Stornoway, far from being a bit of a backwater in the 19th century, was a town with aspirations to be on a par with the social norms which obtained with the sophistication of mainland places. The Incorporated Trades Society of Stornoway was founded well before 1856, when some its Rules were amended. The Society had been formed by ‘merchants, shipowners, artisans, mariners, labourers and others, inhabitants of the town and vicinity of Stornoway’. In effect, it was a mutual benefit or friendly society “or the purpose of raising a fund for the relief of sick and decayed members, and to defray funeral costs in cases of death”.
Each candidate for admission to the Society had to be a native of Great Britain … “a man of sober and honest deportment, and not evidently in a declining state of health or means when he enters”. Applicants had to produce certificates from at least two members stating that they had known him for at least six months, and they were then only accepted if approved by a majority of those present at a general meeting of the Society. All “quarrelsome persons or persons addicted to raising and fomenting unnecessary disputes, all drunkards, Sabbath breakers and profane swearers” were expressly debarred from membership. Normally no-one over the age of 40 years was admitted. But this rule was relaxed if a candidate was well off and not likely to apply to the Society for help and who wished to join and give it support for benevolent purposes.
The Society met quarterly to transact its business. It is interesting that its Rules required that anyone who refused to accept office when appointed by the Society was fined on a decreasing scale from President, Vice-President, Clerk or Secretary. Once taking office and serving for one year, you could not be fined for refusing to accept another term for a period of three years. Clearly, the Society took the responsibilities of membership seriously. The Society was, in effect, an insurance scheme with the entry fee being related to the applicant’s age. If aged 20, the entry fee was one shilling. If aged 40 years, the fee was five guineas. Then there was a quarterly fee. In this way, the Society’s funds were built up and maintained. When a member, or the wife of a member died, there was a special levy on all the members to meet funeral expenses.
For the first three years after joining, a member was not entitled to any benefit, except funeral expenses if h-e died. After that he was entitled to receive payments if he was sick, lame “or in any way rendered incapable of earning his daily bread”. Payments were related to the state of the Society’s funds. When the Society had more than £160, a beneficiary got four shillings; if the funds totalled more than £250 the pay-out was five shillings. After three months on benefit, these payments were reduced by half and if any person became a “permanent pensioner on the funds of the Society”, the benefit was restricted to £4 per annum.
The Society had four stewards whose duty it was to visit the sick, but not so much for charitable reasons but to check that they were still unable to work and entitled to the benefit they were receiving. If the stewards failed in their duties, they were fined! There was also a rule designed to prevent people who were ill from imposing on the Society by dropping their claim for a short period now and then to keep the benefit at a higher rate.
Some of the Society’s Rules were quite strict. Anyone convicted “of any crime in a court of justice” was forthwith expelled. Anyone on sick benefit seen out of his lodgings after ten o’clock at night without a valid reason would be fined. Anyone seen drunk or gambling were immediately expelled. There was also a Rule to punish any member who “shall publicly or privately design or promote the breaking up of the Society”. All disputes within the Society were to be settled by arbitration. For that purpose twelve arbitrators were appointed, from whom three were drawn by lot when a dispute arose. The disputing parties had to each put 12 shillings on the table and when the dispute was settled the winner got his money back and the loser got nothing, with his 12 shillings shared between the arbitrators.
There is no indication when the Society went out of existence. The Society was in fact one of a number of friendly societies which were in existence on the island, some run from mainland offices, like the Oddfellows and the Saturday Fund which, if my memory serves me right, required a member to pay sixpence a week to be eligible for benefits.
The late Jim Grant thought it was the Incorporated Trades Society which registered with the Lord Lyon King of Arms the shields of the various crafts pursued in the town, of which the late Dr. J. L. Robertson presented replicas to decorate the walls of the Town Hall. Many Scottish Trade Societies used armorial bearings but only two registered them with the Lyon King of Arms and so were legally entitled to display them: Stornoway and Aberdeen. If this is the case then the Incorporated Trades Society of Stornoway had its origins in the 18th century and by the time it amended its Rules in 1856, had been in existence for nearly a century.
The need for such a Society suggests that, in its time, it provided some social anchorage even for ‘substantial’ citizens in the town, and protection if someone fell on hard times. It does raise the question of what protection might have been afforded to the ‘lower orders’ of Stornoway whose income was irregular or was on such a low level that they could not apply for membership of the Society. One presumes that these people had recourse to the charity of the church or the facilities for the poor. As early as 1579, there existed in Scots law provisions for the poor of a Parish, though this distinguished between ‘the punishment of strange and idle beggars and the relief of pure and impotent persons’. By the middle of the 19th century, a charge was made on ratepayers to make provision for paupers and, in particular, the erection of Poorhouses, in addition to the appointment of Officers of the Poor to investigate and oversee those cases of persons who had fallen on hard times.
In September 1845, a big dinner was held in the Masonic Hall to recognise the official arrival of James Matheson who had purchased Lewis the year before. Among the toasts of a general nature, one was proposed by a Rev. Paterson: ‘The Friendly Societies of Stornoway’. The proposer mentions ‘Fortrose Lodge, next, the Friendly Society, and there is the Incorporated Trades Society. From the funds of these three associations from £200 to £300 annually are paid to the sick, inform and necessitous’.
Frank G. Thompson
This article was first published in Issue 17 (December 2001) of the Society’s magazine, then called the Journal (now SY Gone By).
Further Notes: Since 2001, new information has been discovered about the The Incorporated Trades Society of Stornoway. According to the New Statistical Account of Scotland (1840’s), the Rev John Cameron of Stornoway stated that this organisation had been founded in 1768. It’s coat of arms were registered with the Lord Lyon in 1772 (it is the entry in the register right after the Scottish Company that was established to run the ill fated Darien Scheme of the 1690’s).
We also now know when the Trades Society ceased to exist. A short lived local newspaper called ‘The Lewisman’, noted it’s dissolution in it’s January 1889 issue, indicating that that it had probably been wound up at the end of 1888. In 1894, Stornoway Town Council adopted the old Society’s coat of arms and motto’s ‘God Providence is Our Inheritance’ and ‘”Grace, Peace & Unity” for themselves, although these were not formally matriculated by the Lord Lyon until 1958.