Carter pay?

[GrayBonnet]

How much would a Carter generally be paid? Would they be well off or poor?

Looking at my Great Great Great Grandfather he is listed as a Carter, My guess is he was a Farm Carter as he was born in Foggieloan in Scotland, Then he moved to Drumblade which is a small hamlet full of crofts, Then moved to  Kelsey, Alberta, Canada where he could have worked for what seems to be a farm. He was a Carter in the late Victorian times possibly up to the 1920's.

From the one photo I have of him, He is wearing a very nice suit and the Cottage he lived in was also a very nice house.

Also seems he would have owned his horses and cart or wagon or whatever he drove. So, How wealthy would he have really been?

Curios because my family just went from poor Agricultural Labourers too a carter living in a nice cottage and wearing fancy suits. And then those of us left behind when he went to Canada became poor again. Another question, How did one become a carter?

[joboy]

I would think that if one was an owner of a horse and hopefully a cart a 'carter' would preferably the way to go at that period.
He would not be 'Paid' as such but would charge whatever he pleased for any particular task.
Joe

[Guy Etchells]

You really have to differentiate between the types of carter to estimate his wages.

In very basic terms a farm carter would be paid about the same as a man with a trade, joiner, bricklayer, shoemaker etc. He would be comfortably off without being well paid.
There were also the private carriers/carters they would legally be able to pick and choose his customers and would be able to command the best prices from them.

Then there were the common carriers/carters who were regulated by law and could not pick and choose what they carried or who they worked for. They worked for very little (about the same as a farm labourer) and were liable for virtually any damage to the goods they carried.

Cheers
Guy

[ThrelfallYorky]

I have ancestors described at times as Carters, and they seem to have varied from, as Guy says, very basic chaps, working their socks off for not a lot, to others who seemed to have stabling, and several assistants to work with/ under them, not all members of their own family. It was obviously at times an elastic term.

[dobfarm]

19th century, probably delivered milk aluminium containers, collected outside toilet refuse or farm animal refuse for the farmers fields, also drove the plough teams, harvest cart, list goes on and on and reverted to general farm hand when not carting, but could have lived in a tide cottage owned by a farm or large family estate. Don't think the pay would be much more than an ag lab. In Canada with vast distances to cover ? the pay may have been more.

As an individual who ? if was able earn good money, they had such big families those days, to share out or dilute the gross amount an estate of a Will probate - that it went back to each married grown up childs merit to make his own way financially in life. (most likely poor pay and others a bit better depending on their job title)

[Skoosh]

GB,  Scran stuff on conditions in the North of Scotland, 1840-1940,

http://www.scran.ac.uk/scotland/pdf/SP2_10Economy.pdf

Skoosh.