Tag: Newlyn

Clothing the people: female manufacturers

Whereas 18 per cent of men in the Cornwall of the 1860s worked in manufacturing, this classification encompassing a broad range of activities, around 13 per cent of unmarried women were found in the same sector, but largely concentrated in just one branch – the production of clothing. However, that 13 per cent is probably … Continue reading Clothing the people: female manufacturers →

Finding fishermen in Victorian Cornwall

While the status of the miner on Cornwall’s coat of arms seems assured, warranted by their 30 per cent or so of the total workforce, that of fishermen is less secure. In contrast, the two per cent of the enumerated adult male labour force in 1861 who were described as fishermen suggests they were a … Continue reading Finding fishermen in Victorian Cornwall →

Newlyn: fish hawkers and octogenarians

In May 1871 the Great Exhibition opened its doors in London. The Crystal Palace constructed in Hyde Park was the wonder of its age, a giant greenhouse containing exhibits from around the globe as Victorians revelled in their technical wizardry and the bounties of free trade (and colonialism). Meanwhile, 256 miles away, an old lady … Continue reading Newlyn: fish hawkers and octogenarians →

John Passmore Edwards: the Cornish philanthropist

Anyone who walks around Cornish towns with half an eye open cannot fail to spot the buildings adorned with the name ‘Passmore Edwards’. But who was Passmore Edwards? John Passmore Edwards was born on 24th March 1823 in a nondescript cottage in Blackwater, a mining village a mile or two east of Redruth on the … Continue reading John Passmore Edwards: the Cornish philanthropist →

Cholera in Cornwall: the Victorians’ coronavirus

Not strictly Victorian perhaps, as it preceded Victoria’s reign by five years. As if the endemic typhoid, typhus and dysentery, not to mention the measles, mumps and whooping cough that every year cut a swathe through thousands of infants, were not enough, in 1832 cholera arrived in Cornwall. Outbreaks periodically panicked local authorities into the … Continue reading Cholera in Cornwall: the Victorians’ coronavirus →