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Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 23:06:07 +0100
Subject: Re: Mortcloths
From: Dorothy Cumberland <dorothy.cumberland@virgin.net>
To: Innes Duffus <duffus@clara.co.uk>
Message-ID: <BED664BD.C1D%dorothy.cumberland@virgin.net>
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Status: U 

Innes -

Thank you for a very quick and full reply.
The mortcloths in the "Gildrie" Books were more expensive to hire, I suppos=
e
they were one-off?  It didn't seem to change much over the time - 1645 to
1800s - not that I remember much about those, they were quicker to record a=
s
much more legible.
Presumably these were for the better-off who didn't belong to the working
class paying their dues regularly and getting a mortcloth cheaper.
Sometimes these more expensive ones record hire by Elders, or Doctors, or
the Laird of X, or the Lady X - or the Clerk/officers in the Town Council.
There are a few hired out for Sojers or Truppers, or Collonel or Lieutenant=
.

The Great Mortcloth was =A32, the Second one less according to person or
whatever, and to go out of town was much more costly.   The Bairns' or
Littel cloth was 13/4d which I believe was the old Scots pound or merk.
Auchterhouse Kirk has 3 mortcloths, the lesser ones appearing to have been
made down from the large one, certainly the Bairns' cloth was.
They were very expensive to make according to the records.
Your records refer to the gowns and cocked hats, which were for "the
Sallies" - when I found this charge I was puzzled and found out that it
referred to all the black capes and gowns and hats in Victorian times - and
there are some in the Museum but unfortunately although I was lucky enough
to be taken down into the basement stores to see them some years ago, it
isn't possible until 2007 the Museum tells me, to repeat this.
The gowns were kept in black bags or pouches/pockets.

Once again many thanks for all this information, it is fascinating don't yo=
u
think - I still have to catch up with the Embroidered Mortcloth if this is
at all possible.     Dorothy Cumberland


> From: "Innes Duffus" <duffus@clara.co.uk>
> Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 17:09:10 +0100
> To: "Dorothy Cumberland" <dorothy.cumberland@virgin.net>
> Subject: Re: Mortcloths
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> Dorothy
> The Trades, as you will know, each had at least one Mortcloth for the use=
 of
> their members. The Mortcloth was a valuable source of income and the mone=
y
> paid for its use would be disbursed to the 'poor and infirm, and the wido=
ws
> and orphans'.In the case of the majority of the Trades there was a 'fee'
> paid on entry to the craft which covered the use of the Mortcloth.
> attached are extracts from the Cordiners Minutes.
> The following is from the Bonnetmaker Minutes:
> It is dated 6th April 1682, and clearly shows that a Mortcloth had been i=
n
> use for some years. There is no actual record of when they were first use=
d
> by any trade, but any references to them are so casual as to suggest that=
 it
> was some considerable time before the 1680's as the Cordiners Act shows.
> "This day, the Masters of the Bonnetmaker Craft met in the Howff under th=
eir
> Deacon John Hog.
> The purpose of the meeting was to show the Masters the Mortcloth. They
> accepted the Mortcloth shown as suitable for the Craft.
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> Firstly: We hereby Statute and Ordain that no one may have the use of it
> other than on a hard coffin.
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> Secondly: The old cloth will be used at night-time and the new cloth to b=
e
> delivered and used from 8 a.m.
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> Thirdly: Only those who have paid the Craft dues regularly and on time ma=
y
> have the use of the cloth. Any one who has not properly obeyed the
> ordinances of the Craft will be debarred from its use."
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> As Iain explained most people were simply stitched into a piece of
> Dunfermline linen and planted in that way, hence the reference to the clo=
th
> only to be used on a hard coffin. The grave would then be re-used after
> between 7 and 10 years as it was claimed that the body had degraded
> sufficiently by that time. The grave would be opened and the bones either
> trampled down or simply thrown away. Gravestones were quite uncommon and
> therefore there was little attempt to lay the graveyard out in any logica=
l
> order.
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> Later in time the Wright Trade was responsible for funerals and I attach
> their references to Mortcloths from their Minute Books.
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> This 7 to 10 year Rule was even written into the Prospectus for Balgay
> Cemetery in the late 1800's.
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> I hope that this helps in your research.
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> Innes
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> Innes A. Duffus
> Archivist to the Nine Incorporated Trades of Dundee
> Tel: 01382 826602
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