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In Scotland, Merchant and
Craft Guilds sprang up and flourished for over four centuries to as
great, if not indeed a greater, extent than in any part of Europe. The
burgh and other records of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen,
Stirling, and other places, as well as the legislative enactments of the
Scottish Parliament and the charters granted by successive sovereigns,
afford abundant evidence of the important part they played in the civil,
commercial, and industrial life of the burghs. Whether or not they
sprang up spontaneously in Scotland or were introduced from the
Continent or from England, it is impossible to say, although there is no
doubt of the fact that at different periods in the early history- of the
country considerable numbers of craftsmen were brought into Scotland
from abroad. But it is at least clear that these associations found a
congenial home among the Scottish people. All the early acts and
ordinances extant of these associations bear remarkable evidence of the
outstanding national characteristic, thrift; and although the primary
object in forming the associations was the protection of trading
privileges, the making of provision for old age, dependants, and for
poor brethren has always been a prominent characteristic. The members
helped each other in sickness, in poverty, in infirmity, and in
preserving the morals of the community, and until quite recent times
performed all the functions of provident and insurance societies, burial
clubs, annuity associations, and such like organisations. And it is not
going too far in the direction of self-laudation to say that in no
country were the virtues of thrift and forethought in providing for the
proverbial "rainy day" more marked than in Scotland; whilst it is an
equal pleasure to record that among the burghs in Scotland there are
none that exhibited these virtues in a greater degree than Aberdeen.
This will appear later on when we come to deal with the financial
position and progress of the Aberdeen Trades.
The Craft Associations in
Scotland had, as can be readily understood, all a strong family
likeness. Their privileges were almost identical; they had all the same
battle to fight with the Merchant Burgesses in regard to their relative
rights —Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen, Perth, and Stirling having
all common indentures or agreements entered into about the same period
after prolonged conflicts and legal contests; and each of the Crafts had
a constitution and governing body as nearly alike as possible. A history
of the development of the one is therefore very much a history of the
others, and as the Aberdeen Crafts will be dealt with fully, it is not
necessary to give anything but a brief general statement of the Crafts
in a few of the leading towns.
In Edinburgh there are
twelve Incorporated Trades (at one time there were fourteen)—namely,
Goldsmiths, Skinners, Furriers, Hammermen, Masons, Tailors, Bakers,
Fleshers, Cordiners, Weavers, Waulkers, and Bonnetmakers. In Glasgow
there are fourteen Trades—Hammermen, Tailors, Cordiners, Maltmen,
Weavers, Bakers, Skinners, Wrights, Coopers, Fleshers, Masons,
Gardeners, Barbers, and Dyers and Bonnetmakers. A curious speculation
has arisen about the number of the Crafts in each burgh, both in this
country and on the Continent. In Edinburgh and Glasgow there were
fourteen; in Aberdeen and Stirling seven; and it is conjectured that, in
granting and confirming the deeds of incorporation, the authorities had
prominently in their minds the scriptural number of seven, or a multiple
thereof! The GIasgow Trades House or Convener Court is composed as
follows:—The Hammermen, Tailors, and Cordiners, a Deacon and five
assistants; Maltmen, their visitor and five assistants; Weavers, their
Deacon and four assistants; Bonnetmakers and Dyers, their Deacon and one
assistant; the Bakers, Skinners, and Wrights, Coopers, Fleshers, Masons,
Gardeners, Barbers, each their Deacon and three assistants, being in all
fifty-four in number. The office-bearers consist of a Deacon-Convener
and collector. In 1852 the Trades House and Trades had a total revenue
of £23,233 19s. 3d., their stock amounting to close upon £500,000.
In Stirling there are
seven Incorporated Crafts, three "tolerated communities," and an "omninm
gatherurn." The seven Crafts are—Hammermen, Weavers, Tailors,
Shoemakers, Fleshers, Skinners, and Bakers; and the three tolerated
communities - Maltmen, Mechanics, and Barbers. The "omnium gatherurm" is
an association similar to the Aberdeen Pynors or Shore Porters. The
total funds belonging to the Stirling Trades amount to between £3000 and
£4000.
There are eight
Incorporations in Perth—Hammermen, Glovers, Bakers, Shoemakers, Tailors,
Fleshers, Wrights, Weavers. In few if any of the burgh councils were the
Craftsmen so strongly represented as in Perth. By a resolution of the
Convention of Burghs held in Edinburgh in 1658 the number of craftsmen
in the Council was fixed at 13, the members of the Guildry in the
Council remaining as before. This was the origin of the combination
known as the "Beautiful Order " that ruled in the town till the Burgh
Reform Act. There are neither Seals of Cause nor Charters in existence,
and the Town Records before 1600 are reported to be illegible. The
records of the Convener Court consist of only one book—the minute-book
at present in use; and none of the Incorporations have documents of the
early centuries of their history. According to the tradition of the
Glovers they had a charter from William the Lion; and the Hammermen
Incorporation, which ranks as the premier Incorporation, claims a no
less ancient origin.
When King James VI.
visited Perth in 1617, among the amusements provided for him were the
"Sword Dance" by the Glovers, and the "Egyptian Dance" by the Bakers;
and at the visit of Charles I. in 1633 the monarch was received with
great honours—the Glovers and other trades taking part in the
festivities. On that occasion the "Sword Dance" was again performed. The
dancers, thirteen in number, dressed in green caps, silver strings, red
ribbons, white shoes, with bells about the legs, schering rapiers in
their hands, and all other abulziment, danced the "Sword Dance" with
many difficult knotts and allafallajessa, five being under, and five
above upon their shoulders; three of them dancing through their feet,
drinking; of wine, and breaking of glasses among them, which "God be
praised," says the old record, "was acted and (lid without hurt and
skaith to any, which drew us to great charges and expenses, amounting to
the sum of three hundred and fifty merks, yet not to be remembered
because we was graciously accepted by our Sovereign and both estates to
our honour and great commendation." When Queen Victoria visited Perth in
1842 a glover, dressed in one of the dresses that were worn in 1633,
walked in the procession of the citizens with the cap on head and the
bells jingling with every step. The Hammermen Incorporation include
Goldsmiths, Sword Slippers, Saddlers, Blacksmiths, workers in the
different metals, and Watchmakers. The Glovers and Skinners form one
Incorporation, and the Wrights include Masons, Glaziers, Bookbinders,
and Barbers.
In Dundee there are nine
Trades incorporated, namely, Bakers, Shoemakers, Glovers, Tailors,
Bonnetmakers, Fleshers, Hainmermen, Weavers, and Waulkers (Dyers). There
is also an Incorporation of "The Three Trades," consisting of Wrights,
Masons, and Slaters, but the Convener is elected by the Nine Trades.
These form what is called the General Fund Court, but each trade has its
own individual court for the management of its funds. The fees of
admission to the General Fund are—£2 10s. for a member's son or
son-in-law; and £10 for extraneans. The Convener is a member of the
Harbour Board, and also sits at all the principal Trusts in the city.
The Dundee Trades are not wealthy, the entry money into the individual
Incorporations being trifling.
In the larger burghs in
Scotland the Crafts continued to flourish under the altered condition of
local government to a remarkable degree. They have now, it is true,
changed their character, and a number of the associations have little
accumulated stock; but they still perform many useful functions, and
have a future before them in the direction of encouraging technical and
secondary education among the industrial classes, which would still
further extend their usefulness. Some of them are already moving in this
direction; but there is abundant scope for greater exertions and
development in this respect. There is an obvious lack in the present day
of organised effort for the promotion of technical instruction among
young craftsmen. When a lad leaves school to commence his apprenticeship
he is to a very large extent left to his own resources, and allowed to
pick up a knowledge of the scientific side of his trade as best he may.
And in the hurry of production, comparatively little attention is paid
to the training of the head as well as the hands—to giving the
apprentice a knowledge of the technical and scientific part of his
business as well as the purely mechanical. This gap must be filled, and
there are no institutions so well fitted to undertake systematic effort
in this direction as the craft associations which in the past made the
proper training of apprentices one of their first duties. Writing
recently on the necessity for a scientific organisation of our
industries, which the changed conditions of the time render
indispensible to their prosperity, Professor Huxley puts the case
thus:—"I do not think I am far wrong in assuming that we are
entering—indeed, have already entered—upon the most serious struggle for
existence to which this country has ever been committed. The latter
years of the century promise to see us embarked in an industrial war of
far more serious import than the military wars of its opening years. On
the East the most systematically instructed and best informed people in
Europe are our competitors ; on the West an energetic offshoot of our
own stock, grown larger than its parent, enters upon the struggle
possessed of natural resources to which we can make no pretension, and
with every prospect of soon possessing that cheap labour by which they
may be effectually utilised." Here is a field large enough for all the
spare energies and available means of all our craft associations
throughout the country; and a rernembrance of what they owe to their
forefathers in many respects ought to be a stimulus to their heirs and
descendants to do more even than they are doing for the rising
generation. |
