Lighting up Dunfermline and Public Announcements. Reminiscences of Dunfermline by George Robertson, FSAScot. Once again we turn to Alexander Stewart’s Reminiscences of Dunfermline, this time for information on the early lighting system in Dunfermline and also on how information was relayed to the inhabitants of the town.  In this respect, we are lucky as Stewart gives us a first-hand account of life in Dunfermline during the early 19th century, something he personally experienced and obviously closely observed and what follows is in his own words with later comments by this author. Lamplighter giving an oil lamp attention, by William Henry Pyne “Fifty-five years ago (circa 1830’s) there was no gas lamp in the town.  The streets were lit up with lamps here and there, placed at wide intervals, and they were furnished with train oil and cotton wick.  The feeble glimmer they struggled to send forth only served to make the darkness visible.  After burning for a few hours in a sickly way, the lamplighter, with his ladder over his shoulder, went his rounds and blew them out.  In dwelling-houses and shops, candles, called long sixes or short sixes, long or short eights, tens etc., also oil lamps, or the ancient cruisie, were used at night.  The cruisie was a very primitive lamp, having one or perhaps sometimes two wicks; it was fed with train oil, and it gave a dim light and a disagreeable odour to the house. Cruisie oil-lamp. Courtesy of Andrew Carnegie Birthplace and…
‘Bacca B’ : John Beveridge and his Two Careers
In “Bacca B: John Beveridge and his Two Careers” Jean Barclay gives us a short biography of a well-known Dunfermline tobacconist and Town Councillor, who, in 1850, moved to Edinburgh and began a new career in an unusual profession.
Mitchell’s Soft Drinks
In the next in our series on Dunfermline’s Industrial Past, George Beattie relates the history of another of the soft drinks manufactures. They latterly operated from Garvock Hill, having built the factory which later became the Vine Centre. The firm operated from about 1938 until 1993, when they were taken over by Woodrow. William Mitchell and Sons Ltd. Aerated Water Manufacturers, 43 Pilmuir Street & 131 Garvockhill, Dunfermline by George Beattie William Nicol Mitchell was born in 1883, at Middle Mill Farm, Markinch, the son of a ploughman, Robert Mitchell.  On leaving school he entered the employment of Robert Douglas Ltd., Aerated Water Manufacturers, at Lothrie Works, Wemyssfield, in Kirkcaldy. When Messrs Douglas, in 1911, opened a new factory in Dunfermline, Mr Mitchell was appointed manager there. These premises were located on the east side of Townhill Road, later to be occupied by Dunfermline Railwaymen’s Social Club and Bowling Green, and now a housing development named Leny Place. The Mitchell family residence was then on Townhill Road, about 50 yards from the factory. The main Douglas factory was still in Kirkcaldy and, as transport at that time was mainly by horse and cart, substantial stabling facilities were required at both sites. One story passed down through the Mitchell family from those times concerned the continuing loss of soda siphon bottles from the Dunfermline depot. One of the delivery drivers was suspected and the matter…
An Excellent Goose for Dunfermline
What Dunfermline Would Have Been (And May Become) Without Damask By Dr Jean Barclay The material for this item comes from an article entitled `Dunfermline and the damask trade` from The Weekly News of Saturday, November 4th, 1865, which was included in the Folio of Oddities, Volume 3, pp. 87-8 (see notes below). The article was written at a time when power-loom weaving was growing apace and, although some hand-looms were employed in the new factories, many weavers were experiencing great hardship and leaving the trade in large numbers. When times briefly looked more prosperous, there were no longer enough weavers to fulfil quotas and the future for the time-honoured damask industry looked dire. Dunfermline and the Damask Trade “The present rise in the wages of the weavers is, in no small degree, raising the hopes of that particular class, and almost alluring them to believe that, in a short time, their weekly earnings will be up to the average of the rest of the labouring community. If there is anything more certain than another, it is that if the wages, after a short feverish period of prosperity, sink down again to the low point around which they have been fluctuating for many years back, the damask weaving trade will very soon shake hands and bid farewell to Dunfermline. The present briskness has lifted up the veil of the future, and disclosed that inevitable issue as plainly as any coming event can be foreseen. There are not enough weavers to meet the present…
The Schweppes of Scotland?
Gilbert Rae’s Aereated Water Works Baldridge Works, Golfdrum Street, Dunfermline by George Beattie Gilbert Rae Gilbert Rae was born in 1841, at Marchwell Farm, Rullion Green, near Penicuik. He was the son of James Rae, who was then a tenant farmer, and his wife Rachel Martin. During Gilbert’s early childhood his father changed his profession to that of general merchant/grocer and moved to Edinburgh. It appears that young Gilbert was trained in his father’s shop and, according to family folklore, was given the sum of £100 by his father to go out into the world and set up in business for himself.  It is not known why Gilbert came to choose Dunfermline for this venture but it is known that in 1867 he took over the ‘family grocery warehouse’ business of James Shearer, in the Maygate, Dunfermline. This shop was part of a three storey building located at the Kirkgate end of Maygate and was licensed to sell wines and spirits. These premises would later become, for over a century, the headquarters of the wholesale grocery firm of Fraser and Carmichael. An advertisement in the Dunfermline Press of that year intimates this move and details an extensive list of the products Gilbert could supply. These included fine wines, liquors, ales, porters, teas, coffees, eggs and butters. Gilbert Rae’s shop in Maygate, Dunfermline, with the Abbey in the background As will be seen from the bottle label below Gilbert Rae also sold ‘Fine Old Burntisland Whisky’. As with most grocers…