Published on:
15
October 2007
A new exhibition, Another Kind of Slavery? Serfdom in Scotland before 1800, will open on Tuesday 16th October in Alloa Tower. The exhibition has been prepared to coincide with the commemoration of the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act. It looks at the trade in black slaves as well as the serfdom endured by mineworkers and salt panners in Scotland from about 1600 until 1799. The exhibition also focusses on the mystery of Alexander Stewart, one of four men sentenced to death in Perth for theft and burglary in 1701, whose sentence was reduced to that of a 'perpetual servant' - in other words, a slave - to Sir John Erskine of Alva. The engraved brass collar which Stewart was forced to wear was found in the River Forth in Logie parish in the 18th century.
In 1807 the Act was passed abolishing the transatlantic slave trade. A mass popular movement succeeded in ending a trade which had gone on for nearly 250 years. British ships had carried just over 3.4 million West Africans to slavery across the Atlantic. London, Liverpool and Bristol were the main ports for this trade, but by the mid 18th century Glasgow and Greenock were also involved.
The slave trade provided cheap labour for British plantations in America and the Caribbean. Many Scots were plantation owners: they dominated the Virginian tobacco market and Glasgow became the centre for imports. By about 1800 they also owned a third of the plantations in Jamaica. Some returned to Britain with a slave as a personal servant. Some slaves had to wear a silver collar inscribed with their English name. Several later tried to claim their freedom. One of them was Joseph Knight, whose court case in the 1770s became well known in Scotland and involved Lord Kennet, a member of the Bruce family of Clackmannanshire.
The trade in African slaves was a shameful one, but there is no evidence that any Clackmannanshire landowners took part in it or had black servants. At the same time, however, another kind of slavery existed in Scotland, in which most local landowners were involved.
Coal mining and salt production were closely connected and vital industries. Mining especially was difficult and dangerous work, seen as degrading because beggars and criminals did surface work at pits. Once the demand for coal began to increase, colliery owners needed good miners they could rely upon and control. Acts passed in the 17th century bound colliery workers and salt panners to their masters and place of work. They were paid wages, however, and were treated better than black slaves, though like slaves they had no legal status.
Alexander Stewart and one of the other men were delivered by soldiers to Alva House a few days after they were sentenced in Perth, having been branded and fitted with collars, inscribed with their sentence and the name of their new 'owner', to be worn for the rest of their lives. It has been assumed that they became miners in one of Sir John Erskine's coal mines. He does not seem to have had any collieries until after the 1720s, however, and in any case, the men would not have been trusted to work underground.
The letters of Sir John Erskine show that he was a fairly reasonable colliery owner who did not punish his miners if they ran away. Later on, colliery owners began to think that serfdom was immoral and restrictive for them and the miners. The Acts of 1775 and 1799 eventually freed all miners, salt-panners and their families.
What about Alexander Stewart? The recovery of his collar from the River Forth suggests that he escaped, but when? We do not know when it was found, but the collar was donated to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1784, by which time he must have been long dead. Did he drown or did he manage to escape? We will probably never know.
This special exhibition has been made possible by a generous grant from The Trusthouse Charitable Foundation. The Trustees of the National Museums of Scotland have also kindly loaned the brass collar worn by Alexander Stewart, along with a branding iron found in Aberdeenshire but of a type used to brand slaves and army deserters. They will be on display in Alloa Tower with the exhibition from 1.00 - 5.00 every day from Tuesday 16th October. The last day of the exhibition will be Tuesday 31st October, when Alloa Tower closes for the winter. Admission is free to the ground floor of the Tower only to see this exhibition.
For more information please contact Susan Mills at Clackmannanshire Council Museum and Heritage Service, Speirs Centre, Primrose Street, Alloa (01259 216913).