A couple of years ago I wrote about the unusual occurrence
of the term 'Web Maker'
as an occupation amongst the good ladies of Harris in 1891 & 1901, ending
with the promise to investigate further when the 1911 Census had become searchable.
I am revisiting the topic because in fact the term
disappeared almost as quickly as it had popped-up in 1891! It is an occupation
wholly unique to Harris and, with the sole exception recorded from 1901 in my
earlier piece, exclusively in the 1891 Census.
However, its usage in that year was far more commonplace
than I first indicated for, because I was still at an early stage in teaching
myself how to interrogate the database, I had overlooked those ladies who
rather than being recorded as a ‘Web Maker’ were listed as being a ‘Webmaker’.
A small but highly significant difference!
Thus in 1891 we find no less than 136 women on Harris who
were Web Makers/Webmakers and of these no less than 121 specify that what they
producing was ‘Tweed’.
This is significant for two important reasons:
Firstly, it reinforces my finding that the term ‘Harris
Tweed’ made a very late appearance on the stage
and only once those ladies promoting the ‘Home Industries’ via a variety of
organisations had begun their endeavours.
Secondly, as I have been unable to discover any
distinguishing features separating ‘web making’ from ‘weaving’ as being terms
for the production of woven cloth from spun yarn, it means that we can add to
the number of weaveresses these webmakers and hence review the economic importance
of the production of Harris Tweed to Harris in 1891.
In 1891 Harris Tweed appears to have been being made by at
least 247 Weaveresses
and 136 Webmakers so that a total of 383 women were creating Harris Tweed at this
time.
As there were some 2,662 women & girls living in Harris in 1891, that
figure represents over 14% of the female population of the island!
This all fits rather well with an account from 1888
, which incidentally also demonstrates the longevity of the involvement of 'Mrs Captain Thomas'
with the work of regenerating the island following the famines & failure of
the Kelp-industry earlier in the Century.
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