Following the Fish

Explore the unsung stories of the herring fisher girls

Following the Fish explores the unsung stories of the herring girls who between 1850 and 1950 travelled hundreds of miles across the UK following the herring fishing fleets. The herring girls established a strong community of women undertaking back breaking work gutting and barrelling millions of fish every week.

A partnership between archives in the Scottish Highlands, the Western Isles, Norfolk, and Suffolk, Following the Fish seeks to reveal and celebrate the herring girls’ stories, work, and their lasting contribution to the economy and community of fishing towns throughout the UK.

Group of herring girls. Image courtesy of Mary Morrison

Group of herring girls. Image courtesy of Mary Morrison

Herring girl in Suffolk. 1300/72/18/37

The Herring Industry

Between 1850 and 1950 herring fishing was a huge industry, exporting millions of barrels of cured herring across Europe, and employing thousands of people.

The herring season started in May in the Western and Northern Isles and gradually made its way clockwise round the coast of Scotland and England, with the season finishing in December in Yarmouth, Norfolk and Lowestoft, Suffolk.

The Scottish herring girls were employed primarily to gut, cure, and pack the fresh catch within 24 hours of being caught. It was challenging and highly skilled work, which meant the women were in high demand and would travel around the UK throughout the eight month season

At the height of the industry over 6,000 herring girls would travel from Scotland down to East Anglia for the herring season.

Fisher Girls and Breadwinners

The herring girls were well respected, known for being hard working, thrifty and taking no nonsense. Their work offered a level of financial independence and freedom beyond what was available for many women at the time. They made ‘good money’ and many were the main earners in their families and sent most of their money back home.

Following the fish gave women the opportunity to leave home and travel. Many met their future husbands in the industry, and it was common to continue working after getting married. Women were away from home for long periods at a time it could be challenging to raise children. It was often fathers, grandmothers, or members of the community who would help to raise the children back at home.

When going to work they would wear big boots, oil skin aprons to protect their skirts, short sleeves, and knitted shawls or hoods wrapped around their head and shoulders to keep warm.

The Women

Jessie McDonald and crew at Great Yarmouth. Courtesy Agnes Clark

Agnes Clark

Agnes Clark remembers her granny and other family members all helping out when her mother Jessie was away from home working as a herring girl. Her father would cook pancakes and sausages when in charge.

Curing yard in Lowestoft. 1300/72/18/11

Annie Yule Thain

Annie was born at Peterhead in 1892. She started working in the herring industry as young as 13. She first came to East Anglia in 1908. In 1914 she married James Milne Watt, a cooper who made wooden barrels for packing the herring.

Agnes Murray and crew. 1930. Courtesy Margaret McLean

Agnes Murray

Agnes was born on the Isle of Lewis in 1911 and started working as a Herring Girl when she was 16. She went on to marry Henry Grant from wick. They met while Henry was working as a driver for a curing company in Lowestoft.

Getting the Season Started

The Herring Girls would travel down to East Anglia in September. The transport was arranged and paid for by their employers. Each woman would bring a large wooden chest, or Kist containing their possessions. The train station platforms would be heaped with luggage and belongings ready to depart.

The Journey

The journey south was long and slow. Some women would bring gramophones and set them up on the platforms. They would sing, make tea over mini stoves, and eat sandwiches to help pass the time.

The final stage of the journey was on the milk train leaving at 5am and heading to Yarmouth and Lowestoft. The train often travelled so slowly the girls could hold a conversation with the farmers in the fields as they passed by.

Agnes Clark remembers her mother Jessie’s kist being taken out of a cupboard to be packed in advance of going to Great Yarmouth. The case would be picked up by the fishcurers to be transported south in advance of her mother leaving on the train.

Yarmouth Beach station. Image Ben Brooksbank.

Letter arranging travel for Peggy MacLeod. Caithness Archive. WS/1/6/12/2

Accommodation

The Herring Girls were paid a living allowance each week by their employer, and would finding affordable accommodation in boarding houses, and hotels. Some landladies would line the walls with paper to protect from the fish oil and the smell which they often complained about.

‘Didn’t matter how much we washed our hair, it always smelt of herring!’

The women often banded together with others from the same village or area who shared the same religion and traditions. The Highlanders and Islanders would often talk together in their native Gaelic. Although often known as the Scotch Fisher Girls, there were distinct differences between the crews.

Postcard of herring girls. Tasglann nan Eilean. 40043

Postcard of herring girls. Tasglann nan Eilean. 40043

Inside a herring girls accommodation. Provenance unknown.

The Work

Each year, fish curing companies recruited herring gutting crews for the season. Each crew was made up of three women, two gutters, and one packer. Rates were agreed, contracts signed, and members of the crew paid arles, an engagement fee.

The Job

When the herring catch was landed the fish would be loaded into large farlans, or troughs. Coarse salt was thrown over the herring to make them easier to grip.

The gutters would use their cutags (sharp knives) to swiftly gut the fish, before the packers arranged them in barrels. Tightly packing layers of fish into rosettes, adding curing liquid or salt to preserve them.

Speed was of the essence as the fish were perishable and had to be packed within 24 hours of being caught. This meant the women had to work long hours, often late into the night when the catch was good.

The crews were paid by the barrel. Most women could gut 40 herring a minute, but many were much faster, and a skilled crew could pack a barrel of 1000 herring in 15 minutes. The quicker the team the higher the wages.

In 1867, 3500 herring girls in Wick gutted and packed 50 million herring in two days.

Suffolk Archives

Southwold Herring Harbour

At the start of the 20th century, the East Anglian herring industry was booming. Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft were landing record catches—so many, in fact, that fishing boats were forced to queue offshore, waiting for space in harbour.

Seeing an opportunity, local entrepreneur Ernest Read Cooper launched a bold plan: to transform Southwold into a third major port for the Scottish herring fleet. The idea gained traction. Scottish fishermen and fishcurers—key players in the trade—welcomed the move, and soon Southwold saw the construction of a new harbour, curing plots, a sales office, a Mission for workers, and the Herring Market, affectionately nicknamed The Kipperdrome.

Southwold Kipperdrome. Courtesy of Southwold Museum.

Southwold Kipperdrome. Courtesy of Southwold Museum.

By 1908–09, Southwold was bustling. Scottish drifters filled the harbour, and the herring girls cured fish along the quayside. Barrels of herring were loaded straight onto German steamers bound for export.

But the success was short-lived. A stormy 1910 season kept many boats away, and by 1911 only two curing firms remained. In 1912 and 1913, Lowestoft saw record catches, but not a single drifter came to Southwold.

When the First World War broke out in 1914, the Southwold herring experiment came to an end.

Fisher girls rowing across the river to loadings in Walberswick. Courtesy Humphrey Phelps.

Fisher girls rowing across the river to loadings in Walberswick. Courtesy Humphrey Phelps.

Herring girl in Southwold. c1907. Courtesy Southwold Museum. SOWDM/P1729

Herring girls pulling a barrel at Southwold. c1908. Courtesy of Southwold Museum. SOWDN/P734/2

Herring girls in Great Yarmouth. 1938. Copyright British Pathe.

Leisure and Time Off

Agnes Murray and crew in their Sunday best. Courtesy Margaret McLean.

Free Time

Sundays were the only day off, and attending church was very important. The women would dress up in their Sunday best and attend services at local churches, sometimes delivered in Gaelic by visiting Scottish ministers.

With their earnings saved for the end of the season the Herring Girls didn’t have much money to spend, but they made the most of it. They would visit the theatre or cinema, and dances were often held on a Saturday evening.

Crew in their Sunday best. c.1900. Highland Archive Centre. D1386/2/3

Singing

Singing was an important part of working life, and the women would sing whilst working to keep up moral and provide a rhythm for their work.

They would sing a wide variety of songs including traditional Scottish melodies which captured memories of the fishing industry, romances, and their life back at home. But they would also sing hymns, dancing songs, and in later years musicals and popular records of the time.

Agnes Murray and crew with their knitting. Courtesy Margaret McLean.

Knitting

The herring girls were well known for their knitting. They made warm socks, shawls, and scarves, as well as tight fitting, waterproof jumpers known as Ganseys.

They would knit as they walked and talked using a knitting belt or pouch to hold the wool and keep their hands free for their clattering needles. Their knitting patterns were passed down by memory from generation to generation, and they worked as much by feel as by sight.

“But oh it was a happy, healthy life. Oh and I was always carrying on! I’m telling you! I had the time of my life at the fishings”

Taking A Stand

Most Herring Girls were not part of a trade union to represent their rights as workers, but this didn’t stop the women from pushing for better pay and conditions. Particularly in the latter days of the industry there were wide scale strikes led by the women themselves.

The Calgary Daily Herald newspaper clipping. 20 November 1936

22 September 1931

In 1931 The British Herring Traders Association reduced wages across the industry including for Herring Girls. Many of the crews from across Scotland came together at a meeting in Peterhead and agreed not to accept the new terms and reduced wages, and eventually an increased living allowance was agreed.

Herring girls during a strike. Suffolk Archives, 2052/1

22 October 1936

1936 saw one of the most significant strikes in response to reduced wages. Almost all the workers in Great Yarmouth joined the strike, and the women marched along the harbour calling for 1 shilling per barrel.

As the strike continued The Transport and General Workers Union agreed to pay the women 1 shilling per barrel. After a further day of striking, they also agreed to back date the new rate to the start of the season.

The herring catch sits on the dock at Great Yarmouth during a strike. 2052/1

24 October 1938

In Lowestoft 2,400 women went on strike, refusing to pack fish which had been caught on a Sunday by the English fishing boats. Faith was very important to many of the Herring Girls, and they objected on religious grounds to fishing taking place on a Sunday, and left the catch to spoil on the harbour.

Herring fisher girls on strike at Great Yarmouth. ©Reuters/British Pathe

Working Conditions

The Herring Girls worked through rain, wind and freezing temperatures. With limited drainage in the yards, water would build up around the base of the farlans, and in cold weather there was ice in the troughs of fish. Often there were poor toilet facilities and little shelter.

Following a successful speech by packer Anne Reid at the House of commons in April 1914, firms were required to install better surfaces for the women to stand on and provide nearby toilets. Great Yarmouth council spent £5000 in 1914 to improve conditions.

Injuries and Illness

Working at lightning speed with sharp cutag knives many women had nasty cuts to their hands which would become ulcerated from the salt. If left untreated these cuts could lead to blood poisoning. The women would protect their fingers with strips of fabric called clooties.

The Herring Girls often had painful chilblains from the cold, back pain from leaning over farlans and barrels, and varicose veins from standing for many hours at a time.

Letter accepting payment after a work place accident. 1916. Caithness Archive. WS/1/6/12/3

Letter accepting payment after a work place accident. 1916. Caithness Archive. WS/1/6/12/3

Care and Support

With no requirement to provide first aid for many years, the women were dependent on charitable organisations for support and care

Mother McGillivray in Great Yarmouth acted as a mother figure to homesick girls, and a rest house was opened in 1902 by Miss Davidson of the Church of Scotland. The centre provided first aid, hot meals, and a warm place to rest. In the 1913 season the centre provided 11,571 meals and treated 2,354 medical cases.

Herring girls with clooties on their fingers. Wick Society. JN38086P184

Inside the rest house at Great Yarmouth. Copyright Alamy

British Red Cross nurses with herring girls. Copyright British Red Cross Archive

Margaret Harker

Margaret Harker. 1913. British Red Cross Archive.

Margaret was born in Glasgow in 1880 and later moved to Norfolk. She became the County director for the Norfolk branch of the British Red Cross and set up a dressing station in Yarmouth to tend to women’s cuts and injuries. At the height of the season, they did as many as 300 dressings in a day.

The End of the Season

Towards the end of the season many women would have Saturday afternoons off to go shopping for small souvenirs to take home. Sherry, fruit cake, and ornaments were popular gifts.

The Herring Girls would once again load up their wooden kists and begin the long journey home. Arriving back in their local towns and villages was a special day being greeted by friends and family after a long separation.

Agnes Clark recently met a friend from school who remembered Jessie bringing back pomegranates from Great Yarmouth, ‘it was the talk of the street’

Souvenir plates from Suffolk. Brora Heritage.

Souvenir plates from Suffolk. Brora Heritage.

The End of an Industry

From the peak herring catches between 1900 and 1913, the industry saw a gradual decline after the First World War. The end of the war saw the loss of major markets in Germany and Russia.

Herring catches continued to decline with 1950 being the last good season. Modern trawlers put increased pressure on fish stock, and new freezing techniques for food were preferred to traditional curing. After the Second World War attitudes towards women’s work began to change and a wider range of employment opportunities became available.

The herring trade as it had been known had all but ended by the 1960s.

Herring curing in the Outer Hebrides. Tasglann nan Eilean. 51777.

Herring curing in the Outer Hebrides. Tasglann nan Eilean. 51777.

Wick Harbour. Ann Baile. PH0314.

Lasting Memories

Every New Year Jessie McDonald would buy a bottle of Cherry Heering, and all the old ‘fishing wives’ would stop by and reminisce together.

Herring girls carrying barrels. Courtesy of Elspeth Durrand. 1930s.

Margaret remembered her mother in later life getting herring off local boats and ‘sorting them herself’ at home – ‘the skills were never lost’. She also remembers the marks left on her hands from cuts that remained for life.