They were formidable, working long hours in hard conditions
The Herring Girls played a pivotal role in the islands from the 1860s right through to the Second World War.
There were usually three women to a crew – two gutters and one packer. To give you an indication of the amount of folk employed, between three stations on Barra, in 1887 alone, there were 1,466 women working at gutting and packing the herring.
On a good day, a three-woman crew would gut between 20 and 30 barrels, which would earn them between five and six shillings per barrel each. That was reasonable money for them.
Then the process of “topping up” would add an extra threepence an hour to their wage – the herring would settle once packed, so when the cooper took the lid off, the women would have to repack the fish and “top it up” to make sure it was full.
In 1936, the Herring Girls actually went on strike while working in Great Yarmouth because they thought threepence wasn’t enough for the extra task. They had the curers over a barrel, really, because the herring had to be cured or it would go off – that wasn’t in anybody’s interest. The strike ended when they successfully secured a raise to sixpence an hour.
They worked long hours in hard conditions, but it was the only work available to them, so they didn’t really have a choice in the matter. But they also appeared to have enjoyed the job, and there was a lot of camaraderie between the girls – and they made friendships that lasted a lifetime.
When they got time off they would enjoy themselves by setting up impromptu ceilidhs in their huts – nothing more than one room with a stove and bare walls – and they would invite along the local fisherman they knew.
They were certainly formidable women, but they had to be. The men folk, invariably, were off at sea, so the women were left to look after the croft and the family
– and they had to instil the discipline.