by George Beattie In 1868, at the age of seventeen years, Mr John White Goodall set up his horse and cab business in a single stall stable in what is now known as Commercial School Lane, off East Port, Dunfermline. His assets at that time comprised one horse, one cab and a set of harness. The horse cost £3.00, the cab £19.00 and the harness 30 shillings. Soon afterwards he added, at a cost of £3.00, a dog cart - a two wheeled carriage with seats back-to-back. Recognising the possibilities of expanding this trade, which was then virtually in its infancy, he soon acquired more extensive stabling accommodation in New Row, to the rear of the East Port Hotel, which at that time was owned by his sister Mrs Tullis. Mr Goodall's business rapidly expanded and, in 1875, he obtained a lease of the Royal Hotel Stables at 58 Queen Anne Street, these being the premises from where the Goodall family would conduct business for the next 100 years. Later, Mr Goodall took advantage of an opportunity to become owner of the Queen Anne Street property which he subsequently converted into one of the largest, and best appointed, stabling yards in Scotland. It was commonplace that Mr Goodall, during the years of his ever growing business, was never known to send out a yoke (horse and carriage) to which the slightest exception could be taken. Horse, harness, cab and driver were, so to speak, of a piece. During the later part of the nineteenth century the resources of Mr Goodall's stables were...
Victorian Clothes Shops in Dunfermline
In the second of her articles on shopping in Victorian times, Sue Mowat describes the wide range of tailors, milliners, boot-makers and others trading in Dunfermline in the 1860s. Shopping for Clothes in Victorian Dunfermline By Sue Mowat Setting out to buy clothes in Victorian Dunfermline there were so many possible outlets it’s hard to know where to start, but probably the best place is Bridge Street, home of seven of the town’s ten drapery shops. There were ‘clothiers’ in the town who sold ready-mades for gentlemen but if you wanted clothes with a really good fit you would choose your fabric at a draper’s shop and have it made up to your own measurements, by a tailor or dressmaker employed by the shop or by an independent worker. The choice of fabrics was wide; for instance in the Spring of 1863 John Davie (8 Bridge Street) offered the ladies a typical stock of black and coloured silk for dresses, mantles and bonnets in Glaces, Gros de Naples, Chenes and Foulards. Other fabrics were Mohairs, French de Laines, French Merinoes, Lawns, Poplins, Poplinettes, Coburgs and Bareges ‘in new styles’. For the gentlemen there were Scotch Tweeds, Union Tweeds, Moleskins, Cords and Velveteens. Davie also advertised ‘Gentlemen’s Clothing, Children’s Kilt and Knickerbocker Dresses and Servants’ Liveries made to order’ and in the following year announced that millinery and dressmaking were now ‘done on the Premises in the Newest Style, under the management of a thoroughly experienced...
William Adamson MP
Born in Halbeath, The Rt. Hon. William Adamson, PC, MP was a miner, trade union leader and MP for Fife West from 1919 to 1931. He was a member of the first Labour Cabinet and became Secretary of State for Scotland. In this short biography, George Robertson summarises his political achievements but also describes his early life and how it influenced politician he was to become. A Man of the People By George Robertson Between 1905 and his death in 1936, Willie Adamson became a Local Councillor in Dunfermline, Member of Parliament for West Fife, Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party, Secretary for Scotland, Secretary of State for Scotland and a Privy Councillor. This part of his life is well documented but not so well known is how his life outside politics shaped the man he was to become. William Adamson – referred to as Willie by his family and friends – was born in the tiny mining village of Halbeath, about three miles east of Dunfermline. His birth took place on 2nd April 1863 in Long Row, one of several rows of houses within the village. He was the youngest of eleven children and was given the name of an older brother who had died eighteen days prior to his birth. His father James Armstrong Adamson was a coal miner and his mother Flora Cunningham, was also from a mining family having worked in one of the Fife pits until the Mines and Collieries Act of 1842 banned all females and children under the age of ten from working underground and thus preventing...
The ‘Pernicious’ Society of Wheepmen
Did you know.. ...about the 'Pernicious Society of Dunfermline Wheepmen? By Dr. Jean Barclay In May 1735 Bailly John Lindsay, maltster of Dunfermline, was a worried man. As First Baillie of the Town Council he deputised for the Provost, the Marques of Tweeddale, who was rarely present, and he had had nothing but trouble. There was rivalry for the provostship between the Marques and Sir Peter Halkett, who had been elected provost in 1705, and a power struggle between the Halkett family and James Erskine of Grange, leading to vociferous arguments between councillors from the various camps. Erskine had been chosen in May 1734 to represent the Council at the election of the Member of Parliament for the district and the Halketts hinted at bribery, corruption and leading the councillors astray. There was also a legal dispute underway between the Council and Sir Alexander Murray of Melgum and Lochgelly for an unpaid family debt which seemed to have been going on for ever, and in addition Bailly Lindsay was preoccupied with building a new malt barn north of the Rottenraw, near the Rottenraw port. Now on Tuesday, May 6th the servants or workers of the town were refusing to work and Bailly Lindsay felt obliged to call a special meeting. It appeared that there had been a fracas, between the weavers and the servants, and each side had summoned the other before the Baillie or Magistrates Court. Lindsay reported to council that `several of ye servants in ye Town` had been...
Stewarts Rubber Manufacturers
Dunfermline's Industrial Heritage Ralph W. Stewart & Co, Ltd., Scottish Central Rubber Works, Elgin Street, Dunfermline. by George Beattie In the late 1890’s, the linen industry in the Dunfermline was passing through a period of serious depression. Most of the factories were working short time, and, in some cases there were dismissals of female workers on a fairly large scale. Local businessmen exercised their minds on the subject of creating alternative employment, especially for the female section of the community. Prominent among these was Mr Ralph W. Stewart, whose yarn and cloth bleaching works was suffering from the general industrial decline. Mr Stewart’s younger son was a rubber planter in Malaya, and so a factory for the production of rubber materials was built at a Dunfermline Bleach Works. Ralph Stewart, had inherited the Elgin Beach Works from his uncle, Mr Thomas Walker, of Thomas Walker & Co. That company was founded in 1860 at Elgin Bleach-field to purchase linen yarn, to bleach it and to sell it on. This the company did until the 1880s, when they also undertook the bleaching of woven linen and the finishing of it, mainly for local firms, but also from Ireland. On the death of Thomas Walker, in 1895, the company was left to Mr Ralph W. Stewart, who changed the name of the bleaching company to his own. With a keen appreciation of the necessity for safeguarding the industrial prosperity of his native town, Mr Stewart caused to be erected, alongside...