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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Topic started by: suek2075 on Monday 02 March 15 14:55 GMT (UK)
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Can anyone help to explain about bondagers please? I think I've finally figured out about farm servants/ag labs etc. but I keep coming across the term bondagers when reading about hinds, without any explanation of what bondaging was.
Thanks
Sue
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Hi Sue,
I wrote a little about bondages in a blog post a few months ago and there are some links to other websites that explain it more fully: http://scottishgenealogyblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/using-wwwscottishindexescom-to-full.html
Emma
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That's really great thank you, Emma. I've often wondered why my ancestor was sometimes a hind, sometimes an ag lab, sometimes a farm servant, a ploughman or a farm steward. But as far as I can see he always had a farm cottage to live in. I assumed his fortune was going up and down depending on what job he could get.
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Very useful article Emma. Thanks.
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Bondagers - generally woman tied to a farm for board & lodging
Hind & Ag Labourer - employed -basically the same
Ploughman - employed (a trade)
Farm Steward - employed Supervisor
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Thanks for the links, Emma, they were really interesting. Just to let you know there is a spelling mistake on your website - says 'www.hebondagers...' instead of www.thebondagers...' - found my way though :)
I was interested to see the census with the bondager - my ancestor was a hind at Linglee, Selkirk in 1843 but as he was married I assume his wife would have been his bondager.
terianne - I thought ag labs and farm servants such as ploughmen/shepherds/etc (skilled labourers?) were very different? I thought farm servants/stewards had yearly contracts and ag labs had short term, seasonal contracts. Most of my farming ancestors seem to move between farm servant and ag lab on the census - I always thought that was because they possibly couldn't get jobs as farm servants so took ag lab jobs or because the census requirements were different.
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I have always thought that farm servants and agricultural labourers were the same! Their term of employment was usually 6 months. The feeing markets were held in May and November and temporary contracts were made for either 6 months or a year.
flst
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Thanks flst. Perhaps I've not understood properly - wouldn't be the first time :) I'm going to go away and try to find where I read about farm servants contracts. Maybe I took something out of context. My understanding was that although the hiring fairs were six monthly contracts for servants might be longer than that and might be extended by agreement between the farmer/servant.
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This google book has a very long description of the conditions for a variety of farm servants throughout the different counties of Scotland, differentiating between those hired by the year or half year and those paid by the day or short term. "In East Lothian, Berwickshire, and Roxburghshire, the greatest proportion of farm-servants are married men, who are hired by the year....Next to hired farm-servants, labourers employed in all the incidental, or by-jobs upon a farm, are the most valuable to the arable farmer"
General report of the agricultural state, and political circumstances, of Scotland
Edited by Sir John Sinclair 1814
The date is very early, 1814, and of course things changed a lot over the next sixty years or so, but this is probably why I thought there was such a distinction between farm servants and ag labs. I have another one stored away somewhere if I can find it, which goes into contractual terms in more detail, but for the life of me i can't rememebr where I stored it.
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don't get hung up on the farming terms too much in the Scottish Borders the duration on serve depended on the employers and the hiring - length of employment not guaranteed it depended on if the employer was pleased with your work or not and the employee could leave for better pay at the hiring.
As for the difference of a Farm Servant and a Farm Steward in this area - Farm Servant is a general term for a person who work for the farmer, where a farm steward is similar to an overseer/foreman for the farmer.
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suek i suggest you read "Bondagers" by Dinah Iredale.ISBN 978-0-9569905-0-1 available from Martins the printers, Sea View Works, Spittal, Berwick upon Tweed TD15 1RS (194 pages)
The lady came and gave us a great informative lecture resulting in me buying the book which is full of pictures and cutting from the Scottish Borders. It deals with everything one would want to know.
I recommend it to anyone interested,
alan