Tennant Chemical Works .....

thomsj1 · Post by **thomsj1** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 6:10 pm

Hi

One of my relatives was living in Sprinburn Glasgow during the mid > late 1800's. In the 1851 census he is listed as as a 'Labourer in a Chemical Works'. He is similarly listed on his daughter's marriage certificate in 1870. What is weird is that in the 1861 census he is listed a 'Labourer in a Secret Work'.

I reckon he must have been working in the Tennant Chemical Works in St Rollox - does anyone have any idea what was going on there in 1861 to make his work classed at secret ?

Regards

Jim Thomson

Post by **AndrewP** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 6:16 pm

Hi Jim,

Have you seen "Labourer in a Secret Work" on the census page for yourself? Or is this a transcription where you have not yet seen the original? If you have seen the original, is it clearly "Labourer in a Secret Work"?

All the best,

AndrewP

thomsj1 · Post by **thomsj1** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 7:34 pm

Hi Andrew

I got the census extract from the GROS site and it looks like 'secret work' to me ! I cropped the employment section from the document and uploaded a file to the gallery. What do you reckon ?

http://talkingscot.com/gallery/displayi ... ?pos=-1136

Regards

Jim

Gallery URL added - AndrewP

Post by **AndrewP** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 7:40 pm

Hi Jim,

On looking at the three of them on that section of page, it certainly looks like "Labourer in a Secret Work".

All the best,

AndrewP

pricech2 · Post by **pricech2** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 8:47 pm

Hi Jim,

How about this as a possibility: the enumerator heard "secret work", but what the person said was "acetic works". Tennants produced acetic acid acid amongst other products. I can't think of any secret products produced by Tennants at that time.

Cheers..........Christine

thomsj1 · Post by **thomsj1** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 2:05 pm

Hi Christine

That a good idea. I noticed from the extract that my Gt Gt Uncle gave his place of birth as Ireland so it's quite possible that his accent may have had something to do with it.

Regards

Jim

emamc · Post by **emamc** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 2:53 pm

Hi Jim

A relative of mine is also from Springburn Smith/McQuade, just in case, and they are also listed on the same census as Labourer in secret work. Later census has them listed as labourer in chemical works, so unlikely to be misheard twice.

Liz

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 4:27 pm

pricech2 wrote:Hi Jim,

How about this as a possibility: the enumerator heard "secret work", but what the person said was "acetic works". Tennants produced acetic acid acid amongst other products. I can't think of any secret products produced by Tennants at that time.

Cheers..........Christine

Well spotted.

"secret" vs "acetic" has to be a classic

And well suggested in terms of the "ear of the hearer" effect.

David (a chemical engineer by profession, up to retiral !)

Post by **SarahND** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 4:49 pm

emamc wrote:A relative of mine is also from Springburn Smith/McQuade, just in case, and they are also listed on the same census as Labourer in secret work. Later census has them listed as labourer in chemical works, so unlikely to be misheard twice.

But perhaps likely if it was the same enumerator. The poor soul heard it once and interpreted it as "secret", then on hearing a similar thing over and over in the same neighbourhood, noted it down always in the same way, assuming he had got it right the first time

Well, stranger things have happened

Sarah

Davie · Post by **Davie** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 2:05 am

Hi
We are talking St Rollox here?
In case you want to see where the works were in 1841, I have just put a scan of a map in the Churchyards Cemeteries etc topic, under Wanda’s Stevenson’s.
It does not surprise me to see “secret work” coming from a chemical factory, especially if it was indeed Tennant’s.
Also it would not come as a revelation to find that the families were Irish and ended up as some of the “Blind Mice”
I cannot find the paper with the article on this very subject at the moment, but I’ll come back on this.
Davie

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