En: Free Gardeners
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Free Gardeners
The Free Gardeners of Edinburgh, the Lothians and Fife
A Self-help Edinburgh Lothians Fife (SHELF) Resource prepared for Resources for Learning in Scotland (RLS).
These pages bring together selected records and resources contributed to a digitisation project funded by the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) through Resources for Learning in Scotland (RLS). East Lothian Council Museums Service is the lead partner of a consortium of local authorities in Edinburgh, the Lothians and Fife.
The Free Gardeners of Edinburgh, the Lothians and Fife is a guide to some aspects of the Self-help movement in our region. The full range of resources from the project is hosted on RLS. The information here develops some of the themes, organisations and ideas explored in the project.
If you have any comments or queries about these web pages contact admin@historyshelf.org.
Introduction
Free Gardeners of the Lothians and Fife
Gardeners' societies appeared in Scotland during the seventeenth century. Working gardeners started societies to promote and regulate their profession and to support themselves in time of need. As time passed the main aim became the members' benefits - they were friendly societies.
Non-gardeners could join most lodges. They were called 'free gardeners' and soon they out-numbered working gardeners. All through the 19th century free gardeners continued to found lodges despite the attractions of the many other friendly societies, such as the Foresters, Buffaloes or Oddfellows. Free gardeners made up their own rituals and practices, which helped unite the brethren of each lodge.
Some of the societies joined together in 'Orders' led by a 'Grand Lodge'. There were several orders based in Edinburgh, Glasgow and England. Some of the older lodges stayed independent. At their height in the Lothians there were over 10,000 free gardeners organised in upwards of 50 lodges. Juvenile and even women-only branches opened at the end of the 19th century.
The free gardeners are now part of history. Some of the societies are known only by name. Many different collections hold a few surviving documents or pieces of regalia. Luckily, the archives of the Dunfermline and Haddington bodies have been preserved. The resources on this website have been collected from many different institutions and collections across the Lothians and Fife. We hope that the seed planted here will grow and inspire others to unearth the history of the movement.
Origins of Gardener Societies
Nobody now knows when gardeners in the Lothians and Fife began to organise. The earliest surviving records come from Haddington (1676) and Dunfermline (1715). There has always been a general need amongst working men to secure sickness benefits, pensions and provision for their dependants. So both societies may be even older.
In cities and burghs (towns) there medieval trades incorporations. Incorporations had contracts between themselves and the town or city council as representatives of the community. Each stated the prerogatives of the craft, membership qualifications and how they were to organise. The Incorporation of Gardeners of Glasgow is believed to be only such group in Scotland to gain that status. The gardeners and greengrocers had become an incorporation of the city by 1626. Nowhere else had a gardeners' incorporation and by the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries incorporations had ceased to be created.
List of founder members, the Ancient Society of Gardeners in and about Dunfermline Some newly arising trades were adopted by existing incorporations. In common with other professions gardeners organised because they felt a pressure to regulate skills and training to protect their own reputations. But gardeners in particular lived outside burghs on nearby landed estates or market gardens and so could not become burgesses, the essential qualification to join incorporations. Gardeners' societies had been long established in Europe. Scotland's North Sea trading links may have helped spread the idea in the eastern lowlands. Further, there was an established alternative that could be adopted by gardeners. They could organise as a 'fraternity' or 'society'.
Read more here: History Shelf
Gardeners collections
Most Local History and Archive collections in the Lothians and Fife have some records about free gardeners in their area. Almost all local authority museums have some artefacts relating to individuals or lodges. Almost all these bodies have contributed material to the SHELF project. LINK
In addition to the resources on this website, much more was surveyed and can be found on Resources for Learning in Scotland, of which SHELF was just a part. Only a proportion of the existing gardeners' records were selected for inclusion because SHELF looked at the whole idea of self-help. The material that was included can lead back to the original collections held in museums, libraries and archives across the Lothians and Fife.
Other significant collections are held in national institutions. Many records have been deposited in the National Library of Scotland. The National Archives of Scotland have the holdings acquired by the Registrar of Friendly Societies and other deposits. For example, records relating to the Ancient Fraternity of Free Gardeners of East Lothian from 1676-1953 are held under reference GD420. Some university libraries also have material of interest.
However, much is still tucked away in cupboards in homes or lying forgotten in halls and club-rooms awaiting discovery.
The Literature of Free Gardening
A good starting point to discover what is in your area is the survey by Ian MacDougall published as A Catalogue of some Labour Records in Scotland and some Scots Records outside Scotland (Scottish Labour History Society, Edinburgh, 1978). A recent survey of the Free Gardeners was researched and published by Robert Cooper as An Introduction to the Origins and History of the Order of Free Gardeners (Q.C. Correspondence Circle Ltd., London, 2000). Early Scottish Gardeners and their Plants 1650-1750 (Tuckwell Press, East Linton, 2000) by Forbes W Robertson contains a chapter on gardeners societies. Your local library will be able to find copies of all these books.
Some lodges included short histories in their booklets of rules and regulations or have been the subject of a local study. For example, both Dunfermline and Haddington are the subjects of short accounts: History of the Society of Gardeners in Dunfermline by anon (A Angus, Dunfermline, 1816) and the Ancient Fraternity of Free Gardeners of East Lothian by Charles Martine and WH Brown (ed.) (East Lothian Antiquarian and Field Naturalists' Society, Haddington, 1975).
However, rulebooks have only survived by chance and your lodges may have left no record. Many documents relating to Gardeners are catalogued along with material relating to Freemasonry.
Your local press is often a good source to build a picture of Gardeners' business and social activities. Many local papers have been microfilmed and are available in local history centres. Directories and annual registers often list lodges, addresses and office holders.
