Hello
I’ve been perusing the 1841and 1851 census returns for the whole of Cairneyhill near Dunfermline, in Fife. You might not know this but Cairneyhill wasn’t noted for its gleaming towers, fashionable boulevards or vibrant nightlife.
Most of the adults either worked on the land, down the pits or in the textile industry.
Cairneyhill wasn’t a big place and people’s homes weren’t numbered or named. They just lived on the “north” or “south side of the street”.
I can only assume that the houses which line each side of the main street today are much the same now as they were then, small. Given the size of many of the families including mine, I can’t imagine how they all lived together. They must have taken it in turns to eat and sleep.
However, from the information available I can see that all of the children in my very under privileged, working class family, both boys and girls, are at school. As far as I am aware this predates the Scottish education act. Of the children who had left school at the time of the first census, two that I know of went on to university at St Andrews and Glasgow.
I conclude that this pair went to school as well in the eighteen twenties and thirties. I can also see that one of the girls is following the same path that led to one of her many brothers becoming a Doctor. Of the children who survived birth, all went on for four score years or so, just like their mum and dad. Did they just prevail or did they live as merry as the day
I know this is just a microcosm of Scottish life but this glimpse like others I have come across, seems to contrast with the bleak accounts of life that are handed down to us. I can see education for all, opportunity and equality of opportunity before any government decree and long before the suffrage movement came to town.
Perhaps things weren’t as gloomy as we are often led to believe.
Any thoughts or knowledge would oblige.
M