Herring gutters

[w.j.milne]

Has anyone any knowledge of the wages of a woman in the herring gutters about 1900 - 1910? When travelling to other ports were they provided with free lodgings or what did they have to pay?

[trinkie]

A very interesting question, and I look forward to some replies, I too, would love to know how much they earned.

Oddly enough I have just found in The Times London dated
4th September 1819, the following ...

'' By accounts from Caithness we hear that the Herring Fishing continues very successfully.
A quantity, it is said, was caught in one night by the Wick and Pultney town boats estimated to yield several thousands pounds to the fishermen alone. ''


Trinkie

[Rosemary Skea]

Check out this web site

http://www.c-e-n.org/herringgirls.htm

Rosemary

[w.j.milne]

Excellent .Thank you Rosemary.

[Mosser]

Not many records survive on the wages of the fisher girls but in the 1st decade of the 20th century the average earnings for a 50+ hour week was 14/- to 20/- this compared well with other female occupations, eg a girl in domestic service earned less than £2 per month while a laundry worker earned ten to eighteen shillongs and a shop worker 8/- to 15/-. The work of course was rough and demanding and the hours long.

By the way, the above link article is very good, just one point, herring were never split and cleaned except for kippering, in gutting only the short gut was removed and the fish left round for packing. In Wick the name for the signing on fee was Arles. I hope that this helps.

Mosser

[w.j.milne]

Thank you Mosser for your information.

[Robertc]

Robertc
My Grandmother Lilias Clyne who was living with my parents when I was married used to tel us that there would be three women two gutters and one packer and they used to get sixpence a barrel each.
She left Wick and came out to NZ in 1925

[sheilapl]

I have a funny story about gutters that you may like to hear, I used to babysit for my neighbour who were from the fishermen family. I got a knock on the door and there was this man looking for gutters,, well gutters to me was mud, earth out in the fields. not knowing what he meant I thought this is a strange request at 10pm at night. I informed him that he best call back the next day. I told my friends when they got home and they started laughing at me however I know now what he meant.