On 5th March 1824, Britain declared war on Burma.
Britain/Burma War #OnThisDay
The Stromness Traders in Strawplait
Stromness strawplait trader Andrew Young lived in Alfred Street
George and James McBeath: Merchants of Kirkwall
This is the story of how one son built upon his father’s pioneering business to make a great success in his own right.
William Bews: Merchant of Kirkwall
William Bews shop was at 12 Albert Street, Kirkwall
The Strawplaiters of Hoy, Graemsay, Walls, Flotta and Faray
One of the youngest workers in Hoy was Jean Lyon, 14, of Clett with the oldest being Ann Lyon, 55 recorded in the census as living in ‘A Chamber’.
John Tait: Merchant of Kirkwall
By sheer hard work and canny business sense John Tait built up his business in Albert Street supplying other traders and people throughout the islands.
Queen Street Stromness: Strawplaiters & Soldiers
“A glance at Queen Street Stromness and one is at once transported in imagination away to some old Highland village, where all live under one roof, a pleasant and happy family.”
The Kirkwall Streets Where The Strawplaiters Lived
In the 1841 census the oldest woman working at plaiting straw was 75 year old Catherine Wilson of Wellington Street.
Straw Plaiting in 19th Century Orkney
Over the course of its 50+ years of manufacture this sector employed thousands of women, some in ‘workshops’ and others in their own homes.
The ‘Improving Lairds’ and the Learmonths of Housebay: Robert, followed by his son Donald Horne Learmonth.Part 2
From Records of a bygone age by Ian Cooper
