Glasgow Jobs in 1913

Historical Look at employment in Glasgow





A hundred years ago Glasgow was the second largest city, outside the City of London with the census of 1911 revealing the city had a population of around 750,000, by 1912 the city grew even bigger with the passing of the boundaries act which saw it amalgamate areas such as Partick and Govan. (1)

Amazingly one hundred years on shipbuilding remains on the Clyde, maybe just, but a century of shipbuilding in Glasgow is obvious testimony that this industry has remained bolted in the cities industrial heritage whilst other industries have long sunk without trace replaced by the ubiquitous modern call centre, financial and retail hub.

If you were alive one hundred years ago what job, in what industry would you do?





Farming





Up until around 1950 when the new housing schemes were built following the end of the second world war, areas around Glasgow were a ripe agriculture and farming landscape with farms situated across areas including Provanhill, Easterhouse. The best farms here were arable with a basic approach of crop rotation methods. Potatoes, turnip, oats and then wheat grown to maintain the quality of soil nutrients. Animal farming with cows and poultry too were the norm across the Cities farms. Work on the farm would be tough and very labour intensive with basic mechanisation. Labourers normally seasonal (as now) would work long hours during the summer months.





Coal Mining





In and around early twentieth century Glasgow’s growing population and developing industrial base were the reasons for the high consumption of coal. Although most coal mining activity was concentrated to the East and South of the City at Hamilton, Monkland and Motherwell, Glasgow had around thirty mines operating either within or on the edge of Glasgow. The advent of Central heating and electric light had yet to become a feature of domestic life so most homes had coal fires and oil or gas lamps Other industries such as steel and the railways, which relied upon steam locomotives.

Coal and mining was a very important fuel as well as being a very political issue due to the very tough conditions which colliers worked (2) indeed a year earlier in 1912, the national coal strike was the first national strike by coal miners in Britain. It’s main goal of securing a minimum wage. After a million men had walked out for 37 days the government intervened and ended the strike by passing a minimum wage law. (3) The coal industry in Glasgow continued for another 30 years before the effects of the depression and eventually dwindling to no collieries after coal nationalisation in 1947.





Locomotive and Coach Building

Around 1914 Glasgow had the largest focus of locomotive building works in Europe as the growth of the railway network and train usage for both passengers and freight carriage grew. Various railway works companies including the North British Locomotive Company Ltd built carriages and wagons and also manufactured stock for colonial markets. This industry employed around 8,000 people at its peak with around 60 locomotives built annually.

Glasgow’s largest vehicle building operation was the Glasgow Corporation Tramways Department’s works in Pollokshields. Motor vehicles such as bus and lorry chassis were made by Albion Motor Works in Scotstoun along with the Halley Motor Company in Yorker.





Shipbuilding





A century on Shipbuilding on the Clyde in 2013 has been mooted as a pivotal area in the way a vote may go in the Scottish Referendum of 2014 but the Clyde whatever the future of Scotland has an extremely rich history and that link is indelible .

Turn back the clock a century ago where many foreign trading vessels would dock at the Broomielaw on the Clyde. This vast amount of shipping traffic required the authorities and port owners to dredge and blast to deepen the Clyde to accommodate ever larger ships. These developments enabled the huge expansion of Clydeside’s international trade and the rapid increase in shipbuilding .The main shipyards were places such as Bowling Harbour, Denny’s Shipyard in Dumbarton, John Brown’s Shipyard at Clydebank and Govan Graving Docks, that shipbuilding became a real source of commerce for Glasgow.

To give an idea of the vastness of early 20th century shipbuilding between 1844 and 1963, Denny’s shipyard alone built over 1500 ships. (5) In the early 20th Century a fifth of all ships in the world were built on the Clyde (6)





Mums at Home





Women in Britain at the turn of the 20th Century were full time homemakers and mothers. Every day they laboured to feed and dress their families. Their day would begin by cleaning the coal fire and the ashes taken to the outside pit or midden. Without the luxury of freezers or fridges, food shopping would involve the carrying of the ‘messages ‘from shop to shop to home with fresh food such as meat, chicken, fish, milk and eggs the staple foods. Food would be prepared manually over the black leaded stove for their children and husbands who would return from their days labour.

Washings would be carried out in the wash house boiler, put through the mangle then hung out on the drying green. All physical hard toil with the advent of modern household goods many decades away.









Ref:

1 .bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-19168940

2en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_coal_miners

3 .theglasgowstory.com/

4 clydewaterfrontheritage.com

5 educationscotland.gov.uk



