Down at the Mill- Sepia Saturday

A photograph of women workers at a textile mill feature as this week’s  prompt from Sepia Saturday.  I have the ideal matches, courtesy of my local heritage group Auld Earlston.

Women workers at Rhymer's Mill, Earlston

We often think that the role of women in the 19th century was one of all things domestic.  But for many of our female ancestors, life involved working long hours in the mill in   various aspects of textile production, whether it be knitwear, tweed, cotton, lace or carpet production.  

In my village of Earlston in the Scottish Borders, the textile industry was,   for over 200 years, an important part  of the local economy.  

We have one of the earliest descriptions of the village  in "The First Statistical Account of Scotland, 1791-1799," edited by Sir John Sinclair, where  Parish Minister Rev.  Lawrence Johnston wrote:

 "The principal manufacture is linen cloth.  There are between 40 and 50 weaver looms mostly employed weaving linen........ We have only one woollen manufacturer,  though no place could be better  situated for carrying out that branch of trade.   The Leader Water runs along the west and there is plenty of wool to supply 20 manufacturers."

Later, a cauld (or weir)  on the Leader Water came to provide the mill lade with the water to power both Rhymers Mill and Mid Mill.

In the 18th century, RHYMER'S MILL was  a corn mill before being transformed by the Whale family into a textile mill where  the  manufacture of woven gingham cloth was introduced by Thomas Whale. 

A carved inscription on the old mill building, 

with  the names C & M Whale still clearly visible.

The 1891 publication "Two Centuries Of Border Church Life V2   - with Biographies Of Leading Men And Sketches Of The Social Condition Of The People On The Eastern Border",  by James Tait, includes a paragraph  on the Whales Family.  

"Thomas Whale died on the 11th March 1814, aged 74 years; and his widow died two years afterward;  but the business was carried on with great skill and success by their daughters,  Christian was the elder, and was a very clever woman, but she modestly gave the first place to her younger sister Marion and the designation of the firm was "Marion Whale Co,"   The gingham was manufactured of cotton and the weaving was done in private houses;  in some of which there was a factory containing twenty or thirty looms.  The colours were woven into the cloth, not printed as is now generally done;  and everything was of the best material  One of the sisters travelled to Edinburgh, along the Northumberland coast and even to London, which was very inaccessible in those days.  After a life of great activity and usefulness, Christian Whale died on the 22nd July 1872, aged 75 years, and is designated on her tombstone "late manufacturer of Earlston". 

The 1851 Census identified Christian  Whale as a 64 year old manufacturer of gingham and cotton, employing 60 workers, mainly weavers and winders of cotton. Also in the business was her sister Marion aged 56.   Ten years on in 1861 Christian, now aged 74  and Marion 66, were both described as Gingham Manufacturers.

How usual was it in mid Victorian times for women entrepreneurs to head a business?  
There were  close connections  with the Clendinnin family.  The 1851 census recorded that Elizabeth Clendinnen,  widow aged 39 was a "manufacturer of plaids", and her son was   named Thomas Whale Clenddinnen.   Other family members were employed in the mill with 15 year old Lancelot described as a "cotton warper".  
 
In Slater's 1903 Directory of Berwickshire,  Thomas Clendinnen & Sons,  are named  as "gingham manufacturers, tailors and drapers".  They also had a shop on the High Street.

Rutherfurd’s 1866 Directory of the Southern Counties, published in nearby Kelso,   commented :

 “Earlston produces quantities of the Earlston ginghams. There is no other place in the country where the same class of gingham is made”.

Two surviving examples of the Earlston Gingham  in the collection of Auld Earlston.

Rhymer's Mill later became a dye works run by a firm called Sanderson and the path  alongside the Leader Water is still referred to as "The Tenters" where the dyed wool was hung out to dry.  In 1911 the premises were taken over by John Rutherford & Sons,  agricultural engineers, who operated at the mill until the business closed down in 2014. 

********

The photograph,  below from  the Auld Earlston collectio,  is captioned:   

"Thomas Gray, (c.1796-1884), Manufacturer of Gingham - a cotton fabric originally made in India Gray.  He  lived in Earlston and was a well-known Border fiddler"

Thomas died in January 1884, following a fall by Eyemouth harbour, with local newspapers paying tribute to his  long life.

Berwickshire News:  8th January 1884.
 

**********

At MID MILL Charles Wilson & Sons  manufactured  blankets and tweeds. The 1851 census described him as a "of the firm of Charles Wilson & sons,  blankets and plaiding manufacturers employing 18 men 7 women and 19 girls".  Ten years on, the business had extended to making tweeds, and employed  "28 men and 44 women, boys and young women". 

Slater's Commercial Directory of 1882 recorded Roberts, Dun & Company as Tweed Manufacturers at Mid Mill.    Subsequently Simpson and Fairbairn took over the business and greatly extended its operations.  A 1903 Directory described Simpson & Fairbairn  as a tweed manufacturer and dyers at Mid Mills.    It appears that the firm later adopted the name of Rhymer's Mill, as in the photographs below.

 

Mill workers houses on Mill Road, Earlston

Border woollen manufacturers between the wars  had a hard and stressful time.  The global depression, tariff barriers and instability especially in Eastern and Central Europe made export markets difficult.  Cheaper competition from areas like Yorkshire and North America plus the reduced  purchasing power of the unemployed resulted  in idle plants and closures.  In nearby Galashiels a third of the manufacturing capacity of the town was lost in the 1930's 

However Simpson and Fairbairn  weathered the storm,  although short time working was often prevalent.  During World War Two, the mill was fully employed on service and utility clothing  and after the war it was a boom time for the Borders as world wide stocks of clothes had to be replaced, with the firm employing more than 300 workers, making it  the economic mainstay of Earlston. 

But by the late 1950's and early '60's, the old problems of cheaper competitors and vulnerability to changing fashions had returned.  The   firm tried  to innovate by making cellular blankets and moving into  ladies' wear.  The tidal wave of workers coming up Mill Road was reduced to a trickle.  

But the decline could not be stemmed.  The mill finally closed in 1969 when the  remaining workforce of almost 100 was made redundant.

Earlston's role in the  Borders textile industry came to an end. 

 Today a street name sign reminds us of the village's past.
 

 Two photographs taken in 1974  of the Derelict Rhymer's Mill
 
***************

Notes:
Earlston census returns for the mid 19th century identified workers in the following occupations:

Cotton Weaver, Cotton Winder, Cotton Warper, Cotton Gingham Weaver, Clerk in Gingham Warehouse, Agent for a Gingham Warehouse
Piecer in a Woollen Factory   (a 13 year old boy)
Machine Feeder in a Woollen Factory (15 year old girl)
Steam Loom Weaver of Wool (18 year old girl)
Blanket Weaver, Power Loom Weaver, Hand Loom Weaver,  Wool Carder, Wool Picker,
Overseer in Woollen Factory, Power Loom Tuner, Spinner in Woollen Factory

 
With grateful thanks to Auld Earlston for permission 
to feature photographs from its collection 

************* 

Sepia Saturday gives an opportunity for genealogy bloggers 

       to share their family history through photographs.
 
 

Cleck HERE  to see how other Sepia Saturday bloggers have fared down at the mill. 

*****************