Blochairn was principally an ironworks engaged in the manufacture of malleable-iron, I discovered that I had a rellie who was a "Puddler" in Blochairn who had come to Glasgow from Staffs for the money. That was the worst industrial job, a special breed of men, (apart from an actor!
) puddlers either died young or got out of it early. Standing at a puddling furnace with his young assistant for up to a 12 hour shift, manipulating a semi-molted bloom of pig iron with iron hooks, then when it was ready, transferring it to a steam-hammer by hand, puddling was highly skilled & considered highly paid, early blindness was also an occupational hazard.
Puddling furnaces were located in open sheds to disperse the heat which of course was much worse in summer, the guys drank copious amounts of water or beer & collapse & failure to complete a shift, resulting in loss of earnings, was common.
In the 1860's industrial journalist David Bremner wrote, "The work of the puddler is probably the severest kind of labour voluntarily undertaken by man!"
A puddler named Willox kept a diary in the summer of 1872 while working in ferocious heat at Parkhead Forge in Glasgow's east end. "Tuesday June 18th, this has been a terrible day with heat, nearly all the puddlers knocked off. Only five of us finished the shift, and little wonder!"
Skoosh.
