SCT-FIFE-L Archives

From: "ALASTAIR WILSON" <>
Subject: Re: linen weavers in Dunfermline
Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2001 18:38:17 +1000
References: <3B643D8C.BCE48817@superaje.com> <001301c1187c$ed971f40$7770003e@atd>

> Dear Alan,
> May I join the list of look ups nfrom your book "The Weavers Craft"
I was interetsed in your mail about Dunfermline weavers as most of my
> ancestors are from there. I would be most interested in any references to
weavers with the name Wilson, I may be a relative of the Robert Wilson you
mention?
> Many Thanks
> Alastair Wilson.

>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Alan Cairnie <>
> To: <>
> Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2001 6:45 PM
> Subject: linen weavers in Dunfermline
>
>
> > Someone on the list noted that the ABEBOOKS.COM site mentioned a book
> > for sale on Dunfermline weavers by Daniel Thomson. I bought it and
> > would be glad to do lookups. The full title is "The Weavers' Craft
> > being a History of the Weavers' Incorporation of Dunfermline with word
> > pictures of the passing times". I don't know how modern librarians
> > would catalogue that! It is a mine of information.
> >
> > This excerpt is for my friend and cousin Keith Morris in Australia,
> > regarding, presumably, our clothlapper/callender relations William and
> > James Morris. "On 31st May 1827, the Messrs, J. and W. Morris obtain,
> > on appeal, a reduction of their rent for the lapphouse and calender, of
> > £20. They plead that the trade has been, and is then, in a very
> > depressed condition. On 9th June, the Morrises again apply for a
> > reduction of rent, and a committee is appointed to confer, when the
> > lessees offer to pay £35 for the past and three succeeding years. The
> > original agreement ran from Whitsunday, 1826, for five years, with a
> > break at three years - they took advantage of the break, and the weavers
> > had to admit the validity of the claim, and grant the reduction."
> >
> > On page 368 it is stated "In the year 1827, a Committee of the House of
> > Commons was appointed to enquire as to the possibility of relieving the
> > distress of the time by emigration of the labourers. Witnesses as to
> > the wages actually earned at home by various classes of workers, were
> > examined. Among the first of these was Joseph Foster, a working weaver
> > of Glasgow. He told the committee that his class of workmen were in
> > great distress, that they worked for eighteen to nineteen hours a day
> > for a wage of seven shillings a week - sometimes as low as four
> > shillings a week. He said that twenty years before they could earn
> > twenty shillings a week, but the power-loom was taking the work from the
> > weavers, and their distress was constantly increasing. This statement
> > may be taken as fairly representing the condition of the Dunfermline
> > weavers , and their distress was constantly increasing."
> >
> > I am still not sure what a lapphouse and calender were, but this sheds
> > some light. "The lapp-house and calender was acquired and carried on as
> > such, first by David Anderson, and afterwards by Robert Wilson: and the
> > business continued to be in the hands of private parties till about
> > [1850]. Then the engine stopped its motion, and the boiler its
> > generating. The calender ceased from troubling, and the weary shafts
> > and whirlies were at rest. The property was acquired by the weavers in
> > 1726 and the craft kept the houses and business in their own hands for
> > over forty years. The concern was then let to leaseholders for about
> > seventy years, and for twenty years more it was wholly in the hands of
> > private parties." There is also in the book an engraving entitled
> > "Calender Houses, Newrow".
> >
> > The deacons of the weavers guild included:
> > David Morris 1731-34
> > Thomas Morris 1802-03
> >
> > Alan Cairnie
> > Perth, Ontario
> >
> >
> >
> > ==== SCT-FIFE Mailing List ====
> > .
> >
> >
>
>
> ==== SCT-FIFE Mailing List ====
> .
>

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• Re: linen weavers in Dunfermline by "ALASTAIR WILSON" <>