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HERRING WOMEN

D

uring the 19th and early 20th century, the herring industry provided work for thousands of men along the East Coast of Britain, but women also played a large part in the success of the trade.

Herring is a perishable fish with a very short shelf life. Among the various methods of preservation, which included salting, drying or smoking, salting became the most common option. The whole process was known as “curing”, which was the area in which most of the women were employed.

In the Winter before the herring season was due to begin, fish merchants and curers would send “scouts” into the community to contact the women for work. Sometimes a payment of approximately one pound – known as an earlais – was given to

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A century ago thousands of fisher lassies followed the herring fleet, while fishwives stayed at home to support their husbands.

Karen Foy looks at the women’s contribution to a boom industry ensure that they would be loyal to a single employer.

During May and June, young girls would travel North as far as the Shetlands to find employment in the herring yards. A Parliamentary Report on the fishing industry in 1932 said that in the Spring and Summer of 1930 some 6,300 women were engaged in the trade.

As the season progressed they

would follow the fleet from the Orkneys down into England, working at ports along the East Coast until they reached Yarmouth and Lowestoft in the Autumn, making an essential contribution to a hard and labourintensive trade.

Often starting as young as 16, these herring girls or “fisher lassies” would continue the work well into their married lives.

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Fisher lassies gather round the long wooden troughs filled with fresh herring to be gutted.

At Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, where many came from, the girls would congregate on the quayside awaiting the arrival of the herring fleet, ready for the Summer’s work.

A nurse and a minister might accompany the girls, to provide health care and religious support while they were away from home.

Fish merchants and curers would arrange transport to the herring ports and accommodation which could vary greatly. In some places, wooden huts were erected to provide a temporary home, or sheds in the herring yard were converted for sleeping in; whereas in places like Yarmouth lodgings were found within the town.

Each hut, which housed six girls, provided a bunk bed with a straw mattress and basic storage facilities, a

stove and fireplace. Shared toilet facilities and the water supply were outside. Girls would bring furnishings, such as curtains, crockery and bed linen, in an effort to make their accommodation as homely as possible.

Before starting work the girls would change into a practical outfit. Handknitted woollen pullovers and heavy woollen skirts were worn for warmth, covered with an oilskin apron. Hardwearing leather boots covered their feet while a headscarf – which was tied at the back – protected hair from fish scales and salt.

They shredded old flour sacks into rags and wrapped them around their fingers as protection against the sharp knives used to gut the fish, and to enable them to get a better grip.

Unfortunately the rags, known as luideagan in Gaelic, did little to prevent the sores and grazes caused by the excess use of salt and brine which penetrated their skin.

The day began at 6am when the women were organised into crews of

three, consisting of a packer and two fish gutters.

Once landed, the fish were unloaded into long wooden troughs. Using a short-handled knife to remove their internal organs and gills was a very messy business, but each girl would, on average, be expected to gut 40 herring per minute, although the more experienced workers were capable of even more.

The second part of the gutter’s job was to sort the herring by size and condition into baskets, known as swills. The best quality fish were the matties, young fish that had not yet developed any reproductive organs or roe. Middle range fish were the adults that were ready to spawn, while the least desirable were those which had already spawned. The girls soon became efficient in spotting which were which.

At this point, the gutters’ work was done. Fish were then packed in a rosette pattern in four foot high barrels to be cured.

The technique entailed putting the

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Each girl would, on average, be expected to gut 40 herring per minute...

Fishermen carry their catch off the boats.

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Scottish fisher girls at work gutting herring at Yarmouth.

first layer of fish in the bottom of the barrel with their heads pointing outwards, then the second layer with their tails pointing outwards. This arrangement was interspersed with thick layers of coarse salt.

Once filled, the barrel was left to stand for 10 days to allow the juice and the salt to mix. Because the fish shrank and became compressed under their own weight, more layers of fish were then added to top up the barrel.

The barrel was drained before brine was added through a small hole in the top to help preserve the herrings.

After sealing, each barrel was inspected by the fisheries officer.

Having confirmed that the barrel was filled properly and did not leak, he gave each one an official brand. The cooper (barrel maker) would then incise the name of the curer and the quality of the herring on the lid.

It was essential that the women worked quickly. As the fleet arrived with its catch, the fish had to be cured straight away before they started to deteriorate, especially during the warm Summer months.

Meal breaks were usually between 8-9am for breakfast, and 1-2pm for dinner, but the women had to continue

working until the whole catch was processed which could sometimes mean a very late finish in the evenings.

Their week ran from Monday to Saturday, ending at 6pm, but they would be given a half day off during the week to clean their huts and do their washing.

An average wage was one shilling per barrel for a team of three, with an extra sixpence following the final packing. Depending on the skill and speed of each girl, and how well they worked together as a team, they could earn up to 10 shillings a day.

Girls employed for “kippering” would be paid fourpence per hour to split the backs of herring ready for smoking.

Although they were given an allowance, they were not paid their full wages until the end of the season.

When they married, fisher lassies became known as fishwives. They stayed at home bringing up the children, but they also had an important role in their husbands’ work.

When the smaller craft, known as cobles, set sail, the fishwife was often expected to carry her husband through the water and help him onto the boat. This was for a very practical

The fishwife was often expected to carry her husband through the water and help him onto the boat...

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reason: it would be easy for the fishwife to go home and dry out her clothes, whereas if the fisherman got wet to start with, he would more than likely have to stay damp throughout his time at sea.

Fishermen would negotiate with the herring yards through fish merchants, but smaller catches were often sold from baskets, by auction, straight from the beach. Buyers who bought one or two baskets to sell on were known as hawkers or cadgers.

However, in many fishing families

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Fishwives from Newhaven in their distinctive striped skirts, one with a wicker creel on her back.

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Fish are laid out for sale at a fish market in Grimsby.

around the coast, it was often the fishwives who, in addition to other duties, increased the money brought into the household by helping to sell the catch.

It was a common sight to see women seated outside their whitewashed cottages, selling anything from herrings to shellfish to passersby. Others would set up a stall along the roadside, or travel further afield by train or bus to sell their wares from a barrow kept nearby.

The wicker baskets, used by the

women to carry the fish on their backs, were called creels, and were often made in the village. On top could be carried another lidded basket, whose flat surface was used to fillet any fish they sold; their sharp filleting knife would be slotted into the side of the wicker when not in use.

Two oval baskets could be held in each hand to store dried fish such as haddock and kippers.

The women had their own distinctive costumes, which varied slightly depending on which area of the coast they originated from. Their working clothes were usually dark in colour and made from flannel.

The main item used to cover the upper body was called a bedgown – possibly because this was the item of clothing that they would leave on if they took an afternoon nap.

This T-shaped garment had braids which tied across the chest and behind the body, leaving the area in front of the legs open.

A distinctive skirt with a tucked hemline provided warmth around the legs, together with a number of petticoats to add extra layers. A large, pocketed apron was worn over the skirt and a knitted, fringed shawl completed the outfit.

Although the younger fishwives often went bareheaded, older ladies would wear straw bonnets or headscarves.

Knitting was a common pastime for herring girls and fishwives during the

short amount of leisure time available to them. Visitors to the Yorkshire fishing ports such as Whitby and Filey and tiny villages such as Seahouses, reported seeing women sitting in their doorways busy with their needles.

Never wasting a moment that could be used to earn an extra penny, women worked late into the evening by the

Glossary Blood pickle – the chemical reaction produced by the fish juices and the salt within the barrel. This is eventually drained away.

Coble – an open boat with no watertight compartment, owned by an individual family.

Cooper – a barrel maker.

Cran – a completed barrel containing 1000 herrings.

Matties – young herring without roe – the most valuable fish.

Pining – allowing the barrels to stand for 10 days.

Spents – herring which have already spawned – the least valuable fish.

Top tiering – adding a top layer of fish in a barrel once shrinkage has occurred.

Main herring ports and curing stations Stronsay Peterhead Lerwick Fraserburgh Stornoway

Galston Yarmouth Ardglass Wick Lowestoft

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Ships of the fleet A fishing smack photographed in 1895.

W

hen the fleet arrived in port the harbour would be a hive of activity as each boat landed its catch. As the years went by, the types of vessels which made up the herring fleet changed dramatically.

Early craft, known as cobles or mules, were small boats with little in the way of protection from the weather and stormy seas. These open boats had no watertight compartments and the only warmth came from a small cast iron brazier, used as both a light and a source of heat on which to boil kettles.

Cobles were privately owned by individual families. They were often decorated with bands of brightly coloured paint and given a name significant to the owner.

The sail-and oar-driven coble paved the way for a later, more efficient, motorised version of the boat.

To enable fishermen to go further afield in search of herring, keelboats were used.

These larger, decked boats were crewed by up to eight men and could carry between 40 to 70 drift nets to catch the fish.

Trawlers using steam-powered engines revolutionised the industry, allowing boats to go even further and carry a larger catch. As bigger boats, they also provided shelter for the crew.

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light of rush lamps, knitting more by feel than by eye.

From an early age girls were taught to knit ganseys – seamless woollen jumpers designed to protect fishermen while they were out at sea.

Their colour signified on what occasion they were to be worn: navy blue was for Winter use, pale grey or beige for Summer and black for funerals.

Individual patterns with zigzags, diamonds and cable designs made each gansey unique, and gave a clue as to where the fisherman came from. Often a unique emblem or arrangement of stitches was added, so if there was a disaster at sea a fisherman’s body washed ashore could be identified by his gansey.

Through their hard work and diligence the women of the fishing industry were essential to this once successful and thriving trade.

Curing provided jobs for not only the fishermen and herring girls but also for the coopers and carriers.

Barrels of herring were exported as far afield as Germany, Holland, Russia and Poland.

An example of how vast the herring trade was during the early 1840s is recorded at Seahouses, Northumberland, where the curing houses and sheds of John and Andrew Ewing were responsible for the majority of the 6,000 barrels of herring exported from the harbour in 1843-44.

Curers not only employed the workforce and organised payment of the gutters and packers, but also purchased the fish at an agreed price, checked that the salt was delivered on time, co-ordinated the arrival of the barrel makers and, finally, exported the finished product.

Coopers were highly proficient men who had acquired their skills after serving a long and dedicated apprenticeship. The wood for herring barrels had to be heavy and dry to withstand the weight and moisture content of the fish. Spruce from Scandinavia was preferred, and once the wood was cut into strips – or staves – of the correct size to prevent leakage, they were held in place by wooden hoops. An accomplished

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Karen Foy is a keen reader and avid family historian.

Her love of genealogy began whilst researching her ancestor James Macdonald who was Head of the Sound Department at Disney and eventually became the voice of Mickey Mouse.

This inspired her to try and trace her Scottish roots back to the Jacobite Rebellion.

TAKING IT FURTHER If your ancestor was a herring girl www.geocities.com/transport_and_ society/routine.html is an essential site to visit. It uses a wide variety of resources to describe the life of the herring girls, with interviews and links to photographs.

Two fishermen photographed at West Mersea in 1895, wearing typical ganseys.

cooper could be expected to make up to 70 barrels a week.

Over the years a variety of methods were used to preserve the herring.

Although curing was the most popular, alternative approaches provided extra work within the industry.

To smoke herring the fish was split open and gutted, soaked in brine and hung in racks over oak shavings in a smokehouse for approximately 12 hours, after which it became a kipper.

The word has its origins in the Old English word “coper” – meaning

copper colour – and refers to the red brown colour which the fish takes on after smoking.

For generations, people had smoked herrings as a way of preserving the fish but legend has it that it was John Woodger of Seahouses who christened the kipper when he smoked a herring by accident in 1843.

A fire had been left on in his shed overnight and the following morning he discovered that his split herrings had been ruined by smoke. Upon further inspection, he noticed that the fish

The Stornoway Historical Society at www.stornowayhistoricalsociety.org.uk/ features/herring holds information and photographs on the town’s fishing industry.

There are links to publications and special events which would be of great interest to anyone with family connections in that area.

A BBC site at www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/ work/ scotland/s_ne gives further information on the Scottish herring girls and has links to other sites.

A selection of photographs about the herring fisheries at Barra can be found at the Royal Scottish Geographical Society’s Images for All website on www.geo.ed.ac.uk/rsgs/ifa/images1.html.

Read more about it Ian Mitchell, Walking through Scotland’s History (National Museums of Scotland, 2001)

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looked attractive and the flesh tasted good and so the kipper was born.

Smokehouses began emerging all over the North East as fishing villages converted their herring sheds to preserve their catch. In Seahouses, for example, by the 1880s another 10 curing houses had set up in the village.

The type of wood used to create the fires greatly affected the flavour of the fish, so smokers experimented to create their own unique tastes.

Red herrings are fish which have been dry salted and smoked whole.

The process of smoking is similar to that of kippers, but the procedure can take up to 10 days.

Bloaters are ungutted herring which are salted then lightly smoked. They became particularly popular during the 19th century.