I thought I would take
a wee look at the census records for those engaged in weaving in
North Uist:
1841 Male - 2 Female
- 21 Total - 23
1851 Male – 6
Female – 103 Total - 109
1861 Male – 2
Female - 63 Total - 65
1871 Male - 2 Female
- 89 Total - 91
1881 Male - 3 Female
– 102 Total - 105
1891 Male - 1 Female
- 132 Total - 133
1901 Male - 0 Female
- 76 Total – 76
What strikes me is that
the pattern in North Uist is remarkably similar to that in Harris
where weaving throughout the nineteenth century was primarily a
female occupation. My analysis for Harris can be read here.
Incidentally, about a
quarter (26 of 103) of the women weaving in 1851 describe themselves
to be a 'Hand Loom Weaver' this number falling to 2 in 1871 and
rising to only 6 in 1881 before disappearing from the censuses
altogether.
I discussed the
recording of these 'HLW's in this earlier piece.
Incidentally, it is
also only in the 1891 census that we see the word 'tweed' appended to
the weaving role and, indeed, there are only 5 weavers in that year (and only
1 a decade later) who refer to their produce as 'tweed'.I think this
further emphasises that the marketing of woollen produce as 'tweed'
only starts to occur in the islands as we approach the end of the
century.
I discussed this more
fully in this piece regarding aspects of the development of the Harris Tweed industry in Harris.
