Based on his work of many years at the National Records Office, Frank Bigwood distilled some of the minutae of our social history from Sheriff Court and Justice of the Peace Court records covering the period from the early 18th to the mid 19th centuries (approximately). He was clear that he would not be looking at legal matters, but on what light the information available to the courts could shed on life back then. He divided his talk into five main sections: Local Happenings; Clothing; Food; Drink; Transport.
Local Happenings
Disturbances or riots at Linton Market were a sadly regular feature. One case involved itinerant sheep shearers from outside the county inciting the locals to join them at the hirings in demands for better wages. Agricultural workers were relatively poor and their employment was quite precarious, hence continuing tensions over wages and conditions. We learned of the tradition of wedding guests, and no doubt others, firing guns and blocking the couple’s chimneys to greet the entry of the newly weds into their new abode – activities which could readily get out of control. The reported incident was from Prestonpans. Other cases highlighted an underground assault in Tranent Colliery; a ‘plundered’ shipwreck at Cockenzie (wrecks were regular occurrence around the coast, and reflected the large numbers of ships of all sizes involved in trade up and down the east coast); derailment of a waggon at Portobello Farm in 1843 ( a few years before railways proper were laid here) referenced the Tranent to Cockenzie waggonway carrying coal from the mines to the coast for export (stones laid on the line by a miscreant/miscreants, to see what might happen); theft of three shirts from a hedge in Humbie (hedges were widely used for drying laundry) which apparently belonged to a notable Greek person, guest of the local gentry.
Clothing
From cases involving the theft of clothes from hedges and so forth, we learned something of the clothing typical of the time. The range and quantity of clothing were considerable. The theft of a pair of trousers made from Genoa cloth is an early example of a pair of ‘jeans’. The absence of underwear from any of the clothing lists was not accidental: underwear was not generally worn.
Food
From itemised shopping bills (cases of failure to pay), it seems that people ate much more meat than is the case now. Mutton and beef (including salt beef) were the main components. From the grocer one could purchase tea at 8/- per pound (very expensive), ‘aqua vitae’ (whisky) bought by the gallon (per month), short bread, rolls, soap, starch.
Coffee was very expensive indeed and well outside the budgets of ordinary people. However, even farm servants could get some from smugglers.
There was no sign of fruit in any of the lists. Scottish diet?
Drink
Whisky, tea and coffee have already been mentioned. It seems that the main drink quaffed by everyone was ale, and many families brewed for their own consumption. Malt was purchased and used to make wort, subsequently fermented into ale. Clashes with the law occurred with some frequency given that, often, ale was made surplus to family needs and sold on. Customs duty was payable on any ale sold on and there are many examples of revenue fraud cases. For example 92 (ninety two) people were arraigned in one day in the 18th century. In one example more than 40 gallons of wort were concealed below straw in a barn and, in another, the wort was concealed under a stair.
Transport
Apparently stage coach races between Tranent and Haddington (coaches from Edinburgh going south) were common, and accidents led to the courts. The law determined the maximum number of people permitted to travel on top of a coach – a law often flouted. A case involving the Marquis of Tweedale illustrates the power of the aristocracy over common people at the time. On losing a wheel on his coach from Haddington to Gifford one night, he demanded the immediate attention of a local blacksmith to carry out the repair. The blacksmith was in bed for the night, and refused to get up and do Tweedale’s bidding. The end result was a court case in which the blacksmith was found guilty of a number of misdemeanours , one of which was ‘being inhumane’, and had to serve time!
From the 1600s, roads became the responsibility of Justices of the Peace who could require property owners to supply ‘statute’ labour to the tune of 6 days unpaid per year for road maintenance. County Councils were formed in the later 19th century and took over responsibility for roads. Meantime the Turnpike Acts introduced a fee paying mechanism for the use of roads, with the institution of tolls and toll houses. Avoidance of tolls was common, with legal consequences, as was seen frequently in the East Lothian courts. Another change in the 18th Century, originating in East Lothian and concerning agricultural improvements, involved the loss of the rig system and the introduction of field enclosure. This led to the diversion of a number of routes which used to follow rigs – a case at Athelstaneford involved locals complaining that the land owner had ‘removed’ their ‘road’ to the kirk. The enclosures required the re-routing of roads to get round them, often seen in the sharp, sometimes right angle, bends which feature on some of our country roads today.
Peter R