Men at Work: Sepia Saturday

This week’s Sepia  Saturday prompt photograph show two burly men working with very heavy chains.  So take a look here at more men involved in heavy work.

 

 

Men working with the heavy machinery  in the textile mill in Earlston in the Scottish Borders.   From the mid -19th century through to 1969, the mill was the chief employer in the village  and the mainstay of the local economy. 

 

 

Road workmen in Greece taking a break - my husband encountered this group in 1971 and when he took a photograph, they wanted some money! 

 

Highs and Lows of Work  

 

 Steeplejacks climbing the mill chimney at Simpson and Fairbairn Textile Mill in Earlston, Scottish Borders - early 1900s.

 

Arthur Smith, my cousin's father emerging from a manhole during his work as a linesman for the General Post Office. 

Getting Abou

 

Tommy Roger, a coracle maker, born c. 1845, Ironbridge, Shropshire -

 

My father John Weston grew up in Broseley on the other side of the river from Ironbridge, and this photograph was found in the collection of his older brother Fred.

You might be wondering, where is the mode of transport is  here? Well, it is on the back of Thomas Rogers, A coracle is a small, lightweight boat with a loosely woven frame traditionally covered in animal hide, but in more recent times calico, canvas and coated with a substance such as bitumen.    When the Iron Bridge was opened in 1779 locals objected to paying the tolls, so they used their coracles to cross the river instead.

Tommy Roger  was well known as a poacher and the local newspaper reported  his appearance in court on poaching charges.   He also  helped to build the new police  cells and court room in Ironbridge in 1862 - only to be one of the first people to use them!

 

 Staff and visitors at Earlston Railway Station, c.1920.  The Berwickshire Railway reached Earlston in 1863, but following sevee flodding in 1948,  the line only contineud with freight traffic not passengers and was finally closed  in 1965.

 

 

 Many family historians will have Carters among their ancestors and for the majority of people,  horse and cart was the only way to get around or to transport goods. But it was not without its risks and local newspapers regularly featured  reports of bad accidents - cartwheels coming loose, overladen carts overturning etc.  

 

One such report was on  the death on November 27, 1860 of Earlston grocer, Alexander McWilliam who was making his rounds, selling to customers and collecting produce from farmers, when he slipped and fell from his car.  He sustained head injuries and died at home.    He was just 36 years old and left two young children and a heavily pregnant wife.

 Farm work had its own risks too: 

 

 

Piling up heavy haystacks on a cart in Earlston. 

 

Grappling with sheep in sheep shearing in Earlston 

 Back to travelling by water  - my husband's ancestors were mariners sailing out of South Shields to face the hazards of the North Sea.

 

 

My husband's great great grandfather  John Moffet, master mariner  -  a burly man in this Napoleonic pose.

 

"The Shields Gazette" on   abounds with  headlines and reports on disasters at sea, storms and gales;  the lifeboat responses. and the ensuing work of the Mariners' benevolent societies in helping families in distress.  A typical   examples is given  below:

 

 

 

 Finally - two family photographs  - in the 1930s and 1940s my grandfather William Danson of Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire  was a general labourer at th ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries) Works  at nearby Thornton,.  Here with a  group of workmen - with Grandad the seated figure in the front. 

 

Some 50 years  later, my brother, William's grandson,  was working in the oil industry.

 

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Sources:   

• Auld Earlston  - Photographic Collection  
• Find My Past  - British Newspaper Archive 
  
  
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 Sepia Saturday gives bloggers an opportunity to share 
their family history and memories through photographs

 

 

                        

 Click HERE  to see other bloggers at work on this prompt photo. 

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 Postscript:   I am having a great deal of trouble adjusting to this new Blogger Interface, in terms of font choice, standard sizing of photographs,  spacing etc.  plus the major factor  -  I cannot seem to access Print Preview.  I obviously dislike changes!!