August Picture of the Month

                                          AULD  EARLSTON

Valuing the History of our Village for Future Generations

PICTURE OF THE MONTH  - August 2023 

  

Power Loom Tuner at Simpson & Fairbairn Mill

This month’s picture shows Jim White a power loom tuner (someone who maintained the looms) at Simpson & Fairbairn Mill.

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ALL  WELCOME 

The Auld Earlston group meets usually on the First Tuesday of the Month at 2pm in the Church Hall.  Come along to join in the discussions on our activities.  

FIND OUT MORE 

The Lost Earlston Facebook page features vintage photographs, with the opportunity to share, and comment.  

https://www.facebook.com/LostEarlston

 

The Auld Earlston Blog features regular articles on aspects of Earlston’s past.   

https://auldearlston.blogspot.co.uk 

E-MAIL CONTACT:  auldearlston@aol.com 

Earlston Gingham Girls: Past and Present

The present meets the past in this account of "The Earlston Gingham Girls".

In June 2018. Janet Macintyre and Gill Cooper from Earlston SWI (Scottish Women's Institute) joined   tens of thousands of women in processions in the four UK capitals, to celebrate women’s rights and commemorate the people who had fought for women to gain  the  vote.

              

Background to the Event

There had long been a campaign  for the right of women to participate in the political life of the country, but it met with little success. However  under the leadership of Emmeline Pankhurst,   a much more militant approach was introduced with the formation of  the The Women's Social and Political Union.  Its activities gained notoriety in the press, leading to the term "suffragette" being coined by "The Daily Mail" in 1906.  

Their  first mass rally in 1908 in Hyde Park, drew crowds of over 300,000, many bearing banners specifically  made for the event.  The campaigners were pioneers in using visual aids to publicise their cause  (what we now know as "branding") - carrying banners, proclaiming memorable slogans and adopting the colours of Green, White and Violet, reflecting their message of "Give Women Votes".

But it was the role of women in the First World War, undertaking men's work  that did as much as anything to show their ability and commitment.  So in November 1918 the Representation of the People Act  gave the vote to some women i.e. those over the age of 30,  who were householders, the wives of householders, occupiers of property with an annual rent of £5, and graduates of British universities.   It was to be a further ten years in 1928, before women gained the vote on the same basis as men. 

The 2018 Edinburgh Procession 

Here is Janet and Gill's account of their experience of the procession.

"We were urged to create banners, reflecting women in our community, and to wear the Suffragette colours.  Living in Earlston, we thought about the remarkable women of the village and immediately coming to mind were the Whale Sisters, the 19th century manufacturers of Earlston Gingham. We wanted to share their story in some kind of way on our banner. 

We bought  some green and violet gingham,  with a white cloth as the background. The term "Earlston's Gingham Girls"  seemed a natural title and  the shape of the thistle emerged in the design, reinforcing our Scottish identity

The Edinburgh march started from the Meadows, over George IV Bridge, down the Mound, along Princes Street, up North Bridge and down the Royal Mile to Holyrood Park. 

We were  arranged in long columns and each column was given a piece of loose woven cotton cloth in the suffragette colours.  Participants tied the material around their heads, shoulders  or waist and we became, a piece of street art - a flowing  river of colour.  

We had an amazing day - the atmosphere was friendly with a tangible  air of celebration.  The good weather was a bonus!  Songs were  sung, and stories swapped.  We  told as many people as we could about the significance of our banner and the achievements of the Whale sisters in a time when men dominated the business world.  We returned  to Earlston, happy but exhausted after carrying our banner for 3 miles around central Edinburgh.

Who were the Whale Sisters?
They were two enterprising women who became known  both nationally and internationally for their business success.

 

A carved inscription on the old mill building, 

with  the names C & M Whale still clearly visible.
Today the site of Austin Coaches. 

Contemporary press cuttings indicate how widespread was the reputation of Earlston Ginghams.

 

 An advertisement in London's "Morning Post":  23rd September 1844. 
With a reference to "the celebrated Marion Whale's Earlston ginghams."

Christian Whale died  in 1862 aged 77 and "The Southern Reporter"  printed a fulsome obituary, noting that "the firm employed little short of 100 weavers, who in turn required no inconsiderable number of female winders."

"The Berwickshire News" noted that she was a "woman of masculine understanding and highest business capacity......She will be long remembered in these parts as a woman of ability and enterprise and one who deserved well of her native place".    

Marion died two years later.   The mill was sold to the textile firm of Wilson & Sons, and the house property on the High Street  was sold to Mr Smail, agent of the Commercial Bank  for the sum of £700. 

The two Whale sisters were ahead of their time and made an enormous contribution to Earlston life.  They were beacons in  mid Victorian Britain when few women showed such enterprising spirit to head successful businesses.  

 But they did not have the vote and had no say in political life.

 Today a street name sign reminds us of the village's past. 

 

 

Two surviving examples of the woven Earlston Gingham 

 in the collection of Auld Earlston.  By chance in the suffragette colours.  

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Earlston Woollen Manufacturer - John Simpson

A local historian in Hawick   recently came across in the town's Wilton Cemetery these gravestones  to the family of  "John Simpson, Woollen Manufacturer, Earlston".  He contacted the Auld Earlston Group with this information.

Intriguing?   Why was an Earlston businessman remembered in Hawick? 

Simpson Gravestones in Wilton Cemetery, Hawick 

 

In Loving Memory of John Simpson, woollen manufacturer,Earlston who died 
 at Eildon Grove, Melrose on  June 8th 1919.

And his wife Anna Robertson who died 8th Feby 1944 aged 86 years.

Who was John Simpson?

He  was born in Galashiels in 1856, son of John Simpson, a wool hand-loom weaver.  At the age of 15 in 1871, young John  was working as a warper ** in a wool factory in   Innerleithen,  where five  years later he married Anne Robertson .   

By the time of the 1891 census,  the couple were  at 1 Rosevale Cottage in Wilton Parish, Hawick with their two son and two daughters - John, George, Euphemia and Jessie.    John, then aged 35,  was described as a tweed warehouseman. 

Ten years later in 1901, the family  was living at 2 West Stewart Place, Wilton, Hawick in a road of substantial Victorian houses,  with John's occupation listed as commercial traveller. Clearly he was going up in the world, culminating in the purchase of what became Simpson and Fairbairn Mill at Earlston, which was listed under that name in a 1903 Trade Directory.   

The 1911 census saw the family at Eildon Grove,  Melrose, Roxburghshire with John described as woollen manufacturer, with his wife and youngest daughter 28 year old Jessie, plus one servant.    John died there in 1919. 

His death at the age of 63 was reported  in "The Scotsman" newspaper,  intimating that John's funeral would be held at Wilton Cemetery, Hawick.   

The Scottish National Probate Index online  gave the value of his estate as £69,498.19s.5d. - estimated at over two and a half million pounds in today’s money values (www.measuringworth.com)

AAn obituary in the Berwickhire News:  10th June 1919  gives us a profile of John Simpson.

".......He was Chairman and Director of Simpson & Fairbairn Ltd, Rhymer's  Mill, in Earlston.  His early years were spent in Innerleithen where he acquired his knowledge of the tweed trade, and afterwards went to Hawick and became associated with the firm of Blenkhorn Richardson Ltd. of which he was a Director.  Fifteen years ago with Mr Thomas Fairbairn, he took over the business of  Robert Dunn & Co. at Earlston.   Mr Simpson was one of the best known and best liked of personalities in the Scottish tweed trade.

An ardent and successful golfer, he was a well known figure on several popular courses."

 Rhymer's Mill, Earlston,   early 1900's.  (Auld Earlston Collection) 

Rev. Walter Davidson of Earlston Parish Church, having heard the news that Sunday morning,  paid a tribute to John Simpson, at his  service, as reported in the press article,  saying:

........He was very closely associated with the church ......... As head of the firm which is by far the largest employer of labour in the town..... he was known as  an upright, conscientious and thoroughly efficient business man, a just and honourable master. 

Long before he came to Earlston I had heard him spoken of "as a prince among commercial travellers" and after he entered business on his own account here, his wonderful ability in this respect meant greater employment and consequently increased prosperity for Earlston, and for these things we owe him a debt of gratitude.

God endowed him with certain talents and these he developed as a faithful steward for the greater good of the community.  In his life he was greatly respected and widely esteemed. A keen reader, he possessed a library, rich in  beautiful works, as seldom seen.  .....Most of all he endeared himself to his own  by his kindly,  loving disposition"

Earlston Monumental Inscriptions, published by the Borders Family History Society, notes that in 1920 a carved oak Communion Table  was gifted to the church  "To the glory of God and in loving memory of John Simpson, manufacturer,  Earlston."

“The Kelso Chronicle” and “The Berwickshire News” of January 1920 reported on this memorial being dedicated by his son John M.D. Simpson, whose wife donated the embroidered communion cloths in memory of her father-in-law.

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It seems that John's eldest son,  John Melville Drummond Simpson,  remained involved in the family business and in Earlston community affairs, as reported in the Berwickshire News.  In the 1920's he was a candidate  in local  elections, sitting on the School Management Committee.    He was also organist at Earlston Parish Church until  1929. In  1931  a report noted that "Delegates of the Scottish woollen industry on a visit to American and Canadian markets included John  M. Simpson of Simpson and Fairbairn, Earlston." 

A newspaper death announcement reported  "At Broomiebrae, Earlston on the 27th August 1931 John M. D. Simpson died, dearly beloved husband of Catherine Robertson".  

John was buried besides his parents in Wilton Cemetery, Hawick.  His death certificate, (on ScotlandsPeople website)  confirmed his distinctive middle names and his occupation as a woollen manufacturer - the informant his son J. Stanley Simpson.  

In 1946 as part of a major refurbishment of Earlston Parish Church, electricity was installed, and  Stanley Simpson,  as a memorial to his father,  gifted the electrification  of the organ blower, which previously had been pumped by hand. 

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NOTES

• ** "A warper", the occupation of 15 year old John Simpson in 1871, was a textile worker who arranged the individual yarns which created the "warp" of the fabric. 

• Simpson and Fairbairn
  
  In  a  1903 Directory  Simpson & Fairbairn  was described as "a tweed manufacturer and dyers at Mid Mills, Earlston"  It appears that the firm later adopted the address of Rhymer's Mill.  The photographs below, are believed to date from the early 1900's, and are in the Auld Earlston Collection. 

• At the time of John Simpson's (Senior) death in 1919, Border woollen manufacturers were starting to face  e global depression, with tariff barriers, and difficult export markets.   However Simpson and Fairbairn  weathered the storm,  although short time working was often prevalent. 
  
  During World War Two, the mill was fully employed on service and  utility clothing  and the post war years saw  a boom time for the Borders as world wide stocks of clothes had to be replaced, with the firm employing more than 300 workers, making it  the economic mainstay of Earlston. 
   
• But by the late 1950's and early '60's, the old problems of cheaper competitors and vulnerability to changing fashions had returned.  The   firm tried  to innovate by making cellular blankets and moving into  ladies' wear.  But the decline could not be stemmed.  The mill finally closed in 1969 when a workforce of almost 100 was made redundant.

Earlston's role in the  Borders textile industry came to an end.  

• Blenkhorn Richardson, Hawick.
  At the time of his death,  John Simpson, senior was a Director at Blenkhorn Richardson, Eastfield Mills, Hawick.  The business was   founded by two brothers-in -law  and become one of the largest manufacturers in southern Scotland.  The company closed in 1974, with its archives now held at the Heriot Watt University, Galashiels. 
  
  
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Both Earlston and Hawick had  a major part  in John's  Simpson's life, with his choice of a final resting place - Hawck.  But  he made a key contribution to  Earlston's textile industry, as reflected in  the eulogies on his death. 


With thanks to  David Lothian of Earlston and Gordon Macdonald of Hawick for their help with information on John Simpson, his  life and family. 

 

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The Whale Sisters - Earlston's Renowned Gingham Manufacturers

The names of the Whale sisters, Christian and Marion,  were once synonymous 
with textile production in Earlston.

In the 18th century, Rhymer's  Mill  was  a corn mill before being transformed by the Whale family into a textile mill where  the  manufacture of gingham was introduced by Thomas Whale.    

A carved inscription on the old mill building, 

with  the names C & M Whale clearly visible today. 

The 1891 publication "Two Centuries Of Border Church Life V2   - with Biographies Of Leading Men And Sketches Of The Social Condition Of The People On The Eastern Border",  by James Tait, includes a paragraph  on the Whale Family. 

"Thomas Whale died on the 11th March 1814, aged 74 years; and his widow died two years afterward; but the business was carried on with great skill and success by their daughters, Christian was the elder, and was a very clever woman, but she modestly gave the first place to her younger sister Marion and the designation of the firm was "Marion Whale Co," The gingham was manufactured of cotton and the weaving was done in private houses; in some of which there was a factory containing twenty or thirty looms. The colours were woven into the cloth, not printed as is now generally done; and everything was of the best material One of the sisters travelled to Edinburgh, along the Northumberland coast and even to London, which was very inaccessible in those days."

Two surviving examples of the Earlston Gingham  in the collection of Auld Earlston.

Contemporary press cuttings indicate how widespread was the reputation of Earlston Ginghams.    In the 1840's "The Morning Post" in London carried regular advertisements for the cloth.  The Scotch Tartan Warehouse in Regent Street promised:  

"The Paris Fashions for the Present Season .........[with] Marion Whale's real Earlston  Ginghams".  (23rd October 1843).  

Queen Victoria's tour of Scotland led to a demand for all things Scottish,  as the advertisement of 23rd September 1844 below highlights, with a reference to:
 

"Her Majesty's Tour of Scotland  and approval of the different manufacturers. especially of Plaids, has caused them to be the  fashionable article of dress for the approaching season".........Stock includes "the celebrated Marion Whale's Earlston Ginghams (this establishment being exclusive for the sale of  that article). "

 Rutherfurd’s 1866 Directory of the Southern Counties, published in Kelso,   commented

 “Earlston produces quantities of the Earlston ginghams. There is no other place in the country where the same class of gingham is made”.

Back in Earlston, the 1851 Census identified Christian  Whale as a 64 year old "manufacturer of gingham and cotton, employing 60 workers, mainly weavers and winders of cotton". Also in the business was her sister Marion aged 56.   

Ten years on in 1861 Christian, age given as 74  and Marion 66, were both described as Gingham Manufacturers, living at 125 Main Street, Earlston (a ten room property) with their older brother Andrew, a former clerk in a drapery warehouse, two domestic servants and a stable boy. 

But nine months later,  Christian Whale died 22nd  January 1862. aged 75.    

"The Kelso Chronicle" of 24th January 1862 noted that "Miss Whale, well known throughout the  greater part of this country, departed this life after a tedious illness........Miss Whale was a person of most active habits and of a shrewd and vigorous understanding;  qualities which account in great measure for her extraordinary success in life".

 "The Southern Reporter" of 30th January  giving a fulsome obituary,  referred to her:

 "stern but invariably kind disposition ....her business habits, her untiring perseverance, her successful career..... At one time the firm employed little short of 100 weavers, who in turn required no inconsiderable number of female winders. ......Miss Whale attending herself to the most minute particulars as well as transactions   of greater magnitude;   she allowed no object, however trifling,  to pass without her inspection and approval;  her presence was everywhere, now superintending the warping, now the finishing, now giving direction for the packing bales of goods for the London and American markets;  behind the counter supplying a single dress to a customer;  all her multitudinous duties being done with characteristic energy and promptitude.  The funeral took place on Monday and a very large attendance of townspeople and a number from  the surrounding district turned out  to testify their respect for her memory."

Southern Reporter 30th January 1862

 "The Berwickshire News" later commented on " Miss Christian Whale (Kirsty in the vernacular)  was a woman of masculine understanding and highest business capacity...  and had a  life of great activity and usefulness.....she will be long remembered in these parts as a woman of ability and enterprise and one who deserved well of her native place".    

Two years later almost to the day,  sister Marion died 24th January 1864 aged 71.  The business was dissolved, and in February 1864, local newspapers carried front page advertisements on "Valuable Property in Earlston for Sale...Belonging to  the late Misses Christian and Marion Whale".  The mill was sold to the textile firm of Wilson & Sons, and the house property was sold to Mr Smail, agent of the Commercial Bank  for the sum of £700. 

   On the middle right - the former home of the Whale Sisters,  
sold to the Commercial Bank.  

   
The two Whale sisters were ahead of their time and made an enormous contribution to Earlston life.  They were beacons in  mid Victorian Britain when few women showed such enterprising spirit to head successful businesses.  

 Today a street name sign reminds us of the village's past. 

Sources:

Index to British Newspapers 1710-1953  

Scotlands People 

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In  Case You Missed - Read About Other Earlston Worthies:  

• Earlston's Posties of the Past
  
• Fire at John Wallace, Joiner's
• Isabel Wallace - Friend & Benefactor
• John MacKenize - Banker and Man of Many Parts 
• Thomas Gray - Gingham Tam
  
  
  
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