Over the course of the nineteenth century there was a gradual but marked shift in Scotland from agricultural to industrial employment. Though this was in part due to the lure of greater employment opportunities in the factories of the burgeoning urban centres, it was also an outcome of shrinking opportunities in the agricultural workforce due in part to technological advances in agriculture.35 By 1881 the Census of Scotland records 60.97 per cent of all occupied males and 51.53 per cent of occupied females as being employed in industry (see Table 5.1). Even so, the table also shows that the proportion of the population of Scotland employed in agriculture (16.77 per cent) was higher than that for England and Wales (12.36 per cent).
34
NZSG database, migrants 02682 and 04293.
35
J.H. Treble, ‘The occupied male labour force’, in W. Hamish Fraser and R.J. Morris (eds), People and Society in Scotland, 1830-1914, Edinburgh, 1990, pp.167-205; W.W. Knox, Industrial Nation: Work, Culture and Society in Scotland, 1800-Present, Edinburgh, 1999, chapters 2 and 8; T.M. Devine, The Transformation of Rural Scotland: Social Change and the Agrarian Economy, 1660-1815, Edinburgh, 1994, chapter 3.
Table 5.1
Proportion of the occupied population of Scotland employed in each sector*
Agricul tur al Indus trial Com mercial Profe ssi on al Dom estic n Scotland Male 19.41 60.97 11.43 5.91 2.28 1,108,713 Female 10.90 51.53 1.06 6.14 30.37 498,171 Total 16.77 58.04 8.22 5.98 10.99 1,606,884 England and Wales Male 16.94 61.61 12.34 5.79 3.32 7,783,646 Female 1.90 46.36 0.57 5.76 45.40 3,403,918 Total 12.36 56.97 8.76 5.78 16.12 11,187,564
* These figures are based on totals excluding those enumerated as ‘unoccupied and non-productive’, who in Scotland at this census numbered 690,762 males and 1,437,827 females and in England/Wales numbered 4,856,256 males and 9,930,619 females.
Sources: Appendix Tables, Table LXVIII, 1881 Census of Scotland, pp.lvii-lviii, and Summary Tables, Table 4, 1881 Census of England/Wales, p.vi.
The pattern of employment varied in each of the six regions of Scotland. While the Far North, Highlands and North East remained predominantly agricultural in employment terms, in the Borders, the Eastern Lowlands, and especially the Western Lowlands, the majority of the occupied population – females as well as males – was employed in industry by 1881. (See Table 5.2). As outlined in Chapter Two, migrants from each region of Scotland came to New Zealand in numbers approximately proportionate to each region’s share of the population of Scotland. Had New Zealand’s Scottish migrants arrived in equally proportionate numbers in terms of occupation, and if the 1881 Census of Scotland may be taken as broadly indicative of the occupational structure of Scotland over the eighty year period under investigation, a majority of the Scottish migrants would have come from industrial backgrounds.
Table 5.2
Proportion of the occupied population of Scotland employed in each sector, by region and gender*
Agricultural Industrial Commercial Professional Domestic n
Far North Male 59.26 28.37 6.18 5.36 0.84 28,396 Female 25.59 45.62 0.09 5.92 22.77 14,771 Total 47.74 34.27 4.10 5.55 8.34 43,167 Highlands Male 51.62 30.84 7.08 7.71 2.75 86,529 Female 36.87 17.21 0.20 7.61 38.11 33,416 Total 47.51 27.04 5.16 7.68 12.60 119,945 North East Male 41.93 41.76 8.25 5.84 2.21 118,163 Female 17.16 32.12 0.80 8.67 41.25 50,194 Total 34.55 38.89 6.03 6.68 13.85 168,357 Eastern Lowlands Male 14.33 63.93 11.71 7.04 2.98 366,382 Female 8.13 55.09 1.01 6.26 29.51 184,659 Total 12.26 60.97 8.12 6.77 11.87 551,041 Western Lowlands Male 5.18 74.27 14.35 4.78 1.42 428,025 Female 3.89 63.02 1.62 5.23 26.24 178,870 Total 4.80 70.96 10.60 4.92 8.73 606,895 Borders Male 36.31 48.93 5.88 5.12 3.76 81,218 Female 20.99 37.45 0.40 5.28 35.87 36,361 Total 31.57 45.38 4.19 5.17 13.69 117,579
*These figures are based on totals excluding those enumerated as ‘unoccupied and non-productive’, who in this census numbered 690,762 males and 1,437,827 females.
Source: Appendix Tables, Table LXX, 1881 Census of Scotland, p.lxi
Though death certificates make no provision for the collection of information relating to the migrants’ occupations in Scotland, fathers’ occupations may be substituted as at least indicative of a migrant’s occupational ‘background’.36 The PNZ data indicates that agriculture was the occupational sector in which most of the migrants’ fathers were involved.37 Nevertheless, assuming that the majority of those employed outside agriculture were living in urban areas, previous studies that have argued that ‘while most nations drew their emigrants from rural areas, Scotland was unusual in sending many people with an urban and industrial background’ are not inaccurate in the claim.38 Among migrants in the PNZ data arriving between 1840 and 1920, 26.24 per cent of migrants’ fathers had been involved in agriculture in Scotland;
36
For discussion of some of the perceived issues with using father’s occupation as recorded on migrants death certificates as indicative of migrants’ occupational backgrounds, see Phillips and Hearn, Settlers, p.80
37
Table 17, ‘Occupational background (Father’s Occupation) of Scots immigrants aged 20 and over (Percentages)’, ibid., p.113
38
ibid., p.112. Erickson provides a useful breakdown of the male work force employed in agriculture by county of Scotland, separating the counties into ‘agricultural’ and ‘industrial’ counties for 1851 and 1881 (Table 11, p.337). Though most Scottish emigrants to the United States were from industrial areas of Scotland, as was the case with migrants to New Zealand, Erickson found that very few of the emigrants to the United States were from agricultural backgrounds, a contrast to New Zealand’s immigrants. C.J. Erickson, ‘Who were the English and Scots emigrants to the United States in the late nineteenth century?’ in D.V. Glass and Roger Revelle (eds), Population and Social Change, London, 1972, pp.347-381. See also McClean, ‘Scottish Emigrants to New Zealand, 1840-1880’, Table 6.5, p.320
however manufacturing was the stated occupation sector for 16.65 per cent, public service/professional/independent means accounted for 11.06 per cent and building 9.59 per cent. This suggests that up to 37.30 per cent of migrants’ fathers may have lived in non-rural environments.39
Of the 6,612 migrants in the NZSG database, 1,922 have an identifiable, and clearly definable, occupation (excluding ‘other’) recorded in Scotland.40 Of these, 1,922 (28.51 per cent), were employed in agriculture in Scotland prior to emigration, and 25.39 per cent in manufacturing. The Scottish census data is not directly comparable to the NZSG and other datasets (see Appendix 5.1). However the fact that the largest proportion of Scottish migrants to New Zealand were employed in agriculture is clearly indicative of a marked deviance between the employment in Scotland of the general population and of those who became New Zealand immigrants. In the 1881 Census of Scotland 58.04 per cent of the population (excluding ‘unoccupied and non-productive persons’) were employed in industry, and just 16.77 per cent in agriculture. The NZSG data thus confirms that, though Scotland was primarily industrial by the time of the mass transfers to New Zealand, and though it has previously been noted that agricultural labourers ‘constituted a relatively small proportion of the British outflow after 1855’, a preponderance of the migrants from Scotland to New Zealand were from agricultural backgrounds.41 Though Richards notes that the ‘haemorrhage’ of two million Scots leaving Scotland between 1830 and 1914 was ‘primarily out of the industrial sector’, this appears not to have been the case among Scots emigrating to New Zealand.42 Although one reason for a greater proportion of the Scottish migrants to New Zealand having an agricultural rather than an industrial background may have been the availability of opportunities for industrial labourers within Britain and in North America, the availability of land and the
39
‘May have’ because some men – blacksmiths, storekeepers and such like – have been classified in these non-agricultural sectors but are likely to have been living in a rural environment. These figures are based on analysis of the PNZ data, using the occupational classifications devised for this work and not the Phillips and Hearn classifications. Note also that while Phillips and Hearn excluded from analysis of father’s occupation those migrants who died under the age of twenty, ‘on the assumption that the father’s occupation was probably occupation in NZ, not in [the] UK’ father’s occupation for these migrants has been included in the present analysis. Personal communication with Dr Jock Phillips, 21 March 2006.
40
Excluding ‘other’ from these figures means that the majority of the migrants under discussion are males, as explained in Appendix 5.1
41
Eric Richards, Britannia’s Children: Emigration from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland since 1600, London and New York, 2004, p.168
42
consequent attractiveness of New Zealand to those with an agricultural background played a more important role.43
Consideration of the available occupation data by region of birth yields unsurprising results, given what is already known about the regions. In light of the industrial character of the Eastern and Western Lowlands, manufacturing was predictably the primary former employment of migrants from these regions. Conversely, that sector employed less than 10 per cent of those from the Far North. Agriculture employed more than 28 per cent of migrants from the North East, Borders, and Far North Regions, while 50.56 per cent of Highlands Region migrants had been employed in agriculture. While mining accounted for less than 1.50 per cent of those from the North East, Borders and Highlands and 3.74 per cent from the Far North, 10.72 per cent of those from the industrial Western Lowlands were from a mining background.
Table 5.3
Employment prior to emigration to New Zealand:
proportion of Scottish migrants who had been employed in each occupational sector, by region of birth*
Agricul
tur
al
Mining Building Dea
ling Dom estic Labourin g Ma nuf ac turin g Public Ser v ice, etc T ransp or t an d Com mercial n Far North 40.19 3.74 7.48 3.74 15.89 2.80 9.35 5.61 11.21 107 Highlands 50.56 1.50 4.12 2.62 16.10 1.50 12.73 7.87 3.00 267 North East 28.42 0.36 13.31 7.91 11.51 3.60 20.50 9.71 4.68 278 Eastern Lowlands 19.86 4.84 7.77 11.4 10.71 2.59 33.16 6.22 3.45 579 Western Lowlands 19.38 10.72 9.69 9.69 7.22 3.30 30.10 5.98 3.92 484 Borders 39.61 1.45 8.21 7.73 12.08 1.45 23.67 4.83 0.97 207 Total 28.50 4.78 8.58 8.42 11.13 2.65 25.38 6.71 3.85 1,922
* Excludes ‘unknown’, ‘indefinable’ and 'other' sectors Source: NZSG Data, 1840-1920
43
Richards, Britannia’s Children, p.97; Marjory Harper, Adventurers and Exiles: The Great Scottish Exodus, London, 2003, p.95
Further examination of the data by occupation ‘type’ within each sector produces other interesting patterns. While the largest proportion of (male) migrants from the Eastern Lowlands had been employed in manufacturing prior to emigration, the majority were from ‘pre-industrial’ occupations, those in which technological innovations had been minimal (see Appendix 5.2). Migrants from the Western Lowlands were equally from ‘industrial’ and ‘pre-industrial’ manufacturing backgrounds, but in both instances work with textiles or clothing was the most common former employment. Clothing trades/textile occupations were the primary former employment of migrants with a manufacturing background from every region of Scotland; among the NZSG migrants thirty-four were recorded simply as ‘weaver’ (industrial, textiles), thirty-six as ‘tailor’ or ‘tailoress’, and twenty-six as ‘dressmaker’ (pre-industrial, clothing trades). This suggests that even the migrants from an ‘industrial’ background were not necessarily migrating to escape from ‘smoke stacks and grime’; or if they were it was from the prospect of such a lifestyle rather than from their present situation.
Of those within the ‘armed forces 2’ category of the public service, professional and independent sector, 40.74 per cent were from the Eastern Lowlands. The Eastern Lowlands contributed more migrants to both categories of professionals than the Western Lowlands – 33.33 per cent of ‘professional 1’ and 22.45 per cent of ‘professional 2’, compared to the Western Lowlands 22.22 and 18.37 per cent respectively. However the North East contributed the most migrants of a ‘professional 2’ background – 30.61 per cent of the ‘professional 2’ group. Though it must be conceded that this finding arises from a small – and therefore possibly misleading – sub-sample, it is noteworthy that thirteen of the fifteen migrants from the North East categorised as ‘professional 2’ were teachers.44 Half of the migrants employed as ‘assistants to professionals’ were born in the Western Lowlands, and all but one in Lanarkshire. The eight Lanarkshire-born migrants were nurses, aged between sixteen and thirty-six at arrival. The one ‘assistant’ born in Renfrewshire was a lay reader in the Presbyterian Church.45 David Barker, aged fifty-five at arrival in New Zealand in 1885, was the only migrant in the sample to have been engaged in employment within
44
The other two were accountants. Seven of the nine Western Lowlands ‘professional 2’ migrants were teachers, and only six of the Eastern Lowlands eleven migrants were in this group.
45
Though not what would usually be considered an ‘occupation’, this is what is recorded for his occupation on the NZSG register, and as such it is classified here. NZSG database, migrant 06075
the ‘public service 1’ category prior to his emigration. He is recorded as having been a Lieutenant Governor in Dumfries.46 Perhaps more surprising is that just one migrant in the NZSG data had been employed within the ‘public service 2’ category prior to emigration; Murdoch McLennan had been an excise officer in Ross and Cromarty before emigrating in 1857, aged twenty-three.47 The small number of migrants with a background in public service employment in Scotland suggests that individuals in this line of work had less incentive to emigrate than those in other avenues of employment, perhaps living in comfortable circumstances with financial security. That the New Zealand Government had greater interest in attracting migrants who were highly adaptable to the needs of the colonial occupation market than in migrants who were highly trained and specialised also played a part.48
Only four migrants in the sample were of independent means in Scotland. Two were born in the Eastern Lowlands (Clackmannan and Stirling), one in the Western Lowlands (Lanarkshire) and one in the North East (Aberdeen). Although a greater number of migrants were classified as ‘independent’ in New Zealand, only one of the four remained in this category post-emigration. The migrant of independent means from Aberdeen, Agnes Milne, was recorded as ‘Lady’ on the NZSG registration form. She was single at arrival in New Zealand, being then aged forty years. Though she died within six years of arrival in New Zealand, she married within this time, to a fellow Aberdonian who had arrived in New Zealand some seven years earlier. Her husband had no occupation recorded in the register for his time in Scotland, but was a farm manager and seed merchant in New Zealand. Agnes had no occupation recorded for her time in New Zealand, but, based on her husband’s New Zealand occupations, would not have been recorded as of independent means post-immigration. Furthermore, it might be suggested that if she had the resources to still be considered a ‘lady’ of independent means, it is unlikely her husband would have been employed in the recorded areas of employment in New Zealand.49 Francis Garden Brown, born in Lanarkshire in 1879, is recorded as having been of independent means in Scotland, though he arrived in New Zealand aged just twenty-four. His occupation in New
46 NZSG database, migrant 00404. 47 NZSG database, migrant 04100. 48
Fairburn, ‘Social mobility and opportunity’, p.48
49
Zealand is recorded as ‘farming’.50 Alexander MacFarlane, aged only twenty-one years at arrival, was recorded in the register as having been a ‘gentleman’ in Scotland. He lived only six years in New Zealand before his death in 1880, and was variously employed as a mariner and a publican during that time.51 Septimus Leishman, born in Dollar, Clackmannan in 1848, was twenty-nine at arrival and has neither spouse nor children recorded on his registration form. His recorded occupation on the NZSG form for both Scotland and New Zealand is ‘independent means’. He died in Edinburgh aged seventy-two. The registration form gives no indication as to when he returned to Scotland.52
Over twice as many migrants from the Far North had been involved in the transport sector than were migrants from any other region – 11.21 per cent of Far North migrants compared to less than 5 per cent from other regions. Though this 11.21 per cent was made up of just twelve migrants, eleven of the twelve were either seamen, sailors, seafarers or master mariners. Eight were from Shetland and three from Orkney.53 The only migrant of the twelve employed in ‘inland transport’ was Margaret Doull of Caithness. Margaret was born in 1821 and is recorded on the NZSG form as having worked as a carter prior to her immigration to New Zealand in 1877.54
Aberdeen migrants involved in shipbuilding comprise a significant number of North East migrants engaged in manufacturing, 12.31 per cent of all manufacturing sector migrants from that region being Aberdonian. Four of these Aberdeenshire-men, Adam and David Thompson, Robert Reid and William Craig, were among the Scottish-born employed as shipbuilders in New Zealand.55 Another former Aberdeen man, George Fraser, built the first New Zealand-made iron ship.56