 88 32
No. of women in curing and packing, 41 46 48 60 21
No. of coopers, 6 6 6 8 4
No. of curers 6 5 5 6 4

 

It would be interesting to discover why figures dropped considerably in 1835!

Latheron, County of Caithness – “The herring being thus separated from the nets, are immediately landed and deposited in the curing box, where a number of women are engaged in gutting and packing them in barrels with salt.” (NSA, Vol. XV, 1845, p. 101)

Burntisland, County of Fife – “About 36 hands, including apprentices, are constantly employed as coopers; and about 60 females are occasionally employed in the curing of the herrings. The occupation is cold and disagreeable; but even this cannot warrant a pernicious practice that has long prevailed, of giving daily to those engaged in it, and some of these are young females, a considerable quantity of undiluted spirits.” (NSA, Vol. IX, 1845, p. 417)

Bressay, Burra, and Quarff, County of Shetland – “The curing of herring in Bressay employs about thirty women and children in the season… The manufacture of herring-nets now engages attention, and promises to be a useful employment.” (NSA, Vol. XV, 1845, p. 16)

Women also worked in the whale-fishing industry. In one company set up in Burntisland, County of Fife, from twelve to fifteen women were employed to clean the bone, compared with twelve oilmen and coopers. (NSA, Vol. IX, 1845, p. 418)

The Fish-Wives of Fisherrow

The parish report of Inveresk, County of Edinburgh, gives a fascinating insight into the lives of the fish-wives of Fisherrow, describing both their work and their demeanor. “They are the wives and daughters of fishermen, who generally marry in their own cast, or tribe, as great part of their business, to which they must have been bred, is to gather bait for their husbands, and bait their line. Four days in the week, however, they carry fish in creels (osier baskets) to Edinburgh; and when the boats come in late to the harbour in the forenoon, so as to leave them no more than time to reach Edinburgh before dinner, it is not unusual for them to perform their journey of five miles, by relays, three of them being employed in carrying one basket, and shifting it from one to another every hundred yards, by which means they have been known to arrive at the Fishmarket in less than 1/4 ths of an hour.” (OSA, Vol. XVI, 1795, p. 17)

They were very good at expressing themselves through language and gesture, and so were extremely gifted at selling. “Having so great a share in the maintenance of the family, they have no small away in it, as may be inferred from a saying not unusual among them. When speaking of a young woman, reported to be on the point of marriage. “Hout!” say they, “How can the keep a man, “who can hardly maintain herself?” As they do the work of men, their manners are masculine, and their strength and activity is equal to their work. Their amusements are of the masculine kind. On holidays they frequently play at golf; and on Shrove Tuesday there is a standing match at foot-ball, between the married and unmarried women, in which the former are always victors.” (OSA, Vol. XVI, 1795, p. 19)

Gathering kelp

Women also gathered and manufactured kelp. In Shapinshay, County of Orkney, “the summer months are occupied in burning kelp, which is the great manufacture of this country. The men almost of the whole islands, and many of the women, also exert themselves in this species of industry; and their joint efforts some seasons produce upwards of 3000 tons, which, at a moderate rate, brings near 20,000 l. to the inhabitants.” (OSA, Vol. XVII, 1796, p. 240) In Bressay, Burra, and Quarff, County of Shetland, “the manufacture of kelp in Bressay employs twenty or thirty boys and girls, who receive 9s. or more in the month, and have to work at least three hours every tide, by day or night. An overseer is employed, who receives at the rate of L. 2 per ton for his own wages and payment of the workers.” (NSA, Vol. XV, 1845, p. 16)

In Nigg, County of Kincardine, “to help their maintenance, the fisher-women at times, and also some women of the country, from the beginning of summer, go to the rocks at low tide, and gather the fucus palmatus, dulse; fucus esculentus, badderlock and fucus pinnatifidus, pepper dulse, which are relished in this part of the country, and fell them… The sea-ware, or bladder-fucus, grows up in three years on the rocks round the Ness and Bay chiefly, to a condition for being cut, dried, and burned into kelp. In 1791, 11 tons, of a fine quality, were made by 33 women, mostly young women, at 8 d. per day, with the direction of an overseer.” (OSA, Vol. VII, 1793, p. 207) However, in the later parish report for Nigg it was stated that “for many years past it has been discontinued, there being no demand for it. There was also, several years ago, a salt manufactory in the bay of Nigg, but it also has been given up. Lint was formerly sown and manufactured by private families in the parish, now there is no manufacture of the kind.” (NSA, Vol. XI, 1845, p. 209)

Conclusion

Looking through these excerpts on women in the farming and fishing industries, it is clear to see their common traits: strength, resourcefulness, dexterity and determination. They displayed a real fortitude and did not shirk hard work. This is illustrated again and again throughout the parish reports, and, we hope, is reflected in this series of posts on women in Scotland. In our next post,  we will continue looking at other kinds of work undertaken by women, some of which may surprise you!

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Jul 252018
 

This is the first post in our new series looking at women in Scotland. If you search for the subject “women” in the Statistical Accounts of Scotland the results are very revealing. They are dominated by references to the work women were doing in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

This work included:

  • spinning and weaving;
  • being servants;
  • in agriculture;
  • in the fishing industry;
  • in mining.

In the report for Campsie, County of Stirling, there is a very interesting table showing how females in that parish were employed in 1793. (OSA, Vol. XV, 1795, p. 361)

Wives to the different householders 410
Daughters, residing in their parents families 170
Servants in gentlemen’s families 26
Menial servants to the farmers and different householders in the parish 110
As sempstresses and mantua makers 12
Midwives 3
The remaining 71 are either widows or unmarried women, who reside in  cot-houses 71
Of the married women and young persons, residing in their parents houses, there may be about 150 who pencil calico [at] the print-fields.

 

With regards to midwives, not all were trained and some parishes did not have even one! We will look at midwives again in a later post. Other themes we will touch upon in future posts on women in Scotland are health, social status, dress, crime and punishment, and superstitions.

Spinning

In many parishes, it was women who carried out the principle, and sometimes only, form of manufacturing at that time – spinning. In Moulin, County of Perth, “the principal branch of manufacture, carried on in the parish, is the spinning of linen yarn, the staple commodity of the country. In winter, it is the only employment of the women. A woman spins, at an average, 16 cuts the day, the size of the yarn being ordinarily a spindle or 48 cuts from a pound of lint. A woman, who is a good spinner, and employed in nothing else, may earn 3 s. the week; but 1 s. is a high enough estimate of the earnings of a woman, who has a family of 2 or 3 young children to take care of.” (OSA, Vol. V, 1793, p. 61) In Blackford, County of Perth, “the women are the only manufacturers in this parish. From the flax that is raised in it, they spin a good deal of linen yarn, and make many pieces of coarse linen cloth for sale; and, by their industry, raise a part of the rent that is paid to the landlord.” (OSA, Vol. III, 1792, p. 212)

Females started spinning when they were very young, and some carried on til old age. In the parish report for Moulin, County of Perth, you can find the ages of women spinners and their typical work rate: “The women, from 10 years old and upwards, employ themselves in spinning linen yarn, almost wholly for sale, from the beginning or middle of November, till about the end of March, a period of 21 weeks. Of the 789 females above 8 years of age, 272, who are married, may be supposed to spin at the rate of one spindle the week. From the remainder, 517, one fifth part, 103, may be deducted, consisting of girls, old women, etc. whose work cannot be reckoned of any account. The rest, 414, may be supposed to spin at the rate of two spindles.” (OSA, Vol. V, 1793, p. 63) You can discover more information on spinning and the wages paid for this work in many parish reports, such as that of Auchertool, County of Fife (OSA, Vol. VIII, 1793, p. 115), Birsay and Harray, County of Orkney (OSA, Vol. XIV, 1795, p. 324) and  Forgan, County of Fife (OSA, Vol. XVI, 1795, p. 95).

Painting called 'Woman Spinning' by Thomas Stuart Smith. Picture credit: The Stirling Smith Art Gallery & Museum.

Smith, Thomas Stuart; Woman Spinning. Picture credit: The Stirling Smith Art Gallery & Museum.

By the time of the Statistical Accounts of Scotland changes in spinning had already taken place. These included:

– the amount women spun,with the introduction of the wheel for spinning with both hands (Leslie, County of Fife, OSA, Vol. VI, 1793, p. 43)

– an increase in the use of machinery which replaced the spinning wheel altogether (Dalry, County of Ayrshire, OSA, Vol. XII, 1794, p. 103)

– spinning being replaced by weaving (Carmylie, County of Forfar, NSA, Vol. XI, 1845, p. 371 and Newtyle, County of Forfar, NSA, Vol. XI, 1845, p. 565)

Women were increasingly being employed by large manufacturers. As stated in the parish report of Newtyle, County of Forfar, “since the spinning-wheel gave place to the spinning-mill, females have betaken themselves to weaving, and there are now nearly as many women employed at the loom as men.” (NSA, Vol. XI, 1845, p. 565) In the parish of Kirkmichael, County of Ayrshire, “the large Glasgow warehouses appoint agents here, who give out the cotton to the hand-loom weavers, and are responsible for its manufacture into the required fabric. By this means, a large sum of money is transmitted weekly from Glasgow to the country.” (NSA, Vol. V, 1845, p. 503)

In Avondale, County of Lanark, during the late 1770s “a considerable part of the yarn was manufactured for the behoof of people in the place, and the remainder was carried to the great manufacturing towns. Now [1793] the weavers are almost wholly employed by the Glasgow and Paisley manufacturers, and cotton yarn is the principal material.” (OSA, Vol. IX, 1793, p. 387) In the parish of Glenmuick, County of Aberdeen, women were sent flax for spinning by the manufacturers of Aberdeen (OSA, Vol. XII, 1794, p. 218), whereas in Lochs, County of Ross and Cromarty, “several merchants at Aberdeen send a great quantity of flax annually to a trustee at Stornoway, who distributes it to be spun, not only in this, but in all the parishes of Lewis.” (OSA, Vol. XIX, 1797, p. 278)

Tambouring and flowering muslins

Some women were also learning new skills and being employed to tambour or flower muslins instead. For example, in Hamilton, County of Lanark, “formerly, almost all the weavers manufactured linen only, and either employed themselves, or derived their employment from others on the spot. Now they get employment from the great manufacturers in Glasgow, etc. and cotton yarn is the principal material. Young women, who were formerly put to the spinning-wheel, now learn to flower muslin, and apply to the agents of the same manufacturers for employment.” (OSA, Vol. II, 1792, p. 199) In Kilwinning, County of Ayrshire, “women, and girls from 7 years old, are employed in tambouring muslins. The others flower muslins with the needle. The gauzes and muslins are sent here, for that purpose, by the manufacturers of Glasgow and Paisley.” (OSA, Vol. XI, 1794, p. 160) This was also the case for the parish of Kilbirnie, County of Ayrshire. “This branch of industry is very well paid at present, as, without any outlay or much broken time, an expert and diligent sewer will earn from 7s. to 10s. a week, though probably the average gains, one with another, throughout the year, do not exceed 1s. per day. This employment furnishes the means of decent support to many respectable females, and is decidedly preferred by nearly all the young women, natives of Kilbirnie, to working in either of the manufactories.” (NSA, Vol. V, 1845, p. 717)

Weaving

Women were also involved in the weaving industry, both of cotton and silk. In Hamilton, County of Lanark, “formerly, almost all the weavers manufactured linen only, and either employed themselves, or derived their employment from others on the spot. Now they get employment from the great manufacturers in Glasgow, etc. and cotton yarn is the principal material.” (OSA, Vol. II, 1792, p. 199) With a big increase in demand, especially due to imports to other countries, such as France, this method of manufacture was hard to sustain. For a discussion on this and the fact that hand-loom weavers earned so little, go to the parish report for St Vigeans. (NSA, Vol. XI, 1845, p. 507)

In Dalry, County of Ayrshire, “some years ago, when the silk manufacture flourished, there were above 100 silk weavers in the village, besides a few in the country part of the parish; and these were generally employed by the silk manufacturers in Paisley or Glasgow. But now the number of such weavers is greatly reduced, and cotton weaving has become the chief trade of the place.” (OSA, Vol. XII, 1794, p. 103) The writer of the parish report made the effort to find out the numbers of men, women, and children employed in the different branches of silk and cotton working:

Silk weavers 36
Women to prepare the silk yarn for the loom 8
Cotton weavers 107
Women and children to prepare the yarn for the loom 127

 

This highlights the fact that not only women were employed in the weaving industry. In Maybole, County of Ayrshire, “it is very common for women to weave. Boys are put at an early age to the loom, and the hours of working are, more especially in times of depression, very long. I have known the weaver to labour, with little intermission, fourteen and sixteen hours a-day, and after all earn but the miserable pittance of 6s. or 7s. per week, a sum barely adequate to support his family in the meanest way;” (NSA, Vol. V, 1845, p. 371)

As an aside, in Kilmuir, County of Inverness, “perhaps the most interesting custom which prevails in the parish is the manner of fulling, or waulking cloths, which is always performed by females” and is a step in woolen cloth-making. For a description of this process read the parish report (NSA, Vol. XIV, 1845, p. 286).

Introduction of Machinery

It is very interesting to look at the consequences of the introduction of machinery. As reported by the parish of Dundee, County of Forfar, “the general use of machinery has almost wholly superseded that of the spinning-wheel, and sent the females to a less appropriate labour for their support. Old men and old women no longer able to undergo the labour of the loom, and young persons of both sexes not yet strong enough for that work, are employed in winding for the warper and the weaver, and thereby contribute something to the general funds of the family.” (NSA, Vol. XI, 1845, p. 27)

In Renfrew, County of Renfrew, “the first and most important [manufacturing] is the muslin weaving. Connected with this branch, there are 257 looms, of which 176 are called harnessed looms. Each of the whole occupies one man,-except a few, which are wrought by women; and every two occupy one woman winding yarn. But in addition to these, every harnessed loom requires the assistance of a boy or girl, from seven or eight, years of age, up to probably fourteen or fifteen. There are thus, 257 weavers, 176 children drawing, and at least 128 women winding, making in all 561.” (NSA, Vol. VII, 1845, p. 23)

In the parish of Dalry, County of Ayrshire, mule jennies were introduced to spin cotton, “having 15 constantly going, and a small carding mill which goes by water, for preparation. And as they mean to extend their work to the number of 30 jennies, they are now building a carding-mill on a larger scale, to go by water, to answer the purpose of preparation for the above number. The cotton yarn is not manufactured in the place, but is sent to the Paisley or Glasgow markets. Those at present employed in the above work, including men, women, and children, may be about 50.” (OSA, Vol. XII, 1794, p. 104)

A fascinating insight into changes in machinery and employment practices can be found in the parish report for Glasgow, County of Lanark, where “about the year 1795, Mr Archibald Buchanan of Catrine, now one of the oldest practical spinners in Britain, and one of the earliest pupils of Arkwright, became connected with Messrs James Finlay and Company of Glasgow, and engaged in refitting their works at Ballindalloch in Stirlingshire”. (NSA, Vol. VI, 1845, p. 143).

Knitting stockings

At the time of the Old Statistical Accounts of Scotland, parishes located in the County of Aberdeen chiefly manufactured stockings. In Forbes and Kearn, County of Aberdeen, the knitting of stockings was the occupation of which “most of the women, throughout the whole year, and some boys and old men, during the winter season, are employed. They receive for spinning, doubling, twisting and weaving each pair, from 10 d. to 2 s. Sterling, according to the fineness or coarseness of the materials, and the dimensions of the stockings.” (OSA, Vol. XI, 1794, p. 195) In Leochel, County of Aberdeen, “a considerable number of women, chiefly of the aged and poorer class, employ themselves in knitting stockings from worsted, furnished to them by the Messrs Hadden in Aberdeen, and thereby earn annually from L. 70 to L. 100.” (NSA, Vol. XII, 1845, p. 1127)

As reported in the parish of Alford, County of Aberdeen, it was only the manufacture that was carried out by the people of Aberdeenshire. The wool itself was imported from England as it was of better quality. “It is spun and worked into stockings, at a price proportioned to their fineness or coarseness; and the average gain of a good worker, will be 2 s. per week.” (OSA, Vol. XV, 1795, p. 472) In Rayne, County of Aberdeen, “it is supposed, that this article [stockings] may yield to the parish about 400 L. Sterling. The hose are of that coarse kind, which bring for working the pair 12 or 14 pence Sterling; and some of the women will knit two pairs, or two pairs and a half in the week.” (OSA, Vol. XV, 1795, p. 115)

However, the knitting of stockings in the parish of New Machar, County of Aberdeen, was beginning to suffer as “from the invention of stocking looms, the price of women’s work being much reduced, they have begun to direct their attention to spinning, in which they will find their account.” (OSA, Vol. VI, 1793, p. 469) Wars with France and Holland also had an affect on this manufacturing, leading to another diversification. In Rayne, “through the persevering enterprise of few eminent capitalists in Aberdeen, it was succeeded by one a similar kind, viz. the knitting of coarse worsted vests or under-jackets, for seafaring persons, and of blue woolen bonnets, commonly worn by labouring men and boys, which are also knitted with wires, and afterwards milled. This is the common employment of all the aged, and many of the young women in the district of Gazioch; and at the rate of 3d. to 4d. for knitting a jacket, and 1d. to 2.d. for a bonnet, it will yield, with some coarse stockings, to those of this parish alone, about L.600 per annum.” (NSA, Vol. XII, 1845, p. 431)

Other types of manufacturing

Here are some examples of other types of manufacturing undertaken by women, as reported by the parishes of Scotland.

Painting by Haynes King of a girl at a window sewing.

King, Haynes; Industry (Girl at Window, Sewing). Picture credit: Beverley Art Gallery.

  • Needlework

Newton-Upon-Ayr, County of Ayrshire – “As nearly as can be estimated, there are 600 or 700 women, principally girls and unmarried women, employed in hand-sewing for warehouses in Glasgow… The Ayrshire needle-work, so extensively known and justly celebrated, was executed in this parish forty years ago: and it has been gradually improving until the present day. It consists of various patterns sewed on muslin and cambric for ladies’ dresses, babies’ robes, caps, &c. From the year 1815, when point was introduced into the work, the demand for it in London and other parts of England, as well as in Dublin and Edinburgh, has increased to a considerable extent. It is also sent to France, Russia, and Germany, and is exposed to sale in the shops of Paris. This valuable means of employment affords a fair profit to the manufacturer, and gives support to many respectable females, who by dint of industry, can earn from 1s. to 1s. 6d. and, in some cases, 2s. per day. In this work, which is confined to Ayr and its neighbourhood, several hundreds are engaged: and it is calculated that at least from 50 to 60 of them, who are chiefly young women, reside in the parish of Newton.” (NSA, Vol. V, 1845, p. 99)

Kirkcolm, County of Wigton – “The only thing worth mentioning under this head [‘Manufactures’] is, that in almost every house in the village, and indeed through the parish generally, young women are much employed in embroidering muslim webs, obtained from Glasgow or Ayrshire. By embroidering they earn, according to their expertness and the time they can devote to this word, from 8d. to 1s. 3d. a day, and sometimes more.” (NSA, Vol. IV, 1845, p. 119)

  • Printing

Bonhill, County of Dumbarton – “Of the hands employed at the printfields [i.e. cotton-printing works], there is nearly an equal number of both sexes. The wages given to the women, at first, were generally at the rate of 3 s. per week. They are now in general paid by the piece, and they may be said to earn 14 s. per month, at an average. The greater part of the women are employed in pencilling. A great variety of colours cannot be put upon the printed cloth without the assistance of the pencil.” (OSA, Vol. III, 1792, p. 447)

Campsie, County of Stirling – “by far the most extensive [printfield] is Letinox-mill Field, which was first established as a print-work about 1786. About 1790 it contained twenty printing tables and six flat presses. At that period, however, a great many women were employed to pencil on colour. This method is now entirely abandoned.” (NSA, Vol. VIII, 1845, p. 254)

  • Bleachfields

A bleachfield was an open area of land used for spreading cloth and fabrics on the ground to be bleached by the action of the sun and water. There were many bleachfields in 18th-century Scotland, including those in the parish of Markinch, County of Fife (NSA, Vol. IX, 1845, p. 676), St Vigeans, County of Forfar (NSA, Vol. XI, 1845, p. 509), and Banff, County of Banff, where 40 people were employed (OSA, Vol. XX, 1798, p. 356).

In Tibbermore, County of Perth, “as early as 1774, Huntingtowerfield was formed for the purpose of bleaching linen cloth. This work was carried out with great spirit and success for forty years, by Messrs Richardson and Co., when it was let by the present proprietors, Sir John Richardson of Pitfour, and Robert Smythe, Esq. of Metheven, to Messrs William Turnbull and Son. Under the energy and activity of the present lease-holder, the work has now become one of the first in Scotland. At present about 40 Scotch acres are covered with cloth. The quantity whitened annually is about a million a-half of yards, besides from 80 to 100 tons of linen yarn, for a power-loom factory in the neighbourbood. The number of people employed is about 150, of whom nearly one-third are women and boys… Immediately below this work, on the same Lead, are the flour and barley-mills, the property of Mr Turnbull, the tacksman of the bleachfield, at which a considerable amount of business is done.” (NSA, Vol. X, 1845, p. 1034)

Conclusion

Women played a massive part in the manufacturing industries of Scotland, willing and able to support themselves, their family and their parish. They have had to adapt to changes in demands and technology – and they have done this ably. These qualities are recurrent in future posts, including our next one where we turn our intention to women working in the farming and fishing industries.

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