Kipper Ties and Herring Aids

For decades in the Yorkshire Port City of Hull the resident population saw a brief increase during the months of January to March. 

The demographic of the arrivals to the City was easy to see- most of them, Women and Men hailed from Stornaway in the far North of Scotland comprising fisher folk following the work that revolved around the Norwegian Herring Season. 

In 1949 The Hull Daily Mail reported on that years influx of Scots which numbered some 300 who were called in to assist in the processes of Kipper Production in the many traditional fish curing houses that contributed to the persistence of an oak infused smokey atmosphere between Hessle Road and the Fish Dock. 

Winter and early Spring saw the first Norwegian Herring Ships arrive in the Port with their ice encrusted silver scale bounty which had been caught off the Scandinavian Coast before being collected in the Fjords for shipping to Hull. 

The demand for experienced labour was high to cope with the scheduled 4 ship loads every week in the season. 

The army of Scots were multi-generational in profile with mothers and fathers, sons, daughter, cousins and seniors and made their living from the hard and demanding kipper industry. 

Hull was just the first in a transient existence which through the year saw the workforce move on to Peterhead, Wick and Yarmouth. In between was a brief return to their home territory in the Western Isles. 

There was of course fish curing operations in Hull on an all year round basis but the opening rush of the season always required the Scottish contingent. 

The workers dressed in clogs, blue overalls and oilskin aprons carried out the splitting, cleaning, pickling, smoking and packing as well as separating the milts (livers) and the roe. They will have been exposed to the cold, wet and icy atmosphere with a risk of muscular and respiratory illness, rheumatics and what we now know as repetitive strain injury notwithstanding potential for cuts and abrasions from the knives and tools of the trade. There was little by way of staff amenities and comforts apart from a glowing brazier in the Fish House yards. 

The Norwegian Herring were amongst the largest in size of the species and when packed in ice made for very heavy working. Many of the women strapped up their wrists with string to give extra support.

The Hull Daily Mail visited just one of the many Fish Curing Houses on Subway Street where 21 Scottish girls and 14 men had come down from the North. The youngest were just 14 and 15 years old but were already well experienced in the work as though it was deep rooted in their ancestral genes. 

Just this one establishment would, in the Hull Season, process around two million kippers for the UK Market. 

Wages in 1949 were £4 a week plus allowances of around 25 shillings for lodgings and travelling. Many took rooms in the terraced streets around the Hessle Road corridor for the duration and in true Scottish style immersed themselves in the recreational and cultural pursuits that Hull offered with regular outings to the Picture Palaces and Dance Halls. The Subway Street workers in particular expressed their interest in going to see the Wrestling Matches that were put on in various venues around the City. 

They were a tight knit group, rarely homesick because of their strong sense of community even hundreds of miles away from the Isles. A few of their number stayed and settled down in Hull but the majority would move on to follow the Herring Season as it continued its momentum through the year.