Desperate Dan

June 10.



Drove over to the Eastern Cemetery in Dundee to see the "newly acquired" family grave; actually it's been there for eighty-two years, it's just that my sister and I didn't find out about it until a "newly acquired" cousin in Australia sent me a photo and a map. (see Preamble, 29 May).



It seems that not only am I descended from a family of a dissenting religious order but also a family of stone masons.



What I'd also found out was that my family had been jute mill workers from the beginning of the industry in Dundee. A fascinating, and again heart-rending story which began in 1820 with the first cargo of jute from India.



Dundee which used to be referred to as the City of the Three "Js"- Jam, Journalism and Jute. In fact it was once known as Juteopolis. "Between 1841 and 1901 the population of Dundee tripled, from 45,000 to 161,000. In 1883 over 1 million bales of raw jute were unloaded in Dundee. By the turn of the century the industry employed more than 50,000 people in over 100 mills" (Source: http://www.museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk/member/verdant-works



The heart-rending part of the story refers to 70% of the workers being women and children with young boys who reached the age of 18 frequently being sacked as they would want adult wages. Their living conditions were also very third-world with outside lavatories at tenement blocks, with no running water either.



On a brighter note, I mentioned Journalism and Dundee is still home to D.C.Thomson and nearly everyone of my age will associate them with the Beano and Dandy...

And here you see Desperate Dan (The Dandy) and Minnie the Minx (Beano) in City Square