Shale miners

By Scott Daily

James "Paraffin" Young

After receiving a patent for producing paraffin oil (often referred to as kerosene in many parts of the world) James Young established a refining factory in Addieswell, West Lothian around 1865. To quote from West Lothian Shale Trail "At the start Young’s refinery produced oil for lighting, and also developed new types of light which gave better light. This was much better and cheaper than whale oil, and burnt cleaner. But the increasing popularity of cars meant that the West Lothian refineries produced petrol and diesel fuel. Paraffin wax was used to make candles, and a by-product of the retort process was ammonium sulphate fertiliser." At the same time many areas of Scotland and Ireland were suffering financially and so many were looking for work. As more and more shale mines opened in West Lothian, people began to move from Ayrshire to West Lothian to work. 

As shown in the Cumnock Connections tree, some who came to West Lothian from other parts either married people originally from Cumnock or moved to the area after working for a time in the slate industry. 

One example of someone who married into a Cumnock family, and whose offspring seemed to have settled for a time in the Cumnock area, is James Baird who was born in West Lothian (to a family who had previously been in Lugar) and is listed in a 1891 census as living in Uphall, West Lothian employed as a shale miner. He had married Catherine Hutchison who was born in Cumnock. Their three children listed in the census were stated to be born in Lugar, East Ayrshire. In the baptism records for their daughter Marion Marshall Baird (who later emigrated to Manhattan, New York) it states that James' occupation was "char filler". James is recorded as passing away at the age of 40 (from heart disease) back in West Lothian. 

A second example of a Cumnock woman who married a West Lothian shale miner was Jane Murdoch Price who was born in Cumnock. Jane married William Wardrop who is listed in a 1911 census as a shale miner living in West Lothian.  The Wardrops had also lived in Cumnock in 1875-8 at Glengyron Row.

To give an example of someone orginally from Ireland who came to Scotland to work as shale miner, and married and settled in Ayrshire, we have William Gorman who was born in Londonderry. He married Catherine Shirkie (in some records spelled "Shirky") from Kilwinning, they were married in Old Cumnock in 1864 and in 1881 census, where William is listed as working as a coal miner, they are shown to have four children, Edward (listed as a coal miner, age 13); William, age 7; Stewart, age 4; and Janet, age 1. The family would later move to Irvine. It would seem the William had various legal problems as there is record of him spending time in prison in Ayr in 1899, he is also stated (see Cumnock Connections) to have passed away at  Cunningham Combination Poorhouse in Irvine a few years after.