1840s - Why Leave Edinburgh

[Rockford]

Hi,

After getting an Ancestry subscription with my new family tree software, I've been spending a bit of time chasing down some previously dead ends and climbing a few brick walls - including a flurry of activity in relation to my Gregory forebears who were Tinsmiths in Edinburgh in the early part of the 1800s.

My 3 x great grandfather William Gregory was born around 1795, likely in Edinburgh, and my 3 x great granny was Margaret Vair who was born in 1789 in Melrose. They married in Edinburgh St Cuthberts in Sept 1816 and had a family of at least 9 weans from 1816 to the early 1830s, all of whom were born around St Cuthberts. Throughout the records I've looked at, William is always described a Tin Smith and lived at various addresses along Rose Street.

Margaret died relatively young in 1838 and at the 1841 Census, William is living with sons Thomas b. 1825 (my 3 x great grandfather) and William (b.1819) - all three are Tin Smiths. William snr dies in 1843 and this is where I think it gets interesting.

Of the 9 children, I have found various daughters in Edinburgh on the 1851 Census and beyond. However, by this time, Thomas and William are both at addresses in Compton Street in Clerkenwell, Middlesex. Thomas is a Dry Gas Meter Maker and William is a Journeyman Tinplate Worker. Both are married to Aberdeen born wives - Thomas to Margaret [Mackay] (their marriage took place in 1846 in Glasgow as Thomas Vair and Margt. Mackay] and William to Helen. An older brother James is also a Tinplate Worker and is in Westminster, with his Dalkeith born wife, Janet. I have traced Thomas and William through the remaining census, although James has disappeared for the timebeing after 1851 (his wife and two weans are also alone in South Leith in 1841).

What intrigues me is this - why would the three brothers all leave Edinburgh to seek work elsewhere as Tin Smiths, especially at a time when London and Edinburgh were, in theory, further apart than they are now? I would have thought that Edinburgh would have been bustling at that point in time - was there an economic downturn, did some historical crisis encourage people to move, or could it be just that one brother moved and was making a good living so the others followed? So far I haven't found any of them being fugitives from justice , but maybe that's just wishful thinking!! I've also been wondering at their journey to London and what that would have been like in the 1840s (and what it would have cost!) - especially as they appear to have had young children with them.

All thoughts and reflections welcome!

Brian

[Elwyn 1]

Can't help you with the cost of getting to London but it appears the rail service between Edinburgh & London started in 1846. However it was also very common to go from Leith (and other east coast ports) to London by sea, at that time. There were very regular services up and down the eats coast. Perhaps that's how they got there?

Elwyn

[Montrose Budie]

Hi Rockford

Or was there some particular need for their expertise in London that led to the move down south?, with an associated economic benefit ...................

Or. as you suggest, had the bottom dropped out of the market served by tinsmiths in Edinburgh?, and Scotland in general?, so that they had no option but to go south of the border; except that I can't quite see that the Scottish market could decline to such a severe extent without there being similar problems for tinsmiths across the UK ...............

mb

[Elwyn 1]

Brian,

The usual motives for emigration over the centuries have been famine, war or money. Since there was no famine and no war in 1840s Edinburgh, you are left with money. I'd guess that for one reason or another he thought he'd make more money in London than Edinburgh.

Elwyn

[Hibee]

Hi Brian

Just a thought......is it possible that the "tin smiths" were, in fact tinkers.....and duty bound to travel?

Hibee

[Currie]

Hello Brian,

“Every Traveller's Guide to the Railways of England, Scotland, Ireland etc” published 1843, will give you an idea of the cost of rail travel. I’m not sure how you could translate that into an Edinburgh to London journey.

There’s Scottish fare information from page 53, towards the end of the book. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=0MV ... QC&pg=PA53

There are some Steamship advertisements with fares in the back of “Black's Iron Highway from London to Edinburgh” published 1851, which is about the Rail journey. Some interesting hints towards the front. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=Lzl ... am&f=false

Alan

[Rockford]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions - the books are fascinating Alan and it surprised me to know that you could go from Edinburgh to Stirling by steamship!

I think that the financial benefit might be the one that persuaded them - especially if the transport was relatively frequent as Alan's links suggest it might have been and which I hadn't realised.

I had thought about Hibees suggestion they could have been tinkers, but that fact that they had stayed so long in Edinburgh, 20 odd years more or less in the same street makes me think that this is maybe more unlikely.

Best wishes

Brian