Social customs

[chinakay]

Greetings all, I'm having a hard time finding good information on Scottish social customs in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Such as, did the wife retain her own name, work customs, who would inherit what etc. Anybody know a good page?

Best,
China

[Boongie Pam]

Hiya China,

Across Scotland to this day it is common for women to retain their maiden names after marriage.  BUT this generally only manifests itself on certificates and gravestones will name the wife's birth name. Often on the death of her husband a widow would revert to her maiden name and be called "Widow McKenzie" - McKenzie being the maiden name.  I get the impression that everyday they would be known by their married name.

There isn't one website I can point you to but there are some excellent books.

http://www.nas.gov.uk/learning/publications.asp

Your local library may be able to help.

As for inheritance there is a small explanation on Scotlandspeople...

http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/content/help/index.aspx?r=554&407

As for working in Scotland it would depend very much on what type of occupation or where your ancestors lived (rural or urban).

As Scotland has a lower population density in general I've found my ancestors quite mobile.  For example Mason will regularly travel across from the SW to the Lothians for work during the housing boom in Edinburgh - but they invariably came back to Dumfriesshire.

Is their a specific occupation you are interested in?

In general only the monied didn't work.  Young girls went into service and young boys to farms or if you were in a weaving area you weaved.

Fire some questions out 

There is invariably an expert loitering somewhere 

All the best,

Pam
 

[chinakay]

Hello Pam!

>There is invariably an expert loitering somewhere

Evidently I've found one

I'd been looking into a KERR family from Moffat. Father William, mother Janet BELL. Children John Bell, Agnes, Robert and William, also an unnamed female who likely didn't survive. All four adult children are in Halifax by the 1841 census, and as far as I can tell none returned to Moffat. I'm very curious about the circumstances that would cause all the children to leave. There are no KERRs in Moffat in 1841 and no Janet BELL, so I suppose they could have died. The boys all became drapers...would it be a good guess that their father was in the trade also?

Many thanks for your help. I'm finding this all fascinating!

Best,
China

[Boongie Pam]

I'm not really an expert  But I have picked the odd snippet up on my Scottish travels 

There are 16 Kerrs in Moffat in 1851 (online here...)
http://www.dumgal.gov.uk/historicalindexes/census.aspx

All the older people having been born elsewhere.  I find that interesting because it is a fairly common name in Dumfriesshire in general (over 5000 hits on the IGI) so unusual for Moffat not to have any natives.

I've had a look at 1841 on Freecen and there are 9 (or was it 8 I've closed the window!) hits for the name KER which is a common spelling to crop up.

It was common for boys to follow in the footsteps of their parents occupation so if he had a good business they would stick with him maybe.  Halifax was definitely a good place to be in the material business, lots of mills.

Another aspect is that many drapers were travelling salesmen so on the night of the census it maybe coincidental that the family are home?  All supposition of course. And presuming he was a cloth merchant not a merchant of other dry goods. 

I'm certainly not an expert on drapers!  But I know it was a guild trade in the past, therefore this may of created a tighter bond between the family if they are all of the same occupation, though guilds where losing importance in the 1800s.  But I personally think monopolistic behaviour carried on.

Pam