Fàilte! (Welcome!)

Fàilte! (Welcome!)
This blog is the result of my ongoing research into the people, places and events that have shaped the Western Isles of Scotland and, in particular, the 'Siamese-twins' of Harris and Lewis.
My interest stems from the fact that my Grandfather was a Stornowegian and, until about four years ago, that was the sum total of my knowledge, both of him and of the land of his birth.
I cannot guarantee the accuracy of everything that I have written (not least because parts are, perhaps, pioneering) but I have done my best to check for any errors.
My family mainly lived along the shore of the Sound of Harris, from An-t-Ob and Srannda to Roghadal, but one family 'moved' to Direcleit in the Baighs...

©Copyright 2011 Peter Kerr All rights reserved

Monday 5 May 2014

Quantities and Value of Commodities Exported from St Kilda, 1875

In the winter of 1876 a journalist, John Sands, was stranded on the island of St Kilda.
He had also visited the archipelago in the previous year and wrote an account of his experiences, Out of this World; or Life in St Kilda, which was published by MacLachlan & Stewart in 1888.
On page 59 of this book Sands provides figures for various items produced by the St Kildans in 1875 and I have used these to calculate the values that follow:

Cloth: 227 yards (Of 47 inches and thumb) at 2s 3d = £ 25 10s 9d
Blankets: 403 at 1s 10d = £ 36 18s 10d
Fulmar oil: 906 pints (each pint equal to 5 pints Imperial) at 1s = 906s = £ 45 6s 0d
Tallow: 17stones 6 pounds (each stone containing 24 lbs.) at 6s 6d = £ 5 12s 1½d
Black feathers: 87 stones 15 pounds (24lb to the stone) at 6s = £ 26 5s 9d
Grey feathers: 69 stones 19 pounds (24 lb to the stone) at 5s = £ 17 8s 11½d
Cheese: 38 stones 6 pounds (24 lb to the stone) at 6s = £ 11 9s 6d
Fish: 1080 “marketable” at 7d each = 7560d = 630s = £ 31 10s 0d

Total £200 1s 11d

These goods were produced by the seventy-five souls living in St Kilda in 1875, giving a per capita income of £2 13s 6d. which we may equate to about £1,650 today.

There were 18 households recorded in the 1871 census, suggesting an average household income of £11 2s 2d, or about £6,870 in today's money.

Whilst not a vast sum of money, it is nevertheless indicative of the degree to which the people of St Kilda were participating in the wider economy at this time, and also of the prodigious quantities of birds that they were processing. The fact that they sold over 1000 fish in a single year is, however, perhaps the biggest surprise?


An extract from Sands account account of being stranded may be read online: http://www.widegrin.com/vicmisc/st_kilda.htm

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