Gutta Purcha Worker

[ninatoo]

Hi all,

Going back over records I found my gggrandfather had the occupation of "gutta purcha worker" in the 1861 census in Glasgow. I probably laid this aside at the time for future investigation, but forgot about it. A quick google led me to revise the spelling to gutta PERCHA, and seems to have been a product like rubber from a tree. According to Wikipedia, it was used to make anything from furniture to golf balls.

Gggrandfather went on to be a hammerman, but I thought it was interesting to have had a different kind of employment. I imagine not too many people had this employment at the time.

I wonder if there was some kind of factory in Glasgow where he might have worked?

Anyway, I just thought I would share this, as I hadn't seen it before.

Nina

PS Shared this at another site too.

[sporran]

Hello Nina,


sorry, I can not help you with any locations. This is just to let you know that gutta percha is still used nowadays in dentistry. I had root canal work on a tooth a few years ago, and the dentist used strands of gutta percha to fill the holes where he drilled out the root canals.


Regards,

John

[LesleyB]

Hi Nina
I found this
http://www.theglasgowstory.com/image.php?inum=TGSA02415

James Dick's factory, which made rubberised soles for shoes from gutta-percha. The Glasgow word for gym shoes, "gutties", is derived from the name of this material

.

http://www.nls.uk/catalogues/online/add ... t_2004.pdf

Chalmers, Thomas. 100 years of gutta-percha. [Glasgow], 1946.
This book was published by the firm of R. & J. Dick of Glasgow to celebrate the centenary of the company. It is a fascinating document of Scotland's industrial history. Robert and James Dick were born in Kilmarnock and in the 1840s served their apprenticeships in Glasgow. In 1843 the first samples of guttapercha (latex gum) arrived in Scotland, and in 1846 the brothers recognized the potential of this product and formed a partnership for the manufacture of cheap rubber shoes. When the shoe market declined, guttapercha was discovered to be good insulation for electrical cables, and the firm's product was used for transatlantic cables.
The book still contains the original compliments slip from the firm.

With more about the Dicks here:
http://www.electricscotland.com/history ... /dicks.htm

Best wishes
Lesley

[ninatoo]

Wow Lesley that was fast!!! Thanks very much!

Shoes, eh? How interesting! Wait till I tell my Mum about her connection to gutties! I am sure she will be flabergasted!

This is why I love this hobby...you learn new things all the time!

Nina

[LesleyB]

Hi Nina
It certainly seems a possibility that he may have worked at the factory, or maybe somewhere similar. There may have been other places in Glasgow using gutta percha to make other items at the same time - I don't know.

The Dicks, after extending the Gallowgate factory by renting new property, realised that this course was expedient but only makeshift, and decided that a properly organised factory in a new location was necessary. In 1859 Robert Dick, on behalf of his brother and himself, bought MacPhail’s Mill, a disused building situated at the top of what is now MacPhail Street and beside Glasgow Green, the oldest and most historic of Glasgow's open spaces. The area was 4,872 square yards and the cost £1,000. The mill was renovated and, periodically, it was extended until a sizeable factory was in existence. It was named, quite obviously, Greenhead Works. The factory, enlarged and modernised, now devoted exclusively to the manufacture of the world-famous “Dickbelt,” is still the headquarters of a thriving Industry.

Best wishes
Lesley

[Russell]

Hi Nina

When I started in the nursing business we still used Gutta Percha as a protective covering for boils and abscesses amongst other forms of waterproofing of wounds. It came in thin sheets which were dark green colour and you cut off the size of covering needed. We mixed up Epsom salts and glycerine to draw infections and without a covering it oozed out all over the place so GP was a great dressing.
Edinburgh had a thriving rubber and GP industry too so I would imagine all the big towns had some sort of rubber shoe and rubber sheet industry.


The things you learn from this hobby

Russell