Cumnock Pottery

By Kay McMeekin 

The creation of Cumnock pottery required skilled workers to be brought in from elsewhere. There were many potteries around the Prestonpans and Portobello areas and skilled workers from there came to Cumnock.

Work began at top of Greenbraehead to build the Cumnock Pottery in 1792. The pottery was initially set up to produce graphite crucibles to enable the 6th Earl of Dumfries to develop a blast furnace complex to exploit the ironstone and coal deposits on his estates. Only the pottery was put into operation and was managed by James Taylor born May 1753 in Leadhills, Dumfriesshire who made dramatic developments in ship engineering.

Things did not go well for Taylor when he first came to Cumnock. He brought two Glasgow potters James and John Henderson to set things up in Ayrshire but it seemed that nothing would go right. The graphite they used was inconsistent in supply and impractical to make into crucibles. The 13 men employed were forced to make conventional earthenware from the local clay. It was not until 1812 that the pottery was economically viable.

The original pottery workers are listed in the booklet The Cumnock Pottery by Gerard Quail. They were:

William Inglis (thrower), William Fisher (wheelman), Robert Young (helper to the wheel), William McMillan (fireman), James Baird (fettler), William Johnston (2nd thrower), Thomas Stoddart (2nd fettler), Hugh Thomson (apprentice), George Dickinson (turner), Andrew Thomson (boy), James Lambie (boy), James McCowan (pan man) and Thomas Ferguson (Warehouseman).

William Inglis was born in Prestonpans, son of a potter

James Baird was born probably in Cumnock and his descendants were also potters

Thomas Stoddart was born 1785 in Cumnock. A fettler was a pottery worker who smooths greenware with a knife, felt, emery, and a wet sponge.

Pottery workers were housed in terraced cottages near the pottery in part of Glaisnock St called Pottery Row. These cottages are still standing. James Baird 1841-1931 the grandson of the aforementioned James Baird, also a potter lived in Pottery Row at 97 Glaisnock street all his life. It was likely the house of his grandfather too,

James Baird outside his house in Pottery row

 

The 1841 census for Old Cumnock lists the following eight potters

Robert Murray (born in Sorn, Ayrshire)

Thomas Walker 55 (birthplace outwith Ayrshire)

William Scott 40 (Portobello)

John Thomson 20 (Portobello) stepson of the above William Scott

Lockhart Noble (Glasgow) 

James Baird (probably Cumnock)

James Nichol 20 salesman and potter (Cumnock) This is James McGavin Nicol  who  was appointed the manager of the Cumnock Pottery & Tile Co. in 1852 and 4 years later became the new proprietor. Under his management the business realised its full potential and Cumnock Pottery became known throughout the country.

The Nicol family had been tenant farmers on the Dumfries Estate for several generations. James McGavin Nicol was the eldest son of James Nicol, a Cumnock grocer. When he assumed control of the Pottery in 1857 he was 36 years old. Under his ownership the Motto Ware was properly marketed and grew in popularity. This was achieved by opening up premises in Cumnock which was at that time a thriving town and by using the new railway system to expand the sales market. This was also the period of an increase in travel for pleasure and sport – with town-dwelling day-trippers buying Cumnock Pottery as a gift or memento. By the Census of 1871 the Pottery employed 9 adults and 6 young persons.

In 1881 James McGavin Nicol and his wife Annie Clarkson were living at Herdstone Cottage 109 Glaisnock street. Also at home were sons James (20) William (18) John (9) and Marcus (10 months) and Nicol’s stepson David Robert Dunsmore (26). The Nicol family also had a servant Betsy Black. Senior potters were William Baird (54) and George Simpson (40) and Alex Nicol of Mauchline. In 1881 a total of 20 people were employed in the Pottery.

After old Mr. Nicol died in 1885 the pottery was managed by the stepson David Dunsmor, who ran the office side, but the practical work was overseen by son James Nicol. Dunsmore was now the driving force behind the Pottery. He was a time-served potter, had good management skills and had progressive ideas about marketing the pottery. The Ppottery under his management reached its maximum output and widest market.

In 1920 Dunsmore decided to close the Pottery and wind up the business. The main reasons for closure were economic – with a shortage of easily dug clay and the fashion change towards imported china.

Much later potters from Portobello wee still coming to Cumnock, notably Joseph Hunter aka Pottery Joe born in Coalsnaughton in 1855 and a potter at Portobello. He seems to have moved between Ayrshire and Portobello. 

Joe's Brig

Built to replace the old stepping-stone ford at Greenholm just downstream from the present Greenholm Brig at Asda.

Joe Hunter, a potter at Cumnock Pottery in Glaisnock Street first petitioned the Town Council to build a bridge at Greenholm to replace the Stepping Stone Ford in 1909. Joe and his family lived at 112 Townhead Street and he regularly used the Stepping Stones as a short cut to work but as he had fallen in on one occasion and traffic was increasing over the ford, he kept up his request to the council. By 1914 his representations to the council bore fruit and they agreed to hold a count of how many people crossed the ford in a single day. The number was over 500 so Joe’s persistence paid off and the council agreed to build the bridge. The bridge was described in the Cumnock Chronicle as “Situated about 20 feet further up the Glaisnock Water than the Stepping Stones, the bridge is rustic in design and in addition to its usefulness as a footway is a most artistic landmark. It is built on three strong concrete piers reinforced with ironwork structure. The wood is larch throughout and all locally grown. The foundation consists of four stout trunks bolted to the piers while stout angle brackets and a firm bracework support another four trunks two feet higher up. Binding bolts three feet long secure the structure at various points. The rustic work along the sides, the wood for which was taken from Barshare, rises from the lower trunks to a height of five feet high. To minimise danger to children the inside of the rail-work has been wired. From end to end the bridge measures 45 feet and the footway is three feet wide. Concrete steps have been erected at either side and probably a simple fence will complete the pleasant effect and lessen the risk of pedestrians missing the entrance in the dark. The old stepping stones will be utilised as a breakwater for the central pier.”

The new bridge then quickly became known as Joe’s Brig in honour of this tireless campaigner. This brig remained in constant use until 1927 when the now defunct Rifleman's Brig was offered to the Town Council as a replacement. This was considered but not accepted. The wooden Joe’s Brig was now becoming unsafe and was replaced around 1930s with a brand-new metal brig which served the public until 1967 when it became dangerous and was taken down – the decision not to replace it was taken in the light of the Greenholm Brig being wider and newer. However, the brig was put into storage by the council then repaired and moved to span the Glaisnock Water at the new Ayr Road car park around 1973 and remained there until 1977 when it was replaced with the new Keir McTurk Brig which remains today.

Dunsmor and Nicol families, Cumnock pottery and beyond

by Scott Daily

The Nicol ( and Dunsmor) family 1880
 

                                        For names of those in the photo, click here

A family strongly linked to Cumnock Pottery the numerous Nicol and Dunsmor (or Dunsmore) descendents of Annie Clarkson moved in and out of Ayrshire in the 1800's. 

Annie Clarkson was born in Douglas, in South Lanarkshire in 1836, her first marriage was to Robert Dunsmore, in Cumnock by the Rev James Murray on 6 March 1854. Robert was listed as a coal-master in a wedding announcement. 

Robert and Annie had two children, Elizabeth born in 1853, and David Robert around 1856. Interestingly at the point that David was born the family were living in United States, as David is listed as being born on the Cumnock Connections site in Lemonweir, Wisconsin. The 1881 census mentioned below also lists David has being born in the United States.  

Robert Dunsmore appears to have passed away in 1857, at the age of 29. In 1858 Annie married James McGavin Nicol, the manager, and soon to be the proprietor, of Cumnock Pottery. Many have written in detail about Cumnock Pottery and the role James played, see for example: this article from the Scottish Pottery Society or this one from the Cumnock History Group, my focus is more on his family, though the pottery, especially the "motto ware" is a fascinating subject. 

James and Annie appear to have had ten children (see Annie's link above), with seven of them listed along with step-son David as living with them in a 1881 census. When grown the Nicol children began to move about, some settling in other parts of Scotland. One son, John Strathdee Nicol (often called Strath) would move to England to work in a firm manufacturing explosives, where he became the managing director. For his services he was created M.B.E. Another son, Thomas Hamilton Nicol, would immigrate to America and settle around California. Both sons would seem to have had children who settled around these areas of England and America. 

David Dunsmor would remain in the Cumnock area, taking over the running of Cumnock Pottery after his step-father passed away. David was also known for serving as the Lieutenant of the Cumnock Volunteer Rifles, most famously taking part in the "Wet Review" when on August 25 1881, the Edinburgh Royal Review of Volunteers was held, as Queen Victoria reviewed large numbers of Volunteer Forces from all over Scotland at Holyrood Park on a day of prolonged extremely heavy rainfall. 

Notice of David Dunsmor taking over Cumnock Pottery

David Dunsmor married Wilhelmina Hillhouse in 1884, they continued to live in the Cumnock area for the rest of their lives. One of their sons, James Nicol Dunsmor, a unmarried banker, was killed in India, when the sergeant who was to guard him shot him. A news aritcle would state “an immediate official inquiry was made and it was found that the sergeant was suffering from meningitis and must have gone mad.”

headline about James Dunsmor's death

Miners who moved to Indiana

By Scott Daily 

Growing up in the state of Indiana, I was unaware of the conection between my state and many coal miners formerly from Scotland. Quite a number moved from the Ayrshire area to work coal mines around the city of Terre Haute in the western part of Indiana. 

According to the "Coal mining in Vigo Country Indiana Department of Natural Resources Geological Survey Special Report 34",  published in 1985, Vigo county, where Terre Haute is located, was the foremost coal-producing county in Indiana. The value of the total product of the mines in Vigo County, the report states, mounted to billions of US dollars. In just the year 1918 mines in the county produced over 8.8 million tons of coal, almost twice as much as the next largest producing county, the nearby Sullivan county (a county that many Scottish miners also moved to). 

A prime example of an Old Cumnock man who moved to this area to be a miner is Thomas Nicol. Born Thomas McCartney Nicol to parents Thomas Edgar Nicol and Margaret (McCartney) Nicol on the 12th of March 1876. Thomas senior served for a time as a sheriff officer, later (by the 1881 census) working as a pawnbroker and accountant. He made several newspapers listings in 1870 when he was fined for assaulting a John Bryce Clark, listed as a writer from Mauchline. 

Thomas junior, who confusingly at some point appears to have changed his middle name from McCartney (his mother's maiden name), to Edgar (his father's middle name), grew up in a home on Lugar street in Cumnock. In the 1901 census he is listed (along with 10 other people) as living with his widowed mother. He occupation in 1901 is listed as fireman in a coal mine. Later in that same year of 1901 he married Georgina Baird, in Cumnock. 

When exactly Thomas moved to the United States is a bit confusing. His draft registration card, shown below, is from September of 1918, however his United States Declaration of Intention (also shown below) which has him living at the time in Michigan, states he first arrived in New York in November of 1922 from Glasgow on board the Assyria. It is likely he made several trips back and forth to Scotland, especially as it appears his wife and children remained or returned to Scotland, as they are shown to have lived and died in the Cumnock area. In any case, the documents show that Thomas was a miner who lived in Terre Haute and worked as a miner. 

Thomas Nicol's draft registration (above)
and his Declaration of Intention (below)

There were many more miners who moved from the Ayrshire area to Indiana, such as Samuel Shaw from Dalry, William Welsh from Auchinleck, Thomas McGuire from Catrine, and more. It is difficult to locate exactly which town or village many of the miners came from originally as frequently on the Indiana census reports and other records, they simply state they were from Ayrshire or sometimes just Scotland. It is remarkable how many miners are listed on the censuses for the area in the mid 1900's as coming from Scotland. See for example the 1910 census below, which list many settlers from the area coming form Scotland, such as David Houston originally from the Galston area. Apparently several members of the Houston family came over, many working as miners, including (though I can't be sure he was a miner) James the son of David, who was excused from the draft of the First World War because he had lost a leg, I would be curious if anyone could work out if this was due to mining?

(See zoomed in image to note the Houston family who seemed to primarily setttle around the Sullivan/Dugger area of Indiana for a time, as well as others)

Without question there were a number of miners who immigrated. Sadly, just like the mines in Scotland, those in Indiana began to decline after the two great wars. With the increase in coal mining is such places as West Virginia and Kentucky, the production of  the coal mines in Vigo county for example went from 8.8 million tons in 1918 to only 1 million tons in 1931. Many of the Scottish miners thus moved or found other occupations. 

1910 Census from Indiana, with a long list of miners originally from Scotland
enlarged section showing Houston family and others