hi Here's a bit more on the subject Extract from pp. 6&7, RULEWATER AND ITS PEOPLE by George Tancred 1907 "Miners I have already referred to the slavery of the vassal. I shall now refer to another form of it amongst the miners of Scotland. In 1775 there must have been literally thousands of slaves in Scotland. Lord Cockburn says these miners could not be killed nor directly tortured; but they belonged, like the serfs of an older date, to their respective works with which they were sold as a part of the gearing.' With a few exceptions, the condition of the father of the family was the condition of the whole house. The children, as a matter of course, 'entered with the work,' as it was called, and went into slavery with their father and mother. So that wives, daughters, and sons, thus continued to go on from one generation to another under a system which was to all intents and purposes a modified slavery. 'Of course it was the interest of a wise master to use his slaves well, and also his cattle and horses, but as usual the human toiler had the worst of it.' We know that, as a body, the miners formed a separate and a despised tribe, with a language and habits of their own. The completeness of their degradation is shown by a statute, which excludes them as being slaves with no personal liberty. An Act of 1701 proceeds on the preamble that 'Our Sovereign Lord, considering it is the interest of all his good subjects that the liberty of their persons be duly secured.' Yet, while introducing regulations against 'wrongous imprisonment, and undue delays in trials,' the statute contains these words-' And sicklike it is hereby provided and declared that this present Act is in no ways to be extended to Colliers or Salters.' These facts enable us to understand how slaves were regarded by the people generally. The first relief they received was in 1775 by the Act 15 George iii. Chapter 28. It mentions that many colliers and salters are stated to be in slavery and bondage; and after 1st July 1775 the existing ones were only liberated gradually. Sir Walter Scott, in a note to Redgauntlet, says: -' They were so far from desiring or prizing the blessing conferred on them, that they esteemed the interest taken in their freedom to be a mere decree on the part of the proprietors to get rid of what they called head and harigald money, payable to them when a female of their number, by bearing a child, made an addition to the live stock of their master's property.' In 1799 the last fetter was struck off, an Act of that year (Geo. ii'. cap. 56) declaring 'that all colliers in Scotland shall be free from their servitude.' The Scottish miners to this day are a peculiar people, descended from the old slaves of the eighteenth century, who married and intermarried amongst themselves. In good times no class is more prosperous, and in bad times it is the first to suffer." Best wishes, Doug & Kit Leitch Solihull UK ----- Original Message ----- From: "Moira Bue" <mbue@cfl.rr.com> To: <MIDLOTHIAN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2005 4:46 PM Subject: Re: [MLN] Re: Mine Worker Records I read a book by Ken Follett, 'A Place called Freedom' which I can reccomend. The prologue reads:- (The author was gardening in his flower patch and finds a old package in an oil cloth bag....) The other item was an oil cloth bag. That too was rotten, and when i touched it with my gardening gloves it disintegrated. Inside was an iron ring about six inches across. It was tarnished but the oil cloth bag had prevented it from rusting. It looked crudely made, probably by a village blacksmith, and I first thought it might have been part of a cart or plow. But why had someone wrapped it in oil cloth to preserve it? There was a break in the ring and it had been bent. I began to think of it as a collar that some prisoner had been forced to wear. When the prisoner escaped, the ring had been broken with a heavy blacksmith’s tool, and then bent to get it off. I took it to the house and started to clean it up.....as I polished it with a rag , an inscription became visible. It was engraved in old fashioned curly writing, and it took me a while to figure it out, but this is what it said: ’’THIS MAN IS THE PROPERTY OF SIR GEORGE JAMISSON OF FIFE’’ It’s here on my desk, besides the computer. I use it as a paperweight. I often pick it up and turn it in my hands, rereading that inscription.If the iron collar could talk, I think to myself, what kind of story would it tell..... this goes back to the days of indentured workers, it's not pretty. My background includes miners from Fife and I am proud of them and my heritage. moira Gil & Sonia Murray wrote: >There is an excellent book about mine workers in Scotland - The Camerons, by >Robert Crichton. You'll enjoy it. Fiction based on fact, like How Green >Was My Valley, about miners in Wales. Mummy was with a theatre group in >Wales early in the 1930's, at the time of a strike. With the mines shut >down the town drew back into itself like a snail into its shell, hoarding >money for food. The theatre closed its doors as tickets went unsold. The >cast, who would have been paid from the box office, were stranded. They >pooled what money they had and my mother drew out Postal Savings. A kind >local man with a lorry offered to take them back to London if they could >just pay for the petrol, as they didn't have enough for train fares... > >I doubt the mine owners missed a meal! > >Poor people have never received the rspect they deserve. One of my GGG's, >James Pocock, was an illiterate soldier who fought with the Cameron >Highlanders through the Peninsula Campaigns and was crippled when shot >through both thighs at Waterloo. He received five medals - and a pension of >pennies. The noble Duke of Wellington said the soldiers who fought for him >were "the scum of the earth." Should there be a hereafter, I intend to have >a word with His Wretched Grace which he won't like, about that remark! > >Sonia Murray >Biloxi, MS USA > >Snip> > >-----Original Message----- >From: Elizabeth Reid [mailto:bluebel2@tpg.com.au] >Subject: [MLN] Re: Mine Worker Records > >Reading this reply jogged my memory of something I read in a book a few >years ago. Miners or colliers were classed by the mine owners and the >'upper' classes as the lowest form of the working classes and humans life in >general. I was shocked when I read that and it angered me at the time >because my Father (thankfully only for a few years), my Grandfathers on both >sides and most of my male relatives were colliers. I always admired them >for the dangerous work they did, my Grandfather was a brusher down the pit, >they say the most dangerous of all the jobs. They worked all their lives >in atrocious conditions to afford them who looked down on them the luxuries >of the times. > > > > > -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.7.6 - Release Date: 27/01/05 -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.7.6 - Release Date: 27/01/05