However, there were two significant black holes: the line of my mother’s father, Alexander Donachie, and of my father’s mother, Janet Gore. The Donachies still elude me but yesterday I came across a great mass of information about the Gores, gathered by an enthusiastic researcher called June Gillies. She’s managed to push the line back to 1762, and fill in a lot of the significant gaps in the ensuing five generations. It’s a story of the Scottish coal mining industry as most of the men were miners, working in one or other of the large number of mines in the Lanark area near Glasgow. One or two of the women were in domestic service but others were skilled workers in the weaving mills before marrying.
Reading a list of names and dates doesn’t tell you much about the times, but reading between the lines can tell you a whole lot about the conditions under which these people lived. One of the early family members was Janet Davie who was born in 1806 and married John Gore. Janet came from a big family but, when you look at the names of her brothers and sisters, you can see that there was a William born in 1788, a Margaret born in 1790 and a Grizel, born 1798 (Grizel was their mother’s name). Then you notice there is another William, born 1796, another Margaret in 1799 and a second Grizel in 1803. The implication is that the children born earlier had died in infancy and their names were recycled when new children came long.
Another clue to their lives can be seen in the addresses reported in the censuses of 1881 and 1901. Several of the families resided at Watsonville, others at Old Logans Row, and others at Camp Row, Motherwell. The mine-owners, in those days, built rows of tenement houses close to the pithead which were rented out to their workers. They must have been pretty grim. I found some 1914 reports on some of the premises which certainly tell the tale:
Watsonville, Motherwell (John Watson, Limited)
These rows are known as Watsonville, and are situated in the centre of Motherwell Burgh. They are a very poor type of house, and were built over forty years ago. Water is supplied by means of stand-pipes in the street, with an open channel to carry off the dirty water. There is a meagre supply of washhouse accommodation, and grave complaints were made on this score. The streets and back courts are in a very bad condition. [Evidence presented to Royal Commission, 25th March 1914]
Old Logans Rows, Motherwell (Merry & Cunninghame, Limited)
This property is on the side of the Glasgow Road, Motherwell, and consists of a long row of single- and double-apartment houses; rent, 3s. 8d. for single, and 5s. 8d. for double houses per fortnight. Water-closets and washhouses have been erected within the last few years; no coal-houses - coal put under the bed. The single houses are built back-to-back, and are in a very poor condition. [Evidence presented to Royal Commission, 25th March 1914]
I particularly like the comment that they would have to keep the coal under the bed as there was no coal-house. I imagine each miner would get an allocation of coal, probably in bags, and it would be used for cooking as well as heating so would be precious, especially in winter. The old photograph is of a row of miners' cottages at Coatbridge and typical of the day. You can see the open drain down the middle of the road. These are one-storey cottages but many of the 'rows' were two-storey with residents sharing toilets accessed from the outside and wash-houses or sculleries. Most would have only one bedroom and children would sleepon makeshift beds in the kitchen/sitting room or beds set into the walls. It didn't stop the people having large families. In these Victorian times, Scotland had the lowest wages in Europe, the smallest children and the highest mortality rate. It's no wonder they also had a very high emigration rate - to the Americas and the Antipodes. Scotland's biggest export for 100 years was its people.
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